University and college students and even some high school classmen and top students often omit such an important tool in their essays as a title. More
often than not, they also underuse this helpful means of persuasion and attraction of the attention of the needed audience. A non-specific or obscure title
is just a missed possibility to introduce your idea or to promote your writing.
To make things straight and clear, you should be aware of the following key points about titles that will help you out in any situation or with any
assignment you are stuck with:
Why Are Titles So Comparatively Challenging?
Titles are first and foremost important for your readers and the audience. Along with the body of the essay, a relevant title may be one of the most
captivating and alluring elements of the whole essay. If you are looking for the methods to hold the attention of your audience, your essay title is one of
the initial and basic things you should think about. Writing an essay , you should
be aware of the main functions that should be carried out by your academic title:
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Contributing to the argument in the essay and convincing the reader;
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Capturing the reader’s attention and interest with the help of the brief idea what the essay will be about;
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Marking that the question indicated in the assignment was answered;
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Privileging the text of your essay in comparison with the other academic essays that were written by your fellow-students;
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Controlling your writing process – when you create your title at the beginning of your writing process, you can be sure that the title will guide
you throughout the text; -
Checking the main thoughts and paragraphs, when you create your essay title at the end of your composition.
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Reflecting the style of a piece of writing;
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Predicting the content of the issue in question.
A title for your essay is of such a high priority, because it covers two sides of essay writing. It gives the insight about the essay itself (that is a
reason for readers to pay attention to it) and it helps you coordinate your academic writing.
What Does a Sensational Title Look Like?
The titles of academic papers (essay in particular) are seldom short. It means that your title should consist of at least 5 meaningful words. You should
not be surprised, when you see a 2 or even 3 lines long title.
Moreover, essay titles are frequently compiled of two parts: the main part and the subtitle. These parts should be separated by a colon, because it gives
an effect of a slight division of the ideas and at the same time presupposes that the subtitle should announce more particular information described in the
first part.
The combinations of a title and a subtitle are usually as follows:
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A quotation, catchy phrase or a hook as a main title + a detailed informative phrase that includes organization or methods of your research or
writing in general.
For example:
Student’s Life: Pros and Cons of Partying All the Night Long
Or
Only the Educated are Free: Education as My Favorite Subject or How I Came to Love Education
The first example contains the hook as a main title Student’s Life, and the description what exactly will be discussed about student’s life – Pros and Cons of Partying All the Night Long.
The second example consists of a quotation of the outstanding philosopher Epictetus Only the Educated are Free and the subtitle leading to the
fact that Education is your favorite subject.
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A catchy phrase used in both the main title and a subtitle
For instance:
Pros and Cons of Not Partying All the Night Long: Student’s Life of a Computer Nerd
Or
Reading Kills Your Imagination: 5 Facts about the Books that Devastated Your Student’s Life
How do I Write a Sensational Title for my Essay?
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Focus on the type of an essay you have as your homework assignment
Different types of essays (such as narrative, argumentative, cause and effect, persuasive, expository etc.) require definite types of titles.
In such a way, an argumentative essay should start with a title that will give your readers the idea what point of view you are going to defend – for or
against the case in question. For example, you may use such a title for your argumentative essay:
Smoking Has a Positive Influence on our Health: Smokers with Whiskers
As for the narrative essay, it should not give any details what your essay will be about. It includes only the most habitual idea of your narration.
Narration about your best experience in college may be titled like this:
My First Girlfriend in College: How I Fell in Love
A cause and effect essay should be given a very specific title, as it should immediately clarify the background cause and effect you will state in your
essay. The word “because” used in the title makes a greater impact on your reader and listener. Therefore, you may use such a title as:
Because the World Goes to the East: Everyone Should Study Chinese
If you are thinking about your persuasive essay as your homework task for the next class, you should choose a very demonstrative and forcible title like
this one:
Drink More Coffee before your Lectures: Professors Strike against Sleeping during Classes
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Promote ideas to develop your essay structure
Having written the title does not mean it is ready and will be used at the end of your essay writing. It is only a draft that should guide you further.
First thing to do is to generate more ideas what your essay will be about and who will be your audience.
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Write your essay
It is a common mistake to squeeze your essay into the Procrustean bead of your title. You should write your academic assignment first, and only then
consider whether the title fits to it well or whether you should change it for good.
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Re-consider your essay assignment instructions
Your professor may give you some individual or even unusual recommendations. Then the title you have made up may be very far from that implied by your
teacher. Use such verbs as summarize, analyze, compare/contrast, assess, define, discuss, illustrate, evaluate, outline, describe and make the nouns out of
them to use it in your title – An Outline of …, An Illustration of… etc.
A title in the form of a question is a very good way to spark the reader’s curiosity, if your essay assignment implies a question to be answered.
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Re-read your writing
Put down the main keywords of your essay. Are they encountered in your title as well? If no, include them into the title. Join all the keywords into one
sentence and apply them in the essay title.
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Re-write you title if needed
From time to time, a title you created at the beginning may fit perfectly into the whole image of your essay. However, at most, a title should be edited
and proofread several times. Sometimes, it may seem wordy or very long and primitive. Try to re-read it a few hours later. It will help you hold back a bit
and look at it from the different angle. FreelanceHouse writers will be happy to choose title for
you!
Do not get disappointed at once – your title will be startling and amazing for sure. Hurry up and challenge your imagination now!