How to Create an Essay Title that Impresses your Readers

An essay title will either drive away or draw in your readers. It is the first thing your professors and markers read, and it has to be perfect.

When carefully and correctly written, an essay title will capture the reader's attention and make them want to read the essay. Think of it as a chance to briefly prove your prowess in expressing your thoughts.

It might sound hard at this point, but not until you are done reading this article. In this post, you will learn everything you need to know to write a good essay title.

Importance of a good essay title

Even though the title is not the most crucial part of a paper, it is still imperative. This is so because it plays a massive role in determining whether or not readers will opt to read your essay. 

A good essay title will tell its readers what to expect in the paper. Besides, it also sets the tone of your essay and augments the arguments within your essay's body paragraphs.

Ensure that your essay tile can motivate your readers to go deeper into the contents of your paper. A well-written essay gets ignored simply because of a poor headline.

Formatting Essay Title Pages (MLA / Chicago / Harvard / APA)

Now that we've defined an essay title, looked at an example, and distinguished the different parts that make a good essay title, let's delve into how to write title pages in different common academic writing and formatting styles.

1. MLA Title Page Format

Essays written in this style of writing don't need a cover page. Some instructors, however, insist that you have a cover page for your paper. If so, here is what to include on the cover page of an MLA paper:

• Author's Name
• Instructor's Name
• Course
• Due Date

In addition, formatting the title page of an MLA paper is easy. Follow the guideline below: 

• The preferred font is Times New Roman, size 12
• The page should be double-spaced
• One-inch margins should be maintained all through the paper
• There shouldn't be any spaces between paragraphs

2. Chicago Title Page Format

A title page is not typically needed in Chicago-style papers; it is often enough to include your paper title at the top of your paper's first page. However, if your instructor asks you to include a title page, follow the Turabian guideline below:

• The title is centered and a third of the way down the opening page
• In case of a subtitle, conclude the title line with a colon and include the subtitle a line below the title
• Your name, class details, and date then follow

Although this is a less common writing style, understand how to write appropriately and come up with and format a Chicago paper title paper. Below are other additional guidelines t follow when formatting a Chicago essay or paper title page:

• The preferred font is Times New Roman, size 12
• Every text on the title page should be centered
• A Chicago paper title page has no running head or page number in the header section
• The page should be double spaced and without any spaces between paragraphs

3. Harvard Title Page Format

Harvard-style papers have a specific and properly-organized cover page. For example, when writing the title page of a Harvard paper:

• A shortened version of the paper's title is included in the header section (right-aligned), and it is preceded by the page number.
• The complete title should appear halfway through the opening page and in capital letters.
• The name of the author then follows three lines later from the title.
• Four lines down the author's name, include the class name and code, professor's name, city and state of the University, and lastly, the paper's due date.

4. APA Title Page Format

The title page of a paper written in APA style contains the following:

• Running head (in the header section and is left aligned)
• Page number (should be right-aligned)
• Title of the paper or essay (should be centered)
• Author's name (should be centered)
• Institutional affiliation (should be centered)
• Author's note (normally found in dissertations, thesis, and long research papers)

It is important to note that the title of an APA paper should not be more than 50 characters long and should be written in capital letters. The preferred font is New Times Roman size 12.

Steps to Creating a Good Essay Title

Coming up with a good essay title involves some important steps. Follow the practices below to create an excellent title for your essay.

1. Create the title last

Individuals often waste much time thinking about crafting a good title for their essay first and then proceeding to write their essay. This might seem a logical thing to do but isn't the most practical thing. Instead, the time you spend thinking about a good essay heading can be used to conduct research for your paper or create an essay outline.

If you've already thought of a working title, put it down somewhere for backup. Note that as you continue writing your essay, a variety of great essay titles that summarize the main ideas in your paper will start coming to your mind.

2. Make use of your thesis statement

A good essay title will influence your audience to be interested in your paper and wish to explore it even further. In addition, your title will make them keen to know more about the content of your writing. This is precisely where the thesis statement takes an important role and offers a clear understanding of your title.

Your title and thesis statement should be interdependent. However, given that the thesis statement is the central argument of a paper, it ought to be included at least somewhere in your chosen title.

3. Consider your essay's audience and tone

A good title captures the attention of its readers, and this can only happen if you are aware of your target audience. It is important to realize that the audience is founded in the transfer of knowledge, and how you address them should be appropriate.

The tone of your essay is also critical. For example, the tone of an argumentative essay differs from that of a descriptive essay. Additionally, academic essays typically use a formal setting when being crafted.

Another thing that determines the tone of the essay is its subject. For example, how you would title an innovation essay is quite different from how you would title a persuasive essay.

 Ensuring that your paper's audience, tone, and theme match your chosen title is vital.

4. Sum the title up in five words

A good essay title is brief but still gives its readers an idea about the main argument in the essay. Conversely, long and highly detailed titles are cumbersome and make it difficult for readers to understand the essay's context.

5. Keep things simple

Avoid the use of complicated or fancy words that might confuse the readers. Instead, go straight to the point and avoid including unnecessary details in the title. Pick out valuable and essential keywords from your paper to craft a good title.

6. Search for creative sayings or quotes

There's no particular rule to be followed when selecting an essay title from the written content. You can pick any phrase or quote relevant to your paper and utilize it as your title. Moreover, you can also use popular idioms or phrases to develop the perfect title for your essay. This will make your paper look more relatable and approachable to your audience.

7. Avoid the use of abbreviations

 Why use abbreviations, slang, or jargon in the title of your essay when you can write complete, proper words? Your readers will spot an abbreviation on your title and immediately assume that the topic is too casual for them to spend their time on. You do not want all the time and commitment you put in to come up with a good essay to go down the drain simply because you used a 'corp.' instead of a 'corporation' in your title.

Features of a good essay title

Suppose you are an ardent reader and researcher. In that case, you will agree with me that a title either makes or breaks the enthusiasm of reading an entire essay or piece of work. If your professor is one of those people who are hard to please, the secret to pleasing them lies in a good essay title.

A perfect essay title is clear, concise, and practical to enthuse your readers, signaling them what to expect as they prepare to read your arguments.

A good title also sells you; it demonstrates that you have researched well and understood the essay prompt. It signals to your readers that you have your composure game on and that you understand the scope of the essay and the topic. Over and above, it is the entry point to your essay.

When writing an essay title, you should ensure that it has at least these three components to make it a solid essay title:

The different kinds of essays all share the same formula or pattern for crafting their titles. Below are the three features of a good essay title:

• A memorable hook: A catchy hook will draw your readers in. It is a creative way of introducing your essay to your audience. For example, a good title will immediately grab your reader's attention. It will motivate them to start reading your essay.
• Topic keywords: The topic keywords describe the essay; it identifies the central concept discussed in the rest of the paper. This particular component answers the "what" part of the paper. Write some topic-related keywords to help your readers understand your topic and what to expect in the paper. This should answer the "What" of your paper. It should talk about the purpose of writing the paper.
• Focus keywords: These words inform the reader of the paper's time and place being reviewed. The two keywords mentioned here (i.e., topic and focus keywords) make the title much more professional by providing more details regarding the topic to the readers. These are the keywords that help contextualize your essay. They tell your audience the source of the argument and where the concepts in your essay come from.

Below is an example to illustrate this so that you can frame an essay title better.

The impacts of the Russian-Ukrainian War on Global peace post-Covid 19 pandemics

Hook: The impacts

Topic keywords: Russian-Ukrainian War, Global Peace

Focus Keywords: post-Covid 19 pandemic

Examples of Good Essay Titles

An essay title depends on the type of essay. Here are a few good examples of essay titles for different types of essays:

Descriptive essay

1. What is true friendship?
2. How to develop a good relationship with kids
3. Why is Greece a top tourist destination?
4. Why cats make good companions
5. My greatest fear

Argumentative essay

1. All countries should return the death penalty
2. French is one of the most challenging languages to learn
3. Do steroids destroy or help the body?
4. Society has the responsibility of reducing teenage pregnancies
5. Are the elections in European nations free and fair for all?

Cause and effect essay

1. What are the leading causes of inflation?
2. Adolescents and video games: what leads to addiction
3. What are the future consequences of air pollution?
4. How does life satisfaction improve overall health?
5. What are the top causes of illegal immigration?

Persuasive essay

1. The American Revolution served as a turning point in the country's history
2. Gender inequalities in the world today should be condemned
3. Should the British government legalize prostitution?
4. Should weed be legalized in all states of America?
5. Industrial activities should be controlled to preserve nature's biodiversity.

Dos and Don'ts when writing an essay title

When writing an essay title, you should;

• Use some appropriate words: While others do not know where to begin, some don't know when to stop. It is important to note that good titles don't contain meaningless fancy words. Instead, use a few topic words to bait your reader and get them to read the rest of your essay.
• Keep things simple: Be specific and clear. The main purpose of an essay title is to give the paper a name and a brief glimpse of what to expect. This, however, does not imply that you should narrate your entire story. Instead, use a few relevant words that will hit the nail on the head, and you'll be good to go.
• Use subtitles: A subtitle reinforces the main title. Try combining a short title with a longer subtitle.

Here is what to avoid when writing an essay title:

• Don't include unnecessary words. Your title should be as brief as possible.
• Don't use abbreviations or jargon.
• Do not use fancy and complicated words that might b be difficult for the reader to understand.
• Do not neglect your instructor's requirements. You need to understand the given instructions properly to avoid choosing the wrong topic.

Concluding remarks

The overall success of writing an essay depends on the arguments developed and the title. However, many students find it hard to develop good titles for their essays or papers.

Luckily, with the help of the tips provided in this post, you should be able to craft an excellent essay title. Just keep in mind that a good title is one that; grabs the reader's attention, reflects the tone of your work and provides a glimpse of the rest of your essay.