Essay Writing Titles: Being Creative Without Topic Generators

Essay writing is a stage you cannot skip when you are in school or college. Essays are widespread in all learning institutions. Through essay writing, a tutor can know a student’s analytical, persuasive, and research skills.

As a student, you have to write the best essays if you want to please your tutors.

The discussion of a good essay cannot be complete without mentioning the title. In reality, the title can make or break the final appearance of the essay you are going to present. It has to be a title that will intrigue the professor or any other reader.

Needless to say, you need to be very selective in your choice of words and style of constructing an essay title.

The title you put in an essay reveals a lot about what the reader expects. It needs striking ideas that will make your readers yearn to read more. If the headline of your essay is not attention-grabbing, readers will find it boring to read.

A good essay title needs to engage the audience and incentivize them to continue enjoying the rest of your essay.               

People Also Read: How to write an Informal Essay: All you need to know

Do You Underline Essay Titles?

Many writers make good arguments, storytelling, and narrations in their essays but still end up with a bad score. Titling is what betrays these types of essays. It is important to learn proper ways of formatting your essay title to attract your readers.

Underlining, italicizing, and bolding are some of the common pitfalls that bring total confusion to a writer.

In a typical essay, avoid underlining the title because it is not necessary. If your title is in boldface, you already have the emphasis that an essay title requires. Adding underlines will overemphasize the title. Nevertheless, if you opt to do it, there is no need for bolding the title.

A bold title that is underlined will not look good on your essay.

The same case applies to the subheadings you give to your paragraphs. Since every section of essay writing needs titling so that your audience finds it easy to read, the text must look orderly. The titles should not be underlined because the spacing is enough to bring out the right emphasis.

For better clarity, the first letter of the words in your title should be in capital. However, this should not apply to pronouns, conjunctions, articles, or prepositions.

Instances When You Italicize Essay Titles

When it comes to the use of italics font in an essay, there are many factors to be considered.

Italicization of titles is advisable when the source is liberated and self-reliant. The titles written in films, books, databases, and periodicals are usually italicized. This should apply to the titles that are within the body of your essay.

The main title of the essay does not have to be italicized.

Moreover, if the source of the title you are having is part of another work, the use of italics is recommended. In this case, italicization should be accompanied by quotation marks to put the right emphasis on the title and distinguish it from the rest.

When used in a title, the slanting style of italic fonts can be very effective in emphasizing the title. Generally, full works that include newspapers and books will appear better when the titles are in italics. Short writings such as stories and poems use quotation marks as opposed to italics.

People Also Read: Persuasive Essays: Introduction, Structure, & Topic Examples

Do You Bold Essay Titles?

The titles in an essay should not be bold or even appear in quotation marks. As long as it is in the center and a double space appears, the styling is correct.

The use of a period after a title is also not recommended.

In addition, bolding of titles is not necessary because the centering and spacing is enough to show the audience the emphasis of the titles.

However, this depends on the format of writing. For instance, APA style recommends titles to be in boldface and at the center of the respective paragraphs. On top of this, there should be no inclusion of abbreviations or any unwanted words.

This is how to create a succinct title that has few words but delivers an accurate message to your audience.

Why Are Essay Titles Important?

The title you choose has an immense impact on your essay. It will determine if your audience will be interested in reading your essay or not.

The title is what gives the readers a brief explanation of what to expect in the entire essay. It should grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read more.

The wrong choice of title in an essay can be the defining point.

If the final essay you are going to submit does not have a catchy title, impressing your tutor will be difficult.

Through a title, the audience discovers how you develop the story arguments and they will want to read more. Therefore, a title plays an important role in the success of the entire essay.

When you present your essay, the first thing the reader will face is the title. If it is interesting, the reader will be eager to continue reading. If it is boring, it jeopardizes the judgment of your professor.

People Also Read: IB English Written Assignment: How to Write & Some Examples

Qualities of a Good Title

You have to write the best titles for your essay by observing the following qualities:

1. Make it as Attractive as Possible

No professor will have time for an essay or academic paper that has a boring title. In essence, if the title is boring, there is a higher likelihood that other subtopics used and the entire content is the same. Thus, take time and invest in a title that is attractive to the readers.

As much as you want it to be catchy, believability should be observed. You might focus on creating an attractive title and end up straying away from the truth. This will not only make the headline inaccurate but also unprofessionally erroneous. In the end, a writer will have a catchy title that does not deliver the expectations in the essay body.

2. Simple to Read

It should be easy to read with no complicated or contentious words. Likable titles in an essay do not contain strange and complicated phrases. Use common and recommended fonts with no complex structures.

3. Write in Active Voice

Stick to an active voice when writing essay titles. Avoid the use of passive phrases in your titles. In addition to this, make them as brief as possible.

Long and complicated titles make it difficult for your audience to understand. Short titles demonstrate a writer’s ability to write concise essays.

4. Specific Titles

Professors recommend accurate titles no matter the topic you have. This gives the audience a clear knowledge of what the essay is all about. Inaccurate titles can dent the overall quality of your essay.

5. Avoid Controversy

To create effective titles in your essay, try not to sound offensive or negative so that you avoid controversy. Staying positive in your title and avoiding the use of controversial terms will ensure that your essay has a professional outlook. This simply means that even when the teacher gives you a dull and unexciting topic; try to make the titles positive. 

Lest you forget, good titles make use of appropriate language to make a positive impression on readers.

To finalize your title, it is important to review the final version you have. Proofread thoroughly to check if there are spelling, grammar, or sentence structure issues. Going through it several times will help you to know if the essay you have written deserves this kind of title.