Cathy A.
Cathy A.

How to Title an Essay - Tips, Examples, and Formats

8 min read

Published on: Jan 13, 2020

Last updated on: May 19, 2023

How to Title an Essay

On This Page On This Page

A title of an essay can make or break it. This means that an essay title can either attract or repel readers. Attractive essay titles can grab the attention of those who belong to a field of study different than yours.

Think of an essay title as the icing of a cake. Nobody would be interested in the cake if it’s not appealing to the eyes. Similarly, if you do not have a creative title for your essay, nobody would want to read it!

A properly named essay will give an idea about the content of the essay to the readers. Unfortunately, not everyone knows the ways to create attractive essay titles. Are you a student and want to learn the art of creating great essay titles?

Then read this blog to learn how to title an essay and create eye-catching titles.

Let’s start reading!

What is the Importance of a Good Essay Title?

A good essay title is the one that will help to grab the attention of a reader. A tedious headline will never attract the readers.

Therefore, while writing the title of your essay, make sure it is interesting enough to engage your readers. If you have a good essay title, the reader will be more interested in reading the entire essay.

Remember that title is the first thing your reader will notice. So you have to ensure that you put all your efforts while choosing the title of your essay.

People often confuse titling an essay with naming a research paper. A research paper’s title supports a specific claim or solves a problem. However, an essay title is crafted to attract and impress the audience.

Order Essay

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job

How to Create an Engaging Essay Title?

Here are some principles that you should keep in mind when titling an essay.

  • Write Your Essay First: Starting right away with writing a title is not a good idea. Instead, always begin writing your essay first. If you write your title first, you may not be able to think freely.

Therefore, for a clear understanding, write the text of your essay before choosing a title. Once you have written the essay, read its text multiple times to develop an attractive essay title.

If you would keep writing an essay title as the last step, you will have enough time to craft your essay outline, conduct research, and write your essay.

  • Take the Type of Essay into Consideration: Always consider the type of essay before writing your title. Which type of essay are you writing? Is it a persuasive essay or a narrative essay?

Choose the title that justifies and is according to your essay’s type.

  • Determine the Tone of Your Essay: Keep in mind the essay’s tone by analyzing the topic and craft an essay title accordingly.

For example, if the topic of your essay is “Should the death penalty be enforced on murderers?” then you must not choose a hilarious title.

However, if the topic is “why do people like watching funny videos?” then you can write the humorous title.

The tone of your essay can be:

    • Serious
    • Informative
    • Funny
    • Amiable
    • Persuasive
  • Keep it Simple and Precise: You have to summarize your paper or essay briefly in the title. No need to write long and complicated phrases. Just take the thesis statement and shorten it to fit as a title.
  • Use Relevant Words: Avoid fancy words, abbreviations, and slang words. Instead, take the main topic keywords and craft an attractive title out of them.
  • Utilize Online Tools: Sometimes students need additional help to come up with a good and engaging essay title. In case you need help, use an online title generator to generate titles for your essay.

However, do not use any title as it is but customize it accordingly.

Mistakes to Avoid when Creating an Essay Title

Following are some mistakes that you need to avoid while crafting the title of any essay:

  • Negative Themes: Avoid touching on sensitive issues, immoral and unethical subjects.
  • Talking About Your Negative Past: Do not discuss the negative details of your past in your writings.
  • Asking the Wrong Questions: Asking irrelevant questions will increase the risk of choosing the wrong topic.
  • Being too personal: Keep the tone of your essay title impersonal. Do not make it casual by incorporating your personal life issues.
  • Neglecting your Teacher’s Requirements: Always ensure you have understood your instructor’s requirements well. However, if you ignore your professor’s instructions, then there is a chance that you will choose the wrong topic.

Characteristics of a Good Essay Title

A good essay title must be:

  • Attractive: This is one of the most obvious and important characteristics. No one prefers to read essays with boring titles.
  • Easy to Read: The title of your essay must not be complicated to read or understand. Use words or phrases that most people are familiar with.
  • Believable: Do not just use popular phrases to make your titles catchy. Create titles that are accurate and deliver the message right away.
  • Active Voice: Always use the verbs that are in an active voice rather than passive.
  • Brief & Short: Your essay titles must be precise, long titles can confuse the reader.
  • Accurate: Never write an invalid essay title. An inaccurate title will make a bad impression on the reader and anger your professor.

Order Essay

Tough Essay Due? Hire Tough Writers!

Examples of Good Essay Titles

Below are some great examples of essay topics and titles to help you craft a title of your own:

Examples of Argumentative Essay Titles

  • What is the importance of family ties?
  • The age of drinking must be higher
  • Sentencing Juveniles must be banned
  • Security cameras violate public privacy
  • Gun ownership must be legalized for self-defense
  • Cosmetic surgery is ruining teenagers
  • Art matters
  • Euthanasia is unethical
  • Men and women have equal rights
  • Competition can ruin lives

Related: Interesting Argumentative Essay Topics & New Ideas

Examples of Persuasive Essay Titles

  • Women should stop wearing revealing clothes
  • More men in IT industries: Pros and Cons
  • Murderers must be given the death penalty
  • Schools must use video games to improve the learning process
  • More women in the fashion industry: Pros and Cons
  • College students must be allowed to use mobiles in classrooms
  • Life is fun without siblings
  • Love or allergies? A tale of flowers
  • Do not judge people by their tattoos
  • Live and let live

Related: Amazing Persuasive Essay Topics To Impress Everyone

Examples of Research Paper Titles

  • Online baking business in 2022
  • Covid-19 cases dropped after vaccination
  • Policies of college admission in American Colleges
  • Importance of cybersecurity in the 21st-century
  • Homeschooling impact on teenagers
  • Impact of online classes on high school students
  • Impact of work from home on the world’s economy
  • Effect of quarantine on small businesses
  • Outsourcing for huge organizations
  • Effect of Covid-19 on the Earth’s atmosphere.

Related: Best Research Paper Topics for Students to Choose From

Examples of College Essay Titles?

  • Illegal immigration in America 2022
  • How has social media impacted our lives?
  • Does marijuana treat cancer?
  • Should drug addicts be allowed to give jobs?
  • What is extremism, and how are religious people linked to it?
  • Should dating be legalized for teenagers?
  • Is it ethical to use the phone while talking to elders?
  • How has vaccination reduced the cases of coronavirus?
  • Why is it not okay to be rude to your parents?
  • Is religion the answer to all questions?

Examples of Essay Titles About Yourself

  • Childhood Heroes
  • The things I’d like to change about myself
  • The things I love the most about myself
  • Living in a weird yet wonderful world
  • Little luxuries of life
  • Living in the moment
  • A moment that changed my life
  • Teenage memories
  • An important event that changed my life
  • In 20 years…

Expert Tips to Help You Write a Good Essay Title

Following are some expert tips to write a great title of an essay:

  • Use questions to make your essay’s title catchy.
  • Try describing your essay in 5 words and use them in your title.
  • Use one simple word to describe the main theme of your essay and create the title around it.
  • Choose a statement from the paper that best describes the main idea and theme of your work.
  • If applicable, try using pop culture as an influence. For example, use the names of books, songs, or famous movies to describe your paper.
  • Begin your title with ‘On’. it could be a bit difficult and this tip may not work for everyone but if this works for you, it would help you create a good title.
  • Make a list of -ing words and see which ones could work better as your essay’s title.
  • What mental image does the title make? Describe that mental image and use creative words for it.
  • If you have any previously rejected title, rework it and create a new title out of it.
  • Choose two titles from your list and join them, if possible.

Besides, there could be numerous other ways of coming up with a good and impressive essay title.

As a student, you would get several chances to write academic essays at different levels of education. Unfortunately, students find it difficult to write a good or attractive essay title. For this purpose, they often use or take the help of title generators.

However, hopefully, this blog must have helped you by providing great tips and ways to craft amazing essay titles.

If you still can’t figure out the right title for your essay or want a perfect essay to impress your teacher, you can contact our professional essay writers at WriteMyEssay.help for your "help write my essay" requests.

Our essay writers will provide you with flawless essays, written through a careful writing process, with catchy titles in no time!

Place your order to get your essay, and their titles are written now!

Frequently Asked Questions

Do essay titles get italicized?

No. The essay titles are neither italicized nor bolded. Instead, use quotation marks for the titles of your essays.

Cathy A.

WRITTEN BY

Cathy A., Marketing, Literature

Cathy has been a trusted source of high-quality writing for more than five years. With her in-depth knowledge of mass communication from her Master's degree, she always produces work that meets the needs of her clients. In fact, they often leave her 5-star reviews for being an outstanding writer who is very passionate about their craft.

Cathy has been a trusted source of high-quality writing for more than five years. With her in-depth knowledge of mass communication from her Master's degree, she always produces work that meets the needs of her clients. In fact, they often leave her 5-star reviews for being an outstanding writer who is very passionate about their craft.

Keep reading