Always give your essay an interesting and informative title. Your title is the first chance you have to grab the reader’s attention. So ask yourself if your title would make someone want to read your essay.

Simply stating the essay’s number (“Essay #1” or “Essay #2”) or the topic for the assignment (“Compare and Contrast Essay” or “Hamlet Essay”) is not sufficient.

There are three general types of acceptable titles for academic papers.

Topic Titles
State the topic of your essay in a specific and engaging way. Think of topic titles as a headline version of your thesis statement.

“Aliens Cause Global Warming”
“The Shakespearean Actor as Kamikaze Pilot”
“Why Nerds Are Unpopular”

Question Titles
Use the critical question your essay addresses for your title. Your thesis will be the answer to this question.

“Is Sugar Toxic?”
“Who Owns Intelligence?”
“What are Homosexuals For?”

Two-Phrase Titles
Many academic essays have titles consisting of two phrases separated by a colon. The first phrase is an attention grabber or a mystery phrase designed to peak the reader’s interest; the second phrase explicitly states the essay’s topic. (The second phrase is like a topic title.)

“Boring From Within: The Art of the Freshman Essay”
“Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”
“Tense Present: Democracy, English, and Wars over Usage”