Writing Titles

image source

There are many ways to argue. The first place you begin to argue is in your title. Your title forecasts what you are writing about, your disposition toward the problematic questions raised by your topic, and more. 

Titles can be serious, playful, allusive, and provocative. Your content (what you have written) should help determine the nature of your title.

Some common ways of generating creative titles include:

1. Reference (allusion) a famous literary or popular text. (hint: If I read even ONE take on "To Be or Not to Be," i will literally die. This one has been done to death, so please avoid "To Smoke or Not to Smoke," "To Text or Not to Text," and so on). There are so many compelling cultural texts to play with in generating creative titles -- go beyond this familiar old take. Think about favorite novels, films, TV shows, series, etc. Can you play on the popular title "Breaking Bad"? or "Dancing With the Stars"? What's your thing? It's likely that by starting there, you will be able to create a title that gets at your vibe in the essay and is true to your vision.
2. Verbal Wordplay. Is there a pun or creative new spelling? Is there fusion term for your topic? (example: "bingewatching," "hypertasking," etc.)? Go there!
3. Use strategies from this list of helpful tips for generating creative titles. Play! Make it work to advance your argument and compel your readers!

Note: If you want to think about the value of titles, look at some of your favorite website's home pages. How effective are they at compelling you to enter and spend time there? Just LOOK at all the tricks they are using to get and keep you!! You might also look at this site, devoted to famous movie stills! So much visual rhetoric, working so hard! Shadows! Fonts! Layering! Dramatic poses!!

be creative. have fun.