Essay Title Ideas: 40 Examples, Formulas and Format Rules

Good titles for essays do three things. They tell the reader what the essay covers, they hint at your position or angle, and they use specific words, not broad labels. Many teachers treat titles for essays as part of the first impression: a clear title shows that you know your own argument. Start with essay title ideas that name your topic, then add the angle.

Think of the title as a promise, and make sure the essay keeps it. Strong titles for essays are usually the last thing a writer finishes, and the best essay title ideas come from the thesis, not from a blank page. If your title says "Why Cities Should Tax Plastic Bags," your thesis should argue exactly that. When the essay changes during drafting, change the title too.

If you want a quick set of options to compare, the free essay title generator takes your topic and thesis and returns ten titles, each with a note on what it does. Use it for ideas, then choose and revise the one that fits. You can also pair it with the college essay titles and paper title ideas later in this guide.

Good titles for essays: four traits to check

• Specific. It names the subject, not the category.
• Accurate. It matches the thesis and the tone.
• Concise. Many work in about three to twelve words, with a subtitle if needed.
• Interesting. It uses a strong noun, a verb or a concrete image.

Best essay titles avoid these habits

The best essay titles skip announcements such as "An Essay About" and "My Paper on." They avoid clichés ("Only Time Will Tell") and jokes that undercut a serious argument. They also avoid spoilers that make the final paragraph pointless.

Essay title format depends on your citation style and your teacher. Follow the assignment sheet first. The basics below come from Purdue OWL's MLA general format guide and APA Style's title page guide.

MLA essay title format

In MLA, you center the title, write it in title case, and do not underline, italicize or put it in quotation marks. Double-space between the title and the first line of text. MLA papers usually have no separate title page unless the instructor asks for one. See our MLA heading guide for the full first page.

APA essay title format

In APA 7 student papers, the title is bold, centered and in title case, starting about three to four lines below the top of the page. APA sets no maximum length, but says to keep titles focused and include key terms. For the rest of the page, see our APA format guidelines.

Chicago and Turabian

Chicago-style class papers often use a title page, and the exact layout varies by instructor. Our Chicago style paper format and Turabian format guides cover the details.

Titles of works inside your title

If your title mentions another work, format that work's title the usual way: italics for a book such as The Great Gatsby, and quotation marks for a short work such as a poem or short story. Title case means capitalizing the major words and lowercasing short articles, conjunctions and prepositions unless they open the title.

Formulas speed up essay title suggestions because they give you a structure to fill in. The seven below cover most titles for essays you will write in high school and college, and each one can turn a single draft into several essay title ideas. Try each one with your own thesis, then keep the version that reads most naturally.

The colon formula

Put the topic first, then the angle: "Screens Off: How Late-Night Scrolling Cuts Into Teen Sleep." This is the standard academic pattern, and it works for almost every essay type. Many of the best essay title ideas in the list below use it.

The question formula

A question can invite the reader in: "Should High Schools Start Later?" Use it when the essay answers the question, and avoid it when a statement of the claim would be stronger.

The claim formula

Make the thesis the title: "Public Libraries Are Worth Their Cost." It is blunt and clear, which suits argumentative essays.

The image formula

A concrete image, such as "Thirty Miles to the Nearest Library," works well for personal and narrative essays.

The quotation formula

Borrow a short phrase from your source or from the text you are analyzing, then add a subtitle that explains it: "'A Small, Good Thing': Kindness in Raymond Carver's Fiction." Quote accurately and keep it short.

The contrast formula

Set two ideas against each other: "Paper or Pixels: How We Read." It signals comparison and keeps the title balanced.

The keyword formula

For research papers, lead with the key terms: "Microplastics in Drinking Water: A Review of the Evidence." Search tools and readers find papers by those words.

Published essays use the same moves. Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" (1946) links two topics, Swift's "A Modest Proposal" (1729) uses ironic understatement, and King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963) names a form and a place. In each case the title is easy to remember because it is plain and exact.

Here are 40 essay title ideas in eight groups, so you can scan for the type of essay you are writing and borrow the pattern. All are invented for this guide. Treat them as sample essay titles that show structure, and write a title that fits your own thesis and sources. If none of these essay title suggestions fits, change one word at a time until the title says what your essay says.

Argumentative essay titles

• Required Financial Literacy: A Course Every Graduate Needs
• Why the School Day Should Start at 8:30
• Screens Off: The Case for Phone-Free Classrooms
• Fair Fares: Why Public Transit Should Be Free for Students
• Paying for Plastic: Why Cities Should Tax Disposable Bags

Persuasive essay titles

• Give Teens a Vote on Local Budgets
• One Hour Outside: A Daily Habit Worth Defending
• Adopt, Don't Shop: Choosing a Shelter Pet
• Your Library Card Is Worth More Than You Think
• Sleep Is Not Optional

Literary analysis titles

• The Green Light as Promise and Warning in The Great Gatsby
• Silence as Power in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Who Speaks for Maycomb? Voice in To Kill a Mockingbird
• Breaking the Frame: Narrative Structure in Frankenstein
• Reading the Weather in Wuthering Heights

Compare and contrast titles

• Two Ways to Learn: Online Classes and Lecture Halls
• Chicago or Cedar Rapids: Where a College Budget Goes Further
• Paper or Pixels: How We Read
• Marathon or Sprint: Two Ways to Study for Finals
• Same Story, Different Screen: Book and Film Versions of a Favorite Novel

Informative essay titles

• How Vaccines Train the Immune System
• Inside a Honeybee Colony
• The Water Cycle, Step by Step
• What Happens in Your Brain While You Sleep
• A Short History of the Bicycle

Narrative and personal essay titles

• The Summer I Learned to Swim
• Forty Minutes Late and Still Smiling
• What My Grandmother's Kitchen Taught Me
• Learning to Lose at Chess
• The Day the Power Went Out

Research paper titles

• Microplastics in Drinking Water: A Review of the Evidence
• Social Media Use and Teen Sleep: A Literature Review
• Urban Tree Cover and Summer Temperatures in Phoenix
• The Effects of Bilingual Education on Reading Scores
• Rural Broadband and Student Achievement: What the Data Show

College application titles

• The Sound of My Name
• Fixing Things
• A Seat at the Counter
• Thirty Miles to the Nearest Library
• Learning to Ask Questions

Whether you need college essay titles depends on the application, and a title is generally optional. Application essays are often typed or pasted into a single text box, so check whether the form has a separate place for a title. If it does not, any title you add goes inside the essay box and may count toward the word limit. If a title is optional, treat it as a small bonus, not a requirement. A short, concrete title can set the tone, but a weak or clever title can hurt more than it helps. Strong college essay titles are plain and specific, in the same voice as the essay.

How to title a college essay

Write the essay first, because college essay titles are easiest to find once the draft is done. Then look for a concrete image, object, place or phrase that sits at its center, and use it. "The Sound of My Name" and "Fixing Things" show how little it takes. Avoid broad titles ("My Journey," "Overcoming Obstacles") and avoid explaining the lesson in the title. Let the essay do that.

Scholarship and supplemental essays

For scholarship and supplemental essays, check the instructions, and apply the same advice you use for other college essay titles. Some programs ask you to leave off a title, and others expect one. Keep the same standard: be specific, be honest and match the tone of your writing. If you are working on an opener for the essay itself, see our guide on how to start a scholarship essay and our tips on how to write an introduction.

Creative titles for essays

Creative titles for essays work best when the essay itself is personal or reflective. A pun, a line of dialogue or an unexpected pairing can work. If it makes a reader smile and the essay is serious, check that the tone still fits. In an academic paper, choose clarity over cleverness.

Paper title ideas for research work are different from essay title ideas for English class, and they follow the keyword formula: the title tells the reader what you studied and what kind of paper it is. A literature review, a case study and an experiment each signal their type in the subtitle: "A Literature Review," "A Case Study," "Evidence From Three Schools."

Research paper titles

Lead with the main variable or concept, add the setting or population, and finish with a subtitle if you need one. "Urban Tree Cover and Summer Temperatures in Phoenix" does all three. Avoid abbreviations unless readers of the field know them, and avoid starting with "A Study of" or "An Analysis of," since those words add length and no information.

Titles for a paper in a class

For a class paper, the same rules apply on a smaller scale. State the subject, add your angle and keep it accurate. If you want a draft title for a research paper to compare with your own, the research paper title generator builds titles from your topic. Whatever you pick, reread it after you finish your conclusion; for more help ending a paper, see our guide on how to write a conclusion.

Most weak titles for essays fail in a few predictable ways, and each is easy to fix.

Titles that are only a topic

"Climate Change" names a subject, not an essay. Add your angle: "Seawalls or Retreat: How Coastal Towns Should Plan for Rising Seas."

Titles that announce the paper

Skip "An Essay About," "My Paper on" and "A Research Paper." The reader already knows it is an essay, so spend those words on the topic. Good essay title ideas always earn their space.

Titles that do not match the essay

If you revise the argument, revise the title. A mismatch tells the reader you did not reread your own work.

Wrong formatting

Do not put your own title in quotation marks, bold it (unless your style, such as APA, asks you to) or write it in all capitals. Match the style your class uses.

Overly clever titles

A pun can work, but only if the meaning is clear in a few seconds. The same goes for college essay titles, where a pun can look like trying too hard. If you have to explain a title, rewrite it. For more ideas in other forms, see our guides to book title ideas and poem prompts, or browse all of our student writing guides. When you want one more round of essay title suggestions to compare with your favorites, run your thesis through the essay title generator.