How to Write a Good Headline

Writing an essay or a story can seem like the hardest part of a project, but sometimes writing with a compelling title can be just as difficult. However, with a combination of organization and creativity, you can generate a wide selection of potential titles and choose the perfect title for your work.

Table of Contents

Write a title for a work of non-fiction

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Write a draft of the essay. The title is the first thing a reader will see, but it is often the last thing a writer writes. You probably don’t know what your essay will really say until you’ve written down a section.

Essays often change during the drafting and revision process. The title you come up with may not reflect the full meaning of the essay once you have completed it. Make sure you revise the title after you finish your article.

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Identify the main themes in the work. Usually, works of nonfiction have a thesis. Make a list of two or three main points you’re trying to argue with.

Review the thesis statement. This sentence represents the main point of the article and can help you come up with a title.
Consider the sentence that summarizes the main idea of the passage. Reading these sentences can help you pick out themes, symbols, or logos in the article that can be incorporated into the headline.
Consider asking a friend to read the work to help you identify the theme.

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Define your target audience. Write down some groups of people who will be interested in your topic and why they will be drawn to it.

If you’re working on a school assignment, or your audience is academics and experts in the subject, use formal language. Avoid using playful tones or slang words.
If you’re trying to reach an online audience, think about the keywords your readers might use to find your article. For example, if you’re writing a tutorial, providing keywords like “beginner” or “do it yourself” will determine that your article is appropriate for all ability levels.
If the piece is a news story, consider who you are writing about. For example, if you’re writing about a sports team, include terms like “fan”, “coach”, “referee”, or team name. Readers with an interest in that sport or team can quickly identify your point of view and the theme of the story.

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Think about the function of a headline. Headings predict the content of the essay, reflect a tone or point of view, provide keywords, and attract attention. Your headline should never fool the reader. A title can also reflect the purpose of the article, such as historical context, theoretical approach, or thesis. ^{[1] X Research Source}

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Decide between a narrative, descriptive or, questionable title. When you’re choosing one of the headlines, think about the type of information you want to convey to your readers.

The narrative title states the main findings or conclusions.
The descriptive title describes the topic of the article but does not reveal the main conclusion.
The interrogative title introduces the topic in the form of a question. ^{[2] X Research Source}

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Avoid overly verbose titles. For work of nonfiction, the title should convey key information, keywords, and even methodology. However, a title that is too long can feel cluttered and intrusive. Try to write it about 10 words or less.

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Seek ideas from your own writing. Read the article again to find a sentence or phrase where you mention the main idea. Usually the opening or closing paragraphs will have an ideal title phrase. Highlight or note any words or phrases that explain your idea.

Look for attention-grabbing descriptions or phrases in which you feel confident. For example, in an essay on censorship, choose a phrase like “banned music” that is descriptive and engaging.

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Review your source. Look for citations from sources you’ve used to support your point about something that grabs your reader’s attention.

For example, in an essay on religious persecution, a quote like “God is silent” will attract attention and provoke thought. Readers may immediately agree or disagree and will want to read your explanation.
If you use other people’s statements, make sure to enclose them in quotes even in the title.

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Create a list of available titles. Using the list of topics, subjects, phrases, and quotes created in the previous steps, brainstorm possible words and phrases. Try combining two different elements, such as citation and subject. Usually writers separate two elements with a colon. The notes in parentheses in the following examples identify the elements the author has chosen.

Negative impact of substitute referees on football fans (Theme and Spectators)
“A Great Victory”: Understanding the Western Front in World War I (Citation and Theme)
The Diamond Queen: Marie-Antoinette and Revolutionary Propaganda (Phrase and Theme)

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Respect the conventions. Different disciplines, such as the sciences, humanities, or arts may have different conventions about a valid title. If you are aware of a particular expectation, you should adhere to those guidelines. Here are some general conventions to keep in mind:

Most words in your title should start with a capital letter.
The first word and the first word after the colon should always be capitalized even if it is one of the “short words”.
In general, do not capitalize the following words: and, one (and, a, an, the) or short prepositions if they are not the first letter of the title. ^{[3] X Research Sources}
If the title of a book or movie is part of your essay title, italicize it, such as The Sex Relationship Between Vampires in Twilight . Short story titles are always in quotation marks.
Identify if the work follows the MLA, APA, or other style. Sites like Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab, APA Style, and MLA Handbook can help you use conventions for headings.

Write a title for a novel

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Get ideas. Write down every word that comes to mind about your story. You can write keywords about your topic, character names, your favorite phrases, and whatever else comes to mind. Arrange them into different combinations to see if something appeals to you.

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Research the titles of your fiction genre. Look for stories or books that are popular with your target audience. Readers may be drawn to your work because it reminds them of something they once enjoyed.

For example, many young adult fantasy novels revolve around 1 or 2 catchy keywords: Twilight, Claw, Cinderella, Modern Day Cinderella .

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Create interesting titles. Boring or generic titles will not capture the reader’s interest. Titles like “Tree” or “Train” may name a theme or symbol in the story, but it doesn’t interest the reader.

Try adding more descriptive words to the basic title. Successful titles that use descriptive words include Tree of Gift, Tree That Grows in Brooklyn, Mystery of the Blue Train , and Orphaned Train .

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Make the title easy to remember. Headlines should not only capture the attention of your readers, but also spread the word about your work. A title that’s too hard to remember won’t attract editors or publishers, and your readers won’t remember to be able to tell others about the title. You should write an interesting title, but catchy and easy to remember. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Read the title out loud. Is it hard to read? Is it interesting? Does it sound boring? Are you going to use this title? The answers to these questions can help you revise the title.

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Pay attention to word usage. A title should be relevant to the story, yet it doesn’t need to confuse your potential readers. Make sure your wording doesn’t describe the story as something unrelated. Your title shouldn’t feel like a sci-fi story if it’s a romance.

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Use strong and vivid words. A headline needs to stand out. Powerful action words, lively adjectives, or catchy nouns can all make your headlines catchy. Consider the wording of your potential headline. Are there more descriptive or unique synonyms? Can you choose a word with a more specific meaning? Some words have too common a meaning that doesn’t always attract the reader.

For example, the use of the word “desire” in Eugene O’Neill’s Aspiration Under the Elm Bush is much more interesting than in Love Under the Elm Bush . ^{[5] X Research Sources}

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Look for inspiration. Book titles often come from great published works, such as the Bible, Shakespeare, song lyrics, or other sources. Write down phrases that are meaningful, nice, or attractive to you.

Some examples of this type of headline include: The Grapes of Wrath; Absent, Absent; Night Gaudy and, Fault of the Stars .

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Read your own work. Titles are often memorable lines from the book or story itself. Readers can enjoy this moment when they realize why a story has that particular title.

Some examples of this type of title include To Kill a Mockingbird, Trap 22 , and Catching the Field Child .

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Write down your inspirations as they surge. Often, good ideas come when you least expect them. You can forget about them, so have a sheet of paper and pencil handy to jot down ideas whenever inspiration strikes. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

Advice

Write your entire essay, review your thesis, and find a way to summarize it in 2 to 4 words.
Try sample references to get an idea of how to write a good headline.

Steps

Write a title for a work of non-fiction

Write a title for a novel

Advice

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