Week 3 Discussion 1

For this post, you will: 

1. Write five titles to your paper. 
2. Choose which one you think is best and explain why. To do so, you might also have to explain why the others didn't work.

One of the most overlooked issues in writing a paper is the use of effective titles. In fact, many times students forget to put a title on their papers at all! But a good title is vital for it is the very first signpost to your reader. It indicates the subject, tone, and limits of your paper. Students often put little thought into their titles, but academics often obsess over them, and the more advanced your studies become the more important a good title will be. It can be quite difficult to find the perfect title for your paper.

Here are some good tips for writing a title. I'll use examples from our book.

Titles don't always have to be clever, sometimes being direct is the best choice.

"Outsourcing the Mentally Ill to Police"

"Threatening Ocean Life" 

Many times titles will ask the question they seek to answer.

"Should Felon’s Vote?"

"Bilingual or Immersion?"

“Can you Program Ethics into a Self-Driving Car?”

Some titles use clever plays on words 

"Prescribing Under the Influence" 

"How ‘They’ become ‘We’"

Some use alliteration (the repetition of consonant or vowel sounds).

"Altered Oceans: Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas"

Many titles use colons to both use a catchy short title and one that gets to the heart of the argument. 

"The Point of No Return: Climate Change Nightmares Are Already Here."

“Ronald Regan’s Shameful Legacy: Violence, the Homeless, Mental Illness.”

Our topic for titles: Auto pilot: Self driving cars