The title of an essay, research paper, or other print document
is often the last element students write but the first element readers
see. Although a good title cannot save a bad paper, a good one casts
a halo around a so-so paper.
The digital equivalent of a print document's title is a
subject line. In emails and forum posts, the subject line
can be the most important part of the entire message.
How to teach title-writing
Rather than spending a unit or lesson on how to write a title
for an essay or research paper, I suggest a two-pronged approach
to the teaching of title writing, which approach stresses practical
ways students can use information about titles:
-
Devote most of your time teaching about title writing
to the role of titles in reading comprehension.
-
Devote most or your time teaching how to write
a title to developing subject lines for digital communications.
This teaching strategy puts most of your effort into applications
that students use daily. Students are more likely to learn
how to write a title by practicing in authentic ways with regular
feedback than by an invented activity in English class.
Begin with literacy coaching
Draw attention to the titles of works students read and encourage
them to draw connections between the title and the work content.
Students in elementary school should learn to examine titles
as part of surveying or previewing reading material, yet many
of my college students need to be taught that the title of a nonfiction
work directs attention to the writer's thesis.
Look for keywords
Even digital natives need to be taught specifically to look for
keywords in titles. Chances are good that a nonfiction title's keywords
will be found in the document's thesis.
The difference between fiction and nonfiction titles is a good
subject for an English language arts writing prompt.
Direct attention to the thesis
People want to know what a book or article is about before they
read it. In nonfiction writing, the title or subtitle of a print
work almost always directs attention to the book's or article's
thesis. A good title gives the reader reason to read beyond the
title.
Show how titles reveal tone & more
Students need to be taught to look for indications of a work's
tone, purpose, and audience in its title.
A savvy reader can tell from a title, for example, whether a work
will be scholarly or casual. You can see a difference in tone of
these two works just from their titles:
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to
Punctuation
The Wordwatchers' Guide to Good Writing & Grammar
Without specific instruction, students may pick titles they think
are clever but that don't fit the tone, purpose, or audience for
their writing.
Show how titles get attention
Every English text tells students their title must grab attention.
Apparently many successful authors never read those texts: there
are many more dull titles than good ones.
Be reasonable. When you teach students how to write a title,
don't demand creativity. Just ask for competence. After
they master the writing process so they can devote most of their
brain power to thinking about their content, they'll write more
creative titles.
Tell that title can be written any time
When the writer decides on a title doesn't matter as long as
the title reflects the thesis, purpose, and tone
of their finished work.
Some writers finish up the composition before they think about
a title. Others feel uncomfortable planning a piece of writing unless
they have settled on a title for it first.
Tell students that if they choose a title early in the writing
process they may need to change it later. Even when a writer plans
out a piece of writing in detail, in the act of writing the writer's
understanding of the content may change.
That change is not an everyday occurrence with nonfiction writing,
but it happens often enough that writers need to make sure an initial
title choice still feels appropriate to the final document.
Teach introduction-title relationship
Unless you mention it specifically, students will not realize the
introduction of a paper should be written as a self-contained
unit. The introduction should not refer to the paper's title.
The bodies of emails, forum posts, and other digital messages
also should be written as self-contained units. They should not
force the reader to look at the subject line to understand the post.
