Title Examples for Essays, Research Papers, and Reports
See title examples for research papers, essays, and reports, plus a simple way to write a good title that names the topic and the point.
A title example is a model title for a paper. A useful title names the topic and the point, so a reader can tell what the paper will do before the first paragraph. A label such as Essay 2 or Social Media does not do that work.
The titles in the examples below were written for this guide. They are not titles of published papers. Copy the pattern, then use the terms from your own draft.
When a draft title names the topic but stays vague, Rephrase AI can suggest a clearer version of that line. Rephrase AI is built to keep the meaning of the sentence you paste. For one title, the free sentence rephraser is built to return one rewritten sentence. Compare that sentence with the claim in the paper before you replace the title.
What a good title does
The Sweetland Center for Writing says a great academic title should tell readers as much as possible about the paper's central claim and its significance. The handout describes three parts that often appear together.
| Part | What the part does | Where the part shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Hook | A readable phrase that draws the reader toward the subject | Often the opening words, especially in a humanities essay |
| Key terms | The words a reader needs in order to know the concepts | The variables, texts, or methods the paper actually uses |
| Source | The place those concepts are found | A book, a place, a species, a dataset, or a debate |
Sweetland says good titles never state the obvious and never apply a generic label. The handout names Paper #1 and Lab Report as labels that are too general. The same handout rejects a broad abstraction such as Society and its Many Problems, because a reader cannot tell which society, which problem, or why the problem matters now.
The UCI Writing Center treats the title as the first point of contact. UCI says the title should let a reader predict the paper, should use the language of the discipline, and should include keywords the paper repeats. A two-part title sets a creative phrase beside a specific topic, with a colon between the parts. UCI says that kind of title can grow too long, and the center's rule of thumb is to keep a two-part title no longer than two lines. UCI also says to avoid opening with a question and to avoid a title that exaggerates what the paper shows.
How to write a good title
Write the title after the claim is stable, then check the title again when the draft is finished.
- Write the paper's claim in one sentence.
- Keep the key terms from that sentence. Drop assignment labels such as Essay 2 or Final Paper.
- Name the source or the setting. A book, a group of people, a place, or a time period will do.
- Match the tone to the assignment. UCI says STEM papers and reports traditionally use a descriptive title, while creative projects such as short stories often use a creative title.
- Read the title next to the finished paper. If the title promises a result the paper does not show, change the title.
Sweetland walks through the same move with a teaching example, not a published study. The first attempt is Monkey Behavior. That title names a topic and nothing else. The second attempt is The Effects of Sugar on Monkey Behavior. That title adds a cause. The revised title is Sugar Stimulates Intensity of Tail-Twitch Social Behavior in Panamanian Monkeys. Sweetland describes that revision as full of specific key terms, with a clear location and a specific claim.
Purdue OWL's APA page adds a cut for APA papers. The title should be focused and succinct, and the title should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Purdue OWL says the title may take one or two lines.
Research paper title examples
Each title below is a model for a research paper. The title states a relationship a paper could test or explain.
Two variables and a group
Weekend Screen Limits and Weeknight Sleep in Ninth Grade Students
Why this title works. The title names both variables and the group. A reader can expect a study of limits and sleep, not a general essay about screens.
A relationship and a setting
City Bus Frequency and Grocery Access in Neighborhoods Without a Supermarket
Why this title works. The title says what is being compared and where. Neighborhoods Without a Supermarket is the boundary of the study, so the title does not imply every neighborhood.
A two-part history title
Closed Kitchens, Open Streets: Meal Hours During a 1912 Mill Strike
Why this title works. The words before the colon give a concrete image. The words after the colon name the event, the subject, and the year. The title stays on one line, which fits UCI's length check for a two-part title.
A lab report title
Temperature and Seedling Height in Basil Grown Under Two Light Cycles
Why this title works. UCI says reports traditionally use a descriptive title. This one names the two measurements and the condition. The title does not claim a result the report has not earned.
Essay title examples
Argumentative essay
Later Bell Times Raise First-Period Attendance in Urban High Schools
Why this title works. The verb raise states a claim a reader could contest. Later Bell Times is the proposed change. First-Period Attendance is the outcome. Urban High Schools limits the setting.
Compare and contrast essay
Handwritten Notes and Typed Notes for Recall on a Next-Day Quiz
Why this title works. Both sides are named, and the basis of comparison is recall on a quiz. The title does not declare a winner before the essay does.
Literary analysis
The Green Light and Repeated Disappointment in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Why this title works. The image, the argument, and the book are all visible. Purdue OWL's MLA page says to italicize a longer work named inside the title, and to use quotation marks for a shorter work, just as you would in the text. Purdue OWL prints these two models.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Morality Play
Human Weariness in "After Apple Picking"
The book title is italic. The poem title is in quotation marks. The rest of each paper title stays in roman type.
Personal essay
The Hardware Counter and the Questions I Could Not Answer
Why this title works. Sweetland says a personal essay can use a phrase from the paper rather than a catalog of key terms. This title points to one scene. A label such as My Summer Job would not.
Weak titles and stronger revisions
A weak title is usually a label. The revision adds the relationship, the group, or the setting. These pairs were written for this guide.
Weak version
Social Media
Stronger version
Late-Night Social Media Use and Sleep Loss in First-Year College Students
The weak title could cover any paper about social media. The stronger title names a habit, a result, and a group.
Weak version
An Essay on Climate Change
Stronger version
Bus Shelter Shade and Afternoon Heat on Three City Routes
The weak title repeats the assignment. The stronger title names a place and a measurement.
Weak version
Road Safety
Stronger version
School-Zone Speed Signs and Morning Near-Misses on One Arterial Road
The weak title is a topic area. The stronger title tells a reader which road, which hours, and which event the paper examines.
How the title sits on the page
The wording and the format are separate jobs. A specific title can still be placed in the wrong spot for the style the assignment requires.
APA 7
The APA student paper checklist calls the title a concise, engaging summary of the paper and its main topic, its main variables, or both. APA's title case page says major words are capitalized. Those are nouns, verbs including linking verbs like is, are, and be, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and every word of four letters or more. Minor words stay lowercase, and those are articles plus conjunctions and prepositions of three letters or fewer, unless one opens the title or the subtitle. The checklist says to place the title in the upper half of the title page, three or four lines down from the top margin. Center the title and use bold. Double-space the page.
The same checklist puts the author name on its own centered line after one blank line, then the affiliation, the course, the instructor, and the due date. On the first page of the text, repeat the paper title, centered and bold, and do not add an Introduction heading.
Purdue OWL separates the page header by paper type. A student paper's header is the page number only. A professional paper's running head is a shortened form of the title in all capital letters, and Purdue OWL says that shortened title cannot exceed 50 characters, including spacing and punctuation.
MLA
Purdue OWL's MLA page, which points readers to the 9th edition of the MLA Handbook, says not to make a title page unless the instructor asks for one or the paper is a group project. On the first page, put your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date at the upper left, on separate double-spaced lines. Center the title on the next double-spaced line. Do not underline the title, italicize the title, or place the title in quotation marks. Do not type the title in all capital letters. Use title case, which Purdue OWL calls standard capitalization. The page number and your last name go in the upper right header.
APA and MLA both use title case for the title on the paper. APA bolds the paper title. Purdue OWL's MLA instructions do not.
A paper title is not a reference-list title
Title case on the paper is different from the capitalization inside an APA reference entry. The APA checklist says to capitalize a reference-list title in sentence case. Capitalize the first word of the title, the first word of the subtitle, and proper nouns. A journal article title in that list is not italic. A book title in that list is italic. The references example shows that sentence-case pattern for a journal article, a book, and a webpage.
Use the paper title on the title page. Use the sentence-case form only in the reference entry.
Checklist before you submit
- The title names the topic and the point, not the assignment label.
- The key terms in the title appear in the paper.
- The title does not promise a finding the paper does not show.
- An APA paper title is bold, centered, and in title case, on the title page and again at the start of the text.
- An MLA paper title is centered and in title case. Do not underline that title, italicize that title, or put the whole title in quotation marks. Use italics or quotation marks only for another work named inside the title.
- After any rewrite, names, dates, and the claim still match the draft.
Reword one title line
Paste the draft title into the sentence rephraser and choose Clearer or Shorter. The tool is built to return one sentence. Put that sentence next to the claim in the draft. If the rewrite drops a variable, a date, or the name of a text, put that detail back.
For the same kind of check on any single sentence, see how to rephrase a sentence without changing the meaning.
Your instructor's rules on AI use still apply, so check them before you use any tool on graded work.
