Here is an example of an essay title in Chicago style:


Books: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Magazines/Journals: Newsweek or Cave Canem
Newspapers: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Pamphlets: How to Take Your Own Blood Pressure
Movies/Plays/Musicals: The Producers or Two Trains Running or Hamilton
Long Poems: The Odyssey or The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Radio/TV Program: This American Life or Game of Thrones
Ballet/Dance: Les Sylphides or Rodeo
Operas/Musical Pieces: La Traviata or Rhapsody in Blue
Paintings/Sculptures: Mona Lisa or The Burghers of Calais
Ships/Planes/Trains: Titanic or Air Force One or the Mistral
Musical Albums: A Hard Day’s Night
Computer/Video Games: Minecraft, Fortnite
Web Sites: Facebook, Wikipedia
Title is the first thing the reader sees from your research article. Based on the title the reader decides to have a look at the article — or not. So a better title will attract more readers and quite possibly increase the impact of your research. If you wonder what makes a good title, and how you can formulate one for your paper as well, then check out our six tips for writing a great research article title. A good title helps the reader quickly recognize whether this paper is relevant for them. The title should give the reader an accurate picture of the article — and motivate the *right* reader to go on and read the article. Additionally, an ideal title is memorable: researchers are reading many papers, some will be inevitably forgotten. A good title ensures that your paper will stick in your reader’s mind. Eventually we learned about the paper from a collaborator from a different institute. Later when I was presenting my work at conferences, I encountered many other researchers who missed this paper, even though it was clearly relevant to them. As you would expect, accuracy is crucial in a good abstract. Whatever you argue or claim in the abstract must reflect what is in the main body of your article. There’s no room for discussion, or introducing any further points. For reviews, you should first state the primary objective of the review, the reasoning behind your choice, the main outcomes and results of your review, and the conclusions that might be drawn, including their implications for further research, application, or practice.

What is the value or significance of my research?

The of an article is not italicized in , but placed in quotation marks. This applies to articles from , , , or any other publication. Use italics for the title of the source where the article was published. For example:

However, a title or subtitle can be in the form of a question.

Therefore, you should always check the guidelines of your discipline or journal before writing your article title and ensure you follow them consistently.

Examples showing how to write article titles in APA

Formatting your own essay title is easy (just bung a on it). Unfortunately, the rules about formatting the titles of existing published works (e.g. a textbook or an article from a journal) are more complicated. Usually, though, it comes down to one question: italics or quote marks?

Titling an article in a Harvard Style Format Paper or Essay

But most students will need to name a book, journal or website in an at some point, so it’s important to know how this works. To help you out, we’ve prepared this guide on when to use italics and when to use quote marks for titles.

Checklist/useful tips for drafting a good title for a research paper

Titles of longer works are usually italicised. A ‘longer work’ in this case is something presented as a standalone publication. Charles Dickens’ famous novel, for example, would be written as Great Expectations if it were named in an essay.

How do you write the title of a book in an essay?

The of an article is not italicized in , but placed in quotation marks. This applies to articles from , , , or any other publication. Use italics for the title of the source where the article was published. For example:

Here’s how to write a book title in an essay, according to MLA:

For example, you can use a colon to introduce a subtitle that explains or specifies your main title, such as “How to Write an Article Title: A Guide for Beginners.” You can also use a question mark to indicate a research question or problem your article addresses, such as “What Makes a Good Article Title?