Saturday 4 February 2012

Choosing an Essay Title

Choosing the right essay title for you is an important part of writing the essay.

I suggest you look down the list of essay titles and put a cross next to ones you are certain you will not do. Put a tick next to titles you feel fairly confident or excited about. And put a question mark next to titles you are not sure about yet.

Then take another look at the essay titles you have ticked and jot down the names of the three texts you have studied. Then jot down a list of relevant ideas you would include against each of the essay titles you have ticked.

Each of the three texts should have a list beside it. If they don't or one text has a much shorter list this may be an indication not to do that essay. Or it might mean you need to have another look at that text. If that does not help but you are still keen about the title you should talk to someone else in the class or me about the title.

This process should not take you too long. I reckon between 20 to 40 minutes. You don't need to re-read notes or look into the texts. You should have enough knowledge of them now to be able to make a decision.

So you need to make a decision. Choose two titles from the list. Title one will be your working title and the second title will be a back up.

Read and think about the two titles for a day or two. Allow your mind to wander and engage with the titles and link them to the texts. When you can, jot down further ideas you think will be relevant to the essay.