Essay Titles – Getting the Best out of Students?

Abstract

Essay titles are important (de)motivating factors that have an immense influence on the quality of students’ writing. The article focuses on two questionnaires aimed at students of English, and at lecturers teaching, writing skills at the Department of English at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. Both groups of respondents were asked to consider a list of essay titles taken from various authentic sources, deciding whether, to what extent, and under what circumstances they found them suitable. In addition, the respondents were asked to paraphrase each title in their own words to convey their interpretation and understanding of a particular title. The results and conclusions arrived at by means of the questionnaires are presented and compared to my prior expectations, stemming primarily from my teaching experience. The topic is also discussed in the light of what experts on essay writing say about essay titles.