Practice Creating Interesting and Informative Titles

Mad libs are stories where blanks are left for different kinds of words (proper names, places, actions, adjectives, etc.). Kids (or adults) fill in the blanks to create different, and funny stories. This exercise will help you develop flexibility in creating titles. It can take a while to hit on the best title; Reviewers also often don’t like the title you choose, and ask you to come up with a new one. Your story can also change over revisions, leading your original title to no longer make sense. You need to develop the ability to come up with variations on the theme.

 1.      List the key constructs, theories, and context for your article.

 2.      Use your key words to create different titles with the following structures (The antepone is the part before the colon in a two-part title):

a.       Antepone is a song title or lyric: the rest of title relates the key elements of the study (constructs and/or theory and context)

b.      Antepone is movie or TV tie-in: the rest relates key elements of the study

c.       Antepone is phrased as a question; rest relates at least two key elements of the study

d.      Use the key elements to create a short antepone and a long second half

e.       Use the key elements to create a long antepone and a short second half

f.        Write a title with no antepone

© 2021 Timothy G. Pollock

THIS EXERCISE is BEING MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE to individuals for educational purposes only. It may not to be used by profit-making entities for any purpose, or packaged and resold by individuals for any other purpose. It may be used by individuals for personal use, or by instructors for classes, as long as this website is identified as the source of the exercise and no fee is charged for its use.

Back to Writing Exercises