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| Yes | 20% | 293 votes | Total: 1472 votes | |
| No | 80% | 1179 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesIf your title is what your article is about and your thesis statement comes from your title than it should be closely worded. Some times you will find yourself repeating your title or thesis statment in order to stay on topic of your article, but other times you just find your self writing it out by accident because of how the article is set up or it's just because of the topic you are writing. If you do repeat the title of your article then put it at the end as part of your end thesis statement. If your article is well developed some times you can be able to open your writing with the title, but don't over do it. Most people who have chosen your article to read will be there for what the article is about taking their interest in the title, and that is why it's there, to grab attention. But in all means it is still up to the writer and how they see and write their articel, if they feel it more powerful to repeat the title then they have that option. I have learned a lot of this in my college english classes when I asked the same questions. When it comes to writing it is helpful to ask such questions, it may help you not only just write the article but to develop it and to arrange the phragraphs. In writing there is really no dumb or pointless question, if you don't know or need an opinion then ask it you may come out to have a better written article. I have read articles by many who are well known or respected in the world of writing that have repeated the title. They had done so in a way to not just get your attention but to make a point of how important that piece was. The information was all there, but it was in the title more so and the rest of the piece was written around it. Not over doing it is the key, don't slam your readers with the title in every paragrah; write it, make your point than move on.
But I would say in the matter of repeating the title in any of your articles, it would have to depend on the writer and the topic. And here I go repeating from the phragraph above, if the writer sees it more powerful to repeat the title in order to grab the reader taking them into what the article is about than they can do so. By the time most of us read a long written piece we soon start to forget what the article is about and why we even started reading it in the first place. In most cases it may not matter if you repeat the title because you just may find yourself doing it any way when actually writing your piece, it may just happen. Still if you are going to repeat it word for word, unless you have a strong topic and developed piece, then it should go at the end of the piece as part of your end thesis statement.
Learn more about this author, Marcy Hutchins.
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No
There is a formulaic problem in using a title verbatim in an article. The authors themselves do not create titles, on Helium. They are suggestions that the system is generating that require the author to conform to.
When you do use it, you are setting yourself up for failure, and you're setting your reader up for failure.
First off, the few words of applying it back at the reader is almost a sure sign of being desperate for content. 400-600 word articles are not that difficult to write, even a well-researched one for me takes less than an hour. A debate or op-ed piece takes even less because you are just writing about your feelings. Then back it up with a few facts to shore up your point
It shows that you do not have a good command of the language, and demonstrates that you cannot deliver the content in other ways. SEO works best when you address it with supplemental word structures.
Now as the reader, and in particular as the rater, I see this and go, "I already know what the title is. Tell me something new. Teach me. Educate me. Make me think."
In the case of a Short Story, or a Reflection, or a Memoir, I want not just to think, but also to feel. Take me away from this mundane experience, onto something great and grand. Drop me something subtle, or something maddening.
Often times I see Poetry titled in a similar manner. While I can give the poet a little more slack, I still see it happen. When you write to Helium, you are delivering content, not title. It is important.
I cannot tell you how many times in the forums I've seen three and four star writers say this repeatedly. It's almost painful to watch some promising author do this.
That's not to say we've not all done it. However, as individuals paid for their work, attempting to create a body of work, or even just poking around, do we want to have our work dismissed so casually?
I think not.
Yes, that's a judgment call, as a professionally paid person, I have to use my editor's eye on my own work. I must be ruthless. I must, with every stroke of the key strive to write one piece better than the last. I myself, for example have a tendency to write run-on sentences. Now that I am aware of it, I can slow down a bit. Think a little bit more about sentence structure. Improve on the model. Be the better word artist, if you will.
This is, after all, in the end, how we grow as writers, people, and individuals.
Learn more about this author, Caroline Tigeress.
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