As an English grad student I always found it helpful to land on the name of a paper before I actually wrote it, and would mull on the subject matter to find it. Clever, yet identifying the subject clearly. Epigrams can do double work, as part or all of a title, or as a thought-provoking statement introducing the essay. (Scientists miss so much by not having much liberty to play with words in their journal articles.)

As an undergraduate I had a whole quarter to consider what my philosophy was of the field I was studying at the time, and wrote a 15-page paper on the subject. I still have a copy of that around here somewhere.

I think Donuel best identified that kind of statement, as credos or simple guiding principles, some almost tautological in nature. More than once in my life I have been accused of overthinking things. :)

To borrow one of Gargoyle's favorite rhetorical techniques, I'll note in tiny green print that the diagnosis of ADHD in adulthood is an eye-opener to a reason for the tendency to hyperfocus on subjects.