What is the BEST title for your research paper?
Choosing a good and attractive title is one of the most difficult parts of writing a paper. However, writing a good abstract and choosing a suitable journal is also important.
Here, we do not want to teach you how to choose a research topic, but we intend to explain how to choose a suitable title once you finish writing a research paper and you are ready for submission.
Research books primarily provide detailed information about choosing a good title for your research work. Here, we provide applicable information for selecting the best title for your academic article or thesis.
The title should be specific and limited. Look at these two titles to know what we exactly mean:
Using body language signals to master your social interaction
Factors affecting social relations
As you see, the first title is specific and limited, while the second one is general and non-specific.
The title should include the primary variables. In the above example, we can see that the first title includes both dependent and independent variables while the second one does not include the key variables.
The abbreviated terms or formulas should not appear in the title. The full name should be mentioned in brackets at first mention. For example, the following title is not appropriate:
Clinical symptoms in Iranian MS patient and this title is more …
This title is more accurate comparing the first one: Clinical symptoms in Canadian Multiple Sclerosis Patients.
The title of a research article should be short. Titles with 7 to 12 words are more appropriate. When there are more than 20 words, the tile is not suitable. See these examples:
A very short title:
Tooth Decay in Children
A very long title:
Effects of Malnutrition, the poor culture of cleaning or brushing the teeth, lacking flossing, and parent’s insufficient knowledge on the milk teeth decay
A standard title:
Cultural and Social Factors and Children Tooth Decay
The title should be clear, unambiguous, and attractive.
Avoid unnecessary and extra words in the title. See these examples:
Evaluation of the effectiveness of haloperidol on cognitive function improvement
Effects of haloperidol on cognitive function improvement in schizophrenia patients
The second title is better since there are no extra words in it.
Time and place of the study. If your research is descriptive, you can mention the time and place of the study. But for other types of studies, this is not necessary.
See these examples:
Correct:
Prevalence of Diabetes among adults from rural areas in Canada in 1393
Incorrect:
Effectiveness of Drug Treatments for improvement in kidney function in Canada 1393
Also, you can check out the post on:
Tips for Choosing the right journal for paper publishing