Writing Guide
Research Paper Titles: How to Formulate Them Appropriately?
Parents always choose a name for their child with love and attention. Your brainchild also deserves a good title. Let us offer you some hints on developing research paper titles. In your research paper title, you should reflect the following issues:
- Subject of your study
- Purpose of your study
- Scope of your interest
Besides, research paper titles should:
- Be not too long and not too short (as a rule, less than 20 substantive words)
- Do not include unnecessary words
- Be formulated well
See the following research paper titles examples. They contain common mistakes that students make when formulating research paper titles:
- Research paper title 1. Analysis of effects of watching of TV programs on American children.
The research paper title sounds awkward: there are three similar prepositions one by one. Besides, there is the unnecessary word “analysis” in the beginning of the title. It can be easily omitted.
- Research paper title 2. Negative and positive effects of watching TV programs on American children of 5-9 years old.
The research paper title contains unnecessary words: if you study both positive and negative effects, you may limit yourself to writing “effects”.
- Research paper title 3. American catastrophe: take your children away from a TV set.
This title is not appropriate for a research paper. It can be used for an essay or a news-paper article.
A research paper title is in effect a face of your writing: it communicates a reader and tells about a paper and its author. Put effort into developing a good research paper title and motivate your potential reader to look inside your research paper.
