Why is having a strong title page for a research paper important? Go back to when you started conducting your research for your paper to find the answer to this question. Most likely, you quickly skipped over less informative titles and were more open to papers that had intriguing and enlightening titles.
Like you, many readers judge the appropriateness of a publication for their needs based on the title. Hence, a bad title might easily prevent a superb work from eliciting the desired responses in the academic setting.
This post will discuss some suggestions on how to title your research paper for the most impact on the audience. With the help of this guide and some practice, you can easily get past the typical obstacles that students encounter when coming up with a title for their research papers and draw readers in as soon as they see the title of your paper on various databases.
What is a good title?
A good title for a research paper is one that:
- Allows a reader to predict the content they expect to encounter within your paper
- Reflects your writing tone
- Captures a reader’s attention on the major research question
As such, a good title should concisely highlight the context of your paper and where possible highlight the relationship between various variables. Also, your research paper should highlight the relevant key phrases to allow for easy placement on search results by various academic database search engines.
How to make a good research title: simple steps
Your approach to making a research paper title can make or break your research title. Some of the steps that we suggest you follow when coming up with a research title include:
- Identify the most important elements of your paper
The first step after you have completed writing your paper is to highlight your research questions and the thesis statement. Also, review each section to highlight ideas including the key research objective, the methodology, the study sample, and the results.
You can use the questions below to guide your research efforts.
- What is my paper about? i.e., investigating differences in learning outcomes with application and technology in teaching-learning.
- What methodology did I employ? Why was it best suited for the study? i.e., standardized tests
- Who were the subjects of the study? i.e., students in Kemit school
- What findings did my investigation yield? i.e., there is a positive relation between technology in teaching learning and a learner’s academic outcomes.
With these questions, you can highlight all the crucial questions that a reader could have, regarding your topic, increasing the conversion rate of your title.
e.g., investigating the differences in comprehension and retention rates with the application of tech in teaching learning among Grade-7 learners in Kemit School using standardized tests.
- Highlight the important keywords
Next, highlight the key terms that are definitive of your research and likely to be searched by a reader who is interested in your subject.
i.e., investigating the differences in comprehension and retention rates with the application of tech in teaching learning among Grade-7 learners in Kemit School using standardized tests.
- Come up with a working title
Next, come up with a title that highlights all the data we have highlighted.
i.e., i.e., investigating the differences in comprehension and retention rates with the application of tech in teaching learning among Grade-7 learners in Kemit School using standardized tests.
- Summarize your title’s main ideas
Finally, cut out any unnecessary words to fit your title in the 10–16-word threshold recommended for academic titles.
i.e., The relationship between tech-oriented teaching-learning and performance in standardized tests by Grade-7 learners in Kemit School.
Tips on how to title a research paper
- Write your paper first and use the final paper to develop your title
- Keep your research paper title within the limit of 10- 16 words. This will ensure the efficiency of the title on various search engines as many engines will trim your title to the first 15-18 words
- Avoid complicated terms that would limit the reader from understanding your paper’s main idea
- Don’t add a period at the end of your research paper title
- Review your title to ensure that it adheres to the faculty guidelines
- Use descriptive phrases to better highlight your paper’s purpose
- Avoid phrases such as ‘a study of’ and ‘an analysis of’ in your paper
Can titles be questions?
Yes. Provided that your title draws attention to your research question, you can use a question for your research paper. however, take time to check various examples of titles in research to familiarize yourself with various types of titles.
