Creating a Perfect Thesis or Dissertation Title

Creating a Perfect Thesis or Dissertation Title

Oct 01, 2024Rene Tetzner

Every PhD dissertation requires a title, and a good title can have a profound effect. The title is the very first part of your dissertation to be read by your committee members and examiners, and it also serves as one of the primary ways in which readers interested in your topic will be able to find your dissertation in a library catalogue or online search, so your title should be as informative, engaging and elegant as possible. According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), ‘a title should summarize the main idea of the manuscript simply and, if possible, with style’ (2010, p.23). It should inform your readers about the main topic and nature of your dissertation; it might mention the methodology, location and subjects of your research; it could specify the variables or theoretical issues you investigated and the relationship between them; and it will often indicate what you have discovered. An effective title is worded in an interesting and eloquent way that provides the necessary details with precision, and the vocabulary you choose may also bear relevant nuances and allusions.

However, titles are usually best if they are as short as possible, so it is essential to be concise as well as informative. Some style guides, universities and departments set strict word or character limits on titles – the Publication Manual of the APA (2010, p.23), for instance, recommends limiting a title to 12 words or less – and since titles are used by search engines, words that do not specifically relate to your research tend to be extra baggage that does no real work in gaining you an audience. There are, then, good reasons to avoid all unnecessary words in your title: adverbs and adjectives are rarely needed and should be used sparingly and to maximum effect, while words such as ‘study,’ ‘methods’ and ‘results’ are often extraneous. In some cases, however, a title that identifies the type of study or the specific methodology used in a dissertation may be required, usually as a subtitle along the lines of ‘A Qualitative Study’ or ‘A Randomised Trial,’ so it is important to check university and department guidelines and discuss your title with your supervisor and committee members if you have any doubt about what is appropriate for your dissertation.

Notes (whether footnotes or endnotes) should normally not be attached to titles, and it is wise to avoid abbreviations, although standard abbreviations or those better known than the full versions they represent are usually acceptable: few dissertation committees, for example, would expect you to use ‘intelligence quotient’ instead of ‘IQ’ in your title. If you find that you absolutely must use abbreviations in your title, consider carefully whether they will be familiar to the readers you anticipate. Indeed, all the terminology you use in your title should be appropriate to your expected audience, and highly specialised terminology should only be included if it is the most precise way in which to communicate the necessary concepts and will likely be used by potential readers when they search for material on your topic. Be sure to punctuate your title correctly and effectively, and to use capitalisation consistently. If a running header (or footer) using a shortened form of the title is needed in your dissertation, the words for the shorter form should be chosen carefully so that they retain and emphasise the key elements of your complete title.

Your title may contain only a very few of the many words in your dissertation, but it ultimately needs to represent that dissertation perfectly, professionally and attractively, so consider seriously all suggestions on the part of your supervisor and other committee members, and be prepared to revise and refine your title as your dissertation progresses.

Why Our Editing and Proofreading Services?
At Proof-Reading-Service.com we offer the highest quality journal article editing, dissertation proofreading and online proofreading services via our large and extremely dedicated team of academic and scientific professionals. All of our proofreaders are native speakers of English who have earned their own postgraduate degrees, and their areas of specialisation cover such a wide range of disciplines that we are able to help our international clientele with research editing to improve and perfect all kinds of academic manuscripts for successful publication. Many of the carefully trained members of our manuscript editing and proofreading team work predominantly on articles intended for publication in scholarly journals, applying painstaking journal editing standards to ensure that the references and formatting used in each paper are in conformity with the journal’s instructions for authors and to correct any grammar, spelling, punctuation or simple typing errors. In this way, we enable our clients to report their research in the clear and accurate ways required to impress acquisitions proofreaders and achieve publication.

Our scientific proofreading services for the authors of a wide variety of scientific journal papers are especially popular, but we also offer manuscript proofreading services and have the experience and expertise to proofread and edit manuscripts in all scholarly disciplines, as well as beyond them. We have team members who specialise in medical proofreading services, and some of our experts dedicate their time exclusively to dissertation proofreading and manuscript proofreading, offering academics the opportunity to improve their use of formatting and language through the most exacting PhD thesis editing and journal article proofreading practices. Whether you are preparing a conference paper for presentation, polishing a progress report to share with colleagues, or facing the daunting task of editing and perfecting any kind of scholarly document for publication, a qualified member of our professional team can provide invaluable assistance and give you greater confidence in your written work.

If you are in the process of preparing an article for an academic or scientific journal, or planning one for the near future, you may well be interested in a new book, Guide to Journal Publication, which is available on our Tips and Advice on Publishing Research in Journals website.



更多文章