发布时间 : 星期四 文章英文科技论文写作 第2课 The Title of paper更新完毕开始阅读
Workshop 2: The Title
Introduction
The title of your paper is important because it is the first part that is read by your peers. Lebrun (2007) likened the title of a paper to a person?s face. A face gives an impression of the type of person who you are, and by analogy the title of a paper gives people a first impression of whether your paper is interesting enough for them to read the rest of the paper. It follows therefore that the title of the paper should attract readers to read your paper and enhance the chances of it being cited. A little should also be specific, honest, brief and positive and differentiate your work from other published research.
The following guidelines or tips are recommended as ways of improving titles. However, you should be aware that not all these tips work in the same direction. For example, a general title can often be attractive to a greater number of readers, but a general title runs counter to the desired aim of having a title that is specific.
1. Begin your title with keywords and avoid ‘waste word’: As pointed out by Lindsay (1996) it
is a good idea to start the title with a keyword. Consider the following example (modified
from Lindsay 1996):
?The influence of manganese on pine needles?
This is a common title in many scientific papers ( the effect of A on B). This type of title is unattractive, and does not tell you what A (manganese) did to B (pine needles). In addition, this type of title contains ?waste word? and relegates one of the keywords to the end of the title. A far better (positive, specific and attractive) title would be:
?Manganese brightens the colour of pine needles?
This title starts with one of the keywords and tells you what to expect in the paper, i.e. it is specific. The new title contains as many words as the old one, but it conveys more specific and interesting information. The new title has achieved another desired aim but dispersing with the waste words, ?The influence of ?. Other waste word that are commonly found in titles are ?investigation on?, ?Observation on?, ?An?, ?The?.
2. Use of verbs in titles: The addition of a verb to the title of a paper adds energy to the title and tells the reader more than about your contribution (a verb is the word in a sentence that denotes an action, i.e. my professor frowned at me when I was late for class). For example, consider the title:
?The effect of leaf damage on pollen production by Maple?
This title can be improved by removing the waste word, ?The?, and add a verb to make the title more specific (modified from Gustavii 2003):
?Leaf damage decreased pollen production by Maple?
Lindsay (1996) counsels against using the present tense for such titles, because ?Leaf damage decreases pollen production by Maple? implies that your work is the definitive research that has settled the question of the effect of leaf damage on pollen production by maple once and for all.
The following title contains a verb and also has a ?keyword? placed first (modified from Lebrun 2007):
?High resolution numerical models: understanding satellite data?
This type of title is known as a hanging title and some very good journals such as ?Science? advocate their use. Other disagree, for example, Day (1998) states that hanging titles “appear pedantic, often place the emphasis on a general term rather than a more specific term, necessitate punctuation, scramble indexes and in general provide poor titles”.
3. Declarative rather than neutral titles: whenever possible use a declarative rather than a neutral title. The following title is neutral (from Gustavii 2003): ?The influence of aspirin on prostaglandin synthesis? A far better title is:
?Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis as a mechanism of action of aspirin-like drugs?
This title incorporate keywords at the beginning and introduces verbs to make the title more
specific and informative. Most journals will accept declarative titles, although a few still ask for non-declarative titles.
4. Adjectives and numbers to make a title more memorable: An adjective is a word whose main role in a sentence is to modify a noun (name of a person, place or thing). For example, my sister is a fast runner. The incorporation of an adjective or adverb (modifiers of verbs, adjectives and clauses) in a title is often used to describe the key aspect of a contribution, i.e. fast, highly efficient, or robust algorithms. Avoid terms such as new or novel as your work may outlive you and become old and outdated. It is also preferable, as pointed out by Lebrun (2007) to make your adjective less subjective by prefacing it with a number i.e. use ?20 MHz computer? rather than ?extremely (adverb) fast computer? because fast computers may become slow over time making them ?extremely fast computer? very misleading.
5. Unexpected or unusual words: Another technique to attract readers and make your title more memorable is to include an unexpected or unusual word. Consider the following example (from Lebrun 2007):
“Hydrophobic property of sol-gel hard coating”
This is a rather general title, but as pointed out by Lebrun (2007) it has the virtues of being short and specific. The following title, however, is better:
“Increasing hydro-phobicity of sol-gel hard coating by chemical and micromorphological modifications” (Lebrun 2007)
This title is more specific (honest) and representative of the work. It adds keywords making it easier to find by search engines and it clearly tells the reader how increases in hydro-phobicity were achived. The title has lost conciseness because it is longer, but it has gained in appeal because it starts with the verb ?increasing?. The following, alternative title is more catchy and might attract readers from outside of the field of manufacturing and coatings, for example
biologists (from Lebrun 2007):
“Increasing hydro-phobicity of sol-gel hard coatings by mimicking lotus leaf morphology” This title has lost two important keywords (chemical and morphological modifications), however, this deficiency might be rectified by placing the keywords in the list of keywords that follows the journal abstract (from Lebrun 2007).
Care should be exercised when including catchy terms in titles. Sometimes these terms may not make sense to people living in other parts of world, as is the case for the following titles (taken from Lebrun 2007).
“The inflammatory microphage a story of Jekyll and Hyde” “The abc?s (& xyz?s) if peptide sequencing”
6. Making titles catchy by posing a question: Hanging titles posed as questions such as the following can make catchy and interesting titles:
“Software acceleration using programmable logic: is it worth the effect” (from Lebrun 2007) “Wax and oil emulsion additives : How effective are they at improving the performance of preservative-treated wood”
However, titles like these are best reserved for those who are quite well established in their fields, otherwise they could be considered as being rather arrogant. Day (1998) states that titles posed as questions should not used at all.
7. Pitfalls and things to avoid: Titles of papers should not contain abbreviations, acronyms, trade names and clichés (jargon). There are some exceptions to this general rule. For example, some acronyms and abbreviations are more common than the words they stand for such as pH and DNA. In such cases it is acceptable to use the abbreviation. If in doubt spell out the abbreviation in full and include the abbreviation in brackets. Similarly it is acceptable to include an acronym in a title if you are introducing it for the first time, as is the case for the following title taken from Lebrun (2007):
“VISOR: learning visual schemas in neutral networks for object recognition and scene analysis”
Outdated words which have lost their meaning should also be avoided i.e. animalcules for bacteria and protozoa (Day 1998).
Titles are not usually sentences rather they are labels. Nevertheless, you should be careful of syntax. Most problems in this area stem from the order of words in the title as is the case for the following title (Day 1998):
“Multiple infections among newborns resulting from implantation with staphylococcus aureus” (This is title indicates that newborns result from implantation with the bacteria staphylococcus aureus) !
Other consideratrions
Running titles: Most journals include a running title for your paper, which is printed at the top (running head) or bottom (running foot) of every page, or alternate pages. Some journals create this running title from the full title that you supply, but others will ask you to provide a running title. The running title is shorter than then full title, and when you prepare it, you should focus on the keywords and the subject of the paper.
“Hydrophobicity of sol-gel coatings” (from the earlier title in Lebrun 2007)
Thesis title: Thesis titles can be longer than titles for a paper and some non-experts might be interested in your thesis as well as experts (peers). Therefore, a useful approach way of pleasing both audiences is to create a hanging title with the first being intelligible to non-experts and a sub-heading containing more specific details, i.e.:
“Modification of wood with cold plasma with emphasis on the morphological and chemical changes to wood cell walls”
Series titles: The priority given in academia to publishing large numbers of papers has led some scientists to publish their research findings in a series. In some quarters this practice is known as ?slicing the salami thin?. Titles for such papers are generally hanging titles with the number of paper taking the place of the question in the hanging titles mentioned earlier:
“Thermal modification of red alder:1. The effect of temperature and duration of heating”
There are a number of objections to a title like this. Firstly, the initial part of the title is too general and becomes redundant in subsequent papers published in the series. In addition the meaning of the individual papers in the series only becomes clear when the series is read as a whole. Papers should be cohesive documents that are intelligible without reference to other papers. Hence, for these reasons papers in series are disliked by editors and also referees who have to referee two or three papers at a time (rather than one good paper)! Problem can also arise for authors and their peers if some of papers in the series are accepted and other are rejected.
References
Day, R.A. (1998). How to write and publish a scientific paper (5th edition), Oryx Press, West port C T.
Gustavii, B. (2003). How to write and illustrate a scientific paper. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Lebrun, J-L. (2007). Scientific writing. A readers and writer?s guide. World Scientific Publishing Co, Singapore.
Lindsay, D. (1996). A guide to scientific writing (2 edition), Longman, Melbourne.
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