Write Title and Abstract in Scientific Academics
- 1. Writing Title and Abstract EFAR PDIA FEB UB
- 2. When you find an article ... You usually ask these questions: 1. Is this a good title? 2. What do you expect from this article? 3. Is it specific enough to tell you what the article is all about? 4. Is it concise enough to generate your interest?
- 3. Title: Every word is important Will immediately make sense to the referee. Will easily found by a search engine or indexing system. Will attract the right kind of readers. Will be immediately comprehensible to anyone in your general field. Is short. Has a definite and concise indication of what it is written in the paper itself.
- 4. How to generate a title? What have I found that will attract attention? What is new, different and interesting about my findings? What are the 3 – 5 key words that make my research and my findings unique?
- 5. How to make a dynamic title? e.g. A study of the factors affecting the audit procedure for the analysis of ... An investigation into some psychological aspect of English pronunciation. e.g. Factors affecting the audit procedure for the analysis of ... Some psychological aspect of English pronunciation. Which ones sound better?
- 6. Redundant words in making title Study Inquiry Analysis Evaluation Assessment But such words may be useful to make your research sound less conclusive.
- 7. Are questions in titles a good way to attract attention? e.g. Does the organizational culture effect personal ethics? Why do some countries produce so much more output per worker than others? When do foreign-language readers look up the meaning of unfamiliar words? What do bosses do? The origins and functions of hierarchy in capitalist production. They are generally more informal and because of their question form they immediately get readers thinking about what the answer might be.
- 8. Two-part title e.g. Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: problems of using long words needlessly The role of medicine: dream, mirage or nemesis Telling more than we can know: verbal reports on mental processes Rules: 1. The two parts of the titles are separated by a colon. 2. Some journals require a capital letter after a colon. 3. Titles never end with a period.
- 9. Making title Use the –ing form of verbs rather than noun NOUNS VERBS The specification and the evaluation of educational software in primary schools Specifying and evaluating educational software in primary schools Methods for the comparison of Indian and British governmental system in the 19th century Methods for comparing Indian and British governmental system in the 19th century A natural language for problem solution in cross cultural communication A natural language for solving problems in cross cultural communication Silicon wafer mechanical strength measurement for surface damage quantification Quantifying surface damage by measuring the mechanical strength of silicon wafers
- 10. Tips The key words in your title are likely to be nouns. Choose the nouns very carefully. Choose adjectives that indicate the unique features of your work, e.g. low cost, robust, powerful, etc.
- 11. Some words used in a title LONG VERB SHORT VERB LONG NOUN SHORT NOUN LONG ADJECTIVE SHORT ADJECTIVE Achieve Apportion Calculate Evaluate Demonstrate Display Exhibit Determine Facilitate Guarantee Prohibit Require Support Utilize Gain Allot Assess Rate Show Fix Ease Ensure Block Need Aid Use Advantages Examination Investigation Improvement Modification Gain Benefits Pros Cons Study Advance Change Accurate Fundamental Important Innovative Necessary Primary Exact Basic Key Top Novel New Needed Main
- 12. Prepositions PREPS MEANING POOR ENGLISH GOOD ENGLISH By How something is done Fast computing machines equation of state calculations Equation of state calculations by fast computing machines For For the purpose of Depression measuring inventory An inventory for measuring depression From The origin of Antonio Gramsci prison notebooks selections Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci In Where something is located, what something regards Vertical flux of ocean particles Classical theory of elasticity crack problems Vertical flux of particles in the ocean Crack problems in the classical theory of elasticity Of Belonging to, regarding Reality social construction Model dimension estimation The social construction of reality Estimating the dimension of a model
- 13. Prepositions helps the reader to understand how the various elements in the title are related to each other. Rewriting a title so that it contains prepositions may involve adding a/an or the. Do not worry if you use the same preposition more than once in the same title if necessary. e.g. Survey of importance of improving design of internal systems (incorrect). A survey of the importance of improving the design of internal systems (correct). Effect of clinical guidelines on medical practice. The effect of clinical guidelines on medical practice.
- 14. Other considerations Is using an automatic spell check enough? Is Google Translate useful enough? NO! There are errors that spell checker and google translate may not find. Poor spelling gives the idea that you did not make the effort to check your paper.
- 15. What is abstract for? The advertisement of your article. Make it interesting, and easy to be understood without reading the whole article. Must be accurate and specific. Strongly influencing whether or not your work is further considered. Keeping it as brief as possible.
- 16. Content of abstract 1. Purpose or problems 2. Design or methodology or approach 3. Findings 4. Implications Abstracts are sometimes called Summaries. A single paragraph of between 100-250 words containing a very brief summary of each of the main sections of the paper.
- 17. What tenses should I use? The most commonly used tenses in abstracts are the present simple and the past simple. Use the present simple to: 1. Describe the contents of the paper. 2. Describe the common opinion that the paper is trying to question. 3. Refer to what the authors did during the research. 4. Give the conclusions.
- 18. The past simple to describe what the authors did or achieved and what conclusions they reached. Use the present perfect (in the active or passive) to describe what they achieved during their research, e.g.: 1. We have found a new approach to ... 2. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of ... 3. A new approach to X has been devised.
- 19. Use the present perfect and the present perfect continuous when you describe a situation that began in the past and is still true now; typically when giving background or context, e.g.: 1. In the past few years there has been considerable interest in ... 2. Since 2010 attention has focused on ... 3. To date, there has not been an adequate analytical model ... 4. For more than a decade data analysis have been developing new ways to ...
- 20. What about key words? Don’t be too narrow, and neither too broad. Should be unique and important. Avoid abbreviations. Maximum 12 words.
- 21. How can I assess the quality of my abstract? 1. Have I followed the journal’s instructions to authors? Have I followed the right structure? 2. Have I covered the relevant points? 3. Have I chosen my keywords carefully so that readers can locate my abstract? 4. Whenever I have given my readers information, will it be 100% clear to them? Why they are being given this information? 5. Can I make my abstract less redundant? If I tried to reduce it by 25% would I really lose any key content? 6. Have I used tenses correctly? Present simple (established knowledge), present perfect (past to present background information), past simple (my contribution).