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Chapter 3 How to Prepare the Title. Writing and Publishing International Journal Paper. First impressions are strong impressions; a title ought therefore to be well studied, and to give, so far as its limits permit, a definite and concise indication of what is to come. - T. Clifford Allbutt.
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Chapter 3 How to Prepare the Title Writing and PublishingInternational Journal Paper
First impressions are strong impressions; a title ought therefore to be well studied, and to give, so far as its limits permit, a definite and concise indication of what is to come. -T. Clifford Allbutt
agenda • Importance of the title • Length of the title • Need for specific titles • Importance of syntax • The title as a label • Abbreviations and Jargon • Series titles
Importance of the title • That title will be read by thousands of people. • all words in the title should be chosen with great care, and their association with one another must be carefully managed. • What is a good title? • it as the fewest possible that adequately describe the contents of the paper.
Length of the title • Occasionally, titles are too short. • It was not very helpful to the potential reader. • it provided some information at least. • Much more often, titles are too long. • most excessively long titles contain “waste” words. • Ironically, long titles are often less meaningful than short ones.
Need for specific titles • Most titles that are too short because they include general rather than specific terms. • Action of Antibiotics on Bacteria • Action of Streptomycin on Mycobacterium tuberculosis • Inhibition of Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Streptomycin
Importance of syntax • In titles, be especially careful of syntax. • Most of the grammatical errors in titles are due to faulty word order.
The title as a label • The title of a paper is a label. • The meaning and order of the words in the title are of importance to the potential reader who sees title in the journal table of contents. • Most of the indexing and abstracting services are geared to “key word” systems, generating either KWIC(key word in context)or KWOC(key word out of context)entries.
Abbreviations and Jargon • Titles should almost never contain abbreviations, chemical formulas, proprietary names, jargon, and the like. • Actually, the larger secondary services have computer programs that are capable of bringing together entries such as deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, and even ADN(acide deoxyribonucleique).
Series titles • Today, many editors believe that it is important, especially for the reader, that each published paper “should present the results of an independent, cohesive study; thus, numbered series titles are not allowed. • The series systems is annoying to editors because of scheduling problems and delays.