7-1
Writing an Effective Title
Overview This chapter outlines the considerations in writing a title for your manuscript and provides examples of effective titles.
Purpose of the Title The purpose of a title is to summarize the essence of the article concisely and definitively in a phrase or sentence so that readers are persuaded to read the entire paper and so that the paper can be easily found in Medline title searches. In your title, be sure to include information that distinguishes your paper from others in the field. In other words, tell how it contributes to the literature or how it fills the gap in knowledge. “A title is a highly condensed version of the abstract. . . . The title may not tell what the abstract concludes, but it at least conveys what the abstract covers. . . . In preparing the title, the careful author makes sure that the title carries the irreducible number of terms needed to accurately describe the content of the paper.” — Edward J. Huth, How to Write and Publish Papers in the Medical Sciences
Writing and Publishing Scientific Articles
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