Academic Writing - Titles & Subtitles

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Significance of title and subtitles


Title, is the preliminary introduction to a manuscript. An accurate title with topic specific essential terms can make a manuscript relevant and easily discovered by search engines. Furthermore, appropriate titles aid abstracting and indexing in databases when the work is published.

Similarly, suitable subtitles can summarize the content of a subsection. They also assist in breaking the monotony of long passages and provide easier access to pertinent information.


Effective titles

In academic writing, titles are expected to be concise. In book chapters (non-fiction), they should identify the main theory or the variable being investigated. In research articles, titles should explain the relationship between the theories or variables being studied.

The length of book and chapter titles are often 1-5 words long. Subtitles can be a little longer.

Example

Title: Educational Imperialism and School Leadership

Subtitle: School leadership practices between 1974 and 1994

Journal publishers usually prefer 12-16 words long titles. The same rule applies to subtitles, but more than length the use of text styles (Heading 1, Heading 2,…) to indicate the various levels of headings are more important.

Example

Title: Impact of educational imperialism on school leadership: the demise of native pedagogy

Subtitle: Educational leadership differs from organisational leadership

Thesis and coursework assignments generally have titles and subtitles with word counts that lie between book and journal titles (5-16 words), but these are dependent on an institution’s preference.


Drafting effective titles

Always start a manuscript by drafting its title and subtitles. This will improve the structure of paragraphs. Refine titles and subtitles once the main manuscript is finished. This will assist in editing redundant and superfluous content.

To draft effective titles:

  • Ensure keywords of your topic are included in the title. Incorporate nouns like, effect, influence, and impact in the title. Using relationship words like, association, connection, relation, and correlation can also improve the readability of a title.

  • Pay attention to the length of the title. Online tools such as, Title Generator by Aabashenya, Sharethrough’s Headline Analyzer or CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer can also help modify the length of a title.

  • Avoid words that serve no purpose, like methods (unless its meta-analysis) or results. Also avoid abbreviations in a title.

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