2. Composition
2.1 Titles
The purpose of a piece of scientific writing is to present information clearly and concisely so that it can be easily understood. Clarity therefore begins with the title.
Elements in a title
In technical and scientific writing the title is a precise description of the contents. It should include specific words to indicate the following:
Some sample titles:
| Purpose | Topic | Focus |
| An Analysis of | Grain Boundary Networks and their Evolution | During Grain Boundary Engineering. |
| An Examination of | the Flow Process | in Superplastic Yttria-Stabilised Tetragonal Zirconia. |
| A Comparison of | Methods to Determine the Fracture Toughness of Three Glass-Ceramics | at Elevated Temperatures. |
| An Investigation into | the Cause of Inhomogeneous Distribution of Aluminium Nitrides | in Silicon Steels. |
Punctuation of titles: capital letters
- It is clearer to type your title in lower case rather than in capital letters.
- Use capital letters for the first letter of all the main words in the title, including nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, longer prepositions, conjunctions.
- Do not use capital letters for short structural words (except when they are the first word of the title), such as articles (a, an, the), short prepositions (of, in, to ,at), co-ordinating conjunctions (and, or, nor, but, for, as). See the sentences above as examples.
Points to check in your own writing:
- Be precise and concise; strive for clarity and avoid terms with multiple meanings which might lead to misunderstanding
- Use key words from the paper to inform readers of the content, but try not to choose too many technical words as this will not attract a wider audience
- Titles stand alone; they are not a part of the opening sentence or paragraph
