Scientific writing 3.0: A reader and writer's guide - Jean-Luc Lebrun, Justin Lebrun 2021

Purpose and qualities of titles
Title: the face of your paper
Paper structure and purpose

Purpose of the title for the reader

· It helps the reader decide whether the paper is worth reading further.

· It gives the reader a first idea of the contribution: a new method, chemical, reaction, application, preparation, compound, mechanism, process, algorithm, or system.

· It provides clues on the paper’s purpose (a review, an introductory paper), its specificity (narrow or broad), its theoretical level, and its nature (simulation, experimental). By the same means, it helps the reader assess the knowledge depth required to benefit from the paper.

· It informs on the scope of the research, and possibly on the impact of the contribution.

Purpose of the title for the writer

· It allows the writer to place enough keywords for search engines to find the title.

· It catches the attention of the reader.

· It states the contribution in a concise manner.

· It differentiates the title from other titles.

· It attracts the targeted readers, and filters out the un-targeted readers.

Qualities of a title