Headlines are only a few words long, but are extremely important. The main goal of the author is to convince readers (reviewers, researchers, colleagues) to read your article. Not the last role is assigned to the headlines, which play the role of clothes by which they meet.
The main functional task of the title is to briefly describe the content of the article.
To improve the search results of your article on the Internet, database, magazines, you need to use the most relevant keywords in the title, which in some cases will not meet the function of describing the content of the article. But this is the second task of the title, which needs to be paid attention to.
The third task of the header, although not the most functional, has an image purpose. Behind any article is the author, the opinion about which is formed by the content of the article. The headline in this case serves as the front door through which the reader will enter or pass by. For these purposes, the title should be specific, concise, informative, not contain abbreviations and not be boring!
Determine the main question of your article or start the title with the topic of the article.
Be aware that many journals set limits on title length. On average, a good title should contain no more than 10-12 words. Very short titles look good, snatched from the list when searching, but it is rarely possible to put the meaning of the article into such a small number of words.
Let`s talk about a well-known technique for improving the titles of scientific articles.
Statistics show that headlines that begin with "Oh.." are perceived as something monumental and significant. Example: On the origin of species. On the practice of raising children in elementary school. And you can easily find other examples in everyday life.
Another trend to improve the title of an article is "remake" or a change to it. For example, in the article "A New Look at Nuclear Energy" or "Let`s Revisit the Titanic Together with Herman Heights" - they give the impression of a new opinion about phenomena and events already known to the reader.
There are keywords that are not related to the content of the article, but allow you to "shake" the reader and give the article importance. Words such as "Proof..", "Proven to..", "Risk Reduction by..." can be used in articles containing expert opinion, research and surveys.
You can remove unnecessary words in headings, for example, study, study, review.
Try not to use the words first, only, new, newest in headlines.
Standard title format: topic - question - methodology and type of research
Try not to use the passive voice in English, sentences in the passive voice are longer than in the active voice, so the translated title will increase in volume by 25-30%.
When composing the title, make sure that you do not go beyond the content of the article and that the title is not "torn off" from the context.
Keep working on the title until you achieve clarity, conciseness, and above all human interest.
