How to Choose Capstone Paper Title

Why Is It Important to Choose a Good Title for Your Capstone?

Your capstone paper is the culminating project of your degree. It is your opportunity to
demonstrate that you are able to apply your learning to solve a real-world problem. But like
other research papers, it must be in the correct project proposal writing format and perfectly
written from start to finish. Your capstone title must be able to get the attention of the reader to
make them want to read. It must also clearly communicate what your paper is about so that it is
clear to anyone reading your title what to expect from the paper. But how do you choose the
right capstone paper ideas and titles for your project?

What Should a Good Research Title Be Like?

A good title is one that is short and snappy while accurately communicating what your
paper is about. A list of capstone project titles and topics will often give you many good
examples of what they should look like. Often, however, you will change your title as you
progress from your initial proposal through to your final paper as your understanding of the
problem evolves. A good title, however, should cover some of the following:

• What is the actual purpose of the research being conducted?

• The scope covered by your research.
• The specific methodology employed to solve the issue.
• The tone employed for writing your paper.
• What was actually discovered when doing your research.

Good titles should not contain excessive descriptive words or anything that adds no value. It
needs to be concise and to the point, while clearly describing what your research is about in a
way that will get the attention of the reader.

How to Craft a Good Title for Your Project Proposal Writing Format
Writing your title well is important; after all, it is the first thing that the reader will look at and it
has to be able to clearly communicate what your paper is all about. The following tips will help
writing capstone paper titles:

✓ Keep the title short: you should be aiming for less than 15 words, around 10 is better.
This means avoiding pointless introductions such as “A study into the effects of …”
✓ Start by identifying the keywords for your piece of research. Consider all of the following
questions:

• What is the paper about?

• What methods were used?
• What was studied?
• What were the results?

✓ Once you have your keywords you can link them together into a single sentence using
appropriate joining words.
✓ The chances are at this point your title will be too long; so remove all unnecessary words
from the title that you have just created.
✓ Reword the title so that it is effective and snappy.

Writing the Best Capstone Paper

Whether selecting capstone project ideas for business or any other subject area you
need to ensure that the topic that you select will be something that you will be able to get a good
project from. Writing a capstone project well requires a good start and that means selecting the
right topic area. Something that is going to give you a good chance of success while still giving
the reader something of real interest.

You also need to know how to write without plagiarism. Your capstone must be totally
unique to you and not simply copied from elsewhere. Where you have used other people’s
ideas within your literature review you must use the correct project proposal writing format to
ensure that your citations and references are perfectly arranged. When completeyou should
always review the first draft and be prepared to do a complete rewrite. It is rare that our initial
work is our best, but what you submit must be perfect if you are going to get the results that you
need.

Use the correct project proposal writing format and select the right title for your paper by
following our expert advice for your capstone paper.

What is Literature Review?

A Literature Review is a systematic and comprehensive analysis of books, scholarly

articles, and other sources relevant to a specific topic providing a base of knowledge on a topic.
Literature reviews are designed to identify and critique the existing literature on a topic to justify
your research by exposing gaps in current research. This investigation should provide a
description, summary, and critical evaluation of works related to the research problem and
should also add to the overall knowledge of the topic as well as demonstrating how your
research will fit within a larger field of study. A literature review should offer critical analysis of
the current research on a topic and that analysis should direct your research objective. This
should not be confused with a book review or an annotated bibliography both research tools but
very different in purpose and scope. A Literature Review can be a stand-alone element or part
of a larger end product, know your assignment. Key to a good Literature Review is to document
your process.

Get to know your Librarian.

One of your first steps to starting a Literature Review is to go to the library and meet with
a Librarian. Subject Librarians know about your area of study and can assist you in finding
topics, books, and databases to get your research started.

Elements

There are many different ways to organize your references in a literature review, but
most reviews contain certain basic elements.

• Objective of the literature review - Clearly describe the purpose of the paper and state
your objectives in completing the literature review.
• Overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration – Give an overview of your
research topic and what prompted it.
• Categorization of sources – Grouping your research either historic, chronologically or
thematically Organization of Subtopics – Subtopics should be grouped and presented in
a logical order starting with the most prominent or significant and moving to the least
significant.
• Discussion – Provide analysis of both the uniqueness of each source and its similarities
with other sources.
• Conclusion - Summary of your analysis and evaluation of the reviewed works and how it
is related to its parent discipline, scientific endeavor, or profession.

The purpose of a literature review is to:

• Provide foundation of knowledge on topic.

• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication and give credit to other
researchers.
• Identify inconstancies: gaps in research, conflicts in previous studies, open questions left
from another research.
• Identify need for additional research (justifying your research)
• Identify the relationship of works in context of its contribution to the topic and to other
works.
• Place your own research within the context of existing literature making a case for why
further study is needed.
Three Essential Catagories

• Simple - A simple literature review is a brief overview of the topic not necessarily purely
academic in scope and often uses popular sources (although popular sources are noted
so their weight and value can be judged) this review is often just the start of the research
process.
• Applied - Used mostly in business, government and other professional environments
applied literature reviews are more fact finding exorcizes. Used to look at marketability
and profitability they look at change and value objectivity and accuracy in similar projects
and programs.
• Academic - Whether stand alone or part of a paper, study, or project the Academic
Literature Review requires accuracy, quality resources , objectivity thoroughness and
 quality analysis but unlike the other two styles the Academic Review requires a depth
the others do not. Academic sources not popular should be used and a summery and
synthysis of sources usually within a conceptual framework.

WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

What is a literature review?

A literature review is a survey of everything that has been written about a particular
topic, theory, or research question. It may provide the background for larger work, or it may
stand on its own. Much more than a simple list of sources, an effective literature review
analyzes and synthesizes information about key themes or issues.

Book Review Annotated Bibliography Literature Review

Analyzes and evaluates a Summarizes relevant
particular book. sources.
and explains the significance.
of that source to the research
question.
Surveys all relevant literature.
to determine what is known
and not known about a
particular topic.

Why write a literature review?

1. To discover what has been written about a topic already.

2. To determine what each source contributes to the topic.

3. To understand the relationship between the various contributions, identify and (if

possible) resolve contradictions and determine gaps or unanswered questions.

What is involved in writing a literature review?

1. Research – to discover what has been written about the topic.

2. Critical Appraisal – to evaluate the literature, determine the relationship between the

sources and ascertain what has been done already and what still needs to be done.

3. Writing – to explain what you have found.

Steps to writing an effective literature review:

Gathering sources

• Focus your topic: A literature review aims to cover all of the research on a given topic. If
the

topic is too large, there will be too much material to cover it adequately.

• Read with a purpose: Although you will need to briefly summarize sources, a good
literature.

review requires that you isolate key themes or issues related to your own research interests.

Evaluating sources

For each book or article consider:

• Credentials: Is the author an expert?

• Argument/Evidence: Does the evidence support the conclusion? Is the argument or
• evidence complete?

When comparing sources, consider:

• Conclusions: Does all research arrive at the same conclusion or are there differing
• opinions? What evidence or reasoning are the differences based on?
• Gaps or omissions: What questions are raised by the literature?

Writing a Literature Review

Introduction

The introduction should identify your topic, some discussion of the significance of that
topic and a thesis statement that outlines what conclusion you will draw from your analysis and
synthesis of the literature. If your literature review is part of a larger work, explain the
importance of the review to your research question.

Body

In the body, discuss and assess the research according to specific organizational
principles (see examples below), rather than addressing each source separately. Most, if not all,
paragraphs should discuss more than one source. Avoid addressing your sources alphabetically
as this does not assist in developing the themes or key issues central to your review.

Conclusion
 The conclusion should provide a summary of YOUR findings from the literature review.
Explain what your analysis of the material leads you to conclude about the overall state of the
literature, what it provides and where it is lacking. You can also provide suggestions for future
research or explain how your future research will fill the gaps in the existing body of work on that
topic.