How to

Draft your title and Abstract

Presented by: Israa Al-Muhiesen
Crafting an
Effective
Dissertation
Title in
Linguistics
 What is a Title?
General concepts
• The title of a dissertation is a concise statement that encapsulates the main theme and scope of the
research conducted.
• It is considered important as it the first thing that readers encounter, and it serves multiple important
purposes.
• It acts as a hook that can capture the attention of the readers and give the preliminary idea of what to
expect from your dissertation. It sets the tone and provide a first impression of your work.
• It should be
1. Descriptive and explanatory.
2. Precise and concise.
• Although there is no prescribed limit for title length in APA style, authors are encouraged to keep their
titles focused and succinct. (15 words max)
 Types of Titles
Nominal Titles Compound Titles
• called hanging titles, are those made using a colon.
• Mostly used – capture the main theme of the paper. General Idea: Specific Idea or Engaging bit: Informative
bit

Using Short Stories to Develop EFL Learners’ Writing

The Use of Short Stories to Develop EFL Writing Competence:
Competence.
Students’ Perception
Changing Bodies: Matters of the Body in the Fiction of Octavia E.
Butler

Full Sentence Titles Question Titles

• Rarely used - generally aimed to catch the reader's
• Apt to be longer and accentuate the outcome of the study attention
Blended learning implementation in ELT is Is blended learning implementation in ELT
essentially not a matter of following a trend merely a matter of following a trend or a
but a necessity necessity?
 Tips for writing an effective title

Include essential terms Avoid words that serve no
in the title to enhance purpose; they increase the
readers’ ability to find length and mislead
your work during a indexers. For example, the
search and aid words “methods” and
abstracting and “results” and phrases as “a
indexing in databases. study of” or “an
experimental investigation
of” do not normally
appear in a title.
Avoid using Make it attractive
abbreviation in a and interesting to
title; spelling out all the reads,
terms help ensure understandable to a
accurate, complete broad audience.
indexing.
Crafting an
Effective
Dissertation
Abstract
 What is an Abstract?
 The abstract is a brief summary of your dissertation, usually about 150-250 words, depending on the
requirements of the academic institution. It provides an overview of your research question,
methodology, results, and conclusions. An effective abstract should:

• Introduce the research question or problem statement.

• Describe the research methodology and approach.
• Summarize the key findings or results.
• Highlight the significance and implications of the research.
• Be self-contained and understandable on its own.

 The abstract is often the part of the dissertation that is most widely read and published in academic
databases. It allows readers to quickly assess the relevance and contribution of your research to their
interests or field of study.
 Elements of Abstract
Background Purpose
The next statement should describe the significance of the study. The
• The background section should consist of a single sentence or, at sentence should be very similar to, if not exactly like, the final sentence
most, two sentences. In the sentence, describe the most relevant of your introduction.
(direct) background information.

Material and Methods Results

• you should state your main result: the answer to the main question
• This section should include a statement of the main method that that was stated in the section on the purpose of the study. It is
was used. Details on methods need to be confined to the important to include only the main result in this section and not
methods section within the manuscript and should not be secondary observations that might have come up during the course
included in the abstract. Simple statements that clearly articulate of the study. If you have included statistical methods in your study,
what was done should appear here. Additionally, if you are the essential elements of the computed statistics should be
including statistical analysis, a short description of the methods displayed here. This is usually expressed as a value in parenthesis
used should be supplied in this section. along with the main result

Discussion and Implication

• The final section of the abstract should mirror the discussion
section. As in the purpose section, it is very important not to
overstate the significance and implications of your results. The
statement must be confined to the question that was answered
and not extrapolated to include conclusions on unrelated
studies..
 und
Backgro
Purpose

Method

s ults
Re

Conclusion

The tense in
the abstract
should be
simple PAST
Keywords should be in bold
Tips for writing an effective Abstract
 References
• Pardede, P. (2018). Research Components. Research in ELT (Module 3) Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330134699_Research_Components?enrichId=rgreq-3fce93e14cdb8e88fb696e7111d800f6-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOz
MzMDEzNDY5OTtBUzo3MTEyODg5ODAyNjI5MTVAMTU0NjU5NTkxNjg0MQ%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc=publicationCoverPdf
Thank You