Designing Experiments
SelfGuide

SECTION SEVEN : Title

Capturing the essence of the report

Write a title that captures what is important about the lab, including the scientific concept the lab is about and variables involved, the procedure, or anything else that is important to understanding what this report is about.

More Help:

You write the title after you have written the other parts of the report, because the title reduces the report down to its essence, and it's not until you finish writing the report that you are able to identify what that essence is. A good title very efficiently tells the reader what the report is about.

Hints:

  • If you are having trouble writing a title, try this approach. List the keywords related to the report: the scientific concept of the lab, the kind of procedure you used, names of key materials, what you experimented on, etc. Then write a title that describes the lab using the most important of these keywords.
  • A title should use the fewest possible words to adequately describe the content of the report.
  • A title should be as specific as possible. Specify the primary focus of the experiment and procedures used, including the scientific names of chemicals, animals, etc.
  • Do not write the title as a complete sentence, with a subject and a verb. Titles are labels, not sentences.
  • Do not use catchy titles. This is not an English paper or an editorial.
  • Find the right balance for the length of the title: not so short that it doesn't communicate what the report is about but not so long that it rambles on for more than a line.

 

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