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How to write a good dissertation title

As they are frequently confused, it may be useful at the outset to define the difference between the terms ‘dissertation’ and ‘thesis’ as they are not strictly synonymous:

• A dissertation is essentially a long essay, used in many ways, at all academic levels, to examine an argument.
• A thesis is a research based proposal which is examined at length, usually for the award of a higher degree.
  

As this article is concerned with the development of a dissertation title, for the purposes of this discussion, a dissertation title will be taken to apply to a thesis since it is concerned with research rather than a given argument you have been asked to discuss.

How important is a good dissertation title?

A good dissertation title is absolutely vital, as it is the first idea that anyone reading the dissertation will see. Think how important the title of a book is: it grabs your attention, it indicates the content of what you are about to read and it makes you want to read more. Ideally, a good dissertation title should do all these things – and more.

This is a lot to expect to achieve in a dissertation title and might sound a little daunting but it is very important that the title of your work gives a precise, clear and concise idea of what is contained within the dissertation itself. This is especially true because your dissertation is being proposed for the award of a higher degree and therefore must be of a much higher standard than other work you have done: the dissertation title should reflect this.
In addition, the best dissertation titles reflect an element of the depth of research that you have undertaken during the time you have spent preparing your dissertation. You will have covered a lot of ground and specialised in a particular area; again, this should be shown in a good dissertation title.

How should a dissertation title evolve?

A good dissertation title evolves as you research, it is most unlikely that you will have a definitive dissertation title before you begin work, what you will have is an idea, or to give it its proper name, ‘a thesis’. This will have come about as a result of lengthy and specific research.
Often, a dissertation title will only be finally decided upon when you have almost completed your research but you should have a ‘working title’ from the first which you will develop further as your research progresses. Your appointed supervisor should be of assistance now and as your research continues. Any fundamental changes to your dissertation title should be discussed with your supervisor before you make them because your dissertation proposal will have been accepted based partly on the dissertation title.

A good working dissertation title would need to give sufficient scope to allow you flexibility to change the direction of the dissertation’s thesis if your developing research seems to demand this. For example, if you are intending to research the literature of the turn of the twentieth century with particular reference to landscape images and intrinsic mysticism, a good working title might be as generic as ‘Landscape Images: 1880-1920’. You can then hone this into precisely what you intend to research after you have discovered what has already been said on the subject and how it relates to your own original thinking. This last phrase is vital in the development of a dissertation title, as originality is the absolute key to a successful dissertation and your final dissertation title must reflect this. Being precise about a specific time period is one way to do this because it is precise without being restrictive. Remember that the fundamental principles accepted by a research committee cannot be changed once the research topic has been approved, so choose and construct your dissertation title wisely.

So how do I research a good dissertation title?

The basic answer to this is to read widely. It might take you some time before you can decide upon which exact area of a discipline you wish to take further. The focus of your reading should be on defining not only what has already been said on a topic but also how you can add to it. For example, if you are interested in looking at a particular era in history, you might consider the following stages in the development of your dissertation title:

• Read the established texts on the subject, noting any questions you feel the authors leave unanswered.
• Try to discover, through more research - preferably very recent, whether the gaps you have isolated have been answered effectively elsewhere.
• Consider adopting one of the ‘unanswered questions’ you have identified as a topic for your dissertation title.
  

This should, of course, be thoroughly discussed with your supervisor.
Another way of proceeding might be to take an unusual and original angle on an established subject, one that has perhaps been seen as less overtly interesting: you can make it so. For example, the Art and Politics of Classical Rome have been widely discussed so it would be difficult to find an area here that has not already been researched in depth. However, the same could not be said of elements of the infrastructure such as the drainage system, without which Rome could not have functioned.
Remember, that a good dissertation title is above all original so make originality your primary focus, both in the choice of topic and in its expression. It is only possible to create a good dissertation title after extensive preliminary research which, to the perceptive and intuitive reader, will effectively isolate areas which have yet to be addressed. Your dissertation title needs to reflect the originality of your choice of topic, as well as giving some idea of the specific way in which the dissertation itself will be presented. You should not, of course, attempt to be comprehensive in your dissertation title but give enough information so that your reader’s appetite is whetted. A good dissertation title above all shows evidence of originality and a dissertation title displaying evidence of this is more like to succeed.