One of my friends said this recently recently. When I heard it my heart sank. I mean HATE? really? Such a strong word for something so innocuous. So what if someone uses a question at the start of their paper or not? Surely it is the content that is more important?
Accuracy of content and clarity is key
Ask any academic and they will tell you something similar to this. If you can express yourself accurately and clearly you will have no problem with academic writing. Even my question hating friend would not disagree. So do questions as titles prevent you from expressing yourself more accurately or clearly? Of course they don?t!
In fact, questions in titles can improve the accuracy and clarity of your writing
Research is always focussed on answering a fundamental academic question. To align the title of your paper with this question is no bad thing. However the real power of questions in titles is different.
Questions make your titles more engaging
Generally speaking, making your title a question is an easy way to make it more engaging which means that more people will read it (all other things being equal of course).
So what is my friends problem with questions?
?You just can?t do it, you?re not writing a column for a tabloid newspaper! You?re writing a serious publication. Academic articles are no place for journalistic writing.?
Journalistic writing? are you F@$&*ing joking!?!
One thing that really annoys me is when people preach that clarity and accuracy is key, while at the same time preaching against ?journalistic? writing in academic publications. What is clear or accurate about the term ?journalistic?? What does ?journalistic? even mean?
Journalistic ? The Bad
Journalistic is such a broad adjective. If someone describes your writing as journalistic they could mean that it is:
Sensationalist,
Inaccurate,
Incomplete,
lacking depth.
In this sense, journalistic is of course bad. These adjectives should not describe academic writing. However?
Journalistic can also have GOOD connotations
To me, journalistic can mean:
Simple,
Clear,
Accurate.
So if you write in a simple, clear and accurate way, it may well seem journalistic but there certainly is no problem with that! People might ague that it lacks academic gravitas (i.e. jargon) but this really doesn?t matter.
?Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex? It takes a touch of genius ? and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.? ? Albert Einstein
My Problem
Academics in general tend to be intelligent, rigorous and curiosity driven people. They look for truthful answers to interesting questions, in spite of what has gone before. This is evident when you talk to them about their work. When you talk to them about academic writing however this can be a different story. Minds become closed, the blinkers come on and dogmatic adherence to strict rules that make no sense are suddenly standard practice. Pompous, bloated and unnecessarily complicated prose can become acceptable.
?I am so clever that sometimes I don?t understand a single word of what I am saying.? ? Oscar Wilde
What we need to do as academics is apply the same rigour and questioning to our writing as we do to our subject. We need to commit to improving our understanding and skill in communicating our work. Academic writing is the lens through which all others see our work. Without a good lens, our work is irrelevant.
So, instead of hating questions in article titles because we?ve been told to or just invented a reason, why not apply your academic mind to the problem. We should think; what would be the outcome of using a question in my title? Would it lose anything? Would it gain anything? What I am I trying to achieve with my title in the first place?
Take academic writing conventions, question them and experiment with them. Treat academic writing with the same seriousness and curiosity as you treat your subject.
Thanks for listening to my little rant. I?d love to know your opinions, so please share your thoughts in the comments
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Source: http://www.literaturereviewhq.com/questions-as-article-titles/
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