Title
A well-written title serves two fundamental purposes in research. The first purpose of the title is to provide a “clear statement to the reader of what to expect,” and the second purpose is to “help someone searching for an article on your topic area to find your paper,” (“What Makes a Good Title?” 2013). A clever title might not serve either of these purposes, which is why authors like Rejno, Nordin, Forsgren, et al (2017) opt for a straightforward and explicit title. The full title of the research is “Nursing students' attendance at learning activities in relation to attainment and passing courses: A prospective quantitative study.” Although clunky and lacking imagination, the title does fulfill the primary functions of alerting the reader what they can expect from the article, and making the article relatively easy to find in academic or peer-reviewed databases. In fact, the authors even point out what their research design is in the title (“a prospective quantitative study”), which helps readers to quickly identify whether or not this research is meaningful to them. Nurses seeking qualitative research would not waste their time on a prospective quantitative design like this one.
Likewise, the title of this research includes several keywords that make it easier to locate in databases, one of the most important aspects of evidence-based practice (Greenhalgh, 2010). The keywords or phrases used in the title include “nursing students,” “nursing students’ attendance,” and also “learning activities,”...
(2017) essentially point out some of the major variables used in their quantitative research (attainment and passing courses), as well as the population sample (nursing students). Overall, this is a highly effective title that promotes evidence-based practice by reaching a broader audience and remaining visible to other researchers.
Abstract
According to Greenhalgh (2010), an abstract is “a short summary of what the article is all about, which you will find on the database as well as at the beginning of the printed article,” (p. 17). Therefore, the abstract shares in common with the title the need to be clear and contain direct information about what the article includes. A successful abstract is succinct, but it should also be thorough, which can be a difficult balance to achieve. Andrade (2011) recommends that an abstract include a brief, two to three sentence, explanation of the background information, information about the methods used in the research design, and a summation of the results or findings. However, a good abstract should also include a concluding statement that refers to the clinical or theoretical implications and applications of the research. The vast majority of readers will only see the abstract, making this the most important part of the written research (Andrade, 2011).
Rejno, Nordin, Forsgren, et al. (2017) fulfill all the above requirements of a good abstract, including a brief background statement, a statement of purpose or objectives, explication…
