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ENGL 214 | GUIDANCE ON REPORT TITLES

ENGL 214 – GUIDANCE ON REPORT TITLES

Choosing a strong title is key to performing well on this course, as it will be the basis for four of your
assignments this semester, making up 50% of your grade.

I. TITLE CRITERIA

Titles should:

1. Have a clear link to the course theme.

2. Have a clear link to your major.
3. Be a problem-solution or argument essay (not an advantage-disadvantage, cause-effect,
compare-contrast, or descriptive essay). This should be obvious from the title. For example:
 Problem-solution
An Examination of the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Tackling Cross-Border
Financial Crime
 Argument
An Argument in Favour of Europe Following the United States in Decoupling from
China
4. Not be too general (e.g., Electric Cars is not acceptable, Overcoming the Problem of
Charging Electric Vehicles on Cross-border Journeys is acceptable).
5. Not be framed as a question (e.g., How Can Saudi Arabia Improve Trade With China? is not
acceptable).
6. Not have an obvious answer (e.g., An Argument in Favour of Petroleum-Powered
Automobiles as the Primary Means of Transport is not acceptable).
7. Be unique (i.e., you cannot choose a title that is very similar to that of another student from
any of the other sections)
8. Be capitalised according to APA 7th Edition rules (i.e., the first letter of each word
capitalised, except for conjunctions, prepositions, and articles; conjunctions, prepositions, and
articles capitalised if first word of the title, after a colon, or four-or-more letters long).
9. Be free of grammatical and spelling errors.

II. CHOOSING A GOOD TITLE

Whether you are writing a problem-solution or argument essay, you will need to identify a problem
to write about. If there is no problem, then there is no point in researching and writing about the topic.

It is also essential that you do some research before deciding on a title. This will be beneficial in
two ways: (1) doing the research will help you find topics and develop your ideas; and (2) it will give
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ENGL 214 | GUIDANCE ON REPORT TITLES

you an indication as to whether there is material available for you build your essay upon. If you are
only using Google and Google Scholar, however, you are much less likely to find useful and high-
quality sources than if you are using the KFUPM Library SmartSearch system (access to these
sources will, however, require you to use the KFUPM Wi-Fi system, or the KFUPM VPN).

You should also review the advice provided in the lesson two PowerPoint file.

III. ANATOMY OF A GOOD TITLE

You can use this formula to help you write your title. Your title does not necessarily need to follow
the same structure, but it should have the same ingredients:

[Essay type (i.e., problem-solution or argument] [topic and/or problem] [purpose and/or context]
[additional contextual element, if necessary]

You can also use the template provided at the end of this document to help you generate ideas.

IV. GOOD TITLE EXAMPLES

 An Evaluation of the Prospects for Autonomous Transportation Systems in NEOM

 An Argument in Favour of Replacing Fiat Currencies with Cryptocurrencies for Online
Transactions

V. BAD TITLE EXAMPLES

These might be acceptable titles for magazine articles or books, but they are bad titles for academic
essays or professional reports:

 An Argument in Favour of Autonomous Driving Machines in Africa

 How Africa Is Changing the World
 How to Use AI in the Context of Industrial Systems Engineering

VI. FURTHER EXAMPLES

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

SWE Information Business & Business data Lack of security in online
security Industry business systems
focused The Application of Cryptography in Protecting Sensitive Online Business Data
to:

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

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ENGL 214 | GUIDANCE ON REPORT TITLES

MKT Advertising Health Excessive sugar Unethical targeting of

ethics children in sugar-rich
breakfast cereal ads
focused An Argument in Support of Stricter Legislation for the Advertising of
to: Breakfast Cereals to Children

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

GEOP Seismic Natural & Earthquakes Insufficient warning before
prediction Man-made major earthquakes
Disasters
focused An Evaluation of Two New Early-Warning Techniques for Predicting Seismic
to: Activity along the San Andreas Fault

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

CHEM Contaminants Environment GroundwaterPollution of groundwater by
gasoline
focused The Role of Leaking Fuel Storage Tanks in the Pollution of Al-Qassim’s
to: Groundwater Supplies

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

AE Air traffic Transportation Civil aviation Airport safety problems at
control take-off and landing
focused Miscommunication Between Air Traffic Control and the Pilot: The Case Study
to: of the Tenerife Airport Disaster

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

CE Well design Natural Water wells Saline contamination of water
Resources wells
focused Saudi Arabia Should Follow Canada’s Well Guidelines to Prevent Saline
to: Contamination

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

ME Solar energy Energy Solar power Lack of an adequate storage
storage method for solar energy
focused The Application of Molten Salt Technology to Improve the Storage of Solar
to: Energy

VII. TRY FOR YOURSELF

If it is helpful, you can use this template to help you to generate ideas

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

focused to:

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

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ENGL 214 | GUIDANCE ON REPORT TITLES

focused to:

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

focused to:

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

focused to:

MAJOR narrowed to: THEME narrowed to: PROBLEM

focused to: