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Here are some examples of academic titles. What do they have in common?

Academic Titles Have Three Parts

(A) A catchy "hook" that introduces the paper in a creative way (Like "Buy Me a Date," "Just Do It," and "Is That a Horseshoe in Your Pocket?")
(B) Specific keywords that identify the concepts the scholar will be exploring (like consumerization, risk-taking, and male movie-star archetypes)
(C) The "location" where those keywords will be explored (like 21st century online dating, multiplayer video games, and cowboy western films)

Put together, an academic-style title might sound like these:
1) Buy Me a Date: Consumerization and Theories of Social Interaction in 21st Century Online Dating Sites

2) "Just Do It: Risk-Taking and Collaborative Learning Theory in Multiplayer Video Games"

3) "Is That a Horseshoe in Your Pocket? Homosocial Male Archetypes in the the Cowboy Western"

Finally, Let's Turn Some Bad Titles into Good Ones

Note how not only the words have changed, but you can imagine that the substance of these essays would be very different.

So-so title: "Necessary Tools: Lack of Textbooks in America's public schools, K-12"
Better title: "Necessary Tools: K-12 Textbook Visual Accessibility and the Soundbyte Model of Information Theory"
Commentary: While the first paper could be arguing anything from the cost of textbooks to the poor information contained between their covers, the second title indicates a specific component of textbooks that will be examined, and on top of that, identifies the main scholarly theory that the paper will use to explore that component.

Sample conversation about improving an academic-style title

guest657747: mark
markfullmer@digsby.org: hello!
guest657747: does this sound ACademic
guest657747: "Settling: A Modern Day Woman's Dilema"?
markfullmer@digsby.org: (two m's in dilemma)
guest657747: ugh
guest657747: haha
markfullmer@digsby.org: It's starting to sound academic, but it could be better.
markfullmer@digsby.org: let's see...
guest657747: ok well is it good, I'm having trouble with a title for this one
markfullmer@digsby.org: remember: an academic style title has 3 parts.
guest657747: ok
guest657747: hmm
guest657747: so I need two parts, the first one a hook and the second what its going to be talking about?
markfullmer@digsby.org: part A I think you've got: "A Modern Day Woman's Dilemma"
markfullmer@digsby.org: Exactly
guest657747: btw
guest657747: this is andreas if you havn't figured it out by now
markfullmer@digsby.org: The second part should be something that talks about analyzing the meaning of settling as related to marriage in the 21st century
guest657747: hmm
markfullmer@digsby.org: with a specific emphasis on changing gender roles for females
markfullmer@digsby.org: does that make sense?
markfullmer@digsby.org: btw, hey Andreas!
guest657747: um, ya
markfullmer@digsby.org: great.
guest657747: So if I said "A Modern Day Woman's Dilemma: Settling in the Twenty First Century"?
markfullmer@digsby.org: Getting there
guest657747: It sounds academic to me but I'm never sure jaja
markfullmer@digsby.org: haha
guest657747: idk what to do!
markfullmer@digsby.org: could you sneak in somehting about changing gender roles & marriage?
markfullmer@digsby.org: (and you don't need to spell out 21st)
guest657747: what do you mean by changing gender roles
markfullmer@digsby.org: well, settling means something different now than it used to because women's role in society is different now.
guest657747: oh I see
guest657747: so Ineed to be more specific
guest657747: ok
markfullmer@digsby.org: oftentimes, academic titles use simple listing
guest657747: "A Modern Day Woman's Dilema: Settling and Marriage in the 21st Century"
guest657747: BAMM!
markfullmer@digsby.org: so you might say something like:
markfullmer@digsby.org: Getting really close Andreas!
guest657747: ugh!
markfullmer@digsby.org: Can I make a slight suggestion?
guest657747: always
markfullmer@digsby.org: "A Modern Day Woman's Dilemma: Marriage, Gender Roles, and the Meaning of Settling in the 21st Century"
guest657747: That sounds Academic to me
markfullmer@digsby.org: good good good!
guest657747: why cant Academic Writing come naturally to me
guest657747: ahha
markfullmer@digsby.org: heheh
markfullmer@digsby.org: spend 2 years in grad school and it'll be easy.
guest657747: well actually
guest657747: I plan to go to art school
guest657747: instead
markfullmer@digsby.org: can I quote this discussion on the website for others working on their titles
guest657747: ya
guest657747: sure
markfullmer@digsby.org: thx!