Dr. M M Bagali, PhD
Director,
Centre for Research in Human Resources and Higher Education
Bangalore
Masters project-Minor and Major Research are part of any higher education institutes requirements. No graduate complexes the course without having undertaken the project. For any student, there are 3 pain points- Which company one tend to undertake the project; Which area of specialisation the project to be taken; and last, what should be the Title of the project. The book or the work is know by the title it has. The title will say more about the work, and that what makes the work-reader connect. And, the better the connect, the better is the readership, review and the outcome of work reaching the desired community/beneficiary.Organisation also look for appropriate title, thus, telling all the story inside to be worth reading.
Choosing the title, which reflect the work is the first main reason, why students have to spend quite some time. Any title, should address,
1. what is the objective of the entire work; 2. should be relevant and context specific; and 3. the variables that are included in the study. The title is defined by the nature of your enquiry and the focus of the work, per se. Further, the title should speak the work, and set the momentum forward, and create interest in the readers.
Than, how do I frame grand title for my study. Know the big picture of what work you are planning to do. Get that broad scope of work, and crystal clear about the outcome of the work. Draft one title to give some direction for your paper to start to write. But, after 3-4 draft, get your title finalised. Don’t ever at first or second instance, finalise the title. The more you are into your study, the more the title gets matured, and at one point of time, gets it right.
For example: This title finalisation went this way, thus, connecting the dots.
First Draft: An Empirical Study of Employee(s) Engagement and Motivation at the Workplace in Microsoft, Bangalore, India
Second Draft: A Case Study of Employees Engagement and Motivation at the Workplace in Microsoft, Bangalore
Third Draft: Employees Engagement and Motivation at the Workplace in Microsoft, Bangalore
Four Draft: Microsoft Employees Engagement and Motivation Model at the Workplace
Final Title: Microsoft Model of Employees Engagement and Motivation at the Workplace
The spark for having the title finalise comes from all the ends. Library, scanning the related journals, referring few papers published, literature search, Unpublished masters thesis, are the few ways to get grip on the tile to be finalised. A discussion with the supervisor- either at business school or the Organisational guide, seniors, research scholar forums and association in the university, would add some ingredients to polish the title. Scanning related periodicals, guide to literature, Academic Discussion on Social Media,Conference papers , LinkedIn discussion, Books, Dissertations and research in progress, Working papers or unpublished papers, Documents on the internet , Government publications, and Personal requests to knowledgeable researchers and / or practitioners, are the other best mode. Making an analysis of Article metric, Author metric, Journal metric, and Citation metric, will give one an idea about the maturity and relevance of the title that you want to finalise. This also gives the idea of the rigour and relevance and contact ready, and sort of content related
While finalising the title for your project, few factors need double check, viz: title need to fall in the subject area / scope; avoid Abbreviations to be used on the title; don’t repeat the words; don’t put bracket, and what are my Variables in the study, title should reflect those variables, per se. If the title creates the curiosity in the riders, than that is the best title to finalise. Let the title address the novelty in the subject area; actionability insights for the managers; new vocabulary in defining the variables; and significance and grand challenge it tries to address.
————————————————————————————-
dr.mmbagali@gmail.com
