Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Grammar and academic English | 291

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OTHER ASPECTS OF ACADEMIC STYLE

154

The grammar of titles and sub-titles

154a

Titles of academic works often use the -ing form of the verb in a non-finite clause

to indicate research activity directed towards a stated goal or some ongoing

process. Examples of titles of books and papers:

[book title]

Negotiat

ing Service: Studies in the Discourse of Bookshop Encounters

[title of a paper in a musical education journal]

Rais

ing standards in performance 

[title of a paper in a behavioural sciences journal]

Vary

ing the scale of financial incentives under real and hypothetical

conditions 

The preposition towards is often used in academic titles to indicate tentative

proposals or initial explorations in new theory. Examples of book titles:

EC Regionalism at the Turn of the Millennium: 

towards a new paradigm?

Towards more Effective Supplementary and Mother-tongue Schools: guidelines

Towards a Reference Architecture for Natural Language Generation Systems