When you’re faced with writing up a thesis, choosing a title can often fall to the bottom of the priority list. After all, it’s only a few words. How hard can it be?!
In the grand scheme of things I agree that picking your thesis title shouldn’t warrant that much thought, however my own choice is one of the few regrets I have from my PhD. I therefore think there is value in spending some time considering the options available.
In this post I’ll guide you through how to write your own thesis title and share real-world examples. Although my focus is on the PhD thesis, I’ve also included plenty of thesis title examples for bachelor’s and master’s research projects too.
Hopefully by the end of the post you’ll feel ready to start crafting your own!
Why your thesis title is at least somewhat important
It sounds obvious but your thesis title is the first, and often only, interaction people will have with your thesis. For instance, hiring managers for jobs that you may wish to apply for in the future. Therefore you want to give a good sense of what your research involved from the title.
Many people will list the title of their thesis on their CV, at least for a while after graduating. All of the example titles I’ve shared below came from my repository of academic CVs. I’d say roughly 30% of all the academics on that page list their thesis title, which includes academics all the way up to full professor.
Your thesis title could therefore feature on your CV for your whole career, so it is probably worth a bit of thought!
My suggestions for choosing a good thesis title
- Make it descriptive of the research so it’s immediately obvious what it is about! Most universities will publish student theses online (here’s mine!) and they’re indexed so can be found via Google Scholar etc. Therefore give your thesis a descriptive title so that interested researchers can find it in the future.
- Don’t get lost in the detail. You want a descriptive title but avoid overly lengthy descriptions of experiments. Unless a certain analytical technique etc was central to your research, I’d suggest by default* to avoid having it in your title. Including certain techniques will make your title, and therefore research, look overly dated, which isn’t ideal for potential job applications after you graduate.
- The title should tie together the chapters of your thesis. A well-phrased title can do a good job of summarising the overall story of your thesis. Think about each of your research chapters and ensure that the title makes sense for each of them.
- Be strategic. Certain parts of your work you want to emphasise? Consider making them more prominent in your title. For instance, if you know you want to pivot to a slightly different research area or career path after your PhD, there may be alternative phrasings which describe your work just as well but could be better understood by those in the field you’re moving into. I utilised this a bit in my own title which we’ll come onto shortly.
- Do your own thing. Having just laid out some suggestions, do make sure you’re personally happy with the title. You get a lot of freedom to choose your title, so use it however you fancy. For example, I’ve known people to use puns in their title, so if that’s what you’re into don’t feel overly constrained.
*This doesn’t always hold true and certainly don’t take my advice if 1) listing something in your title could be a strategic move 2) you love the technique so much that you’re desperate to include it!
Thesis title examples
To help give you some ideas, here are some example thesis titles from Bachelors, Masters and PhD graduates. These all came from the academic CVs listed in my repository here.
Bachelor’s thesis title examples
Hysteresis and Avalanches
Paul Jager, 2014 – Medical Imaging – DKFZ Head of ML Research Group – direct link to Paul’s machine learning academic CV
The bioenergetics of a marine ciliate, Mesodinium rubrum
Holly Moeller, 2008 – Ecology & Marine Biology – UC Santa Barbara Assistant Professor – direct link to Holly’s marine biology academic CV
Functional syntactic analysis of prepositional and causal constructions for a grammatical parser of Russian
Ekaterina Kochmar, 2008 – Computer Science – University of Bath Lecturer Assistant Prof – direct link to Ekaterina’s computer science academic CV
Master’s thesis title examples
Creation of an autonomous impulse response measurement system for rooms and transducers with different methods
Guy-Bart Stan, 2000 – Bioengineering – Imperial Professor – direct link to Guy-Bart’s bioengineering academic CV
Segmentation of Nerve Bundles and Ganglia in Spine MRI using Particle Filters
Adrian Vasile Dalca, 2012 – Machine Learning for healthcare – Harvard Assistant Professor & MIT Research Scientist – direct link to Adrian’s machine learning academic CV
The detection of oil under ice by remote mode conversion of ultrasound
Eric Yeatman, 1986 – Electronics – Imperial Professor and Head of Department – direct link to Eric’s electronics academic CV
Ensemble-Based Learning for Morphological Analysis of German
Ekaterina Kochmar, 2010 – Computer Science – University of Bath Lecturer Assistant Prof – direct link to Ekaterina’s computer science academic CV
VARiD: A Variation Detection Framework for Color-Space and Letter-Space Platforms
Adrian Vasile Dalca, 2010 – Machine Learning for healthcare – Harvard Assistant Professor & MIT Research Scientist – direct link to Adrian’s machine learning academic CV
Identification of a Writer’s Native Language by Error Analysis
Ekaterina Kochmar, 2011 – Computer Science – University of Bath Lecturer Assistant Prof – direct link to Ekaterina’s computer science academic CV
On the economic optimality of marine reserves when fishing damages habitat
Holly Moeller, 2010 – Ecology & Marine Biology – UC Santa Barbara Assistant Professor – direct link to Holly’s marine biology academic CV
Sensitivity Studies for the Time-Dependent CP Violation Measurement in B0 → KSKSKS at the Belle II-Experiment
Paul Jager, 2016 – Medical Imaging – DKFZ Head of ML Research Group – direct link to Paul’s machine learning academic CV
PhD thesis title examples
Spatio-temporal analysis of three-dimensional real-time ultrasound for quantification of ventricular function
Esla Angelini – Medicine – Imperial Senior Data Scientist – direct link to Elsa’s medicine academic CV
The role and maintenance of diversity in a multi-partner mutualism: Trees and Ectomycorrhizal Fungi
Holly Moeller, 2015 – Ecology & Marine Biology – UC Santa Barbara Assistant Professor – direct link to Holly’s marine biology academic CV
Bayesian Gaussian processes for sequential prediction, optimisation and quadrature
Michael Osborne, 2010 – Machine Learning – Oxford Full Professor – direct link to Michael’s machine learning academic CV
Global analysis and synthesis of oscillations: a dissipativity approach
Guy-Bart Stan, 2005 – Bioengineering – Imperial Professor – direct link to Guy-Bart’s bioengineering academic CV
Coarse-grained modelling of DNA and DNA self-assembly
Thomas Ouldridge, 2011– Bioengineering – Imperial College London Senior Lecturer / Associate Prof – direct link to Thomas’ bioengineering academic CV
4D tomographic image reconstruction and parametric maps estimation: a model-based strategy for algorithm design using Bayesian inference in Probabilistic Graphical Models (PGM)
Michele Scipioni, 2018– Biomedical Engineer – Harvard Postdoctoral Research Fellow – direct link to Michele’s biomedical engineer academic CV
Error Detection in Content Word Combinations
Ekaterina Kochmar, 2016 – Computer Science – University of Bath Lecturer Assistant Prof – direct link to Ekaterina’s computer science academic CV
Genetic, Clinical and Population Priors for Brain Images
Adrian Vasile Dalca, 2016 – Machine Learning for healthcare – Harvard Assistant Professor & MIT Research Scientist – direct link to Adrian’s machine learning academic CV
Challenges and Opportunities of End-to-End Learning in Medical Image Classification
Paul Jager, 2020 – Medical Imaging – DKFZ Head of ML Research Group – direct link to Paul’s machine learning academic CV
K2NiF4 materials as cathodes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells
Ainara Aguadero, 2006 – Materials Science – Imperial Reader – direct link to Ainara’s materials science academic CV
Applications of surface plasmons – microscopy and spatial light modulation
Eric Yeatman, 1989 – Electronics – Imperial Professor and Head of Department – direct link to Eric’s electronics academic CV
Geometric Algorithms for Objects in Motion
Sorelle Friedler, 2010 – Computer science – Haverford College Associate Professor – direct link to Sorelle’s computer science academic CV.
Geometrical models, constraints design, information extraction for pathological and healthy medical image
Esla Angelini – Medicine – Imperial Senior Data Scientist – direct link to Elsa’s medicine academic CV
Why I regret my own choice of PhD thesis title
I should say from the outset that I assembled my thesis in quite a short space of time compared to most people. So I didn’t really spend particularly long on any one section, including the title.
However, my main supervisor even spelled out for me that once the title was submitted to the university it would be permanent. In other words: think wisely about your title.
What I started with
Initially I drafted the title as something like: Three dimensional correlative imaging for cartilage regeneration. Which I thought was nice, catchy and descriptive.
I decided to go for “correlative imaging” because, not only did it describe the experiments well, but it also sounded kind of technical and fitting of a potential pivot into AI. I’m pleased with that bit of the title.
What I ended up with
Before submitting the title to the university (required ahead of the viva), I asked my supervisors for their thoughts.
One of my well intentioned supervisors suggested that, given that my project didn’t involve verifying regenerative quality, I probably shouldn’t state cartilage regeneration. Instead, they suggested, I should state what I was experimenting on (the materials) rather than the overall goal of the research (aid cartilage regeneration efforts).
With this advice I dialled back my choice of wording and the thesis title I went with was:
Three dimensional correlative imaging for measurement of strain in cartilage and cartilage replacement materials
Reading it back now I’m reminder about how less I like it than my initial idea!
I put up basically no resistance to the supervisor’s choice, even though the title sounds so much more boring in my opinion. I just didn’t think much of it at the time. Furthermore, most of my PhD was actually in a technique which is four dimensional (looking at a series of 3D scans over time, hence 4D) which would have sounded way more sciency and fitting of a PhD.
What I wish I’d gone with
If I had the choice again, I’d have gone with:
Four-dimensional correlative imaging for cartilage regeneration
Which, would you believe it, is exactly what it states on my CV…
Does the thesis title really matter?
In all honesty, your choice of thesis title isn’t that important. If you come to regret it, as I do, it’s not the end of the world. There are much more important things in life to worry about.
If you decide at a later stage that you don’t like it you can always describe it in a way that you prefer. For instance, in my CV I describe my PhD as I’d have liked the title to be. I make no claim that it’s actually the title so consider it a bit of creative license.
Given that as your career progresses you may not even refer back to your thesis much, it’s really not worth stressing over. However, if you’re yet to finalise your thesis title I do still think it is worth a bit of thought and hopefully this article has provided some insights into how to choose a good thesis title.
My advice for developing a thesis title
- Draft the title early. Drafting it early can help give clarity for the overall message of your research. For instance, while you’re assembling the rest of your thesis you can check that the title encompasses the research chapters you’re included, and likewise that the research experiments you’re including fall within what the title describes. Drafting it early also gives more time you to think it over. As with everything: having a first draft is really important to iterate on.
- Look at some example titles. Such as those featured above!
- If you’re not sure about your title, ask a few other people what they think. But remember that you have the final say!
I hope this post has been useful for those of you are finalising your thesis and need to decide on a thesis title.
For further thesis hints and tips I’d recommend checking out my related post on how to craft your thesis acknowledgements.
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Hi, I found your article very useful. I’m currently preparing my PhD application and am struggling to decide on a research focus. I have years of experience teaching in inclusive classrooms, particularly with students who have visual impairments. I’m now unsure whether to focus on inclusive education more broadly by addressing the integration of all students with disabilities or to concentrate specifically on teaching approaches for students with visual impairments.
Hi Sarifa, thanks for your message. Yes, it can be tough ahead of time to decide exactly what to focus on. I’d suggest speaking to a few potential supervisors if you’ve not already, they can both help you to develop a possible topic, but also you can gauge their willingness for you to change direction somewhat once you start. It is pretty typically that early in the PhD students will explore several topics then focus in. I’d suggest also considering what could be most useful for your wider career: it may be that one route could make certain future job roles more accessible, or lead to specific opportunities. There is only so much of this you can figure out ahead of time, and don’t beat yourself up about the decision if going through difficult times once you start. As you may have read on here, I was also concerned when applying for PhDs about choosing the “right” topic. I now realise that there are loads of PhD topics I’d have found equally interesting in their different ways. Whichever route you go down, try to not second guess it and compare in your mind what would have happened if you went down a different path. I hope that helps.
Best wishes, Jeff
Thank you!
No worries, thanks Dini! If you have any ideas for other content you’d find useful, just let me know. Best wishes.