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The Research on Cursive Handwriting

Colleen beck otr/l.

• by Colleen Beck OTR/L
• November 1, 2017

If you have a school aged child, then you might have seen them learn cursive in schools…or maybe not. In recent years, cursive seems to have dropped from the radar in school curriculum. But why is that? What does the research tell us about cursive handwriting, and what is the science behind cursive? Should cursive be brought back to the classrooms? In this blog post, we’re talking specifically about the latest research on cursive handwriting.

We do have an extensive series and resources on how to teach cursive handwriting , so if the cursive writing research below gets you interested, you can start there!

Cursive Handwriting Research

So, what does research say about cursive handwriting? A lot!

We pulled together a few links on different research studies that looked at different components of cursive writing. The research tells us that cursive changes the brain and helps with learning!

One thing that we have to consider (as parents and as school based OT professionals who are in the mess of handwriting goals…) is to consider technology. Kids are surrounded by tech, screens, and apps all day long. And, that’s not a terrible thing, it’s just that moderation is needed.

So, when it comes to cursive handwriting specifically, we have the technology of tablets and the writing stylus. One team of researchers shared the benefits of practicing letter formation. But, knowing how important it is to practice handwriting and that physical act of writing letters, what do we do about all of the screen use and technology we have now?

The nice thing that we see in occupational therapy in the schools is that we can transition kids from print to cursive as a tool for supporting letter formation. This helps with the motor plan of writing. It also helps with letter reversals. But, we can also use the technology to practice and get all of the benefits of learning letters.

Another study found that using a stylus and screen is just as effective as writing on paper and with a pencil. This is great for the student that needs motivating handwriting activities to actually practice letter formation.

So, what’s the takeaway? It’s all about finding the right balance. Whether you’re a student or a teacher, it’s smart to know when to go digital or stick with traditional methods. Plus, everyone’s different, right? Still another study found that what works for one learner might not click with another and that using different strategies can build those neural pathways.

Cursive Changes the Brain

This link explores the brain and how it relates to cursive handwriting . Some important areas that are referenced include findings of  changes occurring in the brains that allow a child to overcome motor challenges  when children are exposed to cursive handwriting.

Additionally, the article describes a study in which has shown that physical instruction such as cursive handwriting lessons actually changed the participant’s brain structure.

Cursive for Motor Control Challenges

There is some research indicating cursive handwriting can be a valuable tool for motor control challenges such as those who struggle with dyslexia or dysgraphia. Read more about dyslexia and occupational therapy .

It’s been found that there are distinct neural pathways that develop when we physically write letters. 

N euroimaging studies have revealed an cognitive processes involving primarily left-hemisphere brain areas that are involved in writing tasks, finger writing, and imagined writing.

Cursive Progression

Cursive handwriting, like printed handwriting becomes more individualistic and develops a personal style, especially during grades 3 and 4, and as children develop . 

Practice matters! Quality of handwriting has been shown to  enhance writing skills, reading, and learning or memory of language.

There are studies that have shown improved handwriting abilities through use of multi-sensory activities (Case-Smith et al., 2012; Keller, 2001; Lust & Donica, 2011). You’ll find more research on handwriting in The Handwriting Book:

Research references on cursive handwriting

Case-Smith, J., Holland, T., Lane, A., & White, S. (2012). Effect of a co-teaching handwriting program for first graders: One-group pretest-posttest design. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 66(4), 396-405. Keller, M. (2001). Handwriting club: Using sensory integration strategies to improve handwriting. Intervention in School and Clinic, 37(1), 9. Lust, C. A., & Donica, D. K. (2011). Effectiveness of a handwriting readiness program in Head Start: A two-group controlled trial. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65(5), 560-8.

Over the past 30 days, we’ve shared cursive handwriting tips, strategies, activity ideas, free resources including cursive letter flashcards, tricks, and everything you need to know on how to teach cursive handwriting. Today, as a final post in this cursive handwriting series, we wanted to share the science behind cursive.

Below, you’ll find the research on cursive handwriting . These are the studies that explore cursive, the evidence, and the sources you need for teaching and learning to write in cursive. This post is part of our 31 day series on teaching cursive. You’ll want to check out the  How to Teach Cursive Writing  page where you can find all of the posts in this series.  For more ways to address the underlying skills needed for  handwriting , check out the handwriting drop-down tab at the top of this site.

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Why Cursive Handwriting Is Good for Your Brain

Writing by hand helps the brain learn and remember better, an eeg study finds..

Posted October 2, 2020 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

As school-age children increasingly rely solely on digital devices for remote- and in-class learning, many K-12 school systems around the world are phasing out cursive handwriting and no longer mandate that kids learn how to write in longhand script. Relying solely on a keyboard to learn the alphabet and type out written words could be problematic; accumulating evidence suggests that not learning cursive handwriting may hinder the brain's optimum potential to learn and remember.

A new EEG-based study by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) reaffirms the importance of "old-fashioned" cursive handwriting in the 21st-century's Computer Age. Even if students use digital pens and write by hand on an interactive computer screen, cursive handwriting helps the brain learn and remember better. These findings ( Askvik, Van der Weel, & Van der Meer, 2020 ) were recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychology .

"Some schools in Norway have become completely digital and skip handwriting training altogether. Finnish schools are even more digitized than in Norway. Very few schools offer any handwriting training at all," Audrey van der Meer , a neuropsychology professor at NTNU, said in an October 1 news release . "Given the development of the last several years, we risk having one or more generations lose the ability to write by hand. Our research and that of others show that this would be a very unfortunate consequence of increased digital activity."

For this study, Van der Meer and colleagues used high-density EEG monitoring to study how the brain's electrical activity differed when a cohort of 12-year-old children and young adults were handwriting in cursive, typewriting on a keyboard, or drawing visually presented words using a digital pen on a touchscreen, or with traditional pencil and paper.

Data analysis showed that cursive handwriting primed the brain for learning by synchronizing brain waves in the theta rhythm range (4-7 Hz) and stimulating more electrical activity in the brain's parietal lobe and central regions. "Existing literature suggests that such oscillatory neuronal activity in these particular brain areas is important for memory and for the encoding of new information and, therefore, provides the brain with optimal conditions for learning," the authors explain.

The latest (2020) research on the brain benefits of cursive handwriting adds to a growing body of evidence and neuroscience -based research on the importance of learning to write by hand. Almost a decade ago, researchers ( James & Engelhardt, 2012 ) used MRI neuroimaging to investigate the effects of handwriting on functional brain development in young children.

Karin James and Laura Engelhardt found that handwriting (but not typing or tracing letter shapes) activated a unique "reading circuit" in the brain. "These findings demonstrate that handwriting is important for the early recruitment in letter processing of brain regions known to underlie successful reading. Handwriting, therefore, may facilitate reading acquisition in young children," the authors noted.

Another recent fMRI study ( Longcamp et al., 2017 ) of handwriting and reading/writing skills in children and adults found that "the mastery of handwriting is based on the involvement of a network of brain structures whose involvement and inter-connection are specific to writing alphabet characters" and that "these skills are also the basis for the development of more complex language activities involving orthographic knowledge and composition of texts." ( For more on the brain benefits of setting our keyboards aside see " Why Writing by Hand Could Make You Smarter " by William Klemm .)

The latest (2020) study on the importance of cursive handwriting suggests that from an early age, children who are encouraged to augment time spent using a keyboard with writing by hand or drawing * establish neuronal oscillation patterns that prime the brain for learning. As the authors sum up:

" We conclude that because of the benefits of sensory-motor integration due to the larger involvement of the senses as well as fine and precisely controlled hand movements when writing by hand and when drawing, it is vital to maintain both activities in a learning environment to facilitate and optimize learning. "

Audrey van der Meer and her NTNU colleagues are advocating for policymakers to implement guidelines that ensure school-age children receive a minimum of handwriting training and encourage adults to continue writing by hand. "When you write your shopping list or lecture notes by hand, you simply remember the content better afterward," Van der Meer said in the news release.

"The use of pen and paper gives the brain more 'hooks' to hang your memories on. Writing by hand creates much more activity in the sensorimotor parts of the brain," she added. "A lot of senses are activated by pressing the pen on paper, seeing the letters you write, and hearing the sound you make while writing. These sense experiences create contact between different parts of the brain and open the brain up for learning."

* For more on the benefits of drawing and the arts to improve K-12 classroom learning see " Arts-Integrated Pedagogy May Enhance Academic Learning ."

LinkedIn and Facebook image: Aila Images/Shutterstock

Eva Ose Askvik, F. R. (Ruud) van der Weel and Audrey L. H. van der Meer. "The Importance of Cursive Handwriting Over Typewriting for Learning in the Classroom: A High-Density EEG Study of 12-Year-Old Children and Young Adults." Frontiers in Psychology (First published: July 28, 2020) DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01810

Christopher Bergland is a retired ultra-endurance athlete turned science writer, public health advocate, and promoter of cerebellum ("little brain") optimization.

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Preliminary Study on Implications of Cursive Handwriting Learning in Schools

• First Online: 30 August 2017

Cite this chapter

• Andreu Comajuncosas 7 ,
• Marcos Faundez-Zanuy 7 ,
• Jordi Solé-Casals 8 &
• Marta Portero-Tresserra 9  

Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 69))

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The aim of this study is to describe a new database acquired in two different elementary schools of Barcelona province. The study assessed the effect of the type of handwriting learning in general writing performance. In the first school, classical cursive handwriting is learnt while the second one substitutes this skill for keyboarding and print-script handwriting. Analyses in two different groups of age (8–9 and 11–12 years old) for both schools have been performed. A set of 14 different handwriting tasks has been acquired for each student using an Intuos Wacom series 4 tablet plus ink pen and specific software to conduct the analysis. The results revealed that cursive handwriting might improve the handwriting performance by increasing the speed of writing and drawing.

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Bourne, L.: Cursive vs. Printing: Is One Better Than the Other? http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/cursive-vs-printing-is-one-better-than-the-other.html

Russell, H.: Signing Off: Finnish Schools Phase out Handwriting Classes. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/31/finnish-schools-phase-out-handwriting-classes-keyboard-skills-finland

Van de Geyn, L.: The End of Cursive Writing in Schools? http://www.todaysparent.com/family/education/cursive-writing-in-schools/

Boone, J.: Cursive Handwriting Will No Longer Be Taught in Schools Because It’s a Big, Old Waste of Time. http://www.eonline.com/news/481596/cursive-handwriting-will-no-longer-be-taught-in-schools-because-it-s-a-big-old-waste-of-time

Doverspike, J.: Ten Reasons People Still Need Cursive. http://thefederalist.com/2015/02/25/ten-reasons-people-still-need-cursive/

Klemm, W.R.: Why Writing by Hand Could Make You Smarter. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201303/why-writing-hand-could-make-you-smarter

Konnikova, M.: What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=3

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Acknowledgements and Privacy Statement

This work has been funded by Ministerio de economía y competitividad, Reference: TEC2016-77791-C4-2-R.

This study was approved by ethics inspection officer of the public schools involved according to Catalan government rules for the management of learning activities involving children. Full information about the study was provided to the schools’ direction board who supervised the data acquisition, and to the participants in the study, and consent forms were acquired before handwriting and drawing assessments were carried out. All the material collected was anonymized for privacy concerns.

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Department of Civil, Environmental, Energy, and Material Engineering, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy

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Comajuncosas, A., Faundez-Zanuy, M., Solé-Casals, J., Portero-Tresserra, M. (2018). Preliminary Study on Implications of Cursive Handwriting Learning in Schools. In: Esposito, A., Faudez-Zanuy, M., Morabito, F., Pasero, E. (eds) Multidisciplinary Approaches to Neural Computing. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 69. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56904-8_32

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Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning

Jonathan Lambert

If you're like many digitally savvy Americans, it has likely been a while since you've spent much time writing by hand.

The laborious process of tracing out our thoughts, letter by letter, on the page is becoming a relic of the past in our screen-dominated world, where text messages and thumb-typed grocery lists have replaced handwritten letters and sticky notes. Electronic keyboards offer obvious efficiency benefits that have undoubtedly boosted our productivity — imagine having to write all your emails longhand.

To keep up, many schools are introducing computers as early as preschool, meaning some kids may learn the basics of typing before writing by hand.

But giving up this slower, more tactile way of expressing ourselves may come at a significant cost, according to a growing body of research that's uncovering the surprising cognitive benefits of taking pen to paper, or even stylus to iPad — for both children and adults.

Is this some kind of joke? A school facing shortages starts teaching standup comedy

In kids, studies show that tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters. Writing by hand also improves memory and recall of words, laying down the foundations of literacy and learning. In adults, taking notes by hand during a lecture, instead of typing, can lead to better conceptual understanding of material.

"There's actually some very important things going on during the embodied experience of writing by hand," says Ramesh Balasubramaniam , a neuroscientist at the University of California, Merced. "It has important cognitive benefits."

While those benefits have long been recognized by some (for instance, many authors, including Jennifer Egan and Neil Gaiman , draft their stories by hand to stoke creativity), scientists have only recently started investigating why writing by hand has these effects.

A slew of recent brain imaging research suggests handwriting's power stems from the relative complexity of the process and how it forces different brain systems to work together to reproduce the shapes of letters in our heads onto the page.

Your brain on handwriting

Both handwriting and typing involve moving our hands and fingers to create words on a page. But handwriting, it turns out, requires a lot more fine-tuned coordination between the motor and visual systems. This seems to more deeply engage the brain in ways that support learning.

Shots - Health News

Feeling artsy here's how making art helps your brain.

"Handwriting is probably among the most complex motor skills that the brain is capable of," says Marieke Longcamp , a cognitive neuroscientist at Aix-Marseille Université.

Gripping a pen nimbly enough to write is a complicated task, as it requires your brain to continuously monitor the pressure that each finger exerts on the pen. Then, your motor system has to delicately modify that pressure to re-create each letter of the words in your head on the page.

"Your fingers have to each do something different to produce a recognizable letter," says Sophia Vinci-Booher , an educational neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University. Adding to the complexity, your visual system must continuously process that letter as it's formed. With each stroke, your brain compares the unfolding script with mental models of the letters and words, making adjustments to fingers in real time to create the letters' shapes, says Vinci-Booher.

That's not true for typing.

To type "tap" your fingers don't have to trace out the form of the letters — they just make three relatively simple and uniform movements. In comparison, it takes a lot more brainpower, as well as cross-talk between brain areas, to write than type.

Recent brain imaging studies bolster this idea. A study published in January found that when students write by hand, brain areas involved in motor and visual information processing " sync up " with areas crucial to memory formation, firing at frequencies associated with learning.

"We don't see that [synchronized activity] in typewriting at all," says Audrey van der Meer , a psychologist and study co-author at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She suggests that writing by hand is a neurobiologically richer process and that this richness may confer some cognitive benefits.

Other experts agree. "There seems to be something fundamental about engaging your body to produce these shapes," says Robert Wiley , a cognitive psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. "It lets you make associations between your body and what you're seeing and hearing," he says, which might give the mind more footholds for accessing a given concept or idea.

Those extra footholds are especially important for learning in kids, but they may give adults a leg up too. Wiley and others worry that ditching handwriting for typing could have serious consequences for how we all learn and think.

What might be lost as handwriting wanes

The clearest consequence of screens and keyboards replacing pen and paper might be on kids' ability to learn the building blocks of literacy — letters.

"Letter recognition in early childhood is actually one of the best predictors of later reading and math attainment," says Vinci-Booher. Her work suggests the process of learning to write letters by hand is crucial for learning to read them.

"When kids write letters, they're just messy," she says. As kids practice writing "A," each iteration is different, and that variability helps solidify their conceptual understanding of the letter.

Research suggests kids learn to recognize letters better when seeing variable handwritten examples, compared with uniform typed examples.

This helps develop areas of the brain used during reading in older children and adults, Vinci-Booher found.

"This could be one of the ways that early experiences actually translate to long-term life outcomes," she says. "These visually demanding, fine motor actions bake in neural communication patterns that are really important for learning later on."

Ditching handwriting instruction could mean that those skills don't get developed as well, which could impair kids' ability to learn down the road.

"If young children are not receiving any handwriting training, which is very good brain stimulation, then their brains simply won't reach their full potential," says van der Meer. "It's scary to think of the potential consequences."

Many states are trying to avoid these risks by mandating cursive instruction. This year, California started requiring elementary school students to learn cursive , and similar bills are moving through state legislatures in several states, including Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin. (So far, evidence suggests that it's the writing by hand that matters, not whether it's print or cursive.)

Slowing down and processing information

For adults, one of the main benefits of writing by hand is that it simply forces us to slow down.

During a meeting or lecture, it's possible to type what you're hearing verbatim. But often, "you're not actually processing that information — you're just typing in the blind," says van der Meer. "If you take notes by hand, you can't write everything down," she says.

The relative slowness of the medium forces you to process the information, writing key words or phrases and using drawing or arrows to work through ideas, she says. "You make the information your own," she says, which helps it stick in the brain.

Such connections and integration are still possible when typing, but they need to be made more intentionally. And sometimes, efficiency wins out. "When you're writing a long essay, it's obviously much more practical to use a keyboard," says van der Meer.

Still, given our long history of using our hands to mark meaning in the world, some scientists worry about the more diffuse consequences of offloading our thinking to computers.

"We're foisting a lot of our knowledge, extending our cognition, to other devices, so it's only natural that we've started using these other agents to do our writing for us," says Balasubramaniam.

It's possible that this might free up our minds to do other kinds of hard thinking, he says. Or we might be sacrificing a fundamental process that's crucial for the kinds of immersive cognitive experiences that enable us to learn and think at our full potential.

Balasubramaniam stresses, however, that we don't have to ditch digital tools to harness the power of handwriting. So far, research suggests that scribbling with a stylus on a screen activates the same brain pathways as etching ink on paper. It's the movement that counts, he says, not its final form.

Jonathan Lambert is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist who covers science, health and policy.

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6 Important Tips on Writing a Research Paper Title

When you are searching for a research study on a particular topic, you probably notice that articles with interesting, descriptive research titles draw you in. By contrast, research paper titles that are not descriptive are usually passed over, even though you may write a good research paper with interesting contents. This shows the importance of coming up with a good title for your research paper when drafting your own manuscript.

Importance of a Research Title

The research title plays a crucial role in the research process, and its importance can be summarized as follows:

Why do Research Titles Matter?

Before we look at how to title a research paper, let’s look at a research title example that illustrates why a good research paper should have a strong title.

Imagine that you are researching meditation and nursing, and you want to find out if any studies have shown that meditation makes nurses better communicators.  You conduct a keyword search using the keywords “nursing”, “communication”, and “meditation.” You come up with results that have the following titles:

• Benefits of Meditation for the Nursing Profession: A Quantitative Investigation
• Why Mindful Nurses Make the Best Communicators
• Meditation Gurus
• Nurses on the Move: A Quantitative Report on How Meditation Can Improve Nurse Performance

All four of these research paper titles may describe very similar studies—they could even be titles for the same study! As you can see, they give very different impressions.

• Title 1 describes the topic and the method of the study but is not particularly catchy.
• Title 2 partly describes the topic, but does not give any information about the method of the study—it could simply be a theoretical or opinion piece.
• Title 3 is somewhat catchier but gives almost no information at all about the article.
• Title 4 begins with a catchy main title and is followed by a subtitle that gives information about the content and method of the study.

As we will see, Title 4 has all the characteristics of a good research title.

Characteristics of a Good Research Title

According to rhetoric scholars Hairston and Keene, making a good title for a paper involves ensuring that the title of the research accomplishes four goals as mentioned below:

• It should predict the content of the research paper .
• It should be interesting to the reader .
• It should reflect the tone of the writing .
• It should contain important keywords that will make it easier to be located during a keyword search.

Let’s return to the examples in the previous section to see how to make a research title.

As you can see in the table above, only one of the four example titles fulfills all of the criteria of a suitable research paper title.

Related: You’ve chosen your study topic, but having trouble deciding where to publish it? Here’s a comprehensive course to help you identify the right journal .

Tips for Writing an Effective Research Paper Title

When writing a research title, you can use the four criteria listed above as a guide. Here are a few other tips you can use to make sure your title will be part of the recipe for an effective research paper :

• Make sure your research title describes (a) the topic, (b) the method, (c) the sample, and (d) the results of your study. You can use the following formula:

[ Result ]: A [ method ] study of [ topic ] among [ sample ] Example : Meditation makes nurses perform better: a qualitative study of mindfulness meditation among German nursing students

• Avoid unnecessary words and jargons. Keep the title statement as concise as possible. You want a title that will be comprehensible even to people who are not experts in your field. Check our article for a detailed list of things to avoid when writing an effective research title .
• Make sure your title is between 5 and 15 words in length.
• If you are writing a title for a university assignment or for a particular academic journal, verify that your title conforms to the standards and requirements for that outlet. For example, many journals require that titles fall under a character limit, including spaces. Many universities require that titles take a very specific form, limiting your creativity.
• Use a descriptive phrase to convey the purpose of your research efficiently.
• Most importantly, use critical keywords in the title to increase the discoverability of your article.

Resources for Further Reading

In addition to the tips above, there are many resources online that you can use to help write your research title. Here is a list of links that you may find useful as you work on creating an excellent research title:

• The University of Southern California has a guide specific to social science research papers: http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/title
• The Journal of European Psychology Students has a blog article focusing on APA-compliant research paper titles: http://blog.efpsa.org/2012/09/01/how-to-write-a-good-title-for-journal-articles/
• This article by Kristen Hamlin contains a step-by-step approach to writing titles: http://classroom.synonym.com/choose-title-research-paper-4332.html

Are there any tips or tricks you find useful in crafting research titles? Which tip did you find most useful in this article? Leave a comment to let us know!

• Hairston, M., & Keene, M. 2003. Successful writing . 5th ed. New York: Norton.
• University of Southern California. 2017. Organizing your social sciences research paper: choosing a title . [Online] Available at: http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/title

Thank you so much:) Have a nice day!

Thank you so much, it helped me.. God bless..

Thank you for the excellent article and tips for creating a research work, because I always forget about such an essential element as the keywords when forming topics. In particular, I have found a rapid help with the formation of informative and sound titles that also conforms to the standards and requirements.

I am doing a research work on sales girls or shop girls using qualititative method. Basicly I am from Pakistan and writing on the scenario of mycountry. I am really confused about my research title can you kindly give some suggestions and give me an approperaite tilte

Hi Zubair, Thank you for your question. However, the information you have provided is insufficient for drafting an appropriate title. Information on what exactly you intend to study would be needed in order to draft a meaningful title. Meanwhile, you can try drafting your own title after going through the following articles our website: https://www.enago.com/academy/top-10-tips-on-choosing-an-attractive-research-title/ , https://www.enago.com/academy/writing-a-good-research-title-things-to-avoid/ , https://www.enago.com/academy/write-irresistible-research-paper-title/ We would be happy to give you feedback and suggest changes if required. Did you get a chance to install our free Mobile App? https://www.enago.com/academy/mobile-app/ . Make sure you subscribe to our weekly newsletter https://www.enago.com/academy/subscribe-now/ .

thanks for helping me like this!!

Thank you for this. It helped me improve my research title. I just want to verify to you the title I have just made. “Ensuring the safety: A Quantitative Study of Radio Frequency Identification system among the selected students of ( school’s name ).

(I need your reply asap coz we will be doing the chap. 1 tomorrow. Thank u in advance. 🙂 )

I am actually doing a research paper title. I want to know more further in doing research title. Can you give me some tips on doing a research paper?

Hi Joan, Thank you for your question. We are glad to know that you found our resources useful. Your feedback is very valuable to us. You can try drafting your own title after going through the following articles on our website: https://www.enago.com/academy/top-10-tips-on-choosing-an-attractive-research-title/ , https://www.enago.com/academy/writing-a-good-research-title-things-to-avoid/ , https://www.enago.com/academy/write-irresistible-research-paper-title/

We would be happy to give you feedback and suggest changes if required. Did you get a chance to install our free Mobile App? https://www.enago.com/academy/mobile-app/ . Make sure you subscribe to our weekly newsletter https://www.enago.com/academy/subscribe-now/ .

That really helpful. Thanks alot

Thank you so much. It’s really help me.

Thanks for sharing this tips. Title matters a lot for any article because it contents Keywords of article. It should be eye-catchy. Your article is helpful to select title of any article.

nice blog that you have shared

This blog is very informative for me. Thanks for sharing.

nice information that you have shared

i’m found in selecting my ma thesis title ,so i’m going to do my final research after the proposal approved. Your post help me find good title.

I need help. I need a research title for my study about early mobilization of the mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Thank you for posting your query on the website. When writing manuscripts, too many scholars neglect the research title. This phrase, along with the abstract, is what people will mostly see and read online. Title research of publications shows that the research paper title does matter a lot. Both bibliometrics and altmetrics tracking of citations are now, for better or worse, used to gauge a paper’s “success” for its author(s) and the journal publishing it. Interesting research topics coupled with good or clever yet accurate research titles can draw more attention to your work from peers and the public alike. You can check through the following search results for titles on similar topics: https://www.google.com/search?q=early+mobilization+of+the+mechanically+ventilated+patients+in+the+icu&rlz=1C1GCEU_enIN907IN907&oq=&aqs=chrome.0.69i59.4920093j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 .

We hope this would be helpful in drafting an attractive title for your research paper.

Please let us know in case of any other queries.

I’ve been surfing online more than 3 hours these days, but I never found any interesting article like yours. It is lovely worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made just right content material as you did, the internet will be much more helpful than ever before.

Wonderful article! We will bee linking to this particularly great post on our site. Keep up the good writing.

Wow that was odd. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyhow, just wanted to say fantastic blog!

In case the topic is new research before you’re writing. And then to stand out, you end up being different.and be inclined to highlight yourself.

There are many free directories, and more paid lists.

To be honest your article is informative. I search many site to know about writing but I didn’t get the information I needed. I saw your site and I read it. I got some new information from here. I think some of your tips can be applied to those too! Thank you so very much for such informative and useful content.

Nice and well written content you have shared with us. thanks a lot!

Thanks for sharing these tips… Rockwide

Its helpful. a person can grab knowledge through it.

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Cursive Writing

While there is limited research directly comparing cursive and print handwriting, there is evidence that cursive writing can preferentially increase the speed and fluency of writing and reading for some students, especially those with handwriting difficulties

• Relative to typing, handwriting instruction while children are learning to read and write can improve literacy (e.g., identifying letters, spelling, reading).
• Most existing research on the learning benefits of cursive writing relies on measuring patterns of activation in specific regions of the brain. Additional research is needed to connect brain activity to learning gains from cursive writing.
• In some cases, individuals with handwriting difficulties have demonstrated improved fluency and legibility after cursive instruction. However, the benefits of cursive writing do not fully raise proficiency to match individuals without handwriting difficulties.

Executive Summary

The ability to produce (write) or interpret (read) written text is central to human communication. Words and sentences can be constructed by handwriting (print/manuscript, cursive), typing, and/or other digital tools (e.g., speech-to-text technology). Compared to typing, handwriting practice has stronger positive impacts on reading, writing and memory. While there is limited research directly comparing cursive and print handwriting, there is evidence that cursive writing can preferentially increase the speed and fluency of writing and reading for some students, especially those with handwriting difficulties (e.g., dyslexia, dysgraphia and developmental control disorder). Missouri currently does not require students to read or write in cursive; however, twenty-one states specifically mandate cursive handwriting instruction in some form. House Bill 108 would require Missouri’s public school districts to provide cursive writing instruction by the end of the fifth grade and administer a proficiency test for reading and writing cursive.

Limitations

• Most cursive handwriting studies have been performed using students and schools outside the United States where the most common type of handwriting is cursive or a print-cursive hybrid. While we expect that some elements of teaching strategies will translate across countries, cultural/regional differences in writing and education may not be universally applicable.
• In addition to visualizing what parts of the brain are activated during cursive handwriting, additional research is needed to establish a causal relationship between cursive writing and improved literacy and/or academic performance.
• There are limited to no studies evaluating the efficacy of cursive handwriting as an intervention for handwriting difficulties compared to other literacy interventions.

Research Background

Value of handwriting instruction.

Handwriting is usually a central component of learning to read and write.1,2 Handwriting requires the coordination of visual and motor skills with higher level processes (e.g., spelling, linguistics, organization, attention).3 The ability to quickly and easily form letters allows the writer to direct their mental resources toward more complex tasks related to composition (e.g., creativity, organization of argument/story, grammar).4 There is also some evidence that handwriting can promote future recall (e.g., via note-taking) for older children and adults.5

Comparing handwriting and typing: A significant portion of written communication is currently performed on computers, tablets and smartphones (e.g., email, text, word processing). However, handwriting remains the preferred or available method for some forms of communication (e.g., in-class work, some assessments, note-taking, completing forms).

In older preschool students (~5 years old), handwriting practice is associated with improved letter recognition and reading ability compared to students taught using typing or tracing strategies.6-8 A potential explanation for this finding is that handwriting activates brain regions associated with letter processing and reading.7 These studies often evaluate handwriting instruction using print, but not cursive, and suggest that the distinct motor skills required for handwriting may explain some of the observed differences in performance. However, additional research is needed to establish a causal relationship between brain activation during cursive writing and improved literacy and/or academic performance

Cursive handwriting

Literacy: There is no consensus about the relative difficulty of reading and writing cursive compared to print handwriting. The specific elements of cursive writing (e.g., connection between letters, rhythm) can be difficult for some learners, but may provide benefits for others. Compared to typing, cursive writing has been associated with specific patterns of electrical activity in the brain which have been associated with learning and reading in children and adults.9 Again, the absence of functional tests corresponding to measures of brain activation make it difficult to understand the direct relationship between cursive writing and the related brain activity.

Handwriting challenges (e.g., dyslexia): The ability to coordinate several cognitive and motor functions to construct legible handwriting, especially under time constraints, is impaired in individuals with dyslexia and developmental coordination disorder (DCD).10,11 Motor difficulties are associated with developmental dyslexia, and both spelling hesitancy and motor impairments have been shown to contribute to this association. While cursive handwriting has been associated with improved fluency in students with handwriting difficulty, the complexity of a word’s spelling appears to have a much stronger impact on handwriting.12 Additionally, the benefits of cursive writing do not fully raise proficiency to match individuals without handwriting difficulties.

Cursive handwriting is primarily distinguished from print handwriting because of the continuity between letters in a word. For this reason, cursive has been successfully used as a strategy to improve handwriting fluency in individuals with disabilities and other handwriting challenges. Handwriting typically depends on visual tracking, which may be difficult or impossible in visually-impaired/blind individuals. Because of the continuity between letters in a word, cursive writing is taught alongside assistive technology (e.g., digital pens with audio & haptic feedback) to teach writing to blind learners.13 Additional technologies (e.g., eye tracking) can be utilized to support students with limb loss or paralysis.14 Writing instruction using the computer has also been identified as a possible avenue to improve spelling and handwriting in dyslexic and dysgraphic students.15

Handwriting instruction in Missouri public schools

Missouri does not currently have any statewide cursive writing standards or instructional requirements. The Missouri Learning Standards for K-5 English & Language Arts include grade level expectations for producing legible, handwritten text ( Language Standard 1B ). By the end of kindergarten, students are expected to be able to print upper- and lower-case letters; legible printing is emphasized during first grade, including spacing words and sentences appropriately. Beginning in second grade, legible handwriting is expected as a core component of demonstrating the ability to communicate using the conventions of the English language. Keyboarding skills, or typing, is also part of writing standards beginning in second grade ( Writing Standard 1D ).

Other states with cursive instruction requirements

Twenty-one states (including AR, FL, GA, IN, IL, MS, NC, TN, TX) currently have some statutory requirement for cursive handwriting instruction, usually during elementary school, many of which were enacted in the last decade. It is difficult to directly assess the effectiveness of these programs on student outcomes as the academic outcomes measured are not specific to handwriting instruction and are influenced by several additional factors (e.g., learning environment, student motivation). Additionally, the tradeoff between the potential benefits of cursive handwriting and the instructional time that is being diverted from other instruction has not been explored.

• Dinehart, L. H. (2015). Handwriting in early childhood education: Current research and future implications. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(1), 97–118. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798414522825 .
• James, K. H. (2017). The Importance of Handwriting Experience on the Development of the Literate Brain. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 502–508. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417709821 .
• McClelland, M. M., & Cameron, C. E. (2019). Developing together: The role of executive function and motor skills in children’s early academic lives. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 46, 142–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.03.014 .
• Volman, C., Schendel, B., & Jongmans, M. (2006). Handwriting Difficulties in Primary School Children: A Search for Underlying Mechanisms. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy : Official Publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association, 60, 451–460. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.60.4.451 .
• Horbury, S. R., & Edmonds, C. J. (2021). Taking Class Notes by Hand Compared to Typing: Effects on Children’s Recall and Understanding. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 35(1), 55–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2020.1781307 .
• Longcamp, M., Zerbato-Poudou, M.-T., & Velay, J.-L. (2005). The influence of writing practice on letter recognition in preschool children: A comparison between handwriting and typing. Acta Psychologica, 119(1), 67–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2004.10.019 .
• James, K. H., & Engelhardt, L. (2012). The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 1(1), 32–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2012.08.001 .
• Kiefer, M., Schuler, S., Mayer, C., Trumpp, N. M., Hille, K., & Sachse, S. (2015). Handwriting or Typewriting? The Influence of Pen- or Keyboard-Based Writing Training on Reading and Writing Performance in Preschool Children. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 11(4), 136–146. https://doi.org/10.5709/acp-0178-7 .
• Ose Askvik, E., van der Weel, F. R. (Ruud), & van der Meer, A. L. H. (2020). The Importance of Cursive Handwriting Over Typewriting for Learning in the Classroom: A High-Density EEG Study of 12-Year-Old Children and Young Adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01810 .
• Barnett, A. L., & Prunty, M. (2021). Handwriting Difficulties in Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 8(1), 6–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-020-00216-8 .
• Gosse, C., & Van Reybroeck, M. (2020). Do children with dyslexia present a handwriting deficit? Impact of word orthographic and graphic complexity on handwriting and spelling performance. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 97, 103553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103553 .
• Arfé, B., Corato, F., Pizzocaro, E., & Merella, A. (2020). The Effects of Script and Orthographic Complexity on the Handwriting and Spelling Performance of Children With Dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 53(2), 96–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219419892845 .
• Plimmer, B., Reid, P., Blagojevic, R., Crossan, A., & Brewster, S. (2011). Signing on the tactile line: A multimodal system for teaching handwriting to blind children. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 18(3), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1145/1993060.1993067 .
• Lorenceau, J. (2012). Cursive Writing with Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements. Current Biology, 22(16), 1506– 1509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.06.026 .
• Berninger, V. W., Nagy, W., Tanimoto, S., Thompson, R., & Abbott, R. D. (2015). Computer instruction in handwriting, spelling, and composing for students with specific learning disabilities in grades 4–9. Computers & Education, 81, 154–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.10.005 .

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Writing the title and abstract for a research paper: Being concise, precise, and meticulous is the key

Milind s. tullu.

Department of Pediatrics, Seth G.S. Medical College and KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

This article deals with formulating a suitable title and an appropriate abstract for an original research paper. The “title” and the “abstract” are the “initial impressions” of a research article, and hence they need to be drafted correctly, accurately, carefully, and meticulously. Often both of these are drafted after the full manuscript is ready. Most readers read only the title and the abstract of a research paper and very few will go on to read the full paper. The title and the abstract are the most important parts of a research paper and should be pleasant to read. The “title” should be descriptive, direct, accurate, appropriate, interesting, concise, precise, unique, and should not be misleading. The “abstract” needs to be simple, specific, clear, unbiased, honest, concise, precise, stand-alone, complete, scholarly, (preferably) structured, and should not be misrepresentative. The abstract should be consistent with the main text of the paper, especially after a revision is made to the paper and should include the key message prominently. It is very important to include the most important words and terms (the “keywords”) in the title and the abstract for appropriate indexing purpose and for retrieval from the search engines and scientific databases. Such keywords should be listed after the abstract. One must adhere to the instructions laid down by the target journal with regard to the style and number of words permitted for the title and the abstract.

Introduction

This article deals with drafting a suitable “title” and an appropriate “abstract” for an original research paper. Because the “title” and the “abstract” are the “initial impressions” or the “face” of a research article, they need to be drafted correctly, accurately, carefully, meticulously, and consume time and energy.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] Often, these are drafted after the complete manuscript draft is ready.[ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] Most readers will read only the title and the abstract of a published research paper, and very few “interested ones” (especially, if the paper is of use to them) will go on to read the full paper.[ 1 , 2 ] One must remember to adhere to the instructions laid down by the “target journal” (the journal for which the author is writing) regarding the style and number of words permitted for the title and the abstract.[ 2 , 4 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 12 ] Both the title and the abstract are the most important parts of a research paper – for editors (to decide whether to process the paper for further review), for reviewers (to get an initial impression of the paper), and for the readers (as these may be the only parts of the paper available freely and hence, read widely).[ 4 , 8 , 12 ] It may be worth for the novice author to browse through titles and abstracts of several prominent journals (and their target journal as well) to learn more about the wording and styles of the titles and abstracts, as well as the aims and scope of the particular journal.[ 5 , 7 , 9 , 13 ]

The details of the title are discussed under the subheadings of importance, types, drafting, and checklist.

Importance of the title

When a reader browses through the table of contents of a journal issue (hard copy or on website), the title is the “ first detail” or “face” of the paper that is read.[ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 13 ] Hence, it needs to be simple, direct, accurate, appropriate, specific, functional, interesting, attractive/appealing, concise/brief, precise/focused, unambiguous, memorable, captivating, informative (enough to encourage the reader to read further), unique, catchy, and it should not be misleading.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 9 , 12 ] It should have “just enough details” to arouse the interest and curiosity of the reader so that the reader then goes ahead with studying the abstract and then (if still interested) the full paper.[ 1 , 2 , 4 , 13 ] Journal websites, electronic databases, and search engines use the words in the title and abstract (the “keywords”) to retrieve a particular paper during a search; hence, the importance of these words in accessing the paper by the readers has been emphasized.[ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 12 , 14 ] Such important words (or keywords) should be arranged in appropriate order of importance as per the context of the paper and should be placed at the beginning of the title (rather than the later part of the title, as some search engines like Google may just display only the first six to seven words of the title).[ 3 , 5 , 12 ] Whimsical, amusing, or clever titles, though initially appealing, may be missed or misread by the busy reader and very short titles may miss the essential scientific words (the “keywords”) used by the indexing agencies to catch and categorize the paper.[ 1 , 3 , 4 , 9 ] Also, amusing or hilarious titles may be taken less seriously by the readers and may be cited less often.[ 4 , 15 ] An excessively long or complicated title may put off the readers.[ 3 , 9 ] It may be a good idea to draft the title after the main body of the text and the abstract are drafted.[ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Types of titles

Titles can be descriptive, declarative, or interrogative. They can also be classified as nominal, compound, or full-sentence titles.

Descriptive or neutral title

This has the essential elements of the research theme, that is, the patients/subjects, design, interventions, comparisons/control, and outcome, but does not reveal the main result or the conclusion.[ 3 , 4 , 12 , 16 ] Such a title allows the reader to interpret the findings of the research paper in an impartial manner and with an open mind.[ 3 ] These titles also give complete information about the contents of the article, have several keywords (thus increasing the visibility of the article in search engines), and have increased chances of being read and (then) being cited as well.[ 4 ] Hence, such descriptive titles giving a glimpse of the paper are generally preferred.[ 4 , 16 ]

Declarative title

This title states the main finding of the study in the title itself; it reduces the curiosity of the reader, may point toward a bias on the part of the author, and hence is best avoided.[ 3 , 4 , 12 , 16 ]

Interrogative title

This is the one which has a query or the research question in the title.[ 3 , 4 , 16 ] Though a query in the title has the ability to sensationalize the topic, and has more downloads (but less citations), it can be distracting to the reader and is again best avoided for a research article (but can, at times, be used for a review article).[ 3 , 6 , 16 , 17 ]

From a sentence construct point of view, titles may be nominal (capturing only the main theme of the study), compound (with subtitles to provide additional relevant information such as context, design, location/country, temporal aspect, sample size, importance, and a provocative or a literary; for example, see the title of this review), or full-sentence titles (which are longer and indicate an added degree of certainty of the results).[ 4 , 6 , 9 , 16 ] Any of these constructs may be used depending on the type of article, the key message, and the author's preference or judgement.[ 4 ]

Drafting a suitable title

A stepwise process can be followed to draft the appropriate title. The author should describe the paper in about three sentences, avoiding the results and ensuring that these sentences contain important scientific words/keywords that describe the main contents and subject of the paper.[ 1 , 4 , 6 , 12 ] Then the author should join the sentences to form a single sentence, shorten the length (by removing redundant words or adjectives or phrases), and finally edit the title (thus drafted) to make it more accurate, concise (about 10–15 words), and precise.[ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 9 ] Some journals require that the study design be included in the title, and this may be placed (using a colon) after the primary title.[ 2 , 3 , 4 , 14 ] The title should try to incorporate the Patients, Interventions, Comparisons and Outcome (PICO).[ 3 ] The place of the study may be included in the title (if absolutely necessary), that is, if the patient characteristics (such as study population, socioeconomic conditions, or cultural practices) are expected to vary as per the country (or the place of the study) and have a bearing on the possible outcomes.[ 3 , 6 ] Lengthy titles can be boring and appear unfocused, whereas very short titles may not be representative of the contents of the article; hence, optimum length is required to ensure that the title explains the main theme and content of the manuscript.[ 4 , 5 , 9 ] Abbreviations (except the standard or commonly interpreted ones such as HIV, AIDS, DNA, RNA, CDC, FDA, ECG, and EEG) or acronyms should be avoided in the title, as a reader not familiar with them may skip such an article and nonstandard abbreviations may create problems in indexing the article.[ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 9 , 12 ] Also, too much of technical jargon or chemical formulas in the title may confuse the readers and the article may be skipped by them.[ 4 , 9 ] Numerical values of various parameters (stating study period or sample size) should also be avoided in the titles (unless deemed extremely essential).[ 4 ] It may be worthwhile to take an opinion from a impartial colleague before finalizing the title.[ 4 , 5 , 6 ] Thus, multiple factors (which are, at times, a bit conflicting or contrasting) need to be considered while formulating a title, and hence this should not be done in a hurry.[ 4 , 6 ] Many journals ask the authors to draft a “short title” or “running head” or “running title” for printing in the header or footer of the printed paper.[ 3 , 12 ] This is an abridged version of the main title of up to 40–50 characters, may have standard abbreviations, and helps the reader to navigate through the paper.[ 3 , 12 , 14 ]

Checklist for a good title

Table 1 gives a checklist/useful tips for drafting a good title for a research paper.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 12 ] Table 2 presents some of the titles used by the author of this article in his earlier research papers, and the appropriateness of the titles has been commented upon. As an individual exercise, the reader may try to improvise upon the titles (further) after reading the corresponding abstract and full paper.

Checklist/useful tips for drafting a good title for a research paper

Some titles used by author of this article in his earlier publications and remark/comment on their appropriateness

The Abstract

The details of the abstract are discussed under the subheadings of importance, types, drafting, and checklist.

Importance of the abstract

The abstract is a summary or synopsis of the full research paper and also needs to have similar characteristics like the title. It needs to be simple, direct, specific, functional, clear, unbiased, honest, concise, precise, self-sufficient, complete, comprehensive, scholarly, balanced, and should not be misleading.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 13 , 17 ] Writing an abstract is to extract and summarize (AB – absolutely, STR – straightforward, ACT – actual data presentation and interpretation).[ 17 ] The title and abstracts are the only sections of the research paper that are often freely available to the readers on the journal websites, search engines, and in many abstracting agencies/databases, whereas the full paper may attract a payment per view or a fee for downloading the pdf copy.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 10 , 11 , 13 , 14 ] The abstract is an independent and stand-alone (that is, well understood without reading the full paper) section of the manuscript and is used by the editor to decide the fate of the article and to choose appropriate reviewers.[ 2 , 7 , 10 , 12 , 13 ] Even the reviewers are initially supplied only with the title and the abstract before they agree to review the full manuscript.[ 7 , 13 ] This is the second most commonly read part of the manuscript, and therefore it should reflect the contents of the main text of the paper accurately and thus act as a “real trailer” of the full article.[ 2 , 7 , 11 ] The readers will go through the full paper only if they find the abstract interesting and relevant to their practice; else they may skip the paper if the abstract is unimpressive.[ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 13 ] The abstract needs to highlight the selling point of the manuscript and succeed in luring the reader to read the complete paper.[ 3 , 7 ] The title and the abstract should be constructed using keywords (key terms/important words) from all the sections of the main text.[ 12 ] Abstracts are also used for submitting research papers to a conference for consideration for presentation (as oral paper or poster).[ 9 , 13 , 17 ] Grammatical and typographic errors reflect poorly on the quality of the abstract, may indicate carelessness/casual attitude on part of the author, and hence should be avoided at all times.[ 9 ]

Types of abstracts

The abstracts can be structured or unstructured. They can also be classified as descriptive or informative abstracts.

Structured and unstructured abstracts

Structured abstracts are followed by most journals, are more informative, and include specific subheadings/subsections under which the abstract needs to be composed.[ 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 13 , 17 , 18 ] These subheadings usually include context/background, objectives, design, setting, participants, interventions, main outcome measures, results, and conclusions.[ 1 ] Some journals stick to the standard IMRAD format for the structure of the abstracts, and the subheadings would include Introduction/Background, Methods, Results, And (instead of Discussion) the Conclusion/s.[ 1 , 2 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 17 , 18 ] Structured abstracts are more elaborate, informative, easy to read, recall, and peer-review, and hence are preferred; however, they consume more space and can have same limitations as an unstructured abstract.[ 7 , 9 , 18 ] The structured abstracts are (possibly) better understood by the reviewers and readers. Anyway, the choice of the type of the abstract and the subheadings of a structured abstract depend on the particular journal style and is not left to the author's wish.[ 7 , 10 , 12 ] Separate subheadings may be necessary for reporting meta-analysis, educational research, quality improvement work, review, or case study.[ 1 ] Clinical trial abstracts need to include the essential items mentioned in the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials) guidelines.[ 7 , 9 , 14 , 19 ] Similar guidelines exist for various other types of studies, including observational studies and for studies of diagnostic accuracy.[ 20 , 21 ] A useful resource for the above guidelines is available at www.equator-network.org (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research). Unstructured (or non-structured) abstracts are free-flowing, do not have predefined subheadings, and are commonly used for papers that (usually) do not describe original research.[ 1 , 7 , 9 , 10 ]

The four-point structured abstract: This has the following elements which need to be properly balanced with regard to the content/matter under each subheading:[ 9 ]

Background and/or Objectives: This states why the work was undertaken and is usually written in just a couple of sentences.[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 ] The hypothesis/study question and the major objectives are also stated under this subheading.[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 ]

Methods: This subsection is the longest, states what was done, and gives essential details of the study design, setting, participants, blinding, sample size, sampling method, intervention/s, duration and follow-up, research instruments, main outcome measures, parameters evaluated, and how the outcomes were assessed or analyzed.[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 ]

Results/Observations/Findings: This subheading states what was found, is longer, is difficult to draft, and needs to mention important details including the number of study participants, results of analysis (of primary and secondary objectives), and include actual data (numbers, mean, median, standard deviation, “P” values, 95% confidence intervals, effect sizes, relative risks, odds ratio, etc.).[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 ]

Conclusions: The take-home message (the “so what” of the paper) and other significant/important findings should be stated here, considering the interpretation of the research question/hypothesis and results put together (without overinterpreting the findings) and may also include the author's views on the implications of the study.[ 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 ]

The eight-point structured abstract: This has the following eight subheadings – Objectives, Study Design, Study Setting, Participants/Patients, Methods/Intervention, Outcome Measures, Results, and Conclusions.[ 3 , 9 , 18 ] The instructions to authors given by the particular journal state whether they use the four- or eight-point abstract or variants thereof.[ 3 , 14 ]

Descriptive and Informative abstracts

Descriptive abstracts are short (75–150 words), only portray what the paper contains without providing any more details; the reader has to read the full paper to know about its contents and are rarely used for original research papers.[ 7 , 10 ] These are used for case reports, reviews, opinions, and so on.[ 7 , 10 ] Informative abstracts (which may be structured or unstructured as described above) give a complete detailed summary of the article contents and truly reflect the actual research done.[ 7 , 10 ]

Drafting a suitable abstract

It is important to religiously stick to the instructions to authors (format, word limit, font size/style, and subheadings) provided by the journal for which the abstract and the paper are being written.[ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 13 ] Most journals allow 200–300 words for formulating the abstract and it is wise to restrict oneself to this word limit.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 22 ] Though some authors prefer to draft the abstract initially, followed by the main text of the paper, it is recommended to draft the abstract in the end to maintain accuracy and conformity with the main text of the paper (thus maintaining an easy linkage/alignment with title, on one hand, and the introduction section of the main text, on the other hand).[ 2 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] The authors should check the subheadings (of the structured abstract) permitted by the target journal, use phrases rather than sentences to draft the content of the abstract, and avoid passive voice.[ 1 , 7 , 9 , 12 ] Next, the authors need to get rid of redundant words and edit the abstract (extensively) to the correct word count permitted (every word in the abstract “counts”!).[ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 13 ] It is important to ensure that the key message, focus, and novelty of the paper are not compromised; the rationale of the study and the basis of the conclusions are clear; and that the abstract is consistent with the main text of the paper.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 , 22 ] This is especially important while submitting a revision of the paper (modified after addressing the reviewer's comments), as the changes made in the main (revised) text of the paper need to be reflected in the (revised) abstract as well.[ 2 , 10 , 12 , 14 , 22 ] Abbreviations should be avoided in an abstract, unless they are conventionally accepted or standard; references, tables, or figures should not be cited in the abstract.[ 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 13 ] It may be worthwhile not to rush with the abstract and to get an opinion by an impartial colleague on the content of the abstract; and if possible, the full paper (an “informal” peer-review).[ 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 11 , 17 ] Appropriate “Keywords” (three to ten words or phrases) should follow the abstract and should be preferably chosen from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of the U.S. National Library of Medicine ( https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/search ) and are used for indexing purposes.[ 2 , 3 , 11 , 12 ] These keywords need to be different from the words in the main title (the title words are automatically used for indexing the article) and can be variants of the terms/phrases used in the title, or words from the abstract and the main text.[ 3 , 12 ] The ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors; http://www.icmje.org/ ) also recommends publishing the clinical trial registration number at the end of the abstract.[ 7 , 14 ]

Checklist for a good abstract

Table 3 gives a checklist/useful tips for formulating a good abstract for a research paper.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 , 22 ]

Checklist/useful tips for formulating a good abstract for a research paper

Concluding Remarks

This review article has given a detailed account of the importance and types of titles and abstracts. It has also attempted to give useful hints for drafting an appropriate title and a complete abstract for a research paper. It is hoped that this review will help the authors in their career in medical writing.

Financial support and sponsorship

Conflicts of interest.

There are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgement

The author thanks Dr. Hemant Deshmukh - Dean, Seth G.S. Medical College & KEM Hospital, for granting permission to publish this manuscript.

Improving the Cursive Handwriting Skills of Grade III Pupils

• Janine Kampitan

INTRODUCTION

Handwriting is one of the most important educational occupations for children. Studies have shown that papers of students with better handwriting received better grades when teachers were given a paper to evaluate. Hence, this study will determine the causes of poor handwriting to primary pupils and how to overcome the dilemma.

Respondents of this action research composed of twenty-one (45) Grade III pupils of Tomas Daguinsin Elementary School during the School Year 2017-2018. This action research utilized a descriptive method of research to describe and assess the pupils' ability to write legibly in cursive handwriting. A pre-assessment on cursive hand-writing was utilized and the output of the pupils was rate using rubrics in order to assess and identify the target respondents. A series of activities and worksheet including other techniques and strategies will be used to get a reliable improvement on the pupils handwriting. Pre-Test and Post Tests will be given to compare the difference between the pupils handwriting before and after the intervention program had undergone.

The result signifies that the pupils had no interest in their study since they were lazy in doing things perhaps they lack parental guidance which is also very important that parents played role in the supervision and guidance on the school performance of their children yet they were not regularly attending school that is why they lack necessary skills needed in their study and one of which was their handwriting. After the intervention in improving the cursive handwriting of the pupils resulted in a great improvement in the pupils' performance task. Different tools and teaching techniques and strategies would be helpful to pupils to improve and encourage them to write. It is a matter of practice that makes it perfect. Offering a certain period of time will enhance this skill all they had to do is to find the time.

DISCUSSIONS

Handwriting is an important skill of the pupils that need to be address and practice. It also affects pupils academic performance if they had portrayed understandable handwriting this will tend teachers to assess or give them lower grades since it is not understandable. Teachers should also immediately address these skill studies and research shows that it counts the pupils' academic performance.

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Using and Understanding Primary Sources

• Deciphering Cursive Handwriting
• Analyzing Correspondence
• Citing Primary Sources

Contact the Center

Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History Randall Library, 2nd floor 5162 Randall Dr. Wilmington, NC 28403 [email protected] 910-962-7810

Visit our website

Visit the Center

The Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History is located on the 2nd floor of the William M. Randall Library at UNC Wilmington. 

Directions and Parking

The Center is closed to the public until August 20th for renovations. Onsite research visits cannot be accommodated during this time. Please contact us if you need assistance.

Access Policies

Prior to visiting the Center, users should familiarize themselves with our access and use policies .

Books and Articles

These books and articles provide more information on historical handwriting traditions.

• E. Kay Kirkham, The Handwriting of American Records for a Period of 300 Years  (Logan, Utah : Everton Publishers, 1973)
• Julie A. Fisher, “Slow Reading and Empathy: Accessing Early America through Transcription and Translation,” in Teaching Literature in Translation: Pedagogical Contexts and Reading Practices (2022): 235-244.
• Kip Sperry,  Reading Early American Handwriting  (Baltimore Md: Genealogical Publishing, 2008)
• Hilary Marshall,  Palaeography for Family and Local Historians  (Chichester West Sussex: Phillimore, 2004)

Learn to Write in Cursive

Sometimes the best way to learn how to read cursive handwriting is to get more practice writing it yourself! You may find these resources useful if you want to learn or practice your own cursive writing:

• Loops and other groups : a kinesthetic writing system. Instructor's manual by Mary D. Benbow Call Number: LB1590 .B462 1990 ISBN: 0761641408 Publication Date: 1990 Manual and worksheets designed to teach children how to write in cursive
• Cursive Writing Course with Free Worksheets Youtube playlist containing instructional videos for how to write in cursive.
• Consistent Cursive Free Online Course Youtube playlist containing instructional videos for how to write in cursive.

Video - Reading Cursive Handwriting

If you're struggling to read a document written in old handwriting, start by watching this handy video tutorial. It will give you some tips and tricks to use when deciphering historical cursive.

Common Abbreviations

Abbreviations for first names and titles were commonly used in handwritten documents until the early 20th century. The following chart lists some of those abbreviations and the words they represent.

Chart taken from E. Kay Kirkham, The Handwriting of American Records for a Period of 300 Years (Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 1973).

Along the same lines, several phrases that were frequently used in letter writing will often be abbreviated as well. It was common to sign letters with the phrase “your obedient servant,” and you will often see this abbreviated as “ yr obt svt .”

Other common abbreviations are viz ., which stands for the Latin term “videlicet” and is used as a synonym for “namely” or “in other words.” You may also encounter the abbreviations “ inst .," " ult .," and " prox .” These stand for the Latin terms “instante mense, ultimo mense, and proximo mense” and they mean “this month, last month, and next month.” If the document you’re transcribing includes a phrase like “Yours of the 14th inst. at hand,” that means the writer is responding to a letter they received from the addressee on the 14th of the current month.

Practice Reading Old Handwriting

The Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History has created five online quizzes that will help you practice cursive handwriting. Check them out below!

• Cursive Handwriting Quiz: Level 1
• Cursive Handwriting Quiz: Level 2
• Cursive Handwriting Quiz: Level 3
• Cursive Handwriting Quiz: Level 4
• Cursive Handwriting Quiz: Level 5

If you want more practice, you may find these other online quizzes and tutorials helpful:

• Folger Shakespeare Library: Practical Paleography Flash Card Sets These interactive flash card sets use examples from some of the Folger Shakespeare Library's early modern manuscript collections. more... less... Emphasis: 1500-1800
• Practice Transcribing Early Recipes This transcription game was designed by Julie Fisher (US National Archives) using words from early American recipe books. more... less... Emphasis: 18th century
• Brigham Young University Script Tutorial This website offers guidance in the deciphering of documents written in archaic handwriting styles or alphabets. The tutorials and materials gathered here are meant to help a variety of people learn more about old scripts and how to use that knowledge to analyze and interpret the past. There is general introductory material about the history of writing and the development of different scripts (or hands) in the Paleography Introduction pages, as well as extensive and interactive Language Tutorials. more... less... Emphasis: European scripts, particularly those in use between 1500 and 1800.
• English Handwriting Online 1500-1700 28 transcription exercises, sortable by difficulty level and date. Students can make their own transcriptions and compare them to the model transcription, as well as take interactive tests. more... less... Emphasis: English texts, 1500-1700
• National Archives (UK): Palaeography: Reading Old Handwriting Interactive transcription exercises for 10 documents arranged in order of difficulty, in addition to a further practice section which contains many additional non-interactive transcription exercises. more... less... Emphasis: 1500-1800

Online Resources and Tools

These online tools and resources can help you decipher difficult handwritten words and provide more information on historical handwriting practices.

• OneLook Dictionary Search Use this website as a search engine for words and phrases. OneLook is particularly useful for looking up unfamiliar words and spellings, or searching for words that are only partially legible. Users can search by patterns consisting of letters and the wildcards * and ? to retrieve a list of words matching your pattern. The asterisk (*) matches any number of letters or symbols. The question mark (?) matches exactly one letter or symbol.
• Brandfolder Text Extractor Tool The text extractor will allow you to extract text from any image. You may upload an image or document (.pdf) and the tool will pull text from the image. The text extractor tool can read and transcribe handwritten text and may be useful in helping you decipher a difficult word.
• A Reference for Reading Historic Documents (State Archives of North Carolina) This document created by the State Archives of North Carolina gives an overview of abbreviations, shorthand, lettering, and other elements of handwritten documents that may prove difficult for modern readers to decipher.
• Folger Shakespeare Library Alphabet Book The Folger Shakespeare Library's Alphabet Book offers a quick reference for reading early modern English secretary hand, including an index of letterforms and abbreviations.
• How to Read 18th Century British-American Writing This online resource from dohistory.org gives a brief introduction to 18th century British and American handwriting traditions, including lots of examples of words and letterforms.
• English Language Resources and Handwriting Helps (FamilySearch) Whether you are struggling to read old handwriting or working in an unfamiliar language, FamilySearch can help you understand hard-to-read records. Includes letterform examples from English language documents as well as other languages.
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Smith College Libraries

Reading and writing cursive in special collections: about.

• 16th Century
• 17th Century
• 18th Century
• 19th Century
• 20th Century
• Digital Resources
• Search strategies

"What Does That Say?"

When conducting archival research in Special Collections, you're likely to come across handwritten materials. Those materials, more often than not, are written in script or cursive. Different hands—the handwritten version of fonts—can present differing levels of difficulty for the contemporary reader, depending on one's own familiarity with cursive writing. By tracing the development of various hands, including their instruction, researchers can better understand the documents they encounter.

Page 210 of  The Universal Penman  by George Bickham.

The universal penman, / engraved by George Bickham, London, 1743, Mortimer Rare Book Collection, Oversize Z43 .B58 1743a, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Guide to the Guide

This guide is intended to provide researchers with the resources necessary to improve their reading and, should they wish, writing of script. Understanding the strokes and shapes of different hands can make it easier to read difficult documents.

How to Use the Guide

Each section, separated by century, provides both a handwriting manual as well as real-world examples from Special Collections. The example documents span all three repositories: the Mortimer Rare Book Collection, Smith College Archives, and the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History. 

Looking over, tracing, or practicing handwriting manuals can help in the reading of documents from the same period. To get the most out of this guide, consider printing out pages from the manuals and doing the exercises before tackling the example documents.

This Research Guide was created and written by  Amelia Dolbeare  in the Spring of 2024 as part of her role as a Special Collections Reference Assistant.

All of the images used within this LibGuide were photographed by Amelia Dolbeare from various repositories within Smith College Special Collections.

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• Last Updated: May 16, 2024 10:24 AM
• URL: https://libguides.smith.edu/scsc-handwriting