What is a 'working title'?
A working title is your initial draft title that will allow you to get started on the research process. It may of course change as you work through your reading and carry out your investigation, but it is a necessary and useful starting point that allows you to narrow down the area of focus.
One method of devising your working title is to devise your research questions first and then transform those into a possible title.
In this example, the student has produced the following research questions, based on her area of interest, the changing role of women in sport:
How easy is it for women to participate in cricket in the UK?
Has this changed over the past 20 years?
The student then transformed her research questions into the working title below:
An investigation into the current state of women’s cricket in the UK and how participation rates have changed over the past 20 years.
This simple approach should help you devise a workable 'working title' to help kick start your dissertation and maintain focus when you begin your research.
Thank you so much this really helped me!
Great! Thanks for the feedback Marie Claire!