Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

I am writing a paper for a conference, and I am a bit worried about correctness of the title that I chose. The title is "Energy Functions of X and their Existence Conditions" Where X is long scientific term.

The meaning that I want to convey is as following: We defined energy functions for X, and we also investigated existence conditions for those energy functions.

Does the title convey the same meaning, or is it ambiguous?

share|improve this question
1  
As a layman, that doesn't seem ambiguous to my ears! Am I missing out on some scientific background that would help me understand the ambiguity? – KeyBrd Basher Jan 18 at 8:56
@KeyBrdBasher The X is plural, so I wonder if the following interpretation is possible: "Energy functions of X and energy functions of existence conditions of X" – Sunny88 Jan 18 at 9:01
For heaven's sake, it's not possible to give concrete advice unless the question is concrete. Using "X", the sentence is fine. Using something else, it may not be (as you seem to think it isn't). What actually is "X"? – Andrew Leach Jan 18 at 16:49
True @jwpat7, Later I found out the error. Going to remove the erroneous comment. – Mistu4u Jan 18 at 18:23

2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

As the title of a paper, “Energy Functions of X and their Existence Conditions” (where X is a long scientific term) indicates clearly and relatively unambiguously that the paper is about energy functions for X and existence conditions for those energy functions.

The title does not explicitly indicate that you defined energy functions or that you investigated their existence conditions. A title that did indicate all that might well be long, cumbersome, and pretentious in appearance, as well as not necessarily increasing interest in your paper.

You might also consider titles of forms like “X: Its Energy Functions and their Existence Conditions” or “X: A Study of its Energy Functions and their Existence Conditions”.

share|improve this answer
Is it better if I put comma between X and "and"? Like this: "Energy Functions of X, and their Existence Conditions". – Sunny88 Jan 18 at 9:08
@Sunny88, it depends on X. A comma might be good if X is more than a handful of words. Try reading your title aloud. Where a pause is needed (or helps) put a comma – jwpat7 Jan 18 at 9:15
up vote 2 down vote

It doesn't seem so, though it could be if your "X" contains a conjunction or something else to introduce ambiguity as to whether "Energy Functions of" applies to all of X as a noun phrase, or only part of it.

I would imagine that even if this is the case, it would still be reasonable, especially if the abstract immediately clarified the meaning.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.