Long-term changes in the character of the sociological discipline: A short note on the length of titles of articles submitted to the American Sociological Review during the Year 2002

Becker analyzes the increasing length in the title of sociological articles. He noticed that authors are frequently using colons, include a list of variables, and often refer to the methods used to gather data or analyze it. He observes that the reason authors are trying to get more and more of their article into the title is so that a casual reader will see what the article is about and will be able to determine whether to read further.