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English Department

Manuscript Style and Other Issues

Overall Issues

  1. Academic writing has a traditional look. Pick one serif font (e.g., Bookman, Courier, Garamond, New Century, Palatino, any version of Times), not sanserif (e.g., Arial, Avant Garde, Futura, Helvetica), and use it throughout the paper. Avoid the use of styles other than Italic (when appropriate; see 6) -- no Shadow, Outline, etc.
  2. Normal type size is 12 point.
  3. The entire paper is doubled-spaced. This rule applies to everything -- title, text, quotations, Works Cited. If your word processor uses "leading" instead of line-spacing, use 32-point leading.
  4. Margins of one inch appear on all pages.
  5. Page numbers appear on all pages, including Works Cited, Works Consulted, and Appendices.
  6. In publishing, underlining is the indication to a typesetter that the words are to appear italicized; e.g., New York Times underlined means New York Times. If your word-processor has the ability to use italics, do so; if not, underline all items that should be italicized. (This is true in source cards and note cards as well -- underline those items that later will be italicized.)
  7. Headings, such as the title of the paper, "Works Cited," "Works Consulted," and "Appendix" are centered near the top of the page.
First Page / Title Page

  1. Instructors vary in what they want, but the first page of the paper should include title, the student name, course name, instructor name and submission date. If the instructor prefers a title page, the same information should appear there, as well as on the first page of the paper itself.
  2. The title is neither underlined, italicized, placed in "quotation marks," nor printed in ALL CAPS; only the First Letter of the Major Words Should Be Capitalized.
Works Cited

  1. "Works Cited" is the list of all works explicitly referred to in the paper. "Works Consulted" is a list of all works used by the writer, even if not explicitly referred to. Be sure to find out which one the instructor wants.
  2. Both "Works Cited" and "Works Consulted" are alphabetized, appear at the end of the paper, and include page numbers.



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