Use clean, 8 1/2" x 11" white paper, one side only.

2. Margins

Leave margins of 1" (2.5 cm) at the top, bottom and sides of each and every page.

3. Title Page

A title page is not essential for a research paper unless specifically requested by your teacher.

If you don't have a title page, you may begin 1" from the top of the first page and start typing your name flush against the left margin. Then under your name, on separate lines, double-spaced, and flush against the left margin, type your teacher's name, your course code, and the date.

Double-space after the date. On a new line, center the title of your essay. If you have a long title, double-space between lines of the title.

Example:

Tracy Jones
Ms. K. Smith
NRW-3A1-01
8 November 1999

Before you begin the first line of your text under the title, double-space twice, i.e. quadruple-space.

You have a choice of indenting or not indenting your paragraphs. Whichever one you choose to use, you must be consistent throughout your essay. (See 6. Indentation below).

If a Title Page is a requirement for your assignment, begin on a new page. Use a format preferred by your teacher. Otherwise, center each line and double-space on a blank page: name of school (optional), title of paper in upper and lower case, course code, course name (optional), teacher's name, your name, and date. It is not necessary to add "To Teacher: Name of Teacher" or "From Student: Name of Student" or "Due Date: Friday, October the First, 1999". More is not better.

Number your pages consecutively throughout the essay either in the upper or the lower right-hand corner, or center top or center bottom of each and every page. Page numbers must be written in Arabic numerals. Do not underline page numbers. No need to do anything fancy. Do not enclose page numbers in hyphens, e.g. - 1 -, or in parentheses, e.g. (2), or between asterisks, e.g. * 3 *, or precede the number by the word "Page", or "Pg." or "P.", or add a period after the number. In other words, do not use any of the following:

 PAGE 4, Page 4, Pg. 4, p. 4, #4, or 4.

Simply write: 4

Between Lines

Whether your essay is hand-written, typed or printed, the entire essay should be double-spaced between lines and preferably quadruple-spaced between paragraphs, along with 1" margin space on all sides for your teacher to write comments. Currently, many writers do not quadruple-space between paragraphs when indentation is used. Check to see what your teacher prefers.

Between Words

In general, leave one space between words and one space after every comma, semi-colon, or colon. Traditionally, two spaces are required at the end of every sentence whether the sentence ends with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark. Leave no space between the end of a word and the punctuation mark, i.e. do not leave a space in front of a punctuation mark.

You may notice that one space after any punctuation mark is now the norm on the Internet. Many software programs allow only one space after each punctuation mark or between words, and regardless of how many spaces you insert between words or after any punctuation mark, only one space shows up.

Besides spacing, the Internet has also changed some of the traditionally accepted rules in the use of the English language. In North America today, people tend to be less concerned with correct grammar, spelling, and the use of capital letters while quick and concise e-mails are being rushed out with a click of the mouse, often with no way of retrieving the sent messages. Even when spelling or grammatical errors in e-mail messages are later discovered, unless the errors are serious, few people would bother correcting the mistakes and re-sending the messages.

People all over the world are becoming more tolerant of such changes. We now find acceptable what a generation ago would have been considered unthinkable grammatical errors, e.g. "This is a good read." Here "read" is no longer used as a verb. One can soon expect to see "This is a good eat." But then, why not? We have accepted that "This is a good buy" for many years.

A full-page advertisement consisting of only eight words appeared in the prestigious Toronto Financial Post on October 23, 1999, D4, which read: "Who do you trust to create shareholder value?" Should the correct answer be: "I trust he" or "I trust she" or "I trust they" to correspond with the "who" being asked?

6. Indentation

If a hand-written essay is acceptable to your teacher, begin each paragraph with an indentation of 1" plus the normal 1" from the left edge of the paper, i.e., about 2 inches from the edge of the paper.

If you are indenting and are using a typewriter or word processor on a computer, indent 5 spaces at the beginning of each paragraph. Indent set-off quotations 10 spaces from the left margin. You should still double-space between lines and quadruple-space between paragraphs.

If you are not indenting, you start typing each paragraph flush to the left margin. It is essential that you double-space between lines and quadruple-space between paragraphs. Set-off quotations must still be indented 10 spaces from the left margin.

7. Writing an Essay All in Capital Letters:

DO NOT WRITE OR TYPE EVERYTHING ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS EVEN THOUGH THIS SAVES YOU TIME AND EFFORT NOT TO HAVE TO USE THE SHIFT KEY REPEATEDLY OR TO HAVE TO FIGURE OUT WHEN OR WHEN NOT TO USE CAPITAL LETTERS.READING A PAPER ALL WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS,ESPECIALLY ONE WITHOUT SPACES AFTER PUNCTUATION MARKS,SLOWS DOWN READING SPEED AND MAY EVEN REDUCE READER COMPREHENSION.REMEMBER THAT THE PURPOSE OF WRITING ANYTHING IS TO COMMUNICATE.MOST OF US ARE NOT CONDITIONED TO READ ALL TEXT IN CAPITAL LETTERS.WORD PROCESSORS ALSO TREAT WORDS STUCK TOGETHER WITHOUT SPACES AS SINGLE WORDS CAUSING OTHER PROBLEMS.

8.Table of Contents

A short essay or research paper requires no Table of Contents.

If your written report or research paper is extremely long, it may be helpful to include a Table of Contents showing the page number where each section begins.

Suggested order for placing items in a Table of Contents: Acknowledgements, Foreword, Introduction, Body (Parts I, II, III), Summary or Conclusion, Afterword, Explanatory notes, Appendices, Contact organizations, Glossary, Endnotes (if not using Footnotes or Parenthetical citations), Bibliography, Index.

A less involved Table of Contents may include simply the following sections: Introduction, Body, Conclusion, Bibliography.

9. Titles of Books, Magazines, Newspapers, etc.

When used within the text of your paper, titles of all full-length works such as novels, plays, books, should be underlined, e.g. Shakespeare's Theater.

Put in quotation marks titles of shorter works, such as newspaper, journal, and magazine articles, chapters of books, or essays, e.g.: "The Way We Live: Women and Children Behind Bars".

For all title citations, every word, except articles ("a", "an", "the"), prepositions (such as "in", "on", "under", "over"), and conjunctions (such as "and", "because", "but", "however"), should be capitalized, unless they occur at the beginning of the title or subtitle, e.g.:

"And Now for Something Completely Different: A Hedgehog Hospital".

Make the effort to look in the dictionary whenever you are not sure whether the word is being used as a preposition or a conjunction. The word "near", for instance, may be an adverb, an adjective, a verb, or a preposition depending on the context in which it is used.

10. End of Essay

No special word, phrase or fancy symbol is needed to mark the end of your essay. A period at the end of your last sentence is all that is needed.

11. Keeping Essay Together

Sheets of paper should be stapled at the upper left-hand corner. Use a paper clip if no stapler is available. Do not use a pin or fold the paper. Do not hand in your paper in a folder, binder, plastic cover, rolled up with an elastic band around it, tied with a ribbon or with a string. Do not spray perfume or cologne on your paper. And NEVER hand in your paper in loose sheets even if placed in an envelope or folder, see-through or otherwise.

The condition of the paper you hand in is an indication of the respect you have for yourself and the respect you have for your teacher. Before handing in your paper, ask yourself, "Is this the VERY BEST that I can do?"

Last modified: 8 November 1999