Preparing Your Manuscript
FORMAT INSTRUCTIONS
Many instructors issue their own format specifications. If they do not, here are some general guidelines:
- Papers should be produced on standard bond or computer paper. If you make copies, be sure to give your instructor the original.
- Make sure that your printer is producing clean copies and that the letters are distinct.
- Allow a margin of at least one inch on the sides and on the bottom of the page. The margin at the top of the first page should be 2-3 inches; on subsequent pages the margin should be at least one inch.
- Although you need a title, you do not need a separate title sheet. Simply put your name, course, and date in the upper left or right corner of page one and put the title a few lines below, centered on the page. NOTE: do not underline or put quotation marks around the title; also, do not set it in full caps--capitalize only the initial letters of all words except for articles (unless the article is the first word), prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions.
- Put your last name and the page number in the upper right-hand corner of every page after the first.
- Hold the paper together with a paper clip in the upper left-hand corner.
- Double-space the text. Quotations longer than three lines should be indented and double-spaced; indented quotations do not require quotation marks.
- If, upon proofreading, you discover that you need to make a correction on a final draft, use a pen to draw a line neatly through the material you wish to delete or change and make the necessary corrections above the line.
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