wingdings are also good, unless of course somebody has to read it, i think times new roman is almost the standard in australia
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Choosing the right school paper font
- Thread starter iMacZealot
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Haven't used it myself for essays, but how about Chicargo, it is really easy to read, and has that 'modern' touch! However, havn't tried using it for a block of text.
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Use a contemporary serif font with a large x-height on a single justified column, set generous margins & headers/footers on the page (1.25-1.6 inch for margins, more for footers), with ample leading (double-space if necessary).
The heavy leading is usually for the assessor to make notes and corrections.
Bembo, Palatino, Stone Serif, Galliard, Minion etc. 11/18-26 (11pt with 18-26pt lead) is the kind of thing you should be going for.
Larger point sizes are not necessarily more readable but try and keep average character length per line to anywhere between 40-70 max.
Also worth putting short running headers in with the papers' title, author and any section titles and misc details. Folios (page numbers) with page number/total are also useful if a page goes astray e.g. page 6 of 128
The heavy leading is usually for the assessor to make notes and corrections.
Bembo, Palatino, Stone Serif, Galliard, Minion etc. 11/18-26 (11pt with 18-26pt lead) is the kind of thing you should be going for.
Larger point sizes are not necessarily more readable but try and keep average character length per line to anywhere between 40-70 max.
Also worth putting short running headers in with the papers' title, author and any section titles and misc details. Folios (page numbers) with page number/total are also useful if a page goes astray e.g. page 6 of 128
The bonus for Garamond is that it's the font used in the Harry Potter books!
I'm a fan of Cardo and Gentium -- both of them are free downloads, I believe. Plus, they're unicode, so if you need to crossover into another language, no problem! I use them for English, Hebrew, and sometimes Greek (though I'm a fan of Porson for Greek because it looks similar to the Loeb Classical Library font...any geek know what font Loeb uses?).
I'll take this moment to plug Mellel as well. PLUG.
I'm a fan of Cardo and Gentium -- both of them are free downloads, I believe. Plus, they're unicode, so if you need to crossover into another language, no problem! I use them for English, Hebrew, and sometimes Greek (though I'm a fan of Porson for Greek because it looks similar to the Loeb Classical Library font...any geek know what font Loeb uses?).
I'll take this moment to plug Mellel as well. PLUG.
See when you say double spacing do you mean: you hit the space bar twice when you type? Or there is double space between the lines?
FearFactor47 said:
Double space between the lines: set with whatever leading (line spacing) controls that you have in the app that you're using.
In fact, none of the SIL Fonts downloads seem to be working at the moment. Guess we just gotta wait it out.
I second the Optima font.
It is much easier to read than times new roman, and looks sharper. use good paper and put the essay/report in a plastic cover and voila guaranteed B even if your paper is crap
but seriously I use the optima font even when I am suppossed to use Times, which is the university standard. I have had only one complaint about my type face being different and I told the prof its because I am using a Mac versus everyone using a PC , she said OK and left it at that...
Arial and Arial Black are good for short attention getting notices but not papers.
get used to times new roman since it is the standard and if you ever submit a paper for publishing if it is not in times 12pt regular they will not even read it...
It is much easier to read than times new roman, and looks sharper. use good paper and put the essay/report in a plastic cover and voila guaranteed B even if your paper is crap
but seriously I use the optima font even when I am suppossed to use Times, which is the university standard. I have had only one complaint about my type face being different and I told the prof its because I am using a Mac versus everyone using a PC , she said OK and left it at that...
Arial and Arial Black are good for short attention getting notices but not papers.
get used to times new roman since it is the standard and if you ever submit a paper for publishing if it is not in times 12pt regular they will not even read it...
If you have Utopia (serif), use that. er... ah, the OP wanted something already on his/her computer. I think Optima is a good choice, but then essays/papers I think are normally suited to serif typefaces. Garamond is good, a little formal perhaps, but I think for a decent typeface you have to pay for it - you can't be distinctive with stock typefaces.
any non-ornamental serif, but something named after a newspaper is always a good bet. that's if you want to deviate from TNR, which isn't a good idea in general. Palatino is a good font too, i like it's proportions. Arial Black is just too big nowadays, but we used to pull that crap on teachers who didn't understand different fonts...
FearFactor47 said:
You shouldn't put two spaces in between words, and don't do it between sentences either (a common mistake, I still make it!). Computer fonts are designed not to need this. If your teachers argue, slam them in the head with a typewriter, and exclaim "this thing IS still good for something" besides monospaced text.
</anal about fonts>
Omg! You shouldn' put a double space starting a new sentence? About 7 years ago I never, then I started studying computing at school and was told too. I don't think I could break this habit now!
Lacero said:
I like using Zapfino just to watch it change as you type different letter combinations. It's great when you're showing a Windows bod that Macs can change fonts in Textedit
I'd also agree that very few non-design/art professors can tell the difference between Times New Roman and other relatively standard serif fonts. The standards are mainly there to stop people writing papers in Comic Sans or other hard to read fonts.
Thanks for the help everyone. I've looked at every font you've suggested, and I prefer Garamond for these reasons:
My school has specific guidelines. Margins can only be 1 inch thick, but I still use 1.25, must be double-spaced, and size 10-14. Oh, and once, someone turned their paper in bold print, and that wasn't pretty. Anyways, I like Garamond for my lesser papers because it's small, and I tend to overdo my answers by writing too much. It also stands out from Times or Arial. I like Lucida Grande, but I'm afraid it was too large for my needs.
And for you people who use Courier New, don't. Geneva has a much better feel and look, plus It's actually larger than Courier New.
Once again, thanks!
My school has specific guidelines. Margins can only be 1 inch thick, but I still use 1.25, must be double-spaced, and size 10-14. Oh, and once, someone turned their paper in bold print, and that wasn't pretty. Anyways, I like Garamond for my lesser papers because it's small, and I tend to overdo my answers by writing too much. It also stands out from Times or Arial. I like Lucida Grande, but I'm afraid it was too large for my needs.
And for you people who use Courier New, don't. Geneva has a much better feel and look, plus It's actually larger than Courier New.
Once again, thanks!
All I hear in this post is people how have no clue as to what "Fonts" even are! People Lucida Grande is a system font installed in the OS that is required for Mac OS to even function, yes you can use it for other things but it was never meant to be used by anything other than your computer to diplay text. Also most system fonts are "Monospace" in that the amount of space each letter uses is the same (an em space) the width of an "M" so an "i" and a "w" will be spaced the same as on a manual typewriter.
Move on to fonts that were designed for use in typesetting. the serif family -Garamond (they are all the same, Adobe, Stemple, etc>) Palatino, Baskerville, Antiqua, Bodoni, Caslon, Century, and many more... and the san serif - Arial, Akzidenz Grotesk, Antique Olive, Avant Garde, Classical Sans, Helvetica, Futura, Frutiger, Stone Sans, Univers, etc. I have a font collection of over 750 type families, and wish I could afford the "Adobe Font Folio" collection of over 2,200 type faces http://www.adobe.com/products/fontfolio/main.html
Try a little research on one of my favorites "Goudy"
http://www.linotype.com/7-396-7/fredericwgoudy.html
I have been in commercial printing for over 30 years and 15 of it in Desktop Publishing, I just recommend doing a bit of searching first, then decide.
Move on to fonts that were designed for use in typesetting. the serif family -Garamond (they are all the same, Adobe, Stemple, etc>) Palatino, Baskerville, Antiqua, Bodoni, Caslon, Century, and many more... and the san serif - Arial, Akzidenz Grotesk, Antique Olive, Avant Garde, Classical Sans, Helvetica, Futura, Frutiger, Stone Sans, Univers, etc. I have a font collection of over 750 type families, and wish I could afford the "Adobe Font Folio" collection of over 2,200 type faces http://www.adobe.com/products/fontfolio/main.html
Try a little research on one of my favorites "Goudy"
http://www.linotype.com/7-396-7/fredericwgoudy.html
I have been in commercial printing for over 30 years and 15 of it in Desktop Publishing, I just recommend doing a bit of searching first, then decide.
If money was not an issue I would use Peter Bilak's Fedra Serif B, the book weight. Fedra is one of the most beautiful type familes IMO, top notch example of great dutch contemporary typography. It has a fairly large x height, very readable and legible. It also has longer stems than its counterpart, Fedra Serif A, which helps with reability in a long text like a paper.
As for all the Garamond's being the same :S I wouldn't go so far to say that. Have you ever seen ITC Garamond, that type is a disaster. They all have their own subtlies of how they have been interpreted. I personally like the Adobe version the best, but some have said that Granjon is quite nice, and more true to the original Garamond.
I can't say I have ever been a fan of Goudy's work for the most part, especially after Copperplate (ugh).
As for all the Garamond's being the same :S I wouldn't go so far to say that. Have you ever seen ITC Garamond, that type is a disaster. They all have their own subtlies of how they have been interpreted. I personally like the Adobe version the best, but some have said that Granjon is quite nice, and more true to the original Garamond.
I can't say I have ever been a fan of Goudy's work for the most part, especially after Copperplate (ugh).
MontyZ said:
Well, duh!
My girlfriend sadly LOVES that font. She uses it everywhere on everything. I've tried to get her on Lucida Grande, Helvetica, now Garamond, or even Times, but she won't change. It's sad.
Another vote for Times New Roman 12.
Double space it, 1 inch margins. At University, I have yet to find that accepts anything different. Sure, there are tricks to getting around page count requirements (whether it be less or more), but these are generally bad practice and don't prepare you for the real world, or at least the real world of academics.
Double space it, 1 inch margins. At University, I have yet to find that accepts anything different. Sure, there are tricks to getting around page count requirements (whether it be less or more), but these are generally bad practice and don't prepare you for the real world, or at least the real world of academics.