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Academic Appeal: The 11 Best Fonts for Academic Papers

• BY Bogdan Sandu
• 26 February 2024

Imagine settling into the rhythm of crafting your academic magnum opus—the words flow, ideas chime, yet it all hinges on how your prose meets the reader’s eye. You’re well aware that  the best fonts for academic papers  don’t just whisper to the intellect; they shout to the discerning critic in each evaluator. Here unfolds a narrative, not merely of  typography  but your academic saga’s silent ambassador.

In forging this guide, I’ve honed focus on one pivotal, often underestimated player in the academic arena:  font selection .

Navigate through this roadmap and emerge with a treasure trove of  legible typefaces  and format tips that ensure your paper stands hallmark to clarity and professionalism.

Absorb insights—from the revered  Times New Roman  to the understated elegance of  Arial —paired with indispensable  formatting nuggets  that transcend mere compliance with  university guidelines .

Dive deep, and by article’s end, unlock a dossier of sage advice, setting your documents a class apart in the scrutinous world of academic scrutiny. Here’s to  typography  serving not just as a vessel but as your ally in the scholarly discourse.

The Best Fonts for Academic Papers

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7 Best Fonts For University Essays (Teachers Choice)

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Choosing the best font for university essays is really difficult. As a university student, you have to stand out from other students’ academic papers.

What are the best fonts for university essays? Arial and Helvetica sans-serif style is a common font choice among university students. Some universities do have guidelines on their website about what fonts are allowed in academic essays, so make sure to check before you start typing.

The right font can make your paper look more professional and appealing to readers. But it’s hard to find fonts that are both beautiful and easy to read especially when there are thousands of them available online!

Best Fonts will help you easily choose the most suitable font for your project by offering expert suggestions based on your needs and interests.

I’ve dedicated myself to helping students succeed in their studies with our website full of useful tips on how to write an effective essay or research paper, as well as relevant information about different types of fonts (serif, sans serif, script, etc).

Our team consists of experienced writers who also know what it takes to get top grades at universities around the world! So if you need some extra help writing your next academic paper or just want some advice on choosing.

If you are in a hurry! Then you should be considered these quick recommended picks.

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What Are The Best Fonts For University Essays?

Students often use clear sans-serif style Arial, Times New Roman, Helvetica, Calibri fonts on their university academic essays, and some universities have a proper guideline on their website about the fonts that should be used.

But for my academic papers, I’ve been researching on the internet and find these 10 best fonts for university essays that are clear in human eyes and look so professional. Your university professor will love your academic papers and essays after using these fonts.

1. Wensley Modern Serif Font Family (Top Pick)

The font of choice for many university students, Wensley is a modern serif font typeface. If you want to impress your professors with an elegant and professional appearance then this style will be perfect for the job! This font includes non-english characters so it can fit any language perfectly.

Wensley Font

• This font is known as the perfect headline maker.
• Improved readability.
• Available in a variety of weights and styles.
• Fast delivery to your inbox.
• All fonts are 100% licensed, free lifetime support.

2. Madelin Serif Font Family

The font Madeline is a well accepted serif font among the universities and colleges. This high classed font includes all types of non-english characters and basic glyphs, making it perfect for students in academia. If you are a university student then this new typeface will drastically improve your academic papers.

Madelin Font

• Impress your professor with a professional looking paper.
• Make an academic research paper look more interesting and engaging to readers.
• Fonts that are easy to read on screens and in print.
• The best typeface for any design project.
• Be creative with your fonts!
• Unique and exciting typeface
• Can be used in any environment or situation
• Will have your audience drooling over this font
• Curvaceous letters make for an attractive design

3. Glamour Luxury Serif Font Family

Glamour Luxury Serif is a font for those looking to be both stylish and minimalistic. With many variations, it can make your paper stand out from the rest or you can use it on your resume as well!

Glamour Luxury Serif Font Family

The wide variety of options in Glamour Luxury Serif means that students will have an easy time finding this typeface for their institution work while professionals will find just what they need in order to maximize their efficiency at work with its clean design.

• The best way to express yourself on the academic papers
• Increase visibility, increase recognition and get a leg up on competitors
• Make your content stand out with bold fonts that are beautifully designed
• Fonts mixes aesthetics with readability so you can use them unapologetically

4. Adrina Modern Serif Font Family

Adrina is a modern rounded serif font with 3 weights that can be used by creatives and commercial professionals. It also has multilingual support to help university students, adults in the professional world, or anyone who needs it!

Aridina Font

• Give your design a unique touch with our extensive library of stylish fonts
• With over 100 fonts on offer you have an entire world to explore
• Whether it’s for personal or commercial use these typefaces are perfect for all occasions, big and small
• The variety means that there’s something to suit every project – whether it’s formal, laid back or fun.

5. Immani Serif Font Family Pack

Immani serif font is a logos-ready font with a modern, eye-catching serif look! This classy typeface is perfect for including in headings and other text collaborations within your project. With its sleek fonts, you can easily create stylish headlines or any other type of text that will catch the eyes of those all around you. It’s time to stop searching: this font is what you need!

Immani Font

Effortlessly design your next project with FontsTTD Serif TTF Typewriter Font. Including a variety of letter and number characters, as well as an additional 5 ornaments at each.

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• You will be able to combine both Font Weight Regular and Light
• Fonts with different fonts, ensuring any text is legible.
• You will also have the option of using a web font kit or downloading an OTF or TTF file.
• No worries about missing out on any key characters!

6. Bergen Text – Sans Serif Font

Bergen Text is an elegant, clean and minimalistic font for university and college academic papers. It has been designed specifically in a small 9-pixel size for easy legibility and accessibility reasons.

Bergen Font

In contrast to Fontana families (that are heavy with serifs), Bergen Text is very straightforward. This makes it the perfect candidate for creative works that need a commercial license and readability that will satisfy any customer’s needs.

UNLIMITED DOWNLOADS: 50 Million+ Fonts & Design Assets

All the Fonts you need and many other design elements, are available for a monthly subscription by subscribing to Envato Elements . The subscription costs $16.50 per month and gives you unlimited access to a massive and growing library of over 50 million items that can be downloaded as often as you need (stock photos too)!

Envato element offers key resources and parent tips about effective teaching strategies so students can learn more effectively, from pre-kindergarten to high school.

• Fonts designed for people who use small text sizes
• Sans font is available!
• Get a wide variety of fonts with just one purchase
• Improve legibility by using different weights and styles

7. Morton – Sans Serif Font

University students always find the best font to use on their academic papers and essays. However, some university has its own criteria to write these papers.

Morton Font

But most of the universities don’t have these font selections criteria on their academic guideline. That’s why students use basic and regular free fonts like Helvetica, Arial, Calibri.

If you want to stand out and increase your marks in academic and university essays. Then try to use a unique font. Because everyone is using the same font in their essays.

Related Post: 10 Best Dark & Moody Lightroom Presets Free and Premium

That’s why choosing a unique and stylish sans serif font in your writing is the best way to mark better.

• Fonts are a single click away.
• It’s perfect for small text sizes.
• A grotesque typeface classic.
• Comes in nine weights and stylistic variations for the nerd in all of us.

Final Words

Unique fonts are the key to standing out and making eye-popping clear academic papers. These best fonts can be really unique with clean formatting. Students and professionals always need these great typefaces for their documents, presentations, or any other assignment that needs design

You can check out Envato elements Fonts to get the most out of it. Thank you

About the author

Al Shariar Apon

I’m a digital content creators and tech-savvy enthusiast. In this website I would like to share my knowledge and Google productivity tools, tips, templates. Thank you.

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The Ultimate College Assignment Formatting Guide

In this blog post, we’re going to dive headfirst into everything that has to do with college assignment formatting and talk about its significance. We’ll explore the impact of formatting on our academic journey and why paying attention to this often underestimated detail can make a world of difference in our grades and overall success.

Let’s face it: formatting assignments can be a daunting task. What font do you use? How do you structure your paragraphs? How can you create a bibliography? Fear not! By the end of this blog post you will have the answer to all your questions.

This post will cover everything from the essential elements of a properly formatted college assignment to refining your formatting skills.

This post is all about college assignment formatting.

Table of Contents

Header & footer, margins & spacing, introduction, in-text citations, bibliography, fine-tuning your assignment format, font & typography, headings & subheadings, figures, tables, and appendices, proofreading and editing, formatting checklist, this post was all about college assignment formatting., other posts you may like:, understanding the basics of college assignment formatting.

The title page is the gateway to your assignment, providing essential information about the work you’ve produced. When it comes to formatting the title page, there are a few key elements to include. First, make sure your title accurately describes the content of your assignment. It should be concise, captivating, and informative, while setting the tone for the rest of the assignment.

Furthermore, your title page should also include your full name as the author of the assignment, followed by the course and professor for which you are submitting the assignment. This is important to ensure proper identification of the assignment.

Next, be sure to include the submission date. This helps establish a timeline and ensures that your assignment is submitted on time.

Finally, use a clean and legible font style, such as Times New Roman or Arial, and use a font size of 12 points. Align your text in the center of the page to create a balanced look.

Headers and footers play an important role in assignment formatting by providing essential information continuously throughout your document. Headers are located at the top of each page, while footers are placed at the bottom.

In the header, include your last name and the page number. This helps keep track of all the pages and identify them as yours. The page numbers should be positioned flush right, aligning with the right margin of your document.

For an extra layer of identification, you can also include your student identification number in the header.

Footers can be utilized to display other relevant information, such as the course name or the title of your assignment. However, the footer section is not typically used for substantial content.

Margins and spacing are important elements of college assignment format, as they effect readability and organization. The recommended margin size for most assignments is 1 inch (2.54 cm) on all sides of the page allow for sufficient white space and provides room for professors to add comments if need be.

Spacing is equally important when it comes to formatting your assignment and double-spacing is the standard practice. Make sure your entire document, including the main body, quotations, and references, follows the double-spacing convention.

Note that there may be times where specific formatting requirements differ. For example, some professors may request single-spacing or different margin sizes so it is important that you review your professor’s own assignment guidelines and follow those instructions!

Structuring Your Assignments

The introduction is a crucial part of your assignment, capturing the reader’s attention and guiding them through your work. Provide background information and state your thesis clearly. Outline the main points you’ll cover in the body paragraphs to give the reader an overview of the assignment’s structure. Keep it concise and about one to three paragraphs long. A well-crafted introduction sets the stage for a compelling assignment.

In the main body of your assignment, present your arguments, evidence, and analysis in a structured manner. Start each paragraph with a clear topic sentence that introduces the main point. Provide supporting evidence and examples to strengthen your arguments. Use transitional words to connect your ideas smoothly. Maintain a balanced structure by giving appropriate attention to each point. You can also use subheadings for further organization if necessary.

For your assignment to be completed and to have an impact, a powerful conclusion is necessary. Without presenting additional material, summarize your essential ideas. Restate your thesis and consider the importance of your findings. Finally, give the reader a compelling final thought that motivates additional thought.

References & Citations

When writing academic assignments, you need to acknowledge the sources you have used to support your arguments and ideas. In-text citations serve as brief references within the body of your assignment, indicating where specific information or ideas originated.

Different citation styles, such as APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), or Chicago, have specific guidelines for in-text citations. Familiarize yourself with the citation style recommended by your professor and follow it consistently throughout your assignment.

In-text citations usually include the author’s last name and the year of publication. For direct quotations, it is important to include the page number as well. Place the in-text citation immediately after the information you have derived from the source, making sure that the citation is placed within parentheses or as a part of the sentence.

A reference list or bibliography is crucial for your assignment as it lists all the sources you cited during your research. It helps readers locate and verify your sources’ credibility. Follow the specific formatting guidelines of your chosen citation style. Alphabetize the entries by the author’s last name or the title of the work. Be sure to double-check the accuracy of each entry, including capitalization, punctuation, and formatting. Proper referencing strengthens your arguments and demonstrates academic integrity which is incredibly important especially in academic writing. Familiarize yourself with citation style guidelines and apply them diligently to avoid plagiarism accusations and penalties.

Like we briefly covered before, the choice of font and typography can significantly impact the readability and visual appeal of your assignment. Select a legible and professional font style, such as Arial, Times New Roman, or Calibri, and maintain consistency throughout your assignment.

Furthermore, a font size of 12 points is recommended for the main body of your assignment, however, consult your assignment guidelines to confirm the font size requirements. Avoid using excessively large or small font sizes, as they can make your work difficult to read and look unprofessional.

Additionally, use double-spacing or whatever your professor instructs and ensure that your paragraphs are indented consistently, usually by half an inch, to signify new paragraphs and aid in visual organization.

Headings and subheadings are helpful guiding the reader through its structure. They make it easier for the reader to navigate and comprehend your work.

Use descriptive headings that accurately reflect the content of each section. Depending on the length and complexity of your assignment, you may have multiple levels of headings, such as main headings (Level 1), subheadings (Level 2), and further subheadings as needed.

Figures, tables, and appendices enhance your assignment by providing supplementary information, data, or visual representations. Follow formatting guidelines to maintain consistency and professionalism.

Number figures sequentially and add descriptive captions. Place figures near relevant text and refer to them within your assignment.

Similarly, number and title tables clearly. Format tables consistently with proper headers and labels. Explain their relevance and findings in your assignment.

Lastly, you can use appendices for additional materials that support your main arguments. Label them with letters or numbers and provide clear titles.

Polishing Your Assignment

Editing and proofreading your assignment is essential for improving its quality before submission. Here are some practical strategies to catch errors:

• Take a break: Step away from your assignment after the initial draft. Returning with fresh eyes helps you spot mistakes and areas for improvement.
• Read aloud: Reading your assignment aloud helps identify awkward phrasing and grammar errors. Pay attention to sentence structure, punctuation, and flow.
• Use grammar and spelling tools: Word processing software often includes checking tools. While not perfect, they can catch basic errors. However, use them as a complement to proofreading.
• Seek feedback: Ask a friend, classmate, or professor to review your assignment. They may spot errors and offer suggestions for improvement.
• Check formatting: Follow the formatting requirements provided by your instructor. Ensure consistency in font, spacing, indentation, margins, in-text citations, reference list, and figures/tables.

By dedicating time to editing and proofreading, you can enhance your assignment’s clarity, conciseness, and accuracy.

To help you ensure that your assignment meets all the necessary formatting requirements, here is a handy checklist:

• Title Page: Verify that your title page includes the required elements such as the title of the assignment, your name, the course name, the instructor’s name, and the submission date.
• Header and Footer: Confirm that your headers and footers contain the necessary information, such as page numbers and your name.
• Margins and Spacing: Check that your assignment adheres to the recommended margin sizes and spacing guidelines. Ensure that your paragraphs are properly indented, and your text is double-spaced unless instructed otherwise.
• Font and Typography: Ensure consistency in font style and size throughout your assignment.
• Headings and Subheadings: Ensure consistent formatting.
• In-text Citations: Verify that your in-text citations follow the designated citation style. Check that you have included all necessary information, such as the author’s name and publication year, and that they are properly formatted within parentheses or as part of the sentence structure.
• Bibliography: Ensure that your reference list or bibliography follows the formatting guidelines of the citation style you are using. Double-check the accuracy of each entry, including the correct formatting of authors’ names and publication information
• Figures and Tables: Review the formatting of any figures or tables in your assignment. Ensure that they are appropriately labeled, numbered, and referenced within the text.
• Appendices: If you have included any appendices in your assignment, ensure that they are properly labeled and organized.
• Proofreading: Lastly, thoroughly proofread your assignment for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Check for consistency in tense, subject-verb agreement, and sentence structure.

Remember, formatting is not just a mundane task; it is an essential part of your journey as a student. Embrace it as an opportunity to refine your writing skills, enhance your academic work, and pave the way for success in your studies.

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Formatting your assignments

Illustrated step-by-step guides to help you understand the formatting and presentation expectations of university assignments.

Introduction 

Although formatting your essay, report or dissertation can feel like a lesser priority than the process of research and writing itself, it is an important way to ensure your ideas are given the spotlight through visually accessible, professional presentation. Formatting can be a minefield, especially when you’re formatting at the last minute; it’s important to leave a few days at the end of your essay writing process for working on your formatting, and to spend some time familiarising yourself with the different aspects of formatting.

301 Recommends:

Our Essay Structure and Planning workshop will outline how to analyse your essay question, discuss approaches logically structure all your ideas, help you make your introductions and conclusions more effective, and teach how to link your ideas and ensure all essay content flows logically from the introduction.

Below, you will find some general introductions to the key areas. 

Action: know the rules 

Because formatting rules can vary greatly depending on your department or assignment, it’s crucial to check the formatting specifications in your assignment description/rubric, and any general departmental presentation standards, as a first port of call. Many referencing systems also have specific rules about how to format your work, so make sure to familiarise yourself with the university library’s referencing guides . Many referencing systems also have more detailed style guides available via their websites.

Formatting key information  

Assignment cover sheets .

In some departments, you may be expected to include a cover sheet on the front page of your assignment. This is a page including key information about your assignment, such as your module number, student registration number, essay title, and submission date.

You may be asked to submit a plagiarism declaration and to make your markers aware of any disabilities through the yellow sticker system . If you are asked to include a cover sheet in your assignment, your department should make you aware of where you can access this.

Assignment titles

Place your assignment title at the top of your first page, either centre or left aligned, in bold font. At university, you may be assigned a pre-designed essay title/question, or asked to select from several possible titles. You may also be asked to design your own essay title. Here are some top tips on designing your own title:

• To bring focus to your essay, draft a working title at the essay planning stage. You can come back and review this title in light of your finished essay draft.
• Make sure to use action words in your essay title that reflect the skills your assessors are looking for, both in the assignment description and the marking criteria you have been given. For example, if heavy emphasis is placed on critical analysis, you could use a title like ‘Analyse the effect of…’ See this glossary of essay terms , containing examples that you can use in your own titles. 
• The action words you choose can also help you to reflect the structure of the essay in your question. For example, an essay using the action word ‘Discuss’ might use a for/against/conclusion or advantages/disadvantages/conclusion structure, or an essay using the term ‘Analyse’ might break an issue down into parts, e.g. into key themes, to understand its meaning as a whole. Think about the type of essay you want to write: do you want it to be comparative, look at several topics equally, or do you have a clear argument that you want to put forward? You can then create a question that gives you the opportunity to approach the topic from your own perspective.
• Make sure to include the main terminology you are working with in your assignment title.
• Make sure your question has a realistic scope, without being so broad that you cannot answer it within the limitations of your essay. To limit your question, you could include any limiting factors you are working with, such as specific time periods, geographical regions or sub-themes within the overall topic area. For example, in the title ‘Evaluate the proposition that a global monoculture will destroy diversity and difference’, the broad topic of global monoculture is limited down through a specific sub-focus on diversity and difference.

Stating word counts 

Depending on the instructions you have been given, you may be asked to state your word count, either on your cover sheet or at the beginning of your essay. If you are asked to include this information, make sure your word count accurately reflects the assessment guidance: for example, are references included in your word count?

Visual clarity  

Line spacing .

Most assignment descriptions specify that you should increase the space between each line on the page, from the standard 1.0 spacing to either 1.5 or 2.0 spacing. You are asked to do this to make the essay more visually accessible and easier to read, by breaking up the number of lines on each page. 

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to line spacing in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Fonts 

All non-examination based assignments should be word processed rather than handwritten. Most assignment descriptions will specify that for visual clarity, and to ensure a professional appearance, you should use a plain, sans-serif font such as Arial. For readability, this should be in 11 or 12 point size. Check your departmental or assignment guidance for any specific rules about font choices. 

Page numbering, headers and footers  

Including page numbers in your assignments makes them more accessible. Depending on the departmental guidance you have been given, you may be asked to include these in either the header or the footer of your essay (the blank space above and below where the text would go on a normal page in a word processor). It may also be helpful to include your registration number and the module code of the essay in the same header or footers that specify the page number. 

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to adding page numbers and using headers and footers in Microsoft Word and Google Docs. 

Page layout   

Margins .

A margin is the amount of blank space on either side of a paragraph in a normal word processor. Traditionally, assignment descriptions specified that the margins should be made wider at the binding edge (the left hand side) of the page, to allow for easier reading of printed essays. However, with the shift to online essays, you might not be asked to do this any more and the default settings on your word processor are likely to be sufficiently wide.

For printed dissertations and theses, you may receive specific guidance about the suitable layout of margins, as these are more likely to be printed: see this university guide on formatting PhD theses . 

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to adjusting margins in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Paragraph alignment 

Most formatting instructions specify that paragraphs should be lined up in a straight line (aligned) on the left hand edge, but left jagged on the right hand edge (like this page). This is called left alignment, or flush-left style, and should be the default alignment setting for your word processor. This style can be helpful for visual accessibility, but check any specific instructions you have been given by your department to see which style of alignment you have been asked to use. 

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to adjusting paragraph alignment in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.  

Paragraph indentation

You may be asked to add indents to your paragraphs: an indent is an additional small gap between the margin and the beginning of a paragraph (it makes a ‘dent’ in the first line of your paragraph). Indents are used to provide extra clarification that the reader is starting a new paragraph after finishing the last one: therefore, they should not be used in the first paragraph of your essay. Indents are not always required, and whether you are expected to use them may depend on your referencing style , and any formatting instructions you have been given by your department.

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to indenting paragraphs in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Formatting referenced material 

Footnotes and endnotes .

Some referencing systems require you to use footnotes or endnotes to format your references (make sure to check the library’s referencing guide to familiarise yourself with the expected format of your referencing style). Inserting a footnote into your word document when you have cited from a source adds a superscript number (a number formatted in a smaller font) to the sentence. It creates a note with a matching number at the bottom of the page you are working on (in the footer), which you can add the reference information to.

Endnotes work in the same way, but instead of appearing at the bottom of the page, the reference list appears at the end of the document.

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to manually inserting footnotes and endnotes in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.  

References and bibliographies  

Instead of, or alongside footnotes/endnotes, some referencing systems ask you to include a bibliography and/or a reference list at the end of the essay (make sure to check the library’s referencing guide to familiarise yourself with the expected format of your referencing style). A reference list is a list of all the sources you have directly referred to in the essay, which could be ordered numerically or alphabetically, depending on your referencing style.

A bibliography could be used alongside, or instead of, a reference list, depending on your referencing style; here, you list all the sources you have consulted that have influenced your ideas, whether they are included in the essay or not. The way this is ordered also depends on your referencing style. 

If you auto-generate your citations in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, you can auto-generate your bibliography instead of creating it manually: instructions for doing so are in the resource below. If you use a different reference manager, such as Mendeley, Zotero, or Endnote, these have their own specific instructions for auto-generating bibliographies. See the reference management resources offered by the university. 

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to manually or automatically formatting a bibliography or reference list in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Block quotations  

When you need to include a quotation in your essay that is three or more lines long, you can add this as a block quotation. A block quotation appears on a separate line to the other parts of the paragraph, and is indented (i.e. there is a wider gap between a block quotation and the left-hand margin than there is between the rest of the paragraph and the left-hand margin). Block quotations aren’t placed in quotation marks, so the indentation is used to indicate that you are using a quotation.

Check your referencing guide and any departmental guidance to learn more about the specific rules on formatting block quotations in your department. Because they take up large chunks of your word count, and break up the flow of your texts, make sure to use block quotations sparingly: they are especially helpful when you are going to perform close analysis of a large section of text. For more information on different types of quotation and how to use them, see our workshop on paraphrasing and using academic sources.

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to formatting block quotations in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Advanced formatting 

Headings and contents tables .

Most standard short essays do not include headings, other than the essay title and reference list and/or bibliography. Section headings may be required for some longer or more structured types of academic writing, such as reports; reports often follow a very closely prescribed structure, so it is essential to pay very careful attention to the specific guidelines issued with your brief. Make sure that any system you use for numbering your headings and subheadings is consistently applied throughout the document.

Depending on the advice you have been given, and the length and complexity of a lab report, you may also be required to include a table of contents to help the reader navigate between headings. Contents tables are generally standard practice in longer assignments such as dissertations and theses. Make sure to check any departmental guidance you have been given about formatting reports.

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to formatting headings and contents tables in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

301 Recommends: Scientific Writing and Lab Reports Workshop

This workshop  will help you to familiarise yourself with some of the specific expectations associated with this assignment format.

Figures and tables 

Some kinds of essays, dissertations and reports will require you to make use of figures (pictures, diagrams, and graphs) and tables (any data in a table format). Figures and tables are normally numbered in sequence, e.g. ‘Table 1’, ‘Figure 4’, and are directly referred to in the text according to their number, rather than according to their location on the page (e.g. ‘as shown in Table 2’ rather than ‘as shown below’). 

If your text is of dissertation or thesis length, or if your text has several figures, it may also be helpful to include a list of figures immediately after the table of contents. Some referencing guides have specific rules about presenting and referencing tables and figures, so make sure to familiarise yourself with these and carefully read any specific instructions about figures and tables in your assignment brief. 

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to inserting figures and tables and creating lists of figures/tables in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Top tips for formatting tables and figures:

• Make sure that any tables or figures you use are placed below the paragraph where you refer to them, and that you have directly referred to all figures and tables in the text of the essay.
• The caption for a table usually acts as its title, so this is placed above the table in the document. The caption for a figure is usually placed underneath the figure. Do not include unnecessary additional titles in the graph image itself, if the title is already included in your image caption. 
• Make sure to label your captions consistently, choosing between ‘Fig.’ or ‘Figure’ and consistently using either a full stop or a colon after the label (i.e. ‘Figure 1:’ or ‘Fig. 1.’) 
• Your caption should clearly and succinctly explain what the figure or table is. If the figure is taken from an external source, you must provide a reference that accurately reflects its copyright status (see these university library guides to inserting and attributing images and figures in university work). 
• Make sure to include legends in any charts you use (a key that helps to explain the data in the chart). Any data series you use should be clearly distinguishable from each other (e.g. avoid printing a report with coloured graphs in black and white!) If you are only using one series of data, a legend is not always necessary. 
• Make sure tables are clear and easy to read, using sans serif fonts, a readable font size, and avoiding unnecessary use of colour. 
• Make sure graphs are clear and easy to read, with clearly and appropriately labelled axes. Be wary of 3D effects that may obscure the clarity of a graph.
• Make sure to avoid presenting the same information in a graph and a table.
• Images and figures in printed essays, such as dissertations and theses, should be large enough for the text and numbers to be legible on the printed copy. Make sure they do not extend beyond the print margins of the document. 

301 Recommends: Displaying Data in Graphs and Tables Workshop

This workshop will provide more technical advice on using graphs and tables in your work. See also this Engineering department guidance on formatting graphs and tables in Engineering lab reports.

Appendices 

Appendices commonly appear in dissertations, theses, and lab reports. An appendix provides supporting information that gives the reader a better understanding of the essay, but that might be too long, detailed or awkward to insert into the main body of the essay without breaking up its flow. Interview questions or transcripts, sample questionnaires, raw data, figures, photographs, large/complex datasets, and diagrams are all examples of information that could be included in an appendix, if it is relevant to do so.

The reader should be able to understand the essay without reference to this supporting information, as all the most important and relevant information needed to answer the question should be included in the body (i.e., the appendix should not be used to make room for content that doesn’t fit within your word count). Your appendices must be clearly signposted and explained in the body of your report, highlighting any information that is essential for your reader to understand. Do not include any appendices that are not referenced in the text itself.

The appendices should be placed in numerical or alphabetical order, and signposted according to this specific system (e.g. ‘Appendix B indicates that…’) They should be clearly labelled, using headings that match up to the in-text reference. Appendices usually appear at the very end of the assignment, after your references/bibliography. Make sure to list any appendices used in your table of contents; if you have been instructed to do so by your department or within your referencing system, you could include a list of appendices separate to your contents list. 

The specific format of the appendix heading, and the reference made to the appendix in the text, depends on your referencing style , so make sure to carefully review this information before you design your appendices.

Download this step-by-step illustrated guide to inserting appendices and creating lists of appendices in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Tips and resources

• Use this 301 proofreading checklist to check over your work when you are finished.
• Use the University Library referencing guide for advice about referencing and formatting that is specific to your referencing style. If you need extra clarification about formatting rules, it is often possible to download an extended style guide from the official website for a specific referencing system. 
• For further training on referencing, using reference generators, and using images in your work, see the University Library workshop programme .

Related information

Academic Writing

Proofreading

Essay structure and planning

Scientific writing and lab reports

Creating accessible Word documents

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Formatting and presenting your assessments correctly is important because many include marks for presentation.

This may include marks for things such as:

• formatting and layout
• APA referencing
• writing style
• grammar and spelling.

Before you start on your assessment:

• check your assessment question, emails from your course leader, and learning materials for how it should be presented
• read the instructions carefully. Make sure you understand them and follow them exactly
• if you're not sure about what’s required contact your course leader.

General guidelines for electronic submissions

• Most assessments should be produced using Microsoft Word.
• You can also submit assessments using: .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx or .rtf.
• if you don’t have Microsoft Word go to My Open Polytechnic to download and access your free version
• if you're not sure about the file type required, contact your course leader.
• Use a clear, readable font, such as Verdana, Calibri, Tahoma or Arial and use the same font throughout.
• Use black text on a white background.
• Avoid coloured backgrounds or text in a colour other than black, unless you have special permission to use them.
• Use 11 or 12 point font for the body of your assessment.
• Use 1.5 spacing and 2.53 cm (1”) wide margins.
• Leave a blank line between paragraphs.
• If the questions are short, leave a blank line between each question. If they are long, start each question on a new page.
• Left-justify your work (also known as left-aligned).
• Use bold for headings.
• Essays don’t usually need subheadings; reports usually do.

Most assessments need a title page, which should include:

• the title and number of the assessment
• the course number and name
• the due date
• your full name and student number.

Centre this information on the page, starting approximately one-third of the way down the page.

• Number and clearly label figures and tables.
• Add numbers as follows: Figure 1, Figure 2, Table 1, Table 2, and so on.
• Put table and figure captions above the table.
• Don't number the items in a reference list.

For more help with figures and tables, check:

Get more help with tables  and figures – APA  Style website

Headers and footers

Insert a header or footer on each page (except the title page). It should contain:

• your name (last name, first name/s)
• your student number
• the course code
• the assessment number
• page numbers.

Reference list

The reference list comes at the end of the assessment and should start on a new page labelled 'References'.

Need more help with reference lists? Check out the guides below:

Quick referencing APA guidelines  (PDF 47 KB; opens in a new window)

Guide to APA referencing  (PDF 395.11 KB; opens in a new window)

Appendices are used for information that:

• is too long to include in the body of your assessment
• supplements or complements the information you are providing.

Start each appendix (if applicable) on a new page. If there's just one appendix label it ‘Appendix’ without a number. If there is more than one, label them Appendix A, Appendix B, and so on.

In the main text of your assessment, refer to the Appendix by the label – for example, Appendix A.

Tops and bottoms of pages

Check the top and bottom of your pages to ensure they avoid:

• widows – single lines of text at the top of a page
• orphans – first lines of paragraphs at the bottom of a page
• tombstones – headings or subheadings alone at the bottom of a page
• split lists – lists that are divided between two pages (if possible).

General guidelines for hard copies

Most of the guidelines above also apply to hard copies (printed or handwritten documents).

If your course requires or allows handwritten assessments, be sure to follow the course instructions on presenting handwritten assessments.

Word limits and word count guidelines 

Word limits support the development of concise writing skills. Word count guidelines help you to understand the expectation of workload for an assessment.

 For more detailed information about these go to:

Word limits and word count guidelines  

Got a question?

If you want to talk with someone about formatting and presenting your assessments, contact The Library and Learning Centre | Te Whare Pukapuka Wāhanga Whakapakari Ako. 

Contact the Library and Learning Centre

Writing Assignments 101: Formatting and Typography Essentials

Writing assignments is a necessary practice for everyone pursuing any academic endeavor. You must understand how to format your academic paper. You must also follow the typography guidelines for each type of assignment. Adhering to both ensures your paper meets the presentation standards applicable and is presentable, readable, and easy to follow.

Unfortunately, getting the formatting right does not always come easy for all students. Some academic papers may be easy to format, while others require a deeper understanding of typography and formatting rules.

Many students need help with this part of the essay. As Ken, an economics major in college, puts it, “Getting assistance with my assignments was the natural next step for me. I needed all the professional help I could get to maintain top university grades. And an assignment writing helper service did it for me.” Ken found guidance from experts who offer online academic guidance for students who need support in their essay preparation.

Formatting Styles

Most academic programs require students to follow one of two formatting styles:

• American Psychological Association (APA);
• Modern Language Association (MLA).

Different academic papers call for different formatting styles, with APA and MLA being the most widely used formats for student writing across schools and colleges. However, your professors may ask you to use the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) formatting. So, always confirm the style to use with your professor before you start working on an essay.

APA Style Formatting

APA style mostly applies in social sciences, health sciences, and education courses. Under APA, you’ll organize your paper into four sections:

• Title Page;
• References.

The Title Page includes the following items, in this order:

• The title of your paper;
• The author(s);
• The institutional affiliation;
• Course name and number;
• Instructor’s name;
• Assignment due date;
• Header with page number.

The title :

• Should be centered in the top half of the page;
• Should be 12 words or less;
• Should not contain abbreviations;
• Should be in title case;
• Should be bold ;
• Use one or two lines for the title.
• List all authors by their full names. Use first name, middle initial(s), and then last name;
• If there are two authors, separate author names with “and”;
• If there are three or more authors, use a comma to separate each author, then use “and” before the last author;
• For author names with suffixes, use a space to separate the suffix from the remaining part of the name, e.g., Rob S. Smith Jr.

Institutional affiliation

Affiliation refers to the college or university you attend. Start with the department, add a comma, then the university.

The abstract is a summary of your paper, written on its own page. It should be 10% of your word count, written in one paragraph. Ensure that the abstract includes all the key points covered in the paper.

• The paper title goes to the top of the first page;
• Use title case for the title and bold it;
• Do not leave any space between the title and the beginning text;
• Add in-text citations;
• Enclose citation details in parenthesis;
• Position parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence where you’ve used the referenced material;
• Put the closing punctuation after the parenthetical citation;
• Include the author’s last name, year of publication, and paragraph or page number.

APA Typography Rules

• Font—APA recommends specific serif and sans-serif fonts:
• Acceptable serif fonts: 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, or 10-point Computer Modern;
• Acceptable sans-serif fonts: 11-point Arial, 11-point Calibri, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode;

Use the same font throughout the paper, except:

• Within figure images, where you should use an 8- to 14-point sans-serif font;
• For footnotes, use the default font settings under the footnotes feature of your word processor;
• Computer code, where you should use a monospace font, e.g., 10-point Courier New.
• Double-space your text;
• Unless your professor states otherwise, use a margin of 1 inch on each side of the paper.

The references page is a list of all the sources cited in your paper. You should have a reference for every in-text citation in your paper. Follow these tips to format your references:

• Title the page “References,” bold it, and center it at the top of the page;
• Apply a hanging indent to each citation. To create a hanging indent:
• Ensure the first line of your reference aligns with the left margin;
• For each line that follows, create a half-inch indention from the left margin.

Most word processors have hanging indent settings, usually under Paragraphs and Spacing. Choose the hanging option and set the spacing to half an inch.

• Capitalize the first word of each citation;
• Do not leave additional spaces between citations.

MLA Style Formatting

MLA style is mostly used in humanities and some health courses. Unlike APA style, MLA style does not require a title page, except where several students write the paper. In this case, you’ll create a title page and list the full name of each contribution author. Use double spacing on each line.

Below the author names, list your professor’s name, course name, and date. Add the title of your paper one line below the date and center it. Each entry should go into a separate line.

If you’re the only author of the paper, the author’s name, instructor, date, title, and the beginning of the text body all go on the first page. Remember to add a double space between the title and the first line of your text.

MLA headers show the author’s last name and page number, separated by a space. Some professors require students to omit the header on the first page. If your instructor sets this rule, use the header, starting from the second page.

The header should be in the top right-hand corner of the paper. Position the header half an inch from the top and align it with the right margin.

MLA style recommends the use of headings and subheadings for longer papers. Format your headings in descending order of prominence, with the Level 1 heading having a larger, bold typeface. Subsequent subheadings should have a smaller, non-bold typeface.

You can cite the source in narrative form as part of your text or in parenthesis after mentioning the reference.

• To cite an author in your text, use the author’s last name and the page number of the work you’re citing;
• If quoting multiple works, separate each work with a semicolon;
• If citing two authors, use “and” to separate their names;
• If citing three or more authors, use only the first name shown in the source. Follow it with “et al.”

MLA Typography Rules

MLA formatting does not require you to use a specific font. The only requirements are:

• Your chosen font should be legible and in a standard font size, preferably 12-point;
• The font’s regular and italic types should be recognizable, with enough contrast to make the two styles easy to differentiate;
• Double-space the text;
• Leave a 1-inch margin on each side of the paper;
• For the first line of each paragraph, create a half-inch indent from the left margin;
• Include a line space above and below each heading.

Proper formatting improves the structure of academic papers and makes them more readable. Most student assignments require APA or MLA formatting. To improve your chances of scoring a good grade, adhere to all the formatting requirements of your academic paper.

How do I style headings and subheadings in a research paper? (2018, December 13). MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/styling-headings-and-subheadings/ Mandernach, B. J., Zafonte, M., & Taylor, C. (n.d.). Instructional Strategies to Improve College Students’ APA Style Writing. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1093747.pdf MLA Quick Citation Guide. (n.d.). PennState University Libraries. https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/mlacitation/intext Paper format. (n.d.). APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format The Main Body Formatting the Main Body. (n.d.). Keuka College. https://libguides.keuka.edu/apa/mainbody

Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

• What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that they will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

• define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
• describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
• explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
• illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
• summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
• trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
• research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

• compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
• contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
• apply—use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
• cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
• relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

• assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
• prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
• evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
• support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
• synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
• analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
• argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove their point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, they still have to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

• Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
• The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and they already know everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality they expect.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

• spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
• use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
• use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
• get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

• Information for EndNote Users
• Authors - Numbers, Rules and Formatting
• In-Text Citations
• Reference List
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• Using Visual Works in Theses and Publications
• Using Tables in Assignments & Class Presentations
• Custom Textbooks & Books of Readings
• ABS AND AIHW
• Videos (YouTube), Podcasts & Webinars
• Blog Posts and Social Media
• First Nations Works
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• Personal Communication
• Theses and Dissertations
• Film / TV / DVD
• Miscellaneous (Generic Reference)
• AI software

APA 7th examples and templates

Apa formatting tips, thesis formatting, tables and figures, acknowledgements and disclaimers.

• What If...?
• Other Guides

You can view the samples here:

• APA Style Sample Papers From the official APA Style and Grammar Guidelines

Quick formatting notes taken from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 7th edition

Use the same font throughout the text of your paper, including the title and any headings. APA lists the following options (p. 44):

• Sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11 point-Arial, 10-point Lucida,
• Serif fonts such as 12-point Times new Roman, 11-point Georgia or 10-point Computer Modern.

(A serif font is one that has caps and tails - or "wiggly bits" - on it, like Times New Roman . The font used throughout this guide is a sans serif [without serif] font). You may want to check with your lecturer to see if they have a preference.

In addition APA suggests these fonts for the following circumstances:

• Within figures, use a sans serif font between 8 and 14 points.
• When presenting computer code, use a monospace font such as 10-point Lucida Console or 10-point Courier New.
• Footnotes: a 10-point font with single line spacing.

Line Spacing:

"Double-space the entire paper, including the title page, abstract, text, headings, block quotations, reference list, table and figure notes, and appendices, with the following exceptions:" (p. 45)

• Table and figures: Words within tables and figures may be single-, one-and-a-half- or double-spaced depending on what you decide creates the best presentation.
• Footnotes: Footnotes appearing at the bottom of the page to which they refer may be single-spaced and formatted with the default settings on your word processing program i.e. Word.
• Equations: You may triple- or quadruple-space before and after equations.

"Use 1 in. (2.54 cm) margins on all sides (top, bottom, left, and right) of the page." If your subject outline or lecturer has requested specific margins (for example, 3cm on the left side), use those.

"Align the text to the left and leave the right margin uneven ('ragged'). Do not use full justification, which adjusts the spacing between words to make all lines the same length (flush with the margins).  Do not manually divide words at the end of a line" (p. 45).

Do not break hyphenated words. Do not manually break long DOIs or URLs.

Indentations:

"Indent the first line of every paragraph... for consistency, use the tab key... the default settings in most word-processing programs are acceptable. The remaining lines of the paragraph should be left-aligned." (p. 45)

Exceptions to the paragraph indentation requirements are as follows:

• Title pages to be centred.
• The first line of abstracts are left aligned (not indented).
• Block quotes are indented 1.27 cm (0.5 in). The first paragraph of a block quote is not indented further. Only the first line of the second and subsequent paragraphs (if there are any) are indented a further 1.27 cm (0.5 in). (see What if...Long quote  in this LibGuide)
• Level 1 headings, including appendix titles, are centred. Level 2 and Level 3 headings are left aligned..
• Table and figure captions, notes etc. are flush left.

Page numbers:

Page numbers should be flush right in the header of each page. Use the automatic page numbering function in Word to insert page numbers in the top right-hand corner. The title page is page number 1.

Reference List:

• Start the reference list on a new page after the text but before any appendices.
• Label the reference list References  (bold, centred, capitalised).
• Double-space all references.
• Use a hanging indent on all references (first line is flush left, the second and any subsequent lines are indented 1.27 cm (0.5 in). To apply a hanging indent in Word, highlight all of your references and press Ctrl + T  on a PC, or  Command (⌘) + T  on a Mac.

Level 1 Heading - Centered, Bold, Title Case

Text begins as a new paragraph i.e. first line indented...

Level 2 Heading - Flush Left, Bold, Title Case

Level 3 Heading - Flush Left, Bold, Italic, Title Case

Level 4 Heading Indented, Bold, Title Case Heading, Ending With a Full Stop. Text begins on the same line...

Level 5 Heading, Bold, Italic, Title Case Heading, Ending with a Full Stop.  Text begins on the same line...

Please note : Any formatting requirements specified in the subject outline or any other document or web page supplied to the students by the lecturers should be followed instead of these guidelines.

What is an appendix?

Appendices contain matter that belongs with your paper, rather than in it.

For example, an appendix might contain

• the survey questions or scales you used for your research,
• detailed description of data that was referred to in your paper,
• long lists that are too unweildy to be given in the paper,
• correspondence recieved from the company you are analysing,
• copies of documents being discussed (if required),

You may be asked to include certain details or documents in appendices, or you may chose to use an appendix to illustrate details that would be inappropriate or distracting in the body of your text, but are still worth presenting to the readers of your paper.

Each topic should have its own appendix. For example, if you have a survey that you gave to participants and an assessment tool which was used to analyse the results of that survey, they should be in different appendices. However, if you are including a number of responses to that survey, do not put each response in a separate appendix, but group them together in one appendix as they belong together.

How do you format an appendix?

Appendices go at the very end of your paper , after your reference list. (If you are using footnotes, tables or figures, then the end of your paper will follow this pattern: reference list, footnotes, tables, figures, appendices).

Each appendix starts on a separate page. If you have only one appendix, it is simply labelled "Appendix". If you have more than one, they are given letters: "Appendix A", "Appendix B", "Appendix C", etc.

The label for your appendix (which is just "Appendix" or "Appendix A" - do not put anything else with it), like your refrerence list, is placed at the top of the page, centered and in bold , beginning with a capital letter.

You then give a title for your appendix, centered and in bold , on the next line.

Use title case for the appendix label and title.

The first paragraph of your appendix is not indented (it is flush with the left margin), but all other paragraphs follow the normal pattern of indenting the first line. Use double line spacing, just like you would for the body of your paper.

How do I refer to my appendices in my paper?

In your paper, when you mention information that will be included or expanded upon in your appendices, you refer to the appendix by its label and capitalise the letters that are capitalised in the label:

Questions in the survey were designed to illicit reflective responses (see Appendix A).

As the consent form in Appendix B illustrates...

How do I use references in my appendices?

Appendices are considered to be part of your paper for the purpose of referencing. Any in-text citations used in your appendix should be formatted exactly the same way you would format it in the body of your paper, and the references cited in your appendices will go in your reference list (they do not go in a special section of your reference list, but are treated like normal references).

If you have included reproduced matter in your appendices, treat them like an image or a table that has been copied or adapted. Place the information for the source in the notes under the reproduced matter (a full copyright acknowledgement for theses or works being published, or the shorter version used at JCU for assignments), and put the reference in the reference list.

• Thesis Formatting Guide Our Library Guide offers some advice on formatting a thesis for JCU higher degrees.
• Setting up a table in APA 7th
• Setting up a figure in APA 7th

If you are required to include an acknowledgement or disclaimer (for example, a statement of whether any part of your assignment was generated by AI, or if any part of your assignment was re-used, with permission, from a previous assignment), this should go in an author note .

The author note is placed on the bottom half of the title page, so if you are using an author note, you will need to use a title page. Place the section title Author Note in centre and in bold. Align the paragraph text as per a normal paragraph, beginning with an indent. See the second image on this page for an example of where to place the author note: Title Page Setup .

The APA Publication Manual lists several paragraphs that could be included in an author note, and specifies the order in which they should appear. For a student assignment, you will probably only require a paragraph or sentence on disclosures and acknowledgements.

An example author note for a student paper could be:

Author Note

This paper was prepared using Bing Copilot to assist with research and ChatGPT to assist with formatting the reference list. No generative AI software was used to create any part of the submitted text.

No generative AI software was used to create any part of this assignment.

• If the use of generative AI was permitted for drafting or developing parts of your assignment, you will need to include a description in the methodology section of your paper specifying what software was used, what it was used for and to what extent.
• If your subject outline has a specific disclaimer to use, use that wording in your author's note.
• If the use of generative AI software is permitted, you will still need to review the material produced by the software for suitability and accuracy, as the author of the paper is ultimately responsible for all of the content.
• << Previous: AI software
• Next: What If...? >>
• Last Updated: May 2, 2024 9:43 AM
• URL: https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/apa

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Assignments vary in their requirements for formatting and layout. Check for formatting requirements in your course materials or with your course coordinator. Aim for consistency in your formatting. Most assignments are now submitted electronically and formatted as follows:

• Use a clearly legible font and font size (Times New Roman is the most common font and 12 point is the most common size).
• Set page margins to around 1 inch/2.5cm.
• Use 1.5 or double line spacing.
• Keep the space between paragraphs consistent. Two styles are:
• Do not indent paragraphs and leave a blank line between paragraphs. (This is the most common style.)
• Indent the first line of each paragraph, but leave no spaces between paragraphs.
• Ensure text alignment is consistent throughout the document. Assignment guidelines and style guides vary when it comes to text alignment . If you are following APA style , then align text left (also see the annotated sample APA student assignment ).
• For help with formatting in Microsoft Word see Basic formatting .

Always double-check for the formatting requirements of your individual course.

Cover sheet

Assignments that are submitted electronically via Stream will not usually require a cover sheet. If you have been asked to include a cover sheet and you are submitting a hard copy, attach the cover sheet to the front of the assignment. Distance assignments use a standard cover sheet ; internal assignment cover sheets are often provided by your department or course coordinator. If you are following APA style , see the annotated sample APA student assignment .

Most assignments do not require a title page. Usually, it is sufficient to include the assignment title or question at the top of the first page and to place other details (name, student ID number, and course number) in a header . If a cover sheet is included, all the necessary information is already included on the cover sheet. However, title pages are sometimes needed for longer assignments, postgraduate assignments, or certain types of report.

The format of these title pages varies according to the specific requirements of the assignment, but typically contain:

• The title, centred, in the upper half of the page (e.g., about 3 or 4 lines down from the top margin of the page). Your title should be concise and, ideally, no more than a single line. If you have a subtitle, it can be separated from the main title with a blank, double-spaced line. The title should be in bold font and in title case (i.e., the first word of major words over three letters is capitalised). The title font is the same style and size and the rest of the cover page details (e.g., Times New Roman or Calibri, 12pt). Note: According to the 7th edition of the APA style guide, the title (in bold, centred, and title case) should appear on the first line of the first page of text. This may not be necessary, however, and you should ask your lecturer or course coordinator for clarification.
• The author's name and ID number. Use one blank double-spaced line between the assignment title and your centred name and ID. Write your name in full rather than using initials. Your name should be non-bold and the same size and font as the rest of the cover page. Omit all titles, degrees or licenses (e.g., Dr, Ms, Mr, PhD, RN). Multiple authors should be given alphabetically. The lecturer’s name and title (e.g., Dr.). The lecturer’s name should follow a blank, double-spaced line after the class code and name, and be non-bold and the same size and font as the rest of the cover page.
• The due date of the assignment. The due date should follow a blank, double-spaced line after the lecturer’s name, and be non-bold and the same size and font as the rest of the cover page.

If you've been asked to format your title page using APA style, see here for formatting guidelines. See here for an example of a title page formatted according to APA 7th edition guidelines.

Some assignment types require headings and sub-headings, whereas others do not use any.

Essays , for example, do not usually use sub-headings unless you have specific instructions that they can be included. The only sub-heading common in essays is References, for the reference list. Instead of headings, the first sentence of each paragraph should signal the topic to the reader (see essay body paragraphs for more on this).

Reports , on the other hand, often require specific headings, such as Introduction, Discussion, and so forth.

If you are unsure whether to use headings or not, ask your course coordinator for clarification. If you do use headings and sub-headings, keep the style consistent throughout the assignment. If you are using APA style , see here for advice about formatting headings.

Tables and figures

Most assignments do not use appendices, but sometimes you need to include additional information, transcripts, questionnaire details, or raw data. These should go in an appendix.

If there is only one appendix, it is given the title “Appendix”. If there are several appendices, each is given a letter (follow the same order that they are mentioned in the body of the assignment): “Appendix A”, “Appendix B”, “Appendix C”, etc.

The title is used to refer to the appendix in the body of the assignment:

The analysis shows that the mean was well above expected (see Appendix B for details).

Style guides differ on whether the appendices should come before or after the reference list / bibliography.

APA style (the style most commonly used at Massey University) and Massey University's Thesis Presentation Guide put the appendices after the reference list / bibliography.

Page authorised by Director - Centre for Learner Success Last updated on 28 April, 2021

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Follow this step-by-step guide to assignment writing to help you to manage your time and produce a better assignment.

This is a general guide. It's primarily for research essays, but can be used for all assignments. The specific requirements for your course may be different. Make sure you read through any assignment requirements carefully and ask your lecturer or tutor if you're unsure how to meet them.

• Analysing the topic
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• Planning your assignment
• Writing your assignment
• Editing your assignment

5. Editing your assignment

Make sure you schedule time to edit and proofread your assignment before you submit it. Editing can help you achieve significantly better marks.

You should plan for at least :

• half a day to take a break from your assignment so you can review it with fresh eyes
• one hour per 1000–2000 words for editing and proofreading.

Reading your assignment aloud will help you check whether:

• your writing flows, ideas are linked and the overall argument makes sense
• there are any grammar, spelling or punctuation errors.

You can also read it aloud to someone else, and get them to ask questions or point out issues as you read.

Check style, formatting and grammar

Make sure your assignment meets the style and formatting requirements of your course, school or faculty (including font size, spacing, headings and referencing).

When editing your assignment, try to:

• use a spellchecker to check grammar, spelling and punctuation, but check any changes before accepting them, and do your own proofreading
• vary your sentence length
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• be concise – look for words you can cut out without losing meaning or flow.
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Fundamental text and font styling

• Overview: CSS styling text

In this article we'll start you on your journey towards mastering text styling with CSS . Here we'll go through all the basic fundamentals of text/font styling in detail, including setting font weight, family and style, font shorthand, text alignment and other effects, and line and letter spacing.

What is involved in styling text in CSS?

Text inside an element is laid out inside the element's content box . It starts at the top left of the content area (or the top right, in the case of RTL language content), and flows towards the end of the line. Once it reaches the end, it goes down to the next line and flows to the end again. This pattern repeats until all the content has been placed in the box. Text content effectively behaves like a series of inline elements, being laid out on lines adjacent to one another, and not creating line breaks until the end of the line is reached, or unless you force a line break manually using the <br> element.

Note: If the above paragraph leaves you feeling confused, then no matter — go back and review our Box model article to brush up on the box model theory before carrying on.

The CSS properties used to style text generally fall into two categories, which we'll look at separately in this article:

• Font styles : Properties that affect a text's font, e.g., which font gets applied, its size, and whether it's bold, italic, etc.
• Text layout styles : Properties that affect the spacing and other layout features of the text, allowing manipulation of, for example, the space between lines and letters, and how the text is aligned within the content box.

Note: Bear in mind that the text inside an element is all affected as one single entity. You can't select and style subsections of text unless you wrap them in an appropriate element (such as a <span> or <strong> ), or use a text-specific pseudo-element like ::first-letter (selects the first letter of an element's text), ::first-line (selects the first line of an element's text), or ::selection (selects the text currently highlighted by the cursor).

Let's move straight on to look at properties for styling fonts. In this example, we'll apply some CSS properties to the following HTML sample:

You can find the finished example on GitHub (see also the source code ).

The color property sets the color of the foreground content of the selected elements, which is usually the text, but can also include a couple of other things, such as an underline or overline placed on text using the text-decoration property.

color can accept any CSS color unit , for example:

This will cause the paragraphs to become red, rather than the standard browser default of black, like so:

Font families

To set a different font for your text, you use the font-family property — this allows you to specify a font (or list of fonts) for the browser to apply to the selected elements. The browser will only apply a font if it is available on the machine the website is being accessed on; if not, it will just use a browser default font . A simple example looks like so:

This would make all paragraphs on a page adopt the arial font, which is found on any computer.

Web safe fonts

Speaking of font availability, there are only a certain number of fonts that are generally available across all systems and can therefore be used without much worry. These are the so-called web safe fonts .

Most of the time, as web developers we want to have more specific control over the fonts used to display our text content. The problem is to find a way to know which font is available on the computer used to see our web pages. There is no way to know this in every case, but the web safe fonts are known to be available on nearly all instances of the most used operating systems (Windows, macOS, the most common Linux distributions, Android, and iOS).

The list of actual web safe fonts will change as operating systems evolve, but it's reasonable to consider the following fonts web safe, at least for now (many of them have been popularized thanks to the Microsoft Core fonts for the Web initiative in the late 90s and early 2000s):

Note: Among various resources, the cssfontstack.com website maintains a list of web safe fonts available on Windows and macOS operating systems, which can help you make your decision about what you consider safe for your usage.

Note: There is a way to download a custom font along with a webpage, to allow you to customize your font usage in any way you want: web fonts . This is a little bit more complex, and we will discuss it in a separate article later on in the module.

Default fonts

CSS defines five generic names for fonts: serif , sans-serif , monospace , cursive , and fantasy . These are very generic and the exact font face used from these generic names can vary between each browser and each operating system that they are displayed on. It represents a worst case scenario where the browser will try its best to provide a font that looks appropriate. serif , sans-serif , and monospace are quite predictable and should provide something reasonable. On the other hand, cursive and fantasy are less predictable and we recommend using them very carefully, testing as you go.

The five names are defined as follows:

Font stacks

Since you can't guarantee the availability of the fonts you want to use on your webpages (even a web font could fail for some reason), you can supply a font stack so that the browser has multiple fonts it can choose from. This involves a font-family value consisting of multiple font names separated by commas, e.g.,

In such a case, the browser starts at the beginning of the list and looks to see if that font is available on the machine. If it is, it applies that font to the selected elements. If not, it moves on to the next font, and so on.

It is a good idea to provide a suitable generic font name at the end of the stack so that if none of the listed fonts are available, the browser can at least provide something approximately suitable. To emphasize this point, paragraphs are given the browser's default serif font if no other option is available — which is usually Times New Roman — this is no good for a sans-serif font!

Note: While you can use font family names that contain a space, such as Trebuchet MS , without quoting the name, to avoid mistakes in escaping, it is recommended to quote font family names that contain white space, digits, or punctuation characters other than hyphens.

Warning: Any font family name which could be misinterpreted as a generic family name or a CSS-wide keyword must be quoted. While the font-family names can be included as a <custom-ident> or a <string> , font family names that happen to be the same as a CSS-wide property value, like initial , or inherit , or CSS have the same name as one to the generic font family names, like sans-serif or fantasy , must be included as a quoted string. Otherwise, the font family name will be interpreted as being the equivalent CSS keyword or generic family name. When used as keywords, the generic font family names — serif , sans-serif , monospace , cursive , and fantasy — and the global CSS keywords MUST NOT be quoted, as strings are not interpreted as CSS keywords.

A font-family example

Let's add to our previous example, giving the paragraphs a sans-serif font:

This gives us the following result:

In our previous module's CSS values and units article, we reviewed length and size units. Font size (set with the font-size property) can take values measured in most of these units (and others, such as percentages ); however, the most common units you'll use to size text are:

• px (pixels): The number of pixels high you want the text to be. This is an absolute unit — it results in the same final computed value for the font on the page in pretty much any situation.
• em s: 1 em is equal to the font size set on the parent element of the current element we are styling (more specifically, the width of a capital letter M contained inside the parent element). This can become tricky to work out if you have a lot of nested elements with different font sizes set, but it is doable, as you'll see below. Why bother? It is quite natural once you get used to it, and you can use em to size everything, not just text. You can have an entire website sized using em , which makes maintenance easy.
• rem s: These work just like em , except that 1 rem is equal to the font size set on the root element of the document (i.e. <html> ), not the parent element. This makes doing the maths to work out your font sizes much easier.

The font-size of an element is inherited from that element's parent element. This all starts with the root element of the entire document — <html> — the standard font-size of which is set to 16px across browsers. Any paragraph (or another element that doesn't have a different size set by the browser) inside the root element will have a final size of 16px . Other elements may have different default sizes. For example, an h1 element has a size of 2em set by default, so it will have a final size of 32px .

Things become more tricky when you start altering the font size of nested elements. For example, if you had an <article> element in your page, and set its font-size to 1.5 em (which would compute to 24 px final size), and then wanted the paragraphs inside the <article> elements to have a computed font size of 20 px , what em value would you use?

You would need to set its em value to 20/24, or 0.83333333 em . The maths can be complicated, so you need to be careful about how you style things. It is best to use rem where you can to keep things simple, and avoid setting the font-size of container elements where possible.

Font style, font weight, text transform, and text decoration

CSS provides four common properties to alter the visual weight/emphasis of text:

• normal : Sets the text to the normal font (turns existing italics off).
• italic : Sets the text to use the italic version of the font, if available; if not, it will simulate italics with oblique instead.
• oblique : Sets the text to use a simulated version of an italic font, created by slanting the normal version.
• normal , bold : Normal and bold font weight.
• lighter , bolder : Sets the current element's boldness to be one step lighter or heavier than its parent element's boldness.
• 100 – 900 : Numeric boldness values that provide finer grained control than the above keywords, if needed.
• none : Prevents any transformation.
• uppercase : Transforms all text to capitals.
• lowercase : Transforms all text to lower case.
• capitalize : Transforms all words to have the first letter capitalized.
• full-width : Transforms all glyphs to be written inside a fixed-width square, similar to a monospace font, allowing aligning of, e.g., Latin characters along with Asian language glyphs (like Chinese, Japanese, Korean).
• none : Unsets any text decorations already present.
• underline : Underlines the text.
• overline : Gives the text an overline.
• line-through : Puts a strikethrough over the text.

Let's look at adding a couple of these properties to our example:

Our new result is like so:

Text drop shadows

You can apply drop shadows to your text using the text-shadow property. This takes up to four values, as shown in the example below:

The four properties are as follows:

• The horizontal offset of the shadow from the original text — this can take most available CSS length and size units , but you'll most commonly use px ; positive values move the shadow right, and negative values left. This value has to be included.
• The vertical offset of the shadow from the original text. This behaves similarly to the horizontal offset, except that it moves the shadow up/down, not left/right. This value has to be included.
• The blur radius: a higher value means the shadow is dispersed more widely. If this value is not included, it defaults to 0, which means no blur. This can take most available CSS length and size units .
• The base color of the shadow, which can take any CSS color unit . If not included, it defaults to currentcolor , i.e. the shadow's color is taken from the element's color property.

Multiple shadows

You can apply multiple shadows to the same text by including multiple shadow values separated by commas, for example:

If we applied this to the h1 element in our Tommy The Cat example, we'd end up with this:

Note: You can see more interesting examples of text-shadow usage in the Sitepoint article Moonlighting with CSS text-shadow .

Text layout

With basic font properties out of the way, let's have a look at properties we can use to affect text layout.

Text alignment

The text-align property is used to control how text is aligned within its containing content box. The available values are listed below. They work in pretty much the same way as they do in a regular word processor application:

• left : Left-justifies the text.
• right : Right-justifies the text.
• center : Centers the text.
• justify : Makes the text spread out, varying the gaps in between the words so that all lines of text are the same width. You need to use this carefully — it can look terrible, especially when applied to a paragraph with lots of long words in it. If you are going to use this, you should also think about using something else along with it, such as hyphens , to break some of the longer words across lines.

If we applied text-align: center; to the h1 in our example, we'd end up with this:

Line height

The line-height property sets the height of each line of text. This property can not only take most length and size units , but can also take a unitless value, which acts as a multiplier and is generally considered the best option. With a unitless value, the font-size gets multiplied and results in the line-height . Body text generally looks nicer and is easier to read when the lines are spaced apart. The recommended line height is around 1.5 – 2 (double spaced). To set our lines of text to 1.6 times the height of the font, we'd use:

Applying this to the <p> elements in our example would give us this result:

Letter and word spacing

The letter-spacing and word-spacing properties allow you to set the spacing between letters and words in your text. You won't use these very often, but might find a use for them to obtain a specific look, or to improve the legibility of a particularly dense font. They can take most length and size units .

To illustrate, we could apply some word- and letter-spacing to the first line of each <p> element in our HTML sample with:

This renders our HTML as:

Other properties worth looking at

The above properties give you an idea of how to start styling text on a webpage, but there are many more properties you could use. We just wanted to cover the most important ones here. Once you've become used to using the above, you should also explore the following:

Font styles:

• font-variant : Switch between small caps and normal font alternatives.
• font-kerning : Switch font kerning options on and off.
• font-feature-settings : Switch various OpenType font features on and off.
• font-variant-alternates : Control the use of alternate glyphs for a given font-face.
• font-variant-caps : Control the use of alternate capital glyphs.
• font-variant-east-asian : Control the usage of alternate glyphs for East Asian scripts, like Japanese and Chinese.
• font-variant-ligatures : Control which ligatures and contextual forms are used in text.
• font-variant-numeric : Control the usage of alternate glyphs for numbers, fractions, and ordinal markers.
• font-variant-position : Control the usage of alternate glyphs of smaller sizes positioned as superscript or subscript.
• font-size-adjust : Adjust the visual size of the font independently of its actual font size.
• font-stretch : Switch between possible alternative stretched versions of a given font.
• text-underline-position : Specify the position of underlines set using the text-decoration-line property underline value.
• text-rendering : Try to perform some text rendering optimization.

Text layout styles:

• text-indent : Specify how much horizontal space should be left before the beginning of the first line of the text content.
• text-overflow : Define how overflowed content that is not displayed is signaled to users.
• white-space : Define how whitespace and associated line breaks inside the element are handled.
• word-break : Specify whether to break lines within words.
• direction : Define the text direction. (This depends on the language and usually it's better to let HTML handle that part as it is tied to the text content.)
• hyphens : Switch on and off hyphenation for supported languages.
• line-break : Relax or strengthen line breaking for Asian languages.
• text-align-last : Define how the last line of a block or a line, right before a forced line break, is aligned.
• text-orientation : Define the orientation of the text in a line.
• overflow-wrap : Specify whether or not the browser may break lines within words in order to prevent overflow.
• writing-mode : Define whether lines of text are laid out horizontally or vertically and the direction in which subsequent lines flow.

Font shorthand

Many font properties can also be set through the shorthand property font . These are written in the following order: font-style , font-variant , font-weight , font-stretch , font-size , line-height , and font-family .

Among all those properties, only font-size and font-family are required when using the font shorthand property.

A forward slash has to be put in between the font-size and line-height properties.

A full example would look like this:

Active learning: Playing with styling text

In this active learning session we don't have any specific exercises for you to do. We'd just like you to have a good play with some font/text layout properties. See for yourself what you can come up with! You can either do this using offline HTML/CSS files, or enter your code into the live editable example below.

If you make a mistake, you can always reset it using the Reset button.

We hope you enjoyed playing with text in this article! The next article will provide you with all you need to know about styling HTML lists .