Now I am a person who likes to think I can see past a person's halitosis, bulbous proboscis and liver spots to their true character. I don't like to think I am swayed by outward appearances.
Truth is, I am.
This is true as a marker, as well. I do not take marks off for shoddy presentation. But I am sure that shoddy presentation affects how I perceive the essay, and how I perceive the efforts of the author, even if subconsciously. So - make presentation work for you, not against you.
Partly, this is just a courtesy of communication. You have been asked to communicate in a certain way, and it is just polite to do so. Most theological colleges will have pretty strict guidelines about how you present your essay - how you format your footnotes, and so on. Find out what they are - and (I dunno, here's a novel idea) follow them. If you can't follow them: then at least be self-consistent - that creates a better impression than a random formatting performance!
So then: a couple of tips on formatting and presentation:
1) don't save paper. With electronic submission of assignments it is ridiculous to see tiny fonts and tiny margins on an assignment. It costs nobody anything to make it look much more readable! Even if you are submitting your work on paper, a couple of extra pages isn't going to destroy the Amazon. Most colleges like double spacing and, if printed out, single sided.
2) author-date or ...? Often you are allowed a choice of formatting for references. People from a science background prefer the author-date system, with the reference placed in the text in brackets instead of using a footnote (though it can be used in a footnote as well). This is becoming popular in Biblical Studies as well. My preference, personally, as an Arts graduate, is for the humanities style of referencing, in which you give a footnote and then a full reference the first time you use a text (abbreviated on subsequent uses).
I am not going to go into the details of explaining them here, because each institution will have its own way of requiring you to do this. If you have the freedom to use the author-date, and it works for you - feel free. Whatever you do, don't use endnotes - the references should be on the page where they are made. Otherwise it is just a source of marker grumpiness.
3) Reference styles An earnest plea: do take care to follow the guidelines in citing books and articles and other works. Usually, if you mention a book, you italicise the title. If it's an article, you put it in inverted commas. Simple. I would say that a quarter of students don't do this - why? Baffling.
4) Font Now, this is a bit controversial. Use a serif font - because it looks smarter. By which I mean - more intelligent. I am dead serious here. You might be a fan of Arial or Calibri. That's great for you. But if you want to look like a scholar, use a font with the little curly bits. Even boring ole Time is fine. Or Garamond, Bookman, Perpetua, Constantia. Don't make it a silly font, of course, and only use one font in your whole piece. But make it a serif font. Academic studies have been carried out on this which show that the perception of your piece as a piece of scholarship is affected by the font you choose! Of course, as a marker I pay no conscious attention to the font you choose. But...
5) Paragraphs I usually like to right and left justify my writing so that you get a nice square block of text. To me, only left justifying looks untidy. But do allow for a space inbetween paragraphs. Not a huge gap, such that they look disconnected. But make for a gap nonetheless. I personally don't think an indent in a paragraph of type looks tidy, and if you have a spacing, it is unnecessary.
Oh, and do make your paragraphs of roughly even length - they should be between 2 and 5 sentences long. If one paragraph is a monster, consider chopping it in half. There's almost always a way to do this.
6) Attend to punctuation and spelling For some people, it seems, puncuation and spelling don't matter a great deal. Again, they are not essential to the content of your essay. But in the days of spell checkers and so on, there really is no excuse for persistently bad spelling. I'll have somethings to say about punctuation in a later section. But just to give you a taste: remember, there's a huge difference between 'Let's eat, Grandma' and 'Let's eat Grandma'....
7) Print it nicely If you are printing it out, can you find a printer which doesn't produce a faded line down the middle of the page?
8) Use a clear and consistent system of headings You don't have to use headings at all, of course. But if you do, make them neat and tidy. Don't make them excessively large, or colourful. If your text is 12 point, make them at most 14 point. Otherwise they shout at the reader.
Presentation is all about not distracting your reader. Why wouldn't you go and preach in a gold lame t-shirt and g-string combo? Because I think it would be rather diverting... Presentation is about focusing attention on the content of your essay and, strangely, not on your presentation. None of these rules of presentation make your essay a successful essay. But it is interesting that it is almost always the case that the best essays are also nicely presented. I think it reveals something about your state of mind as your approach the essay.
Truth is, I am.
This is true as a marker, as well. I do not take marks off for shoddy presentation. But I am sure that shoddy presentation affects how I perceive the essay, and how I perceive the efforts of the author, even if subconsciously. So - make presentation work for you, not against you.
Partly, this is just a courtesy of communication. You have been asked to communicate in a certain way, and it is just polite to do so. Most theological colleges will have pretty strict guidelines about how you present your essay - how you format your footnotes, and so on. Find out what they are - and (I dunno, here's a novel idea) follow them. If you can't follow them: then at least be self-consistent - that creates a better impression than a random formatting performance!
So then: a couple of tips on formatting and presentation:
1) don't save paper. With electronic submission of assignments it is ridiculous to see tiny fonts and tiny margins on an assignment. It costs nobody anything to make it look much more readable! Even if you are submitting your work on paper, a couple of extra pages isn't going to destroy the Amazon. Most colleges like double spacing and, if printed out, single sided.
2) author-date or ...? Often you are allowed a choice of formatting for references. People from a science background prefer the author-date system, with the reference placed in the text in brackets instead of using a footnote (though it can be used in a footnote as well). This is becoming popular in Biblical Studies as well. My preference, personally, as an Arts graduate, is for the humanities style of referencing, in which you give a footnote and then a full reference the first time you use a text (abbreviated on subsequent uses).
I am not going to go into the details of explaining them here, because each institution will have its own way of requiring you to do this. If you have the freedom to use the author-date, and it works for you - feel free. Whatever you do, don't use endnotes - the references should be on the page where they are made. Otherwise it is just a source of marker grumpiness.
3) Reference styles An earnest plea: do take care to follow the guidelines in citing books and articles and other works. Usually, if you mention a book, you italicise the title. If it's an article, you put it in inverted commas. Simple. I would say that a quarter of students don't do this - why? Baffling.
4) Font Now, this is a bit controversial. Use a serif font - because it looks smarter. By which I mean - more intelligent. I am dead serious here. You might be a fan of Arial or Calibri. That's great for you. But if you want to look like a scholar, use a font with the little curly bits. Even boring ole Time is fine. Or Garamond, Bookman, Perpetua, Constantia. Don't make it a silly font, of course, and only use one font in your whole piece. But make it a serif font. Academic studies have been carried out on this which show that the perception of your piece as a piece of scholarship is affected by the font you choose! Of course, as a marker I pay no conscious attention to the font you choose. But...
5) Paragraphs I usually like to right and left justify my writing so that you get a nice square block of text. To me, only left justifying looks untidy. But do allow for a space inbetween paragraphs. Not a huge gap, such that they look disconnected. But make for a gap nonetheless. I personally don't think an indent in a paragraph of type looks tidy, and if you have a spacing, it is unnecessary.
Oh, and do make your paragraphs of roughly even length - they should be between 2 and 5 sentences long. If one paragraph is a monster, consider chopping it in half. There's almost always a way to do this.
6) Attend to punctuation and spelling For some people, it seems, puncuation and spelling don't matter a great deal. Again, they are not essential to the content of your essay. But in the days of spell checkers and so on, there really is no excuse for persistently bad spelling. I'll have somethings to say about punctuation in a later section. But just to give you a taste: remember, there's a huge difference between 'Let's eat, Grandma' and 'Let's eat Grandma'....
7) Print it nicely If you are printing it out, can you find a printer which doesn't produce a faded line down the middle of the page?
8) Use a clear and consistent system of headings You don't have to use headings at all, of course. But if you do, make them neat and tidy. Don't make them excessively large, or colourful. If your text is 12 point, make them at most 14 point. Otherwise they shout at the reader.
Presentation is all about not distracting your reader. Why wouldn't you go and preach in a gold lame t-shirt and g-string combo? Because I think it would be rather diverting... Presentation is about focusing attention on the content of your essay and, strangely, not on your presentation. None of these rules of presentation make your essay a successful essay. But it is interesting that it is almost always the case that the best essays are also nicely presented. I think it reveals something about your state of mind as your approach the essay.
5 comments:
Given that point 6 is punctuation and spelling did you deliberately misspell 'intelligent' in point 4? And likewise 'effected' for 'affected'?
My wife insisted I bring this to your attention.
AH! well spotted. Will change.
Err, are the spelling and grammar errors in the last paragraph ironic?
'Why wouldn't go you'
'you essay'
hmm, my godfather used to preach in stubbies and a singlet - and of course a geneva gown and collar which covered them up as well as his navy tats
Another bit of advice: have a look at the essays of those who have a background in design, art or graphics. See how the pages pop! Ask about what simple formatting things they do to make their essay look like it's been taken straight out of a professional journal.
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