English 305 Assignments
See Course Calendar for due dates of assignments.

Guidelines for Formatting and Graphics for All Assignments

First Assignment -- a fact sheet about the professional career you intend to enter (20%)

Second Assignment -- an explanation of a recent innovation/upgrade in your major field (40%)

A personal-experience essay on “how stuff works” (10%)

10 exercises (30%)

Guidelines for Formatting and Graphics for All Assignments

Format Guidelines

Type all assignments.

Use a professional Font Face, like Times New Roman or Arial.

Use a Font Size of 12.

Use 1.5 Line Spacing. This is between Single Spacing and Double Spacing. Using this setting for line spacing improves readability.

Double space between paragraphs. Using the default of 1.5 line spacing, this double space will become a 3.0 line space.

Use 1" left margin and 1.5" right margin.

Use the spell checker so that your work contains no spelling errors.

Proofread your essay carefully in order to correct errors in punctuation, grammar, syntax, and writing style. The best way to proofread is to read your document out loud, as if you were delivering it orally to an audience; you pick up a lot of errors by using this technique.

Print your work on a printer that makes a good, dark imprint: ink-jet or laser printers are the best. If your work is printed in light type, we won't accept it.

Use good quality 20-lb. bond paper.

Staple your work once in the upper left-hand corner. Don't put it in any kind of folder, plastic or otherwise.

Graphics and Page Layout

Good professional writing depends on excellent page layout and interesting graphics.
Make sure that your essay has a professional appearance by using contemporary graphic design principles:

• use headings to direct your reader's attention, especially when you move to a new area or topic.
• if appropriate, use simple and clear illustrations. Be sure to acknowledge the source for any such use. Put the source within parentheses right under the graphic.
• organize each page so that it has enough "white space". That is, don't fill up a page totally with unbroken text, all crowded together.
• use no more than 2 different font sizes or types in any document.
• use bullets for lists.
• use boldface for emphasis, as with headings, but don't overuse it.
• don't use all caps excessively for emphasis.
• when you see a page on the Web that seems especially well laid out and clear, make a mental note of why the page looks so good. Build up a sense of how pages look when they're really professional. Check out the USA Today homepage; it uses white space effectively, in spite of being somewhat glitzy.