Here is what a formal paper should look like - and directions on how to do it!

Susie Sweetcheeks                                                                                                                                                                  Sweetcheeks 1

Ms. Carlino

English 1, 1^st hour

September 22, 2008

How to Format an English Paper in Word 2007

                When starting a Word Document, make sure the document is double spaced.  It’s the 5^th button on the second line of the “Paragraph” tab, right above the “ph.”  Pick 2.0.  Also, add your heading, enter your title and start writing your paragraphs.  Your heading should be double spaced on the left side of the paper.  The title should be centered on the very next line.  Then, hit enter, tab and start writing your paper.  Notice the title is the same font as everything else.  Also, notice that there is no extra spacing in the paper – only a simple “Enter” key stroke is needed to move to a new paragraph.

The only other major formatting needed is the page number.  On the tabs above, choose “Insert” (it’s the second one, right of “Home”).  Then go over to “Header & Footer.”  Choose “Page Number.”  Under the pull down menu, choose “Top of the Page,” “Plain Number 3.”  You’re cursor will automatically be in the heading.  Type your last name – be sure to capitalize it – and leave a space.  Word will automatically add the page number for each page.

                When moving from paragraph to paragraph in your paper, all that is needed is an “enter” and a “tab.” The paper should flow smoothly with no extra spaces.  In order to remove extra spacing, go up to the arrowed button above paragraph and remove the spacing before and after each paragraph. Now for a note on citing sources.  When citing a quote, the quote should flow smoothly – think coherence here!  Make sure that the quote is not left hanging out in a sentence by itself.  A good author always guides the reader into and out of the quote, blending the other person’s words with their own so that very little interruption is evident!

                When citing a quotation, there are a few rules to follow.  When the author’s name is present in the original sentence, all that needs to be in the citation is the page number (23).  The punctuation always goes outside of the in-text citation because the citation is a part of the main idea of the sentence.  If the author’s name is not in the sentence, the sentence would look something like the following.  In the Princess Bride, Vizzini is forever saying, “Inconceivable” (Goldman).  Notice how some of the author’s words (that’d be YOU)  and some quotation are present in the sentence.  If the quote is t the end of the sentence the period is inside the quotation marks.  If there is not an in-text citation at the end of the sentence (probably because the author’s name is included in the sentence and there is no page number) Ms. Carlino says, “The period always goes inside the quotation marks.”  (like so)