What font should I use for my paper?

[cgy2london]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Courier New will increase the size of the paper by a good deal, and it wont look like it either.

I had no problems using that font with profs.

was just about to post that!!!

such a wonderful font....wow

[JD]

Well if it's all about you, just type in whatever font you want.

When you're done, change to the font your prof wants to see, likely Times New Roman or Arial, as already covered in depth.

Seems simple to me!

[troutman]

Make a big Impact.

[Barnes]

Stick with the fonts mentioned by everyone.

Serif for body text and sans for headlines. Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Times, Garamond, Myriad, Chicago, Lucida Grande, Gill Sans etc. Most of these fonts are old, as in Roman times old. There's a reason why they are still around.

You would be surprised at how many companies use variations on these fonts for marketing, ads and logos.

And for god's sake, don't underline things. That's one of my pet peeves. The underline exists because typewriters could not italicize text. If it's not a hyperlink, it should not have an underline.

The Office '07 font is Calibri and it is a very nice font.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Courier New will increase the size of the paper by a good deal, and it wont look like it either.

I had no problems using that font with profs.

Another trick is to increase the front size of periods so they take up slightly more space. There's a video on youtube showing how this works, but I can't find it right now.

For fixed-width fonts, of which Courier New is a part, nothing beats Bitstream Vera Sans Mono (free) or Consolas (part of Microsoft, but I think it's free also). The Bitstream Vera fonts were really built as a programmers font, so l, i, 1, I, j, etc, all look noticeably different, and Consolas was built specifically for use with ClearType in Windows XP and Vista, to go along with LCDs (it uses sub-pixel hinting for anti-aliasing).

[llama64]

Originally Posted by Bob

For fixed-width fonts, of which Courier New is a part, nothing beats Bitstream Vera Sans Mono (free) or Consolas (part of Microsoft, but I think it's free also). The Bitstream Vera fonts were really built as a programmers font, so l, i, 1, I, j, etc, all look noticeably different, and Consolas was built specifically for use with ClearType in Windows XP and Vista, to go along with LCDs (it uses sub-pixel hinting for anti-aliasing).

For programming, my order of preference is:
1) Consolas 10pt
2) Monoco 10pt
3) BitStream Vera Sans Mono 11pt

It's mostly been said already but, what the hey:

When doing documentation, try to stay away from using fixed width or san-serif (Arial) fonts in the main body text. This is very important for submitting essays. In printed form, serif fonts are easier to read. That said, use sans-serif fonts for headers since it looks nicer in bolder or larger sizes. Fixed width only works well in justified print settings and if you're using those in the main body of an essay, you deserve a failing grade.

Times New Roman is based on the print set used by the NY Times (or so I've been told). It's the default font in Word and thus the default serif font for the PC world. Garamond is the traditional Mac serif font. Both are great, but the new Cambria font from Microsoft is better in many ways. If you've got it, use Cambria.

[Phaneuf3]

nothing says professional like comic sans.

[stang]

Originally Posted by Bob

Another trick is to increase the front size of periods so they take up slightly more space. There's a video on youtube showing how this works, but I can't find it right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt3ac0inzbM

[BlackArcher101]

I think this one would be a huge hit.

http://www.dafont.com/angryblue.font

[KTrain]

Take a look at this site: http://fadtastic.net/2006/03/12/the-...ives-of-fonts/.

The guy looked at the difference in his essay grades based solely on the type of font he used. Using a serif font is supposed to be easier to read in print.

[driveway]

Originally Posted by Barnes

SMost of these fonts are old, as in Roman times old. There's a reason why they are still around.

That's totally wrong. Most of the fonts you mentioned were developped after the renaisance - and there really weren't such things as 'fonts' in Roman times. The font is a direct result of the invention of the movable type press by Gutenberg in 1440 - prior to that there were only a couple of types of fonts - those made by chisels on stone and those made by brushes on paper basically.

The serif's history is two-fold, partially it is a remnant of the marks left by a chisel on stone, but it also draws its heritage from ink-on-paper writing as serifs make a font look like one character flows into the next.

The easiest way to tell if a font is pre or post-renasannce is to look at the lower-case letter 'e'. If the horizontal bar on the character slopes up to the right slightly it is a renaisannce font, if it is perfectly horizontal it is from the post-renaisannce.

Here are some great font related sites:

www.identifont.com - this site has examples of hundreds, if not thousands of fonts. Also, if you're curious about what font a piece of writing is in this site will help you identify it by asking a series of questions.

http://www.typophile.com/ - a site dedicated to fonts and the people who love them - message boards, news updates, graphic arts resources etc.

Also - try to avoid setting large blocks of text in sans-serif, it's harder to read, use sans-serif for headings like titles or chapter names.

Use a serifed font for blocks of text - if you're stuck with MS Word, I totally recommend Garamond - it will actually shorten the length of your paper slightly - but it's the best looking font the software has.

If you really want to get a decent font get yourself a copy of Adobe InDesign - the industry standard page layout program - it comes loaded with hundreds of professional fonts.

[burn_this_city]

Wingdings!!! Seriously though I use Arial for everything at work..

[Barnes]

^^Sorry, I misspoke. I should have said some are modeled from ancient texts and reliefs that date back to Roman times.

[driveway]

Originally Posted by Barnes

^^Sorry, I misspoke. I should have said some are modeled from ancient texts and reliefs that date back to Roman times.

Semantic change accepted.

[photon]

I say go with a font they'll be comfortable with reading.. reading something in an unfamiliar font (or format) actually takes more concentration and energy. If a paper seems harder to get through for any reason that could have a negative impact on the mark.

That'd be an interesting study.

[Eric Vail]

From a teacher's perspective, I'd be careful about using fonts to provide the illusion your paper is longer that it is. Often when I am marking, I come accross this trick, and immediately I get the impression that the students has written a terrible paper and is trying to mask this fact behind a font. It is not always true, but that is my immediate impression when I see the font trick.

On the other hand, I never count the pages and students would probably be better off if they just used a regular font - even if it were fewer pages.

[La Flames Fan]

The secret font of the internet geek. Lucide Grande/Sans.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

From a teacher's perspective, I'd be careful about using fonts to provide the illusion your paper is longer that it is. Often when I am marking, I come accross this trick, and immediately I get the impression that the students has written a terrible paper and is trying to mask this fact behind a font. It is not always true, but that is my immediate impression when I see the font trick.

On the other hand, I never count the pages and students would probably be better off if they just used a regular font - even if it were fewer pages.

Seconded. I've been teaching at the University level for almost 10 years--and I've seen just about every trick. Changing the font to meet the minimal page requirement is a super-super obvious trick--not to mention the oldest, and cheesiest trick in the book. And if you really think about it for a second, it's the kind of trick that might work on a moron, but your teacher/professor is probably not a moron.

As for the "tired of TNR" problem, I sympathize. I wouldn't use anything too strange, though. Garamond, or Book Antiqua are ones I like. (they won't make your paper seem longer, though...)

[FlamesPuck12]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Wingdings!!! Seriously though I use Arial for everything at work..

Haha, you said it before me. I was going to say that the samething. Wingdings FTW!

[NSFL]

Thanks to Eric Vail and Iowa_Flames_Fan for your perspectives. It's good to hear from the people who do the marking.

What I ended up doing is writing my paper in about 5 different fonts, then I just changed my font to TNR. I think all I really needed was a change from the usual, 4 years of staring at TNR. I wasn't trying to make my paper longer or anything. I actually had problems staying within the 3 page maximum. It's actually harder to write a short paper than a long one. Well, alright, no, but it was hard to write a paper 3 pages long. I've never done that before.

Originally Posted by icarus

Check your course outline. The font expectation may be in there.

If not, see if the outline makes reference to a specific style guide. MLA is pretty standard, but some social sciences have their own style guides. The style guide will tell you what font to use.

Oh I definitely read that 14 page outline. Oddly enough, there was no mention of referencing style or font. I couldn't believe it, 14 pages and nothing.

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Courier New will increase the size of the paper by a good deal, and it wont look like it either.

I had no problems using that font with profs.

Really? I find Courier New makes a huge difference in the appearance of your paper. Makes everything look really really spaced out.

Originally Posted by JD

Well if it's all about you, just type in whatever font you want.

When you're done, change to the font your prof wants to see, likely Times New Roman or Arial, as already covered in depth.

Seems simple to me!

And that's what I did.

Originally Posted by Barnes

And for god's sake, don't underline things. That's one of my pet peeves. The underline exists because typewriters could not italicize text. If it's not a hyperlink, it should not have an underline.

I wholly agree with that. I can't believe the history writing guide at the U of C still has things underlined.

Originally Posted by llama64

That said, use sans-serif fonts for headers since it looks nicer in bolder or larger sizes.

I'll keep that in mind for next time. I always hated the way TNR looked in a larger font.

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

nothing says professional like comic sans.

One of my friends did that. He's a second year university student, I could have smacked him. His paper was already late.

Originally Posted by KTrain

Take a look at this site: http://fadtastic.net/2006/03/12/the-...ives-of-fonts/.

The guy looked at the difference in his essay grades based solely on the type of font he used. Using a serif font is supposed to be easier to read in print.

Thanks for that link! I think I may try Georgia on my next paper, see how it goes.

Anyhow, I think I learned more about fonts in 1 day than I thought I would ever learn in a life time. Thank you all very much for your responses.