All papers written for FTS: Human, Like You & Me?, ENG 321, ENG 103, ENG 105, ENG 115, & ENG 132) this year must observe the following conventions:
In addition to the paper copy, I require an electronic file in Word 98 for the Macintosh format (on a disk, or, if your prefer, as an Attached Document to an e-mail message addressed to me: so, employ my address, cpb@gac.edu, not our class list address, please).
If you employ a different kind of computer, you'll have to "translate" the document to the above standard. (Note, the Mac tends to offer more attractive translation filters than other platforms; if you do not know how to do this, ask the lab monitors for help, or come to me). .
All paper copies should have a separate title page, revealing also your name, the course name, the instructor's name, and the date; however, the title must also appear above the text on page one of your paper. All electronic files must observe the following file naming convention: your initials/short title of paper. In my case that might result in : cpb/LearEssay ( you can use spaces, but most people employ caps to indicate a new word. The Mac will let you use up to thirty-one "characters," but shortish titles are preferred by me.
All papers should have margins set at 1 inch, use Times (Roman) as the typeface for the body text, size that text at 12 pt., space the text at 11/2 (the middle option), have the program insert a white line between paragraphs, and indent all first lines of paragraphs just a little (set the first-line indent triangle [= the upper little triangle on the left] to the first tick mark on the Ruler). Text should be fully justified and hyphenated (from Language underTools Menu, of course). You do that after spell-checking and proofreading your text.
All text pages should have a page number displayed in the center of the bottom of each page. You should use the Footer Command from the View Menu for creating page numbers. Hit the tab key once to center the insertion point, before clicking on the page number icon. However, you may want to place your e-mail address flush left and the date (click on icon) flush right as well.
Also, since we are printing our documents, rather than typing them, we should observe the rules devised to improve the appearance of printed text on a page, rules that have evolved in print shops over the centuries since Gutenberg first invented printing with movable type: we should insert only a single space after a period, for example. ( Yes, I know, this rule runs counter to all you have been taught in typing class; typing teachers, no matter what they call themselves these days, simply haven't made the transition from working on a monospacing typewriter to creating text on a computer that has a graphical interface, i.e. can produce true boldface or italics, etc. in proportional type. Being the powerful word processing application that it is, Word 98 allows you to remove extra white spaces quickly with the help of the Find/Replace Command from the File Menu: simply type into the Find text box what you want Word98 to find , then enter the appropriate keystroke(s) in the Replace text box, before telling Word 98 to execute your instruction--either one instance at a time, or globally. Prudent people usually test such instructions, before commanding the computer to replace all instances of . . .!
As the Macintosh can produce all kinds of character attributes, including boldface and italics, as noted above, you must use them where appropriate. Because typewriters could not produce the bold character attribute, people usually resorted to substituting an underline when giving the titles of independently published works. Well, the Mac can render bold: hence King Lear, when writing papers for me. Likewise, when we told people to put something in italics, typists habitually employed quotation marks around, let‚s say, the title of an article, the chapter of a book, the title of a lyric poem, etc. We should abandon practices imposed by the limitations of an outdated technology, taking advantage of the capabilities of machines like the Mac, which will generate genuine italics, instead. When your Mac has genuine italic and boldface sets of a typeface installed, employ those, rather than simulating the effects like a typewriter, with Command + B, or Command + I keyboard shortcuts, respectively.
Remember, if you need special characters, Word 98 may be induced to display a Ïcharacter picker table, showing all characters available in the current typeface. When you click on a character in the table, that character gets inserted into your document at the position of the flashing insertion bar: the keyboard shortcut that makes the table appear is Option + Command +Q (case not consequential).
All notes--be they footnotes or endnotes--should be created by employing Word 98's splendid capabilities in this area: at the point in the text where the marker should appear, invoke the footnote command from the Insert Menu, so the program may do all but enter the appropriate information in the automatically opened footnote window at the bottom of the screen. You don't have to worry about formatting details: Word will solve those for you. (The easiest way to make that split window disappear again is invoke the Remove Split command to be found under the Window Menu, by the way.) You can decide where the notes shall appear on the printout at any time, any time prior to issuing the print command.
In order for me to verify quotations or check out other instances of intellectual indebtedness (citations, paraphrases of, and allusions to other persons' discoveries), you must acknowledge such "help" in footnotes, etc., or run the risk of being charged with plagiarism. With the preceding sentence I am trying to remind you of the ethical standards recognized throughout the academic world, which you have joined by enrolling in classes at Gustavus. Just as you would want to receive credit for your original insights and discoveries, so others are entitled to an appropriate acknowledgment of their original contributions to a better understanding of things. Of course, the writer who acknowledge and discriminate between his borrowings and her own discoveries will also receive more respect from the reader. Nobody ever loses for being honest, whereas the violator of these standards will be punished severely. A copy of the College's Academic Honesty Policy Statement appears in the Catalog and is being reproduced on the Student Page that is part of the English Department Web Page.
I hope this collection of pointers will help you. I am sure I forgot to include something. In case you have questions, please, do us all the favor of asking me in class about any related matters. Everybody will appreciate your effort,cpb
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