Writing Specs (first draft)
English Dept

#1 Use one-inch margins all around. This is the DEFAULT SETTING so if you start a new document, you will automatically get one-inch margins. Double-space your text (not 1 1/2) by using the correct icon at the top.

#2 The title of your paper is to be centered at the top of the page, above the text. Do not type your title in an eccentric font or underlined or larger size. With a blank piece of paper on the screen, type your title on the top line where it is to appear and push RETURN. Hit RETURN twice more after your title before starting paragraph one. Now push TAB to indent, then type a random word to mark where your paper will begin. To center the title now click anywhere within it, then click the CENTER icon.

#3 For brief quotations cited within the text (under 3 lines), simply write on, separating the cited material from your text by means of quotation marks: As John Keats says, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” Remember the phrase CAPIQ to remind you that COMMAS AND PERIODS INSIDE QUOTES. In ClarisWorks, there is a great feature found by using the PREFERENCES choice under EDIT. When you see the dialog box, you can click SMART QUOTES on so that the computer intelligently changes your next " into “ and then the subsequent " into ” automatically. One reason not to use SMART QUOTES is that you may be working with inches and feet or HTML commands.

• Thursday, 12/7/95 • From: Mi Turner(fac) Subject: "NOTES ON QUOTES"
After our discussion of “CAPIQ” the other day, I thought I’d do a little digging. Regarding the issue of quotation marks in conjunction with other punctuation marks, the following selections come from Words Into Type, considered (by me, at least) to be the most complete and authoritative treatise on typesetting practice—both technical and stylistic aspects.
Set quotation marks outside of periods and commas. Quotation marks in conjunction with colons and semicolons should be set inside, because the colons and semicolons are sentence punctuation, not part of the quotation. Set quotation marks outside of exclamation points and interrogation points that are part of the quotation, inside of points that are not…¹
For those who do not know this text, it dedicates over fifty pages to proper punctuation (including ten pages exclusively on the use of quotation marks).
When a comma and closing quotation marks fall alongside, set the comma inside. This practice represents the preference of practically all American publishers and printers. (The British practice is to set a comma inside closing quotation marks only if it is part of the quotation.)” ²

#4 For citations of three or more lines, you need to indent and single-space. This means pushing RETURN before the quote begins and after the quote. Then you will need to select (blacken) the citation and change the SPACING to SINGLE. You will also need to change the right margin marker from 6.5" to 5.5" and the two left margin markers from 0" to 1". Do not use quote symbols or TAB in when you are indenting a three-liner or more. Once you do this once, you can use COPY RULER and APPLY RULER under FORMAT to save you time later on in the document.

#5 To get the proper header, choose INSERT HEADER under FORMAT and choose INSERT DATE under EDIT push TAB then choose INSERT PAGE # under EDIT then push TAB then type in YOUR NAME then . It won’t look great yet. Be patient, as most doctors tell you. Next, you need to set a CENTER TAB (looks like ) by dragging it to the center location of your ruler, generally at 4.25" location if your margins are at 1 and 7.5". Once you do so, your page number should jump to the middle . Next, set a RIGHT-ALIGN TAB (looks like ) by dragging it to the 7.25" on the ruler. Doing these steps correctly results in the date being printed on the left margin, the page number centered , and your name on the right margin of each page.

#6 ClarisWorks 4.0 supports footnotes or end notes, using the radio button feature under FORMAT then under DOCUMENT. One format is for books is called ABCD for author, book, city, date, page number, e.g. Bird, Larry, Drive, French Lick, 1984, p. 33. Remember to underline or italicize book titles.

#7 Use one space between sentences; the old-fashioned rule of two spaces was popular when the Celtics were winning championships and is related to typewriter fonts which are proportional. To quote Robin Williams from her book The Mac is Not a Typewriter:
Yes, this is a difficult habit to break, but it must be done. Take a look at any magazine or book on your shelf—you will never find two spaces between sentences.
When done with all writing, editing and spell-checking, it is sensible to use FIND/CHANGE under EDIT and change all occurrences of two spaces to one space.

#8 Under the EDIT menu is the feature SPELLING which leads to 5 sub-choices, one of which is CHECK DOCUMENT. If you blacken text first, you can choose CHECK SELECTION. If you are in CP1, CP2 or CP3, you may be required to do the following steps for all assigned papers:
• print the paper first before spell-checking then spell-check with paper in hand
• circle every word the stupid computer stops on regardless of whether or not you choose to SKIP • turn in the final copy together with the draft that has ALL of the suspect words circled
By the way, when spell-checking using ClarisWorks, the symbol found at the bottom right will allow you to see each mistook in context underlined. We own 25 legal copies of French and Spanish dictionaries. To change dictionaries, use the feature called INSTALL DICTIONARIES under SPELLING. Be careful when spell-checking in English, since the previous user might have been checking in French or Spanish!

#9 Note that there is an excellent thesaurus found at the bottom of the choices when you go down to SPELLING. Don't be tricked by a computer thesaurus; the stupid machine is just a bunch of wires.

#10 Do not turn in your paper until you have checked it for mistakes. Many people prefer to print onto paper and then reread it carefully. You might take note that PRINT stands for Proofread It Now Thoroughly. Don’t assume your paper is good, simply because it looks good. Read it aloud. Run it through the spelling checker. Print a copy and take it somewhere and edit it. Ask a friend to read it. Even if you have to proofread during the halftime of Celtics games, eliminate all those typos and errors! The computer challenges you to be the best you can be. Proofread It Now Thoroughly. Don't just print and turn it in.

¹ Marjorie E. Skillin and Robert M. Gray, Words into Type, 3rd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), p. 222

² Ibid. p. 205