Ragged-right . . . to indent or not to indent? - Writers Forum

Calibri & Palatino · 08-31-2005, 04:09 PM

Hello everyone, I'm new here.

I'm a law student and experienced essay writer (wth all this time in school, that's pretty much a given.)

Anyhow, I've decided recently to refine my essay layouts. For a while I used fully justified paragraphs, with indents of no more than an em-space or so. I've grown tired of justified text, however. Too claustrophobic and too much work involved to make a paragraph look decent. So I've moved back to using ragged-right, flush left. More breathing room, a much warmer approach.

The problem however, is this: should I maintain this "airy" style and simply put a blank space between paragraphs (no indent), or just indent as one does with justified paragraphs? As far as I've learned, you either indent OR you leave a blank space without indenting. Indenting a ragged-right paragraph makes it look too ragged and messy. Then again, I've been reading that blank spaces betwen paragraphs are not appropriate for scholarly (undergraduate/graduate) essays in general. I've never had a problem with leaving a blank space (16 ponts for 13 point text.) I want to be "typographically correct", however.

Any thoughts? Advice?

Anarkos · 08-31-2005, 05:19 PM

I suggest that you check your university of department's style guide. They are often very prescriptive regarding essay format.

Calibri & Palatino · 08-31-2005, 08:36 PM

Thanks for the reply, but I'm quite familiar with the style guides for most of the humanities depts.

They are rather basic, and apart from admonishing students to avoid plagiarism and obviously irregular formatting, most of my professors are easy when it comes to these things.

I asked my question in terms of correct, standard typographical style, irrespective of specific institutional guidelines, some of which still comform to the limits of the typewriter, rather than the modern wordprocessor which makes use of proportional fonts.

For example, we all know that regardless of professors' and employers' personal preferences, we DO NOT put two spaces afer a period when using a proportional font, and that goes for most punctuation.

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Anarkos · 08-31-2005, 09:02 PM

Ah, well I can't claim any expertise on standards. I'm certainly shocked that your Law faculty doesn't have a restrictive and precise style guide; here, ours have several chapters, is around 60 pages long and must be bought by all students. Any issue I've ever had regarding essay presentation has been answered there.

mammamaia · 09-01-2005, 07:37 AM

ms standards for all print submissions:

-left-aligned only

-indents of 5 spaces/.5" for all paragraphs and dialog

-no line spaces between paragraphs

-where line break needed, # placed in center of line

-entire ms double-spaced

for internet submission:

-indents don't work, so line spaces are used between paragraphs/dialog instead...

...justified margins should never be used unless you are printing your own brochure/flyer/newsletter...

...hope this helps... if you want a complete ms format guide, just drop me an email...

love and hugs, maia
maia3maia@hotmail.com

Calibri & Palatino · 09-01-2005, 09:14 AM

Thank you, maia!

My next question, regarding this:

Since I am indenting a ragged-right paragraph (and not setting it apart by a blank line), isn't the rule to indent by only 1 em-space, or does the indent have to be deeper in order to emphasize the new paragraph?

mammamaia · 09-01-2005, 09:15 AM

the standard indent is and has always been 5 spaces or .5"... period... anything smaller is not acceptable for print work by most editors/agents...

Calibri & Palatino · 09-01-2005, 09:24 AM

That's what I was taught as well.

I believe the em-space indent rule is meant mostly for fully justified paragraphs.

Hehe, I care alot about typography and layout.