How to format your essays?

linda

[center]The Most Important Formatting Rules[/center]
One of the most common problems people often have is improper FORMATTING.

Remember, the real TOEFL essay scorer reads hundreds of essays every week and really, really appreciates nice formatting.

Essays submitted here that do NOT follow these formatting rules will receive lower scores (if somebody offers a score) and will incur the disdain of fellow forum members.

Yes, believe it or not, punctuation IS very, very important in English.

1. Hit "Enter" twice at the end of every paragraph. Doing this will create a space between your paragraphs and will make your essay much, much easier to read. Remember, the real TOEFL essay scorer reads hundreds of essays every week and really, really appreciates nice formatting.

一句话, 每段结束后按回车键两次.
What about indentation(每段之前的空格)?

"indentation" refers to the number of blank spaces at the beginning of a paragraph. The "standard" or most traditional formatting requires using five blank spaces at the beginning of every paragraph, although there are also two other common ways. The other very common way is not to use any spaces at all. The third way is to use two spaces instead of five.

简言之, 每段之前最好空5格.
2. Hit the space bar after almost EVERY punctuation mark. Specifically, this includes periods, commas, and colons. Conversely, do NOT hit the space bar before almost EVERY punctuation mark.

Good: Because I was sleepy, I went to bed a bit early.
Bad: Because I was sleepy,I went to bed a bit early.
Bad: Because I was sleepy ;I went to bed a bit early .

请在每个标点符号前按空格键.相反, 不要在任何标点符号前击空格键.
3. CAPITALIZE the first letter of every sentence, the pronoun I and other proper nouns.

Good: Because I was sleepy, I went to bed a bit early.
Bad: because i was sleepy, i went to bed a bit early.

每句首个字母和"I" 等代词要大写.
4. Do not use only uppercase letters or only lowercase letters.

Good: Because I was sleepy, I went to bed a bit early.
Bad: BECAUSE I WAS SLEEPY, I WENT TO BED A BIT EARLY.
Bad: because i was sleepy, i went to bed a bit early.
不要使用全部大写或全部小写的格式.

franky

终于清楚了！多谢！

miia

我明白了, thanks!

annbw

"每段结束后按回车键两次" 意味着每段之间要空两行啊!这么多么？

annbw

检索了一下，发现一种公认的说法：”是应该每段顶格写,段与段之间空一行“或是“每段开头空几个空格,段与段之间不空行” 同意第一种的居多。另外又发现有人说“我昨天仔细看了ETS发的报名小册子，上面说TWE不允许中间空行的，可是咱们不是推荐段落中间空一行的格式吗？这样不冲突吗？”
请问一楼的信息从哪里来的？谁有ETS的小册子，有不允许中间空行的说法吗？

Veronica_Melody

thanks`for`sharing

iron

有点弧度，不解。请问楼主的出处。

我是段之间空1－2行，每段顶头写

dowell

是啊，有谁能回答5楼的？打两个回车键，中间空两行，好像多了点吧

ericdong

记得我看到过新东方的资料，也是5楼的意思。

155篇范文就是顶格写，段间空行。可是这种格式我不喜欢

annbw

不解，继续顶