Erin Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 How to Format Your Essay One of the most common problems we see with essays posted here is improper FORMATTING. I have therefore put together this list of formatting tips for you to follow BEFORE you submit your essay to this forum for others to read and comment on. Remember, the real ETS 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. :p Yes, believe it or not, punctuation IS very, very important in English. There’s a lot more for me to say, so you should check this topic regularly for updates. The Most Important ETS Essay Formatting Rules This list was compiled by Erin with the help of all the visitors to the TestMagic forums. 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 ETS essay scorer reads hundreds of essays every week and really, really appreciates nice formatting. Or, indent the paragraphs in your essay. "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. There are, however, two other common ways. The second very common way is to use two spaces instead of five; the third way way is not to use any spaces at all, but to separate the paragraphs with a space. You will notice in these forums that I (Erin Billy) usually skip a line between paragraphs, but that I do not use any spaces at the beginning of a new paragraph. I do this because this is an Internet discussion forum. When I have to write a formal paper, however, I skip one line between paragraphs and indent five spaces. 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 . 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. 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. It would be very good to follow these guidelines in your posts, as well (if only to develop good habits). It can be difficult at times to read posts that use "irregular" punctuation. I hope this post helps! :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted September 28, 2002 Share Posted September 28, 2002 hi there so i have a question, on the real TOEFL we need to make double space between the paragraphs and also 5 or 2 spaces on the beginning of each paragraph? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertical_horizon Posted September 28, 2002 Share Posted September 28, 2002 Hi Dusty, welcome to TM :) !!!! I myself have taken the test. I did one 'Enter' between the paragraphs and no spaces at the beginning of each para :). And I think that's enough to realize the desperation between them. Actually I got 5.0 (not high but not too bad :)) for my essay and I don't think the score givers cost me 1.0 for that 'mistake' :). -phuong- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted September 29, 2002 Author Share Posted September 29, 2002 Originally posted by Dusty hi there so i have a question, on the real TOEFL we need to make double space between the paragraphs and also 5 or 2 spaces on the beginning of each paragraph? TOEFL cannot take points of for not making your essay look beautiful, but you should think of your TOEFL essay, and any essay for that matter, as something of an advertising piece--"packaging" is important!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mahachi Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 Thanks. This is very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shasha Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Thank you very much. It is very helpful.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2005buster Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 Erin, thanks for taking your time to give some invaluable advice which could be taken for granted. I had a 6.0 in my TOEFL test and I used single spacing between paragraphs. In your recommendation for single spacing you said: 'Hit "Enter" twice at the end of every paragraph. Doing this will create a space...' Later, you seem to reject this very pattern when you said: " I (Erin Billy) usually skip a line between paragraphs, but that I do not use any spaces at the beginning of a new paragraph...I do this because... " Kindly advice if this option requires both a paragraph spacing AND identation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ESeraph Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 I will follow them. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerstudy Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 Hi erin, nice thread.:) thanks alot for taking representative and giving all the ideas u r having to everyone.:hmm: :grad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vijay_muddapu Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Erin, It is a great post and given a lot of info for formatting.... I am non native speaker and never really wrote essays...I am giving my GMAT in AUG 2006..Could you please guide me how can I do better in AWA and what resources you recommned me...I am sorry if this is covered already some where...I browsed most of the topics in this forum but couldnt get the info. Vijay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1bbinfo Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 That's very useful!! Thanks a lot:tup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBB Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Just joined the forum, testing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okGMAT Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Erin, I keep reading about people using "templates" for their AWAs on the GMAT. How could one possibly create a template if they will have one of potentially dozens of topics? Or does one simply remember these formatting tips and call that their "template"? Thanks, Cason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimslick Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 hm... didn' think it mattered... but better safe then sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samarfadl Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Thank you Erin for sharing us such important informations. they are trully helpful to us thanks :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marrisa07 Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Very helpful thread - Thanks a bunch! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cambridgedove Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 That super helpful, but do these capitalization and punctuation really count toward your grade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashutoshcabm Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Hi Erin, This is my first direct communication attempt to reach you, hope you will respond. Can you help to induce some real activity in argument and issue threads. People are simply not participating there. I think it will be helpful for all to evaluate and submit essays in these threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.