Principles of Document Design; Rules For Writers Chapter 5

The main points of this chapter in Rules For Writers are, layout, margins, line spacing, font styles, phrasing headings and visuals. These elements all come together to make your paper a pleasing read for your audience. They will be different for the situation you are writing about. The chapter goes on to say that all of these elements form an appearance to your paper which is pleasing to the reader. Advertisements have a specific look about them as do papers college professors have you write, also corporations expect documents such as letters,resumes,memos and email to look cohesive.
Margins and spacing help to control the look of a document, for academaic and business documents Chapter 5 says to leave one to one and a half inches on all sides. This creates a visual frame and leaves room for annotations such as a professor making suggestions. Double spacing is the usual requiremaent as it makes a paper easier to read and not crowded. There are four ways according to "Rules For Writers" to align your document, right, left, centered and justified alignments. Left alignment is usual for academic and business documents. Font is usually 10-12 pt. for easy reading. There are many trendy fonts but they can slow readers down and distract from what you are trying to say. Font syles can be useful to draw attention to an area of your document such as boldface, Italic and underlining. On page 63, the text goes on to say that headings are not very useful in writing short essays but serve a good purpose for websites, business reports, and grant proposals. There are many styles of headings and should be short and to the point of what you are trying to say. Visuals can be a powerful tool to use when charts, graphs and tables are needed. Apropriate visuals should be chosen carefully and supplement your writing and reinforces your purpose. You can use photographs,maps and a diagram also to make your point or to support what you have written.
I have learned that keeping a cohesiveness to the papers I write are important for my reader to get the most out of what has been written and that means keeping the spacing, font, margins looking organized and clean. I use Times New Roman or Georgia, I like the look and it is very easy to read. The font I use is 12 pt. because you never know if the person that is reading it has difficulty and I want to make sure they are getting the most from what I write.