These guidelines are intended for written work in the English Section of the Department of Translation Studies. Based on general English usage (American and British), they reflect the continuing change of layout standards from rules based on typewriter technology to digital culture conventions. The guidelines assume that texts will be produced with word-processors using proportional fonts, and that they will be increasingly conveyed in electronic format.

Checklist of Main Layout Points

1. Academic papers should normally be written in the 3rd person; printouts should be full-size A4 pages, using only ONE side of the paper unless otherwise specified.
2. Text should be left-justified with a "ragged right" margin and no end-of-line hyphenization.
3. Text should be single-spaced with size 11-12 Arial or other 'non-serif' font, unless otherwise specified. [NB: As of 09 February 2010, Arial is the 'official university font' for general documents, with Avenir and Adobe Caslon Pro recommended for specialized documents. See note below]
4. Paragraphs and other text elements should be separated by double-spacing.
5. Mixed-case text should be used for main and sectional titles, not ALL CAPITALS.
6. Usage for the layout of other text elements should follow the guidelines below.

General Layout Background

The primary concept in English page layout is the centering of text on the page. There should be roughly-equal margins on the top, bottom, and both sides. The minimum left and right margins should be 1.2 inches (3 cm) and 0.8 inches (2 cm) respectively; standard top and bottom margins are 1 inch (2.6 cm) each. Word processors should be set for a left-justified text with "auto-hyphenization" off, to eliminate awkward line spacing and word-divisions.

'Block' paragraphing is strongly recommended instead of indenting. Double-spacing (two hard-returns) should be used between all paragraphs, and between paragraphs and other text elements, such as titles, subtitles, and indented quotations (as in this document). Do not use a single hard-return within a paragraph block to suggest distinctions between 'major' and 'minor' thoughts. Each paragraph should be a coherent, logical entity which is separated by double spacing from the paragraphs above and below.

The text body should normally use a size 11 or 12 Arial* [see below] or other non-serif font (Helvetica, Tahoma, etc.) for maximum clarity. Main titles should use a size 14 or 16 font, with sectional titles distinguished by double-spacing and boldface, or a slightly-larger contrasting font (such as the boldface Arial titles vs. normal Verdana text in this document). Exceptions to normal font size may include letters, résumés, or other documents where the text should fit (readably) onto a single page.

* [NB: Following a decision by the Rector on 09 February 2010 (Rehtorin päätös 9.2.2010, D120/095.01/2010), Arial is the 'official university font' for general usage, with Avenir and Adobe Caslon Pro to be used for specialized documents (Avenir and Adobe Caslon Pro are not standard fonts, and are not available on most university computers). See the 08/2010 Aikalainen (p.14) for further detail.]

Unless otherwise specified, papers should be single-spaced and printed on only one side of an A4 sheet of paper. Note that working drafts of formal writing (research papers, etc.) are often requested to be double-spaced, a relic of typewriter technology. While the print versions of some research papers may still be requested with double-spacing, their digital versions should be single-spaced. Speeches are usually triple-spaced with a larger font for ease of reading. Conversely, letters and outlines are always single-spaced for concise appearance, except where a letter or outline is so brief that double-spacing would "balance" the text on a single sheet of paper.

Multi-page texts should have page numbers, preferably in the upper-right corner as part of a document "header." Numbering begins with Page 2; the first text page does not have a number, as the first page is evident by the paper's title (which should be at the top of the first text page instead of using a separate "title page". Papers should be printed as full-size A4 pages, not the reduced-size default of some university printers. Adjust university printer "properties" to produce full-size printouts.

Punctuation and Spacing; Quotation Marks with Periods and Commas

After a period, exclamation point or question mark, monospace typewriters required a two-space gap before the start of the next sentence to ensure a visible break. After a comma or semicolon, there was one space before the next character. After a colon there were two spaces. One should still follow these practices.

When using proportional fonts, the font itself will adjust the two literal spaces to one proportional space, but leave the two literal spaces intact in case the text is later converted to a monospace font. The difference between a monospace (typewriter) and proportional font can be seen as follows (the first uses the monospace "Courier" font, the second the proportional "Times" font and the third the proportional "Arial" font, all with an HTML size of "3"):

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. (vs)
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

With parenthetical elements, do not leave spaces inside the parentheses; do it (this way); not ( this way ). A comma may follow a parenthetical remark (like this), but never precedes a parenthetical remark.

With typewriters, dashes were formed by using the hyphen, but differently in the US and Britain. British English used - like this - a hyphen preceded and followed by a space. American English--like this--used two hyphens, with no intervening spaces. (In neither country can a comma be used together with a dash,—like this.) Word processors and HTML coding can produce a so-called 'em' dash — a regular dash — which is the same in American and British English.

American and British usage also differs with quotation marks used together with periods and commas. In American usage, commas and periods are always inside closing quotation marks, whereas in British usage they may be inside or outside closing quotation marks depending on whether they were part of the original quotation. However, unless one is writing specifically in American or British English, either style may be used, as long as the text is consistent and the intention is clear.

Underlining, Boldface, Italics and Quotation Marks

With typewriters, titles of books were generally underlined, indicating that in a printed text they would appear in italics. Thus Lord of the Flies appeared like this. Titles of articles, poems, essays, songs and so on were put in quotation marks: for example T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" or Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock."

Words "referred to as words" in the text were either underlined or put in quotation marks, as were non-English words — to indicate that they were non-English words and would appear in italics in a printed text. Thus, "Kalakukko is a specialty of Kuopio." Likewise, with translated terms the foreign word was underlined and the translation put in quotation marks: Thus "Kalakukko, the "Savo fish loaf," is a specialty of Kuopio."

However, word processors enable the use of boldface or italic characters directly. Thus one can write:

• Lord of the Flies (instead of Lord of the Flies);
• Kalakukko is a specialty of Kuopio; and/or
• Kalakukko, the "Savo fish loaf", is a specialty of Kuopio; or
• Kalakukko, the Savo fish loaf, is a speciality of Kuopio.

Words introduced by so-called, marked, referred to as, and similar descriptives should be put in italics (or quotation marks) to indicate the exact word or phrase referred to. [Fred was known as the "phantom of New York" during the 1890s.   The case was marked Fragile.]

Writing Dates, Sums of Money, Numbers and Percentages

In international English, dates should always have the month written in full; do not write dates only as numbers. The most common forms are 15 January 2010 (without a comma), or January 15, 2010 (with a comma separating the numbers).

Numbers of more than four digits normally have a comma separating the thousand-units. Write 10,000 instead of 10 000. In Britain, 10 000 is still "officially acceptable" except for sums of money, when one should use either £10,000.00 or £10-000.00. However, one should not use only spaces to separate units of numbers, as software may regard the number as separate "units" when spaced apart.

Currency symbols come before the numbers, without a separating space: thus $55.00 or £66.00 or €77.00. As both the dollar and pound symbols are used by several currencies, international writing must be unambiguous about which currency is intended. This may be done via using ISO 4217 three-letter currency abbreviations, such as USD 55.00, GBP 66.00 or EUR 77.00, instead of currency symbols. ISO 4217 abbrevations are separated from the numbers by one space. To be perfectly certain, explain in the text which currency is being used. Unless one is beginning a sentence, all currency names are in lower case (one dollar, one euro; five dollars, five euros). Note that in English the plural of "euro" is "euros".

When numbers appear in the text, the rule is to write out numbers in word form if this can be done in two words or less; thus fifty-four would be written out, but 5,468 would be in numerals. A general rule is that numbers should not start a sentence in numerical form. Exceptions to this include scientific or technical papers, which may have so many numbers that awkward structures would otherwise appear.

Numbers and letters used as itemizations on the left margin are followed in English convention by a period (full stop) plus two spaces. The rule is for numbers to "grow" inwards, to maintain a straight left-hand margin and be efficient to type. Note the spacing and straight sub-margins!

1.       Point one
22.     Point two
333.   Point three (etc.)

When using the percentage sign (%) in English, unlike with common practice in Finnish, no space should be left between the number and the percentage sign. It should be 57%, not 57 %.

Capitalization of Titles in SAE and SBE

The first letters of all words in titles except articles and prepositions are usually capitalized in English. American usage capitalizes all the primary words in titles almost without exception. British usage for the titles of newspaper or periodical articles is to capitalize the first word with the remainder (except for proper nouns) in lower-case, as in Finland. However, British usage resembles American with the titles of books, research papers, and the like. If in doubt, capitalize; this will seldom be "wrong."

Avoid Dividing Words

Word division is problematic in English. It sometimes follows phonetic form, and sometimes "logical" syllabic division. It is best not to divide words at all, especially in formal writing. But if you must divide words, consult a dictionary like the Oxford Learner's (at least for British English) which gives standard word divisions.

Avoid Using Abbreviations

Abbreviations should not be used in formal writing, or when writing for an 'international' audience, except for very common ones such as "Dr." Otherwise, if it is practical to abbreviate, first "establish" the abbreviation in the text. Note that abbreviations from other languages seldom 'transfer' to English. Such forms as n:o, s-thing, and f.ex. are not used in English. One should also not use "etc." in formal writing, particularly at the end of a sentence.

Avoid Contracted Words in Formal Writing

Likewise, one should not contract words (hadn't, didn't, it's, etc.) in formal writing; always spell out the full forms of words. Full word forms are more precise, and suggest a higher level of seriousness and competence.

Quotations, In-text Citations and Author Notes

When quoting a passage of three lines or less, use quotation marks to distinguish the quoted text, with an in-text citation following the quotation (Quick Guide). The numbers of author notes should be indicated with superscripting.¹²  If a quotation is longer than three lines it should be single-spaced and indented from both the left and right margins without quotation marks.

This usage with long quotations (any quotation that is longer than three lines) helps the quotation stand out prominently and makes the layout more attractive. Quotation marks are not required for indented quotations because it is obvious from the indentation that it is a quotation. Note also the format for an indented in-text citation to page 103 of a source written by "Jones" as listed in the paper's Works Cited page. (Jones 103)

Citations for English Section papers should follow the conventions of the MLA Handbook or the Section's "modified-MLA house style". See the Quick Guide to Citations and Overview of MLA Citation Style for examples.