英语写作学习笔记 Format

□       You may use whatever kind of paper at hand for the first draft of your composition. But for the finished form, regular office paper (size B5 or A4) is usually required.

□       Set the margin before you start writing the first line. Leave about two and a half centimeters for the top, bottom and the left margins. The right-side margin, however, should be a little larger, about five centimeters, so that adequate space will be reserved for the instructor to write comments, corrections and notes.

□       The  is always put in the middle of the first line. Remember to capitalize the first letter of each word except articles, short positions (positions under four letters), and coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, but, nor, for and the to in infinitives. The first word in the , of course, is always capitalized.

A  can be followed by a question mark if it is a question, and quotation marks are used to enclose a direct speech, but no period is needed at the end of a . Quotation marks are also expected for s of articles, but for s of books, they should appear in italics. Before starting your composition, remember these points:

□       Always remember to indent the first line of each paragraph, leaving a space of four or five letters. (If you use computers to process your paper, you can auto-indent about one third of an inch or two thirds of a centimeter.)

□       Please write on every other line, leaving enough space for correction. (If you use computers to process your paper, set your line space to 25 pounds.)

□       Leave one space after any punctuation mark: a common, a period, a question mark, and an exclamation mark, etc.