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More dumb essay questions

LadyMLadyM Registered User regular
edited March 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
All right, I'm writing an essay for a scholarship and it needs to be finished today. (Long story.)

I looked at the FAQs on the scholarships website and they request a 12 point font, but don't specify which font. Which font is "safest"? Right now I have it in the Word 2007 default, Calibri, but maaan, it looks so huge in 12 point. I am wondering if Times New Roman would be better?

Next question: The scholarship is focused on a certain person and asks that the essay involve that person's life, works, etc. No problem, I got a book the guy wrote from the library and referenced it both directly (quotes) and indirectly. My question is am I expected to cite it like I would in a normal school essay? At the moment I have two versions saved, both with a bibliography at the end listing the book and one with actual MLA citations in the main body of the essay.

This leads me to my final question. Assuming citing within the essay is indeed the right thing to do, is MLA the best format to use?

LadyM on

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    anoffdayanoffday To be changed whenever Anoffday gets around to it. Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    For every paper I've ever written, the teacher always wanted it in Times New Roman. That's been from Jr. High all the way up to now, college. That's gotta be the safest.

    For the citing, it wouldn't hurt. I would. As far as the style of citations I might go with APA. It seems like MLA was used a lot throughout high school, but in college I've noticed most of my teachers want APA.

    anoffday on
    Steam: offday
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    RUNN1NGMANRUNN1NGMAN Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Times New Roman is best because it's so ubiquitous that it's basically invisible. The last thing you want is for someone to be distracted by your font choice, which means avoiding anything that is unusual. For serif fonts, I always go with Times New Roman, and sans serif I always go with Helvetica, solely because they are pretty much the most common fonts used.

    RUNN1NGMAN on
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    Black IceBlack Ice Charlotte, NCRegistered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Always go with Times New Roman.

    MLA seems to be the best-known of the different formats - APA, Chicaco, MLA, etc. If they don't understand it they shouldn't be judging scholarship letters, plus, considering its populartiy, it's definitely a safe choice. Make sure to include a Works Cited, however!

    Black Ice on
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    starlanceriistarlancerii Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Adding on to Runningman's post, use sans serif (Hlvetica, Ariel, etc) for TITLES - for body text, use a serif fonts (times new roman)

    starlancerii on
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    UnderdogUnderdog Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I've never had professors ask for anything but Times.

    Underdog on
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