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How to Double Space Your Paper

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M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Double spacing refers to the amount of space that shows between the individual lines of your paper. When a paper is single-spaced, there is very little white space between the typed lines, which means there is no room for marks or comments. This is precisely why teachers ask you to double space. The white space between the lines leaves room for editing marks and comments.

Double spacing is the norm for essay assignments, so if you are in doubt about expectations, you should format your paper with double spacing. Only use a single space if the teacher asks explicitly for it.

Don't worry if you've already typed your paper and you now realize that your spacing is wrong. You can change spacing and other types of formatting easily and at any time in the writing process. But the way to go about these changes will differ, depending on the word processing program you're using.

Microsoft Word

If you are working in Microsoft Word 2010, you should follow these steps to set up double-spacing.

Select (highlight) text if you have already typed some lines. If not, go to the next step.
Click on the Page Layout tab.
Go to the Paragraph section. You will see a small arrow in the bottom left corner.
Click on the arrow to bring up a new window.
Select the Indents and Spacing tab (it is probably already open).
Find the Line spacing menu and select double from the list. Then select OK .

Other versions of Microsoft Word will use a similar process and the same wording.

Pages (Mac)

If you're using the Pages word processor on a mac, you can double-space your paper following these instructions:

First highlight text, if you have already typed some lines
Click on Inspector , which is a blue button on the top right of your window
When a new window opens, select the Text tab which is a large "T"
Find the section labeled Spacing and type 2 into the box to the right of the slide bar
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How to Write a Double-Spaced Essay: Full Guide with Examples

MS word double spacing

Double spacing is an editing method that refers to the space between the lines of your essay. The tutor will ask the student to double-space to add the comments and editing marks.

Double spacing happens to be the norm in essay writing. The student can change the spacing depending on the word processing programs. They could be Microsoft Word or Mac’s Pages word-processing programs.

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What is a double spaced essay.

A double-spaced essay is an essay where the author formatted the space between the lines and the paragraphs using double spacing selection. Ideally, a double-spaced essay contains between 275 and 300 words per page depending on the font. The format is common to students and tutors as they use the space to make corrections.

A double-spaced essay can carry 275 words per page.

It all depends on the page margins where you are placing your text.

Suppose your page is of standard size, then the words will increase naturally.

When you are using an A4-sized page, the same essay may contain fewer words.

Notably, the author can write as many words as he or she desires. The only limit could be your ability. The shortest essay could range between 500 and 1000 words. However, any essayist could write thousands of words to expound on the provided topic.

The standard font for a double-spaced essay should be 12. Such empowers the writer to create at least 200 words for each page. When you are writing using this 12-point font, it makes the paragraphs to be understandable.

The college can penalize the student if he fails to stick to the instructions. As such, it is vital to work with 12 points when you are writing an essay.

When you are writing the essay, you can use any font type unless indicated in the instructions. If unsure, then you can select the Home tab as you click on the correct font icon.

Why Double Space?

We do double spacing to meet the requirements of the checker. Again double spacing is necessary to allow the teacher to comment on the feedback while evaluating the essay.

The essay should meet the desires of the reader and not the writer. You can read more about writing good essays in the guide about the contents and the structure.

Difference between Single and Double Spaced Essays

The double-spaced document involves creating additional space between the paragraphs. Such a format will feature two spaces where the writer will have to press the Enter button twice. The added space allows the teacher to make changes and other remarks.

A single-spaced paper is where there is little white space between the paragraphs. For this case, the tutor can also give instructions to students to use that format when writing a particular essay. The author only presses the Enter button once.

How to Write a Double-Spaced Essay

Whether writing a narrative report or an essay for your school, you should select a line for spacing your work. The double spacing design becomes great as it makes it easier for the author to get the flow of the text.

One can double-space the work by making the correct parameters for the selected text or the entire document. Several word processing documents exist to help you double-space your work, as indicated in the following examples.

Double-Spacing in MS Word

Begin by opening the document that you are working with. It could be either a blank document or some needs text in it.

You can now create a default document to enable the whole document to stay double-spaced by following the simple procedure as
Locate the toolbar and select the styles.
Right-click on the Normal on the Home tab
Click on modify on the pop-up menu.
Select the Formatting prompt and choose the Double-spaced button.
Choose OK to activate the Double spacing design.
Create a space within your document where you desire to double space.
Highlight the text you desire to double-space.
Click on Paragraph spacing and Line.
Choose option 2.0 to double-space the highlighted space.

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How to Spice up Double-Spacing your essay

One can make the essay remain engaging and interesting by double spacing it. Some of the things that could make it appealing are as follows:

a) Using Short Sentences

The purpose of essay writing is to impress the reader. As the research study indicates, you should use short sentences to make your essay more readable. The reason behind short sentences is that they are easy to understand.

It could be tempting if you settled on using a large and complex vocabulary in your essay construction. In practice, complex sentences make it hard for the reader to enjoy the flow.

The secret is writing short and meaningful sentences and coming up with some charming lines. This is one of the recommended ways to become a better essay writer because you present your points in precise sentences.

b) Use Ordinary Words

The reader’s nature is that they appreciate small and ordinary words. Another thing is that the readers do not like to be exposed as having a vocabulary problem. You can make it more appealing by using simple common words.

The reader will be interested in the article if it carries common words that they understand without any struggle. Such an engaging document will bring desirable outcomes.

c) Structure Your Essay Properly

A well-structured essay should arouse the interest of the reader. Precisely, a well-structured essay is ever reader-friendly. The author should make the content to be in the right structure. Follow simple steps to ensure that your essay remains in the proper structure.

For example, you should begin with the introduction but other content in the body and make your conclusion.

Such carries a standard format of organizing your work in an engaging manner.

Suppose your essay is talking about what history is all about, then you should write what comes up first.

End with what came last to ensure you are achieving proper structure.

d) Be Factual When Substantiating Your Claims

The most common mistake the essayists make is writing what they only believe. The correct format is to substantiate those arguments with facts.

Never leave out empirical evidence because you do not believe in it. Such could make it easy to be undesirable. Also, avoid saturating the points with facts that appear too odd.

The writer should also be keen never to jump to conclusions. Let the author present the point backed by utmost research and weight.

The essay should address what the reader should find interesting. For that matter, make strong arguments for increasing your authority as a writer.

e) Keep Your Essay Relevant

Suppose your essay lacks relevancy, then it may fail to score better marks. An irrelevant essay means that it lacks sense in the common application. You can increase its relevancy by writing hot topics.

When you complete your essay, ensure you proofread it to fine-tune it for any deviations and errors. Become your first judge. Such tactics make you improve your writing as you move on.

You can retain your authority over the topic by sticking with the right facts. At that point, you will make any reader get glued to your piece.

f) Choose Hot Topics

The purpose of writing an essay is to engage the reader. The essay could fail to be interesting if you are writing on a boring old topic. The challenge lies in selecting the hot topic.

The writer should be careful in selecting the right topic. It calls for doing enough research to come up with the right topic of study. When unsure, then you can seek guidance from your faculty to know the correct topic to research and craft the essay about.

Benefits of Double-Spacing in Academic Writing

1. easy to read.

First, leaving extra space between lines improves readability and makes the content easier to absorb and follow. Additionally, double spacing allows for comments and suggestions from professors or fellow students within the text.

Additionally, it enhances the essay’s general appearance, making it more polished and pleasing. Also, double spacing makes it easier to insert adjustments or amendments, facilitating effective editing and proofreading procedures.

2. It Makes an Essay Longer

Double spacing might sometimes give the impression that an essay is longer. The content is dispersed and gets more words by widening the line space. When an assignment has definite duration requirements, this may be useful.

It is vital to remember that lengthening an essay unnecessarily without adding relevant material could hurt the writer’s overall quality and consistency.

3. One can read while underlining

Another advantage of double spacing in essays is that it makes it simple for readers to underline or highlight key passages.

Since there is more area between lines, readers can mark or comment on particular portions, making it simpler to interact with the text and grasp its main ideas.

Also, because the underlined passages act as visual indicators for essential content, this can be very helpful for studying, revisiting, or referring to the essay in the future.

4. Offers space for personal notes

The wider line spacing allows students to make notes or add additional thoughts to their essays in the margins or between the lines.

This provides a handy way to write notes, draw connections, or provide additional context for specific textual passages.

These private notes can improve the overall learning and engagement with the essay by acting as helpful references for discussions, edits, or subsequent study sessions.

5. Easy to Spot mistakes

The increased spacing between lines allows for clearer visibility of individual words, sentences, and punctuation marks. This enhanced readability helps identify typos, grammatical errors, and formatting inconsistencies.

With white space, the eyes can navigate the text more comfortably, enabling a more careful and thorough review.

As a result, double spacing facilitates the proofreading and editing process, leading to a higher chance of catching and correcting mistakes before the final submission.

6. The paper looks professional

In essays, double spacing gives them a more polished appearance. The wider line spacing makes the document’s layout neater and more streamlined.

Also, this formatting decision complies with accepted academic standards and improves the essay’s overall presentation, giving it a polished and expert appearance.

7. Conforms with most referencing styles

Many style guides, such as APA, MLA, and Chicago, recommend double spacing as a standard requirement.

When you adhere to this spacing format, your essay aligns with the guidelines and expectations of these referencing styles, ensuring consistency and conformity in your writing.

8. Promotes clarity of text

In essays, double spacing encourages text clarity. The legibility is improved, and word crowding is prevented by leaving more space between lines.

The reader’s capacity to discern between individual words and sentences is improved by the greater spacing, which lowers the possibility of misunderstanding or misinterpretation.

Effective communication relies heavily on clarity, and double spacing makes the substance of the essay easier to understand.

Watch this video to learn more about this.

Josh Jasen or JJ as we fondly call him, is a senior academic editor at Grade Bees in charge of the writing department. When not managing complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In his spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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