Problem: Use only one carriage return after a title or heading.

A carriage return, also known as a hard return, is what happens when you use the “return” key (also called “enter”). Make sure you don’t strike it twice in a row; otherwise, you will end up with unnecessary space between paragraphs.

In fact, it may look good to put an extra hard return after your title or after a heading or subheading in your text. After all, this is what we often see in published works on web sites, in journals, and in books. But if you are submitting a manuscript for a class, you are not publishing your work. The rules are strict, and what is beautiful may not matter as much as being clear.

Put just one hard return at the end of your title or heading, and no more.

Want to see an example? Click here to see what a paper assignment would look like if this were the year 1776 and Thomas Jefferson were a student in my class.

Problem: Use only one carriage return at the end of a paragraph.

A carriage return, also known as a hard return, is what happens when you use the “return” key (also called “enter”). Make sure you don’t strike it twice in a row; otherwise you will end up with unnecessary space between paragraphs.

Want to see an example? Click here to see what a paper assignment would look like if this were the year 1776 and Thomas Jefferson were a student in my class.