Here is an excerpt from a thesis, shown twice with different typefaces. Asked to review Microsoft’s six new ClearType fonts prior to their release, typographer Raph Levien said Constantia was likely to be everyone’s favourite, because ‘Even though it’s a highly readable Roman font departing only slightly from the classical model, it still manages to be fresh and new.’īy default, Constantia has non-lining numerals, but from Word 2010 onwards you can set them to be lining via the advanced font/number forms option, either throughout your document or in specific sections, such as within tables. Increasingly, theses will be read in PDF rather than book format, so screen readability is an important consideration. It’s an attractive serif typeface that came out with Office 2007 at the same time as Calibri, and was specifically designed to look good in print and on screen. Of late, I’ve become quite fond of Constantia. But don’t create a dog’s breakfast by having more than two typefaces in your thesis – use point sizes, bold and italics for variety. Popular combinations are Garamond/Helvetica Minion Pro/Myriad Pro Times New Roman/Arial Narrow. The easiest way to get a good contrast with your serif body text is to have sans serif headings. It will make them more prominent, which enhances overall readability because the eye scanning the pages can quickly take in the hierarchy of ideas. ![]() Consider using a different typeface for your headings.This looks nice when they are integrated with the text, but it is probably not what you want for a tabular display. However, some of them (Georgia and Constantia, for example) feature non-lining numerals, which means that instead of all sitting neatly on the base line, some will stand higher or lower than others, just like letters do. Typefaces like Garamond, Palatino, Century Schoolbook, Georgia, Minion Pro, Cambria and Constantia are all perfectly acceptable, and they come with Microsoft Word.To my eye, Calibri looks a little too casual for the body of a thesis. Most people agree that dense chunks of printed text are easier to read if the font is serif, and examiners are likely to expect a typeface that doesn’t stray too far from the standard. Don’t use Calibri, or any other sans serif font, for your body text, though it is fine for headings.I’m not a typographical expert, but I have the following suggestions. If you do have the luxury of choice (your university doesn’t insist you use Times New Roman, and you have defined document styles that are easy to modify, and there’s enough time left before the submission deadline) then I think it is worth considering what other typefaces might work well with your thesis. Secondly, some people intensely dislike TNR because they think it has been overused, and regard it as the font you choose when you are not choosing a font. Originally designed for The Times in London, its characters are slightly narrowed, so that more of them can be squished into a newspaper column. Times New Roman is ubiquitous and familiar, which means it is probably the safest option, but it does have a couple of drawbacks. You would like your examiners to feel as comfortable as possible while their eyes are traversing the many, many pages of your thesis, so maximising legibility and readability is a good idea. The other problem with choosing a sans serif for your body text is that if you want passages in italics (for example, lengthy participant quotes) often this will be displayed as slanted letters, rather than as a true italic font. Lacking the little projecting bits (serifs) at the end of characters makes Calibri and its many friends, such as Arial, Helvetica and Verdana, look smoother and clearer on a screen, but generally makes them less readable than a serif typeface when used for printed text. With the release of Office 2007, the default became a sans serif typeface called Calibri. For many years, it was the default body text for Microsoft Word. Times New Roman is the standard choice for academic documents, and the thesis preparation guidelines of some universities stipulate its use. Just bear in mind that there is no need to immerse yourself so deeply in the topic that you start quibbling about whether it’s a font or a typeface that you are choosing. ![]() But as someone who edits theses for a living, I think a bit of time spent on fonts is part of the process of buffing and polishing what is, after all, one of the most important documents you will ever produce. Her website is Īrguably, this question is a classic time waster and the student who poses it should be told to just get on with writing up their research. She occasionally teaches academic writing at the University of New England and often edits academic theses, articles and reports. This post is by DrJanene Carey, a freelance writer and editor based in Armidale NSW.
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