The Great Indentation Debate

Writers have a lot on their plates. They have to fend off writer’s block, perform meticulous research, and ensure the content they produce captivates their target audiences. They must pay close attention to catch grammatical errors, misspellings, punctuation mistakes, and typos. Formatting often takes a backseat on a writer’s priority list–especially when it involves something so seemingly trivial as indentation.

The first thing a reader may notice when she accesses one of your web, ebook, or print pages is the look of the content. Formatting involves making decisions about font type and size, and even about the space between lines. Don’t believe that this could possibly make a difference? According to some research, if the Federal government decided to change its preferred font from Times New Roman to Garamond on all printed documents, it could save around $400 million!

Indentation, the much-maligned formatting technique, provides readers with a sense of continuity. Indentations signal to the reader that she is about to dive into another topic or start a new section of a novel. They help present content in a logical fashion. But the debate continues over which indentation method works best. Should you indent paragraphs as you type or simply skip spaces?

What the Style Guides Have to Say

When in doubt, refer to a style guide to answer a question about formatting and sourcing content. But make sure you follow the same style guide throughout your document; Chicago style, APA style, and Harvard style all differ in their approaches to indentation.

The Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style requires all text to be double-spaced, including the notes and bibliography sections. Chicago recommends that writers indent the first line of a new paragraph by hitting the tab key. You hit the tab key between three and seven times to provide the proper space between the first line and the left margin. But using the tab key for indentation can cause problems with some e-book software programs that do not recognize the tab key as a form of indentation.

APA Style

APA style identifies two types of indentation: First line and hanging. First line indentation begins to the right of where the next line begins. APA requires most paragraphs to adhere to first line indentation. Hanging indentation places the first line of a paragraph to the left of where the next line starts. APA recommends using hanging indentation for reference lists. Writers should manually set the reference position for indents to .5 inches from the left margin. Writers should double space content that includes tables, headings, quotations, and references. The number of indentation spaces varies depending on the style of writing. Formal presentations should include only a few spaces of indentation, while casual content can use more indentation spaces.

Harvard Style

The Harvard style manual recommends indenting content as you type, as opposed to indenting after the manuscript is complete. Although this method takes more time, the reasoning behind it makes sense. Writers who add indents as they write organize their content through the creation of paragraphs. The writers who wait until they complete the rough draft of their manuscripts typically have trouble finding the right places to separate the text into paragraphs.

To Set a Paragraph Indentation in Microsoft Word

Technology has almost completely taken the manual typing of indentation spaces out of the hands of writers. Now, we use word processing software, such as Microsoft Word, to set indentations. To set a paragraph indent in Word, place the cursor in the paragraph you want to indent or highlight the entire paragraph. Access the Format menu and click the Paragraph command. Within the Paragraph dialog box, enter the desired width of the indent and then select the type of indent. Click OK and then close the dialog box.

The Bottom Line

Freelance writers differ in their indentation preferences. However, when it comes down to it, the type of indentation used to format a document typically depends on who you are writing for. Before you finalize a project, check with your client to see if he or she prefers Chicago style, APA style, or Harvard style. Then, set the client’s preferred indentation formatting by using the easy to access commands within Microsoft Word.

In your own writing, what type of indentation do you prefer? Share in the comments!

Three Ways to Avoid Sounding Like a Jerk on Slack

Some types of jerk behavior are obvious. Calling names. Laughing at someone’s ideas. Stealing a coworker’s lunch out of the office refrigerator (come on, are you an animal?).

But it’s also possible to be a jerk by accident, especially in writing. Have you ever found yourself worrying that your two-sentence email will sound cold to the person on the other end? Or are you just now realizing that’s something you should worry about? (You should—warmth may be even more important than competence when it comes to establishing business relationships.)

Chat programs like Slack and Hipchat complicate the etiquette of office communication even further. For those of us arriving in a Slack-centric office after a string of email-only jobs, it can seem downright baffling. Here are a few things to watch out for if you want to avoid rubbing your colleagues the wrong way.

1 Passive-Aggressive Periods

Periods often come off as passive-aggressive or even angry. Is it right? Is it fair? Should everyone just get over it and stop reading so much into an innocent punctuation mark? Maybe, but whether you share this perception of periods or not, it exists among at least some of your colleagues. It’s not going to just disappear, either. To them, there’s a real difference between these two conversations:

Colleague: Have you had lunch yet?

You: No.

***

Colleague: Have you had lunch yet?

You: No

Here’s the translation. “No.” means “No, I haven’t had lunch, but if you were about to invite me, forget it. Also, I want you to leave me alone and I might be mad at you.” “No” (sans period) means “Go on . . . ”

It’s OK to leave out the period at the end of your sentence when you’re texting or using an instant messenger. Even if you think it’s silly, remember that being “right” will only get you so far if everyone thinks you’re a jerk.

2 Too Many Follow-ups

2:05 Hey, can you send me that spreadsheet?

2:07 Hey!

2:10 HEY!!!

Chat clients make real-time communication easy. You can see when colleagues are online. You can chat back and forth instantly without a bunch of one-line responses clogging up your email inbox. In some programs, you can even see when someone else is typing a response. But sometimes people are just busy with other stuff.

Don’t barrage your colleagues with a flurry of follow-ups because they haven’t gotten back to you even though you can see they’re online. If it’s truly that urgent, get up, walk over, and talk to them with your actual mouth.

3 Calling Out Mistakes on Public Channels

Colleague: There’s leftover cake in the kitchen for anyone who want’s some!

You: *wants

Correcting people in public is tricky. Even if you’re just trying to be helpful, you might seem rude or disrespectful, especially if the other person’s mistake was pretty harmless. Correcting someone in a group chat is even trickier because you have the unspoken rules of written communication to contend with.

When someone makes a mistake that could be costly or dangerous, send the person a direct message and give him the opportunity to correct himself to the group. If time is of the essence and you need to correct him on the public thread, be polite and give your colleague the benefit of the doubt.

Colleague: Heads up, the CEO wants our report on his desk by 5:00

You: Did you mean 3:00? That’s what the email said

Misunderstandings will never completely go away unless humans discover a way to read each other’s minds—but at that point we’ll probably be living in a dystopia anyway, so inadvertently offending your deskmate will be the least of your worries. In the meantime, knowing how to communicate effectively with colleagues will remain an invaluable skill.

What are your rules for staying polite and productive in instant messages?

What Novel Are You? The Quiz

If you were a novel written during a special month, what novel would you be? Take this quiz and find out which classic novel corresponds with your personality!

In the quiz, you will be presented with multiple-choice questions. There are no right or wrong answers. Just choose the answer that most closely matches how you feel or what you think. Have fun!

You Will Want to Learn These 6 Time Management Tips

Are you feeling frustrated and unproductive? Like you’re constantly busy but the things that really matter aren’t getting done?

Check out these six time management tips that will help you increase productivity, lower stress, and get you closer to your goals!

1 Unplug From Email

There was a day when I looked up and realised that I had become someone who professionally replied to email, and who wrote as a hobby. I started answering fewer emails, and was relieved to find I was writing much more. —Neil Gaiman

Are emails pulling you away from your actual work? Finding your creative flow—especially when writing—is tough enough as it is. It doesn’t help to have the constant distraction of emails dinging into your inbox.

The solution? Instead of responding to each email as it comes in, have set times of day where you’ll work through all your messages. Schedule several hours of uninterrupted work so you can focus and get in the zone, then take thirty to sixty minutes to catch up on emails.

While you’re in work-mode, be sure to close your email tab on your browser and turn off notifications to your phone, so it’s out of sight, out of mind.

And don’t worry, unless you’re corresponding with galactic invaders, waiting a few hours to respond to your emails will not cause the world to end.

2 Don’t Just List Your To-Do’s—Schedule Them

Can’t find the time to get all your to-do’s done? There are plenty of awesome apps to help you organize your to-do lists, but have you tried scheduling tasks directly on your calendar?

Using your calendar of choice, create appointments for all your big to-do’s. You’ll have a visual reminder (and notifications) of exactly what you should be working on and when.

Remember to schedule tasks at your peak performance time. When and where are you at your most creative? Do you write best sitting in bed at midnight? Or at 7 a.m. in your favorite cafe? Avoid scheduling your creative work for times when you’re going to be tired or distracted.

Be realistic and give yourself enough time for each task. This can reduce guilt if you’ve felt like you should be getting more done, but can now see there aren’t enough hours in the day. And this can also reveal a problem if you’ve been wasting a lot of time on distractions or busy work.

3 Plan Your Week in Advance

Planning your week (or month) in advance will help you save time and maximize your productivity. Know when your deadlines, important meetings, and obligations are happening and work backwards from there.

Giving a presentation on Thursday morning? Block off your Wednesday night for prep time or rest.

Want to spend less time in the morning prepping your lunch? Schedule meal prep for Sunday night so you can batch your lunches.

Feeling burnt out and need to introvert? Schedule alone time for Tuesday. Know you’ll need human contact? Plan game night for Friday.

Scheduling things like gym time and laundry will keep your life running smoothly. And remember to always allow enough time for a good night’s rest—your work will take twice as long if you’re exhausted from too little sleep or working long hours without a break.

4 Banish Your Time Wasters

Spending way too much time browsing Facebook? Watching cat videos? Keeping up-to-the-second on developing news?

If your willpower is failing, you may need to give yourself some extra help to unplug from your time-wasters.

Remove time-wasting sites from your browser’s bookmark bar so you’re less tempted to visit them. Minimize distractions by turning off your phone notifications during work hours (or if that’s too advanced, just turn your phone on silent and toss it in a drawer).

In need of desperate measures? Download an app that will block you from visiting Facebook and other sites.

Of course, it’s worth differentiating between the true time-sucks and activities that aren’t work-related but are beneficial. Grabbing lunch with a friend is a great social thing to do. Just make sure you have a set start and end time, so you don’t chat for two hours and lose half the afternoon.

5 Break Free of Perfectionism

Sure, who doesn’t want their work to be perfect? But striving for perfection is a sure way to kill your productivity and creativity.

The pressure you feel to produce perfect work can lead to procrastination, anxiety, “playing it safe,” and a lot of wasted time making marginal improvements to work.

When you reset your expectations away from perfection, you’ll find it’s easier to experiment and take risks, to get projects finished and move on to bigger and better things.

Improving your writing takes a lot of practice. You’re not going to write a “perfect” novel or blog post or ad campaign the first time around. Don’t let the expectation of perfection paralyze you from growing your skills!

6 Prioritize Your Personal Goals

Are you using your time to get closer to your goals, or are you putting everyone and everything else first?

Maybe you want to build your audience, write your memoir, get your MFA, or change careers. Make yourself and your future a priority by scheduling time every week, or every day, to work toward your goals.

Large projects can feel overwhelming, so break things down into manageable pieces. If you want to finish your first draft in six months, how many pages will you need to complete per week? How many hours per day will you need to write?

Life may be busy, but don’t let anything get between you and achieving your dreams!

How to Troll-proof Your Writing

You’ve just read an interesting article online. It covered a subject you’re passionate about, so you dash off a brilliant comment. It begins:

Your right about most of your assessments, but I think you missed the big picture.

You go on to write a carefully-worded paragraph, and you’re certain everyone who reads it will be dazzled by your brilliant insights. And then the first reply to your comment rolls in and it’s simply:

*You’re

You’ve inadvertently tossed out some troll bait, and you’ve captured the attention of a grammar troll. It doesn’t matter whether that mistake was a typo or a momentary lapse; you’ve been publicly corrected in a way that undermines your intelligent response and maybe even implies you’re not as smart as you think you are.

via GIPHY

Is it possible to troll-proof your online writing? Grammar checkers help, of course, but careful proofreading before you hit send is always the best way to sidestep embarrassing gaffes. Here’s how to avoid throwing chum into the murky online waters and keep those bottom-feeding trolls where they belong.

Mind your apostrophes

How can one little punctuation mark cause so much trouble? Apostrophes trip up even the most seasoned writers from time to time. Examine your comments before you post them to make certain you’ve used the correct form of your/you’re or its/it’s.

Also remember that apostrophes show possession; they don’t make words plural. Here’s an apostrophe primer in case you need a refresher.

Don’t post no any double negatives

A subject-predicate construction should have only one negative form in standard English. You’ve probably bristled at statements like “I don’t have nothing better to do.” That’s because the speaker used a double negative, pairing don’t with nothing. The standard usage would be: “I don’t have anything better to do.”

via GIPHY

Many double negatives are obvious, and they sound wrong (or at least colloquial) when we hear them. Although some double negatives are part of our casual vernacular, if you use one while trying to eloquently communicate a point in an online discussion, steel yourself for potential backlash. Ain’t you got no learnin’?

Use “literally” with care

If you comment with “I literally died when he said that!” don’t be surprised if a troll comes calling to let you know that, unless you’re typing from beyond the grave, you meant “figuratively.”

via GIPHY

Beware then/than and loose/lose

Just one little typo can give a grammar troll a raison d’etre. If you write then when you mean than or loose when you mean lose, stand back—Trolly McTrollface can’t be far behind.

Avoid nonstandard English

Yes, irregardless is a word, but you’re unlikely to get away with using it in an online conversation, or even a face-to-face conversation with a grammar pedant. Seventy-four percent of those who responded to a Grammarly survey expressed the opinion that irregardless is an abomination. Don’t expect a grammar troll to forgive the nonstandard usage.

Be careful with homonyms . . .

To, too, and two don’t mean the same thing. Expect any grammar troll lurking in the bushes to pounce on a mistake like “Maybe he ate to many tacos for lunch” by letting you know that you should have written too, instead. There, their, and they’re are similar troll bait when used incorrectly.

. . . and other commonly confused words

There’s a reason many language resources contain lists of commonly confused words—they trip us up on the regular. Be on the alert for similar words with related but distinct meanings, such as lesser/fewer, affect/effect, further/farther, and among/between.

Know whether it’s lay or lie

True story: I was once laughed at for telling my dog to “go lie down.” We’re so accustomed to using the wrong word in this instance that the correct one sounds foreign. But sleeping dogs do indeed lie, not lay.

Lie means to recline and lay means to place. And then there are different verb tenses, and . . . well, it gets a bit complicated. But grammar trolls are likely to know the difference, so here’s a guide to tackling the lay vs. lie challenge.

Don’t feed the trolls

If you do post a mistake, and you attract the attention of a grammar troll, don’t sweat it. Trolls feed on chaos, so the best thing you can do is deprive them of what they crave. Here’s an example of superb troll wrangling:

You: Your right about most of your assessments, but I think you missed the big picture.

Trolly McTrollface: *You’re

You: Whoops! Nice catch.

via GIPHY

What Is the Deal with Fidget Spinner Toys?

It’s a cross between a ninja throwing star and a spinning top. It’s a useful way to enhance focus, and it’s a huge distraction that has no place in the classroom. What the heck is it about this piece of plastic that’s so darn polarizing?

What is a fidget spinner?

A fidget spinner has three prongs (usually), is small enough to fit in your palm, and spins around a weighted disc at the center. It’s made of metal or plastic and can come in all sorts of exciting and playful colors. You can nab them for a few bucks at joints like 7-Eleven or gas stations, or find more pricey ones with specialty features (or rush shipping) online.

As for what it does: aside from spinning, not much.

Why are fidget spinners suddenly a big deal?

Seriously, no one knows. They’ve existed in some form or another for years but suddenly blasted off in popularity a month or so back. In all likelihood, one kid had a fidget spinner to boost concentration, and her or his classmates figured out it was a new opportunity to do tricks and not pay attention in class.

But no one knows the exact origin of the fidget spinner craze. All that is known is that sometime this spring, kids started cajoling, pestering, pleading, and coercing parents into buying them the toys.

The result: toy businesses, gas stations, Amazon, and other companies that sell fidget spinners have found themselves selling out. A toy store owner in Michigan said he sells up to 150 a day, and an online company that sells baubles for under $5 limits spinners to two per customer. For more proof of their popularity, 49 out of the fifty best-selling toys on Amazon are fidget spinners or similar devices.

The fidget spinner craze is just that crazy.

What’s good about fidget spinners?

Fidget spinners are marketed as useful tools for kids with autism and ADHD. In theory, they’re also great for stress.

via GIPHY

Though most don’t come in overhead-fan size, the potential for play and even developing tricks appears to be addictive. According to experts, the talented trickster can balance it on a palm, foot, or nose; stack several to get a spinning tower; or play catch with it (apparently, it’s hard to catch something that comes spinning at you through the air). With kids’ playtime habits increasingly occupied by screens and apps, a toy they can do actual things with is giving some parents a sigh of relief.

On a more serious level, they do appear to have actual benefits for children who struggle with concentration. Carol Povey, director of the Centre for Autism at the U.K.’s National Autistic Society, spoke to the potential value of fidget spinners for children who have difficulty focusing in class:

Having something that spins or twists can help to ground and balance [autistic children]….anecdotally we believe they do work.

They work, that is, for children with diagnosed difficulties staying focused. For kids who will do anything for a distraction, it’s another matter.

What’s bad about fidget spinners?

They’re small and you can do tricks with them. Where’s the controversy in that?

Apparently, in the fact that they’re small and you can do tricks with them. This makes for a tough time for teachers, many of whom have found the noise of spinning to be an increasingly regular soundtrack in recent months, and have to cope with wannabe trick performers busting out the moves every time Teacher’s back is turned.

Dr. Mark Rapport, director of the Children’s Learning Clinic at the University of Central Florida, had a more negative take on the fidget spinner:

Using a spinner-like gadget is more likely to serve as a distraction than a benefit for individuals with ADHD.

At the end of the day, whether the fidget spinner is a boon or a curse depends on the individual using it. But when dozens of individuals are using it during class time, the verdict seems to be that it’s a bit closer to the curse category.

Besides, you have to suspect that when tech folks develop an app to sub in for something you could use like a good old-fashioned toy, it’s probably downhill from there.

Are fidget spinners just for kids?

No. But be careful. They can be addictive.

Adults might be better than children at resisting the temptation to play with spinners instead of paying attention. Still, the motivation for grown-ups isn’t just the distraction; it’s the stress release. Richard Gottlieb, a consultant at Global Toy Experts, says:

People don’t smoke as much, so they have to figure out a way to work out their stress.

Whether an anti-smoking aid, a concentration booster, a debilitating distraction, or a fun new toy to do tricks with, the fidget spinner is here to stay. At least, until the next new fad comes along.

How Should I Use There, Their, and They’re?

• There means the opposite of here; “at that place.”
• Their means “belongs to them.”
• They’re is a contraction of “they are” or “they were.”

---

There, their, and they’re are the big trio of commonly confused words. All three of them are pronounced the same, and the spelling differences don’t seem to do a good job of stopping people from mixing them up.

What Does There Mean?

There can be used in a couple of ways. As an adverb, there is the exact opposite of the word here and means “at that place”:

He asked me to go there and check on his fish while he’s away.

There is also often used as a pronoun. In that case, it’s role is usually to introduce a word or a clause:

There is something strange going on with Sydney today.

What Does Their Mean?

Their is the third-person plural possessive pronoun:

All of those kids with their contagious laughter really made my day.

They didn’t want to see all of their hard work go to waste.

What Does They’re Mean?

They’re is what you get when you contract “they are” or “they were.” It’s the same kind of thing that happens when you contract “we are” into “we’re,” or “you are” into “you’re”:

They’re going to a party tomorrow.

You should meet my work friends; they’re a real hoot.

Examples

There is, however, one way to save this policy.

The Guardian

There are lots of ads that encourage you to buy things at stores or eat at restaurants, but how many actually encourage you to physically go there at that exact moment?

Forbes

Here are some of their own stories, their experiences at the camp and their reasons for joining the protest — in their own words.

NPR

This act of sportsmanship and brotherhood had a profound effect on a nation that already adored them for their talent and toughness.

The Daily Telegraph

This time, it’s about an alleged issue with subscribers—suddenly, they’re disappearing.

Kotaku