Single vs. Double Spaced (or 1.5)

[Canis]

There are other posts about this, but I wanted to get a fresh perspective and hear from some different fields. How are you formatting your samples?

 

I'm submitting mine single spaced. My reasoning is that I'm not submitting them for editing, grading, or correction (which is what those spaces in double spaced term papers are meant for) - but as completed work. All the articles, books and other completed work that I and my professors read all day is single spaced, and my published work samples are single spaced. So, why would I submit double? I've read the argument that double or 1.5 is easier to read, but my faculty always request that I send them single spaced text when they're reading something over 10-15 pages.

 

How about you?

[m-ttl]

I was told double spaced was standard and that's what my professors told me to submit, but that could just be Art History? I always assume the writing sample limits are also double spaced because that's how all papers are turned in. 

[Canis]

I was told double spaced was standard and that's what my professors told me to submit, but that could just be Art History? I always assume the writing sample limits are also double spaced because that's how all papers are turned in. 

 

Have you seen any university web sites that list formatting other than page limits? None of my programs do. Obviously in each field it's different. In mine it's the sort of thing they'll read and check out, but it's not the main deciding factor like it is in, say, Philosophy. Also most of my programs require you have an MA, so they all ask for thesis samples, up to 40 pages in the case of some, and others want the entire thesis...

[m-ttl]

Have you seen any university web sites that list formatting other than page limits? None of my programs do. Obviously in each field it's different. In mine it's the sort of thing they'll read and check out, but it's not the main deciding factor like it is in, say, Philosophy. Also most of my programs require you have an MA, so they all ask for thesis samples, up to 40 pages in the case of some, and others want the entire thesis...

 

A few schools ask for specific formatting for the statement of purpose (which was single spaced). But in Art History/History, they wouldn't need to dictate that for your writing sample. You submit your works in Chicago style, which is always double spaced:

 

 

Text should be consistently double-spaced, with the following exceptions: 

• Block quotations, table titles, and figure captions should be single-spaced. 
  • A prose quotation of five or more lines should be blocked. 
  • A blocked quotation does not get enclosed in quotation marks.  
  • An extra line space should immediately precede and follow a blocked quotation. 
  • Blocked quotations should be indented .5” as a whole.

Purdue OWL: Chicago Manual of Style General Format

 

Emphasis mine. I'm sure Literature students all submit in the appropriate MLA formatting as well. 

 

I know Art History sees the writing sample as very important. As far as my professors have commented on it, the goal is to submit a sample that cleanly follows the guidelines for the standard style (for us, Chicago) as much as possible, because it reflects your level of professionalism. I'm applying to 4 PhDs and 3 MAs and the PhDs I chose (obviously) don't require the MA. I think generally, people have asked for either: a good sized paper for a seminar class, a senior thesis, a thesis, or a thesis sample. Since I'm under the impression the committees at most schools really will read through my sample if I'm under consideration, they sometimes cap the sample of text itself (e.g. no more than 30 pages). I've been lucky and for the school that capped my sample, my writing as a whole plus footnotes, bibliography, and images came under 30 pages total (just barely. I clocked in at 28). 

 

But because everyone in my field expects me to submit something formatted for Chicago style, I assume the page limit is for a standard Chicago paper -- if that makes sense? All of my professors expect me to submit papers to them this way, all of them edited my sample in this style, all of them told me to submit in this style. 

 

I can see where there would be more leeway in a field that doesn't read the samples closely or perhaps doesn't insist upon a standard style you would be fine? FWIW though, I looked up AAA guidelines, which state:

 

AAA uses The Chicago Manual of Style, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. This guide is an outline of style rules basic to AAA style. Where no rule is present on this list, follow Chicago. 

- American Anthropological Association

 

So if I guessed correctly, then technically you should also be using double spacing in your papers. This is highly technical of course, and if you feel this technicality is unnecessary I see no problem with it. But it's absolutely expected for me. 

 

Unrelated, but every time I see your icon I can't help but notice how incredibly phallic it looks. Is that intentional, or just a by-product of my looking at too many phalluses in Art History...? (And have other people noticed this too?)

Edited January 3, 2014 by m-ttl

[Canis]

How funny, about the icon. It is the cover of this book:

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674698437

 

It depicts performers in Nigeria dressed as "White Men" - with costumes that make them look like anthropologists with pith helmets and notebooks.

 

Those are excellent points about the formatting. I'm taking the approach that articles and books (when published) are single spaced, we read in single spaced text all day, in all disciplines, so I'm presenting the work to them as finished text. Another thing I've done is only applied the page limit to my written text, not to the bibliography, since that's not a 'writing sample.'

 

I do use the AAA style guide for all my work - although my published articles that I submitted as writing samples used their own style guides, so they are in different formats.

 

From my experience seeing a PhD admission process in social science - they actually read the SOP, and if it was NOT good, they would look at the first few pages of the writing sample to see if the SOP was just a 'mistake' hiding a good candidate. They did not look at the writing sample of the good SOPs, but instead sent those to the professors who did work in that area for them to read.

 

It will be interesting to see if I get any feedback about my potentially 2x as long writing samples!

 

Thank you for the details about your discipline, it's very interesting and I've learned a lot from it!

[silver_lining]

Most of mine were double, if specified. Otherwise I went with 1.5. 

[danieleWrites]

In the SOP spacing is immaterial, unless otherwise noted, because it isn't a sample of your scholarly writing.

In your writing sample, spacing is material because it is a sample of your scholarly writing. It addition to showing off your scholarship, it also shows off your understanding of your field's conventions. Your writing sample should conform to your field's conventions. In English, I use MLA. In Anth, you should use AAA. If AAA tells you that it should be double spaced, then double space. Since your field has more than one, commonly used style, you can do a quick bit of research by looking at the published theses and dissertations of past students from the program you're applying to. That will tell you what style the program prefers.

Yeah, the spacing thing is a minor detail, but it's of some importance because it's about expectations with regard to conventions. An anth paper turned in, in MLA is not going to be as well-received as one turned in, in AAA. Besides, professors always know when spacing is being used to manipulate a paper into fitting into length requirements. This is always blatantly obvious, even with 12.5pt Times New Roman with 1.1" margins.