# Is it ethical to use a larger font to make a paper longer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 6, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-use-a-larger-font-to-make-a-paper-longer/466628 "2008-10-06T02:54:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-use-a-larger-font-to-make-a-paper-longer/466628/41 "2008-10-07T03:07:34Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > Any instructor who doesn’t specify font, size, and word count deserves to get 24 page essays in Old English font…in 5 pt.! No. Maybe I’m being wooshed, but spelling out the fine points ad nauseum pisses off those who would turn in reasonable work in the first place, and doesn’t prevent the would-be-sneaky types from finding a new “loophole”. ---
**Author:** ![Influential\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Influential\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Influential_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-use-a-larger-font-to-make-a-paper-longer/466628/42 "2008-10-07T03:20:29Z")
Anyone who says you “won’t be missing anything” by turning in a shorter paper doesn’t have a whole lot of recent experience in college, IMO. Teachers, at my University at least, are under serious pressure to keep grading systematic, so that there is an element of “fairness” (code: no one can sue). I turned in the most beautifully written 14 page paper in German on the role of Death and Heroes in Thomas Mann’s work, exquisitely researched and got the full…thirty points on content. I still got a B on the paper, for minor issues on citations being the wrong format and sentences that weren’t correct German. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-use-a-larger-font-to-make-a-paper-longer/466628/43 "2008-10-07T21:38:38Z")
If you are agonizing this much on it, why don’t you just write another 1/2 a page and be done with it? What’s that two paragraphs? ---
**Author:** ![John\_T.Conklin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_t.conklin/32/3307_2.png) [@John\_T.Conklin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_T.Conklin)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-use-a-larger-font-to-make-a-paper-longer/466628/44 "2008-10-08T00:48:55Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > At Times New Roman (12 Point), the paper comes out to 8 full pages. But in Arial (12 Points), it reaches to 8 and a half pages. > > A part of me looks at this as not right, while another part of me doesn’t see the big deal as Times New Roman and Arial are both pretty standard fonts. In my experience, san serif typefaces like Arial/Helvetica are much more difficult to read in running/body text than serifed typefaces like Times. If you feel you must use a wider face, try something like Century Schoolbook. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-use-a-larger-font-to-make-a-paper-longer/466628/45 "2008-10-08T00:59:51Z")
Times Roman is a serif font. It is used for the body of text. Serif means the little wiggly things on the ends of the pick up and put down points of the pens. G Arial is a sans-serif font. Sans is French for without. It is used for headlines. Do not use it for the body of a paragraph. G [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-use-a-larger-font-to-make-a-paper-longer/466628.md?page=2)