Although most teachers and professors are sticklers for uniformity, in reality they welcome things that are outside the norm. If your instructor does not specifically mandate a certain font to be used, then you should never, under any circumstances, use Times (New Roman) or Arial.
Times (New Roman) is one of the most overused typefaces in academia. Most professors will not know the difference between one paper to another and that in itself is part of the problem. Instead, you should use a serif typeface similar to Times, but different, such as Palatino (Linotype), Cambria, Garamond, or Georgia, the font used in this blog. Make your paper stand out! Don't be afraid to be noticed.
The Chicago Manual of Style is intentionally vague on what typeface to use. Turabian's guide suggests using a readily available font that is easy to read, such as Times New Roman, Courier, or Helvetica and further recommends a font that has a true Italic font that is easily distinguished from the standard font. Although Helvetica is a suggested typeface, it is not readily available; only Apple devices come with Helvetica pre-installed and Windows devices come with Arial as the closest approximation (I have a different post on the evils of Arial later). For many older teachers, Courier can prove difficult to read on paper and should be avoided unless your teacher is old enough to have used a typewriter to type their papers instead of a computer or word processor. You probably aren't typing essays on a typewriter, so don't pretend that you are. Of course, this leaves us to only Times as the safe option.
Because Times New Roman was the default font in Microsoft Word for so long, it now carries a connotation of laziness. You didn't even bother to change the default font before typing your document? Brian Hoff, a graphic designer, describes using Times New Roman on a résumé as wearing sweatpants to a job interview. While I believe Times to be a very aesthetically pleasing font, it has saturated documents ever since the personal computer took off and now looks pedestrian.
MLA and APA are a bit more strict on what typeface you should use, but if you want to really wow a teacher, use a typeface outside the norm like the ones I recommended. The simple rules you should follow are 1) Can you read this? and 2) Is this aesthetically pleasing? If you can answer yes to both, you have successfully picked a good typeface.
The Chicago Manual of Style is intentionally vague on what typeface to use. Turabian's guide suggests using a readily available font that is easy to read, such as Times New Roman, Courier, or Helvetica and further recommends a font that has a true Italic font that is easily distinguished from the standard font. Although Helvetica is a suggested typeface, it is not readily available; only Apple devices come with Helvetica pre-installed and Windows devices come with Arial as the closest approximation (I have a different post on the evils of Arial later). For many older teachers, Courier can prove difficult to read on paper and should be avoided unless your teacher is old enough to have used a typewriter to type their papers instead of a computer or word processor. You probably aren't typing essays on a typewriter, so don't pretend that you are. Of course, this leaves us to only Times as the safe option.
Because Times New Roman was the default font in Microsoft Word for so long, it now carries a connotation of laziness. You didn't even bother to change the default font before typing your document? Brian Hoff, a graphic designer, describes using Times New Roman on a résumé as wearing sweatpants to a job interview. While I believe Times to be a very aesthetically pleasing font, it has saturated documents ever since the personal computer took off and now looks pedestrian.
MLA and APA are a bit more strict on what typeface you should use, but if you want to really wow a teacher, use a typeface outside the norm like the ones I recommended. The simple rules you should follow are 1) Can you read this? and 2) Is this aesthetically pleasing? If you can answer yes to both, you have successfully picked a good typeface.
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