The quarter is winding down and you probably have a few papers to wrap up before the break begins. Everyone has been stuck at the end of a quarter trying to fill a page requirement.

Since this is the final edition, the seniors on staff got together and compiled a list of ways to make a paper longer without a professor noticing. 

Here is the best trick in the book. We’ve dubbed it “The Period Trick:”

• In Microsoft Word, Find All the periods (ctrl + f or apple + f)
• Go to Replace
• Find What: type in ” . “
• Replace With: type in ” . “
• At the bottom under the subhead Replace, click Format and select Font…
• Make the Font Size 14
• Hit OK
• Click Replace All

All of your punctuation can be increased, such as commas and quotation marks. We’ve all been saved by this trick.

The rest of our tricks aren’t quite as brilliant or imaginative. But, they do work.

I can’t remember being taught this in school, but apparently some students do this automatically.

If you haven’t done so already, add two spaces between each sentence. This can take a long time if you don’t do it as you go along. 

Shrinking margins is always a classic. MLA style calls for one inch margins. However, teachers probably won’t notice another quarter inch.

Plus, if you have a header with your last name and the page number at the top of every page, you can probably add a bit more to the top margin as well.

Next comes adding. Do you have a heading? It may look like cheating, but it is actually MLA format to double space the heading.

Every paper can also have a title and maybe even a subtitle. Maybe you could even make it bold so that it stands out.

Block quotes can get on teachers nerves, but it is a legitimate part of every paper.

Any quote four lines or longer must be entirely indented two inches.

These tricks will make your paper longer, but it certainly won’t make it better. Don’t do these things unless you have to. Wait until you feel as if you have enough content.

Sometimes an A paper only needs to be six pages but the minimum is eight. In that case, our tricks will be just the thing.

I hope that your life may be slightly simplified with these hints.

Again, this is the final Clarion issue of the quarter. On behalf of the entire staff, I would like to thank you, our readers, for such a successful quarter. Our hard work means nothing without our readers.

We cannot thank you enough for your ongoing support and opinions about the paper.