From the 1853 “Grammar of Ornament” by Owen Jones

Many students worry about handwriting. Some believe handwriting is why they didn’t pass the test! Typically this is not the case; however, here are some small things you should know.

1. Capitalize: If your handwriting is such that all of your letters are the same size, pay extra attention to capitalizing the first letter of each sentence.

2. Use correct punctuation: Make sure that your comas look like comas and your periods look like periods so that you don’t end up accidentally creating sentence fragments. A coma must reach below the line that you’re writing on. A period is as dot that sits on the line that you’re writing on.

3. Inverted Letters: Avoid writing letters backwards, even if it’s just one letter, you don’t want the reader to be confused.

4. Writing big: It’s okay if you’re handwriting happens to be big, but make sure that your reader is able to distinguish between the capital letters and the lower case letters. Do not write your entire essay in capital letters.

5. Indent the first line of each paragraph so that it is clear to the reader when one paragraph ends and the next one begins.