After reading Beyond Black and White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom by Michael J. Klein and Kristi L. Shackleford it helped me realize the importance of document designs while writing. While most of the time, as a college student many of our professors have expectations for us to use MLA format or even APA. We may be familiar with both of these styles but the authors emphasize the differences between the two. While MLA is more focused on the author in the citations while APA is more focused on the dates. MLA formatting is always changing and you should always make sure you’re using the latest version of it.
The author emphasizes on the fact that we should be making our document appealing to our readers. They emphasize the importance of the margins,illustrations, title,and headings. The one that I noticed had the most effect on me was the heading differences. While in MLA the title is the heading for the whole paper and puts emphasis on the title. In this reading there are multiple headings where you could go directly to the specific section you want to read because it is in bold. This was appealing to me because it’s easier when you want to look back and cite. You could quickly find it since it’s more helpful to the readers. Also the illustrations within the paper help the readers have a better understanding of your writing piece and your ideas. By allowing the reader to visually see it they can gather more information.
Overall the article helps us understand that incorporating document design and formatting into writing instruction could help students become more thoughtful and skilled communicators. Also, as writers we should experiment with different writing designs while writing to see which would be more effective for our readers.
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