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I am trying to send a brief letter/LOCI in, and it's short and concise. But it looks funky on the page! I am wondering if its professional to "center" it somehow in the middle.

How do you best space the address on top, the "dear so and so," the body paragraph, and your signature?

It sounds stupid but I don't want to make some formatting slip.

Have you tried vertical centering in word?

DeSilentio2728 wrote:Have you tried vertical centering in word?

No?

Per a quick internet search

Center Central - The ideal business letter will have as much blank space on the bottom as it does at the top. To avoid producing a lop-sided letter, go to "file," then "print preview" to see the "big picture" of your letter's positioning. If your entire letter is too close to the top of the page, exit the print view, place your cursor on the line above the date, and hit enter several times. Then preview your letter again to see if the correct balance has been struck. Repeat these steps until your letter is centered.

If your letter is too low on the page when you preview it, then exit print preview, and place your cursor several spaces above the date, and hit "delete" several times. Use care to avoid inadvertently deleting your date line. Then look in preview again to see if your letter is balanced. Repeat this process until your letter is centered.

NOTE: The letterhead should always remain fixed between 1/2" and 1" from the top of the page. Its position should not change, regardless of your efforts to center the rest of the letter.

CordeliusX wrote:

DeSilentio2728 wrote:Have you tried vertical centering in word?

No?

As long as you have your spacing between bodies of texts correct, then I think you would just want to vertically center everything. Type into google: How to vertically center in word

Thanks.

So far I read to put the text in double-space. I guess it's then just a matter of spacing down the date and recipient address.

I am paranoid over how spaced to make everything... this makes me want to right needless stuff just to fill up the page

I think this is pretty standard professional letter format:
(All of the addressing and greeting takes up a lot of space on the page, so even if it's just a 1-2 line message, you should be fine.)

(begin at top margin w/ your return address)
100 Oak Street
New York, New York 12345


(four single spaces)


March 5, 2010

(double space)

Mr. John Kennedy
Dean of Admissions
Princeton University School of Law
P.O. Box 111
Princeton, New Jersey 08542

(double space)

Dear Mr. Kennedy:

(double space)


Please, please, please admit me to your lawl school. I have lots and lots of good reasons, and look how great this LOCI is. I promise I will be an amazing student, and I will try not to be an obnoxious gunner. Also, I already bought this tie: http://www.vineyardvines.com/product__6 ... 4612_13055 and obviously cannot wear it without a PLS acceptance.

(double space)

Sincerely,

(four single spaces)


eskimo

CordeliusX wrote:Thanks.

So far I read to put the text in double-space. I guess it's then just a matter of spacing down the date and recipient address.

I am paranoid over how spaced to make everything... this makes me want to right needless stuff just to fill up the page

Are you referring to correctly spacing the body of your letter here, or is this what you've read on how to vertically space your entire letter? Because to vertically space, you just want to highlight your whole letter, and then click the vertical center button. It is like centering your text to the middle of the page, to the left, or to the right. There is a button, it just depends on which version of word you are using.

eskimo wrote:I think this is pretty standard professional letter format:
(All of the addressing and greeting takes up a lot of space on the page, so even if it's just a 1-2 line message, you should be fine.)

Thanks. Do you indent multiple paragraphs? I had that format, but double-spaced with indented paras.

to DeSilentio : no I meant getting the text "lower" so my letter doesn't all fit in the upper half of the page

CordeliusX wrote:

eskimo wrote:I think this is pretty standard professional letter format:
(All of the addressing and greeting takes up a lot of space on the page, so even if it's just a 1-2 line message, you should be fine.)

Thanks. Do you indent multiple paragraphs? I had that format, but double-spaced with indented paras.

It's pretty standard nowadays not to indent, and just have everything lined up w/ the left margin. Do not double space, but DO put one line of space between each paragraph.

If you're using Microsoft Word, it has a letter template program.