Things You'll Need:
- Computer
- MS Word
- Your term paper
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Step 1
Open your term paper in word.... now I am assuming your paper is size 12 font in this and I bet your teacher said it can't be any different.
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Step 2
With that in mind we are going to change font size, but she won't be able to notice because we are only going to change the periods in your paper.
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Step 3
So do not have anything highlighted and go to the toolbar and click "edit" then go down and click "replace".
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Step 4
This brings up the find and replace box and you are going to put a "."(period) in both input boxes.
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Step 5
After you have done this click "More" then it will drop down and then highlight your bottom "." and click "Format" and then "Font".
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Step 6
Now you just select 14 for the font size and click "Ok"
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Step 7
Now you will be back to the orignal box and you need to click "Replace All".
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Step 8
It will then change all your periods to size 14, which is not even noticible, but makes a HUGE difference in your paper size. The great thing about this is strict teachers can't tell and it can make a 4 1/2 page paper turn into a 5 and it will increase it even more when you get into bigger papers.
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Step 9
Here is a print screen of the zoomed difference in the 12pt. and 14pt. periods. I zoomed here at a whopping 500% and you can only bearly tell a difference.
Comments
vdeneen said
on 7/2/2008 Wish I had thought of this when I was in college... clever!
Gump87 said
on 6/29/2008 It doesn't effect the word count, but the increase is split evenly over a large area. For example, a 1/2 page increase is split over 4 1/2 pages evenly so it should still keep you within word count range for each page. If you are a teacher and want to protect yourself from this you are going to need the Word file to check for this.
Gump87 said
on 6/22/2008 I'm glad you enjoyed the read and I know I wish I could go back and fix that typo in my comment, but we can't edit comments. As for the 100% I was talking about catching this with the human eye because that is impossible. The only way is with the word file or maybe a magnifying glass if you have really good vision.
DrPete said
on 6/22/2008 Hahahhah, this is very clever. It is amazing the lengths students will go to avoid a little bit of work! I am a teacher as well so it looks like your 100% claim is getting a bit weaker.
Well, thanks for teaching me more about the search and replace function. I didn't realize you could replace font size with that.
BTW the word "barely" is not spelled bearly, unless you are talking about grizzly-like behavior. :)
Gump87 said
on 12/20/2007 Unless you are using a magnifying glass and comparing periods on two different papers with it, you aren't going to catch this, and still probably wouldn't. The picture I showed is at 500% magnification and you can bearly see any difference.
If you do the math Ron an extra 1/2 a page on a 4 1/2 page paper you won't catch it in a word count either. Also it is impossible to miss one by using the find and replace tool in word. So unless you have to turn in your paper as a file on PC, odds are 100% of the teachers out there won't catch this which is why I wrote this article.
Also samantha this is the only proven method I know that is completely safe from teachers catching. There are other methods out there that will give you more results, but have a chance of getting caught.