I have noticed that when students submit typed papers they often only place one space after their periods and before the first word of the next sentence. I have always used two, and as far as I know so has everyone else that I know. I don’t like reading papers where the sentences are smooshed together like that, because it is not what I am used to and at times I find it extremely irritating.
When I’ve mentioned this to students, they tend to act like they have never heard of such a thing. In some cases they say that they were taught specifically to only use one space. A student last week claimed that every teacher tells him something different about it. Are teachers really telling students to only use one space? Have style manuals changed since I learned to type?
According to the latest MLA Handbook (6th edition), 3.2.12:
Note that now the “default” position (as I teach my students) is to have only one space after periods–at least for users of MLA style.
Reply to Jon B.
The style rules actually changed once we moved from typewriters to computers. Since most of us who are now teaching learned to type on typewriters or word processors, we recall the two-space rule. But, now, most (traditionally) college-aged students learned to type on computers and therefore have never heard about the two-space rule.
Reply to Jill
Jill’s right — the debate is a result of changing technology. This article from About.com (found with a quick Google of “spacing between sentences”) summarizes the issues nicely:
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/typespacing/a/onetwospaces.htm
Reply to Shaun