Stop! Check Your Margins Before You Print
The #1 reason students have to reprint their entire thesis? The binding ate their text.
Imagine spending weeks writing your report, only to get it bound and realize the first word of every sentence is stuck inside the spine. Painful, right? This is the most common mistake students make.
The Golden Rule
Always leave at least 1.5 inches (3.81 cm) on the LEFT margin.
Why 1.5 Inches?
Standard Word documents have a 1-inch margin. This is safe for normal reading. But when you add binding:
- Spiral Binding: The holes punch about 0.3 to 0.5 inches into the paper.
- Hard Binding: The stitching and gluing process consumes about 0.5 to 0.7 inches.
So if you stick to the default 1-inch, your text will look cramped, and reading it will require bending the spine excessively.
Recommended Settings (MS Word / Google Docs)
| Setting | Soft Binding | Hard Binding |
|---|---|---|
| Left (Gutter) | 1.25 inches | 1.5 inches |
| Right | 1 inch | 1 inch |
| Top/Bottom | 1 inch | 1 inch |
Are you printing Double-Sided?
If yes, you need to enable "Mirror Margins" in Word. This ensures that the "Left" margin becomes the "Inside" margin (Left on odd pages, Right on even pages). Without this, the back side of your page will have the extra margin on the wrong side!