Times New Roman is typically the go-to font for writing academic works and essays, because of its clean and easily legible style. Times New Roman is a font that was first commissioned by the British newspaper The Times in 1931, under the direction of Stanley Morison. Although Times New Roman has undergone changes since its debut in 1931, especially after being digitized for use on personal computers by Mac and Microsoft, it remains characteristically the same. For best results, write papers in a 10- or 12-point font.
Arial font is a sans-serif font offered by Microsoft Windows and Microsoft applications. First designed in 1982 by Robin Nichols and Patricia Saunders, Arial is notorious for its clean lines and lack of serifs (the little 'hats' on the tops and bottoms of letters, as seen in Times New Roman), making it a modern take on the classic font. Due to its easy legibility, it is a popular choice for paper writing. Variants include Arial Black, Arial Bold, Extra Bold, Condensed, Italic, Light, Medium, Monospaced, Narrow, and Arial Rounded. For best results, use only the standard Arial font in a size 10 or 12 for paper writing.
Many college professors prefer to read papers written in Courier or Courier New. This font is a digital rendition of the classic font used for typewriters. Courier is a fixed-width typeface, meaning that every letter is formatted to take up the same space. This typeface style prevents the writing from becoming condensed, making Courier a relatively easy font for teachers and professors to mark up. For best results, use Courier with a size 10 font.
Garamond, named after the 15th-century punch-cutter Claude Garamond, is a classic serif font similar to Times New Roman. Like most fonts, Garamond is proportionally formatted, meaning that each letter has a different width. Garamond is highly legible, but slightly stylized to give it an antiquated feel. To offer your professor the best reading clarity, use a size 12 font.