The acronym ICONTEC is the abbreviation for the Colombian Institute of Technical Standards and Certification. This institution is in charge of unifying criteria for the presentation of reports or written works.
In the Colombian academic context
Teachers often propose research papers as part of the learning process. In order for their format to have unified parameters, it is usual to use the ICONTEC standards.
It should be noted that in the international context the APA standards are the most widespread, but in Colombia the ICONTEC parameters are the most used in the school and university environment.
General guidelines and recommendations of ICONTEC standards
The paper must be of adequate quality to facilitate the reading and printing of the text. The size of the paper is variable and depends on the type of work to be done.
The recommended typeface is arial with a size of 12 points. Regarding the margins, the following measurements are proposed: 3 cm for the upper and lower margin, 4 cm for the right margin and 2 cm for the left side. However, when the report is presented on both sides of a sheet, all margins must be 3 cm.
Pages are numbered 2 cm from the bottom edge and centered in Arabic numerals.
It is recommended that the third person singular be used in the writing.
After each title or full stop, you must leave two spaces or lines. Within paragraphs, single line spacing must be used.
Regarding the cover, it must have a minimum information: title of the report, name and surname of the author, subject, educational institution, city and date of presentation. All this information has to be centered and using sharp capital letters.
The names of the chapters must be centered, in capital letters, in bold and double spaced.
Other data of interest
Like the APA norms or any standardization model in research, the ICONTEC norms are updated periodically.
The content of these standards also specifies the guidelines to be followed in relation to bibliographic sources, the preparation of citations and the presentation of tables, figures and annexes.
To facilitate the work of teachers and students, manuals with ICONTEC standards are periodically published. In these manuals all the technical aspects related to the writing format are detailed.
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