CHARACTERISTICS OF HANDWRITING
By Megan, Femi, and Paris
The 3 Classes
A person's handwriting exhibits unique characteristics that make it distinguishable from other samples. Handwriting experts examine 12 major categories of exemplars. These 12 characteristics are functions of letter form, line form, and formatting.
Letter form
Includes the shape of letters, curve of letters, the angle or slant of letters, the proportional size of letters, and the use and appearance of connecting lines between letters.
Line Form
This includes the smoothness of letters and the darkness of the lines on the upward compared to the downward stroke.
Formatting
Formatting includes the spacing between letters, the spacing between words and lines, the placement of words on a line, and the margins a writer leaves empty on a page.
12 Types
There are 12 types that are needed to be classified when it comes to looking at handwriting.
- Line Quality - Flowing or an erratic shaky letter form
- Spacing - The spacing of letters in a word
- Size Consistency - Height compared to width of the letters
- Continuity - Whether the words are continuous or the pen is lifted
- Letter Connection - Are capitals and lower case letters connected in a word
- Letter Completion - Are the letters completely formed?
- Cursive or Printed - Is it cursive or printed
- Pen pressure - is pressure equal over the entire stroke
- Slant - Left, right, or varying slant
- Line Habits - The letter's position on the line
- Fancy Curls/Loops - Are there any fancy loops or curls in the words
- Dot your Is and cross your Ts - The position of T crosses and I dots