Many people believe that every single paragraph in a piece of text should be indented. This is actually unnecessary. You should use indentation to indicate a new paragraph. Given the fact that it is pretty obvious that the first paragraph is a new paragraph, there is absolutely no need to indent it at all.

Should I indent paragraphs in an essay?

Indentation: The first line of each paragraph should be indented. According to the MLA, this indentation should be 1/2 inch or five spaces, but pressing [Tab] once should give you the correct indentation. Align Left: The text of your essay should be lined up evenly at the left margin but not at the right margin.

Should every paragraph be indented in a novel?

With fiction book formatting, you want to have just a small indent at the start of each paragraph. If your book is non-fiction, generally speaking, you want to use block paragraphs rather than indents, unless your book is a memoir or historical fiction.