Most student at this point in their lives are somewhat familiar with word processing programs such as Microsoft Word®, Corel WordPerfect®, or Open Office Writer®, so we will not spend a great deal of time going over the various features. Nearly all word processing (and spreadsheet, and drawing, and imaging, etc.) programs are similar to one another, although the manufacturers will go to great lengths to suggest otherwise. If you learn one, it's not too difficult to master the others, too. Choose the program you like the best - or, more commonly, is the one used where you work or study - and you will do just fine.

FYI - Word and WordPerfect you have to pay for; Open Office is open-source freeware.

We will be using Microsoft Word® in this class, simply because that is what is installed on the computers here on campus. Microsoft has got a pretty good website for their product, along with a tutorial page for each word version. You may want to visit this page to help you figure out how to do other things not covered in this class.

 

Creating, Opening, and Saving Documents

Creating a New Document. When Word opens for the first time, the default setting is to open with a new, blank page. Sometimes you need to create a new page. There are a few ways to do so:

  1. Navigate to "File" then select "New".


  2. Press CTRL-N

  3. OR, click on the "New Page" icon

 

Saving a document   When you save a document for the first time, you assign a file name and indicate where you want to store the file on your computer's hard disk or in another location (always remember where you save your documents!). Each time you subsequently save the document, Microsoft Word updates the document file with your latest changes.

To save a new, unnamed document, pull down the File menu and click Save As.  In the Save in list, select the drive and folder where you want to save the document.  To save the document in a new folder, click Create New Folder .  In the File name box, type a name for the workbook.  You can use long, descriptive file names.  Click Save.

To save a document that you are currently working on, click Save .

Opening an existing document   To open an existing file, press CTRL-O or pull down the File menu and click Open.  Navigate to the file you want to open and double-click on it.

Using Help

There are three main sources of help for MS Word:  1) the Help menu;  2) the Office assistant;  and 3) the Office Update web site (accessible from the Help menu).  I primarily use the Help menu, and I use it rather frequently.  I generally prefer to turn off the Office assistant.

To turn off the Office Assistant, right-click on it and then click Hide. To turn the Office Assistant back on, navigate to "Help" and then click on "Show the Office Assistant".

Click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu. If the Assistant is turned on, it appears. If the Assistant is turned off, the Help window appears.  There are three ways to get help.  I list them here in the order in which I use them most frequently.  1) Click the Index tab and search for specific words or phrases. 2) Click the Contents tab to scroll through a table of contents for Help.  3) Click the Answer Wizard tab to type a question in the Help window.

To see a ScreenTip for a menu command, toolbar button, or screen region, click What's This? on the Help menu, and then click the item you want information about.

Formatting your Document

Word processing programs today are highly sophisticated, allowing the user to create a wide variety of looks for their document. Most of the functions the user needs to format their document can be found in the "format" menu.


  • Font Submenu - change the size, font type, appearance, etc.
  • Paragraph Submenu - change the indents & spacing, and line & page breaks
  • Bullets and Numbering - here you can change the look and style of your bullets
  • Borders and Shading - change the lines around boxes and pages in your document
  • Columns - create columns of various amounts and widths
  • Tabs - set the location of the tab spacing (it can be more than five spaces, you know!)
  • Drop Cap - This command changes the position of the first letter of the first word of a sentence/paragraph.
  • Text Direction - want your text to read different than the standard left to right? This is the command for you! (used in tables and boxes only)
  • Change Case - from UPPERCASE to Title Case to lower case to Sentence case to tOGGLE cASE.
  • Background - changes the color of the document's background
  • Theme - this command changes the complete look of a page with a complimentary set of fonts, colors, backgrounds and images. Use this sparingly - while some of these themes look cool, they may not always be appropriate for use in a business or school setting. They are, however, handy if you wish to save your document as a web page.
  • Frames - This command is used to create two or more "frames" in a document, similar to that in a web page.
  • AutoFormat - This nifty little tool allows the user to insure that all of the formatting within the document is the same.
  • Styles and Formatting - changes the look of your text with a uniform style
  • Reveal Formatting - allows the user to see formatting"codes" within the document. WordPerfect does a much better job with this feature.
  • Object - To use this feature you must first select the desired text. Then, you can create text box around that text.


There are other ways to format your document. Another way is to use the Format Toolbar. This toolbar is usually visible when you open Word, and can be customized to include features you want - or don't want. To access this and other toolbars, go to "View" then "Toolbars". The little checks next to the toolbar name indicates whether it is visible (on) or not. Clicking on the toolbar name selects or unselects it accordingly.

Below is the full Format Toolbar. Note how it has the same functions as is found in the Format Menu. Mouse over each item to see what it does. I typically don't have all the options visible on my toolbar, especially those which I can access using keyboard commands (i.e., CTRL-B for "bold", etc.) or don't use very often (like Styles and Formatting). Most toolbars can be configured to the users' specifications. However, many places, such as a place of employment or school, limits the user's ability to customize the workspace so the customization of toolbars, etc., may be unavailable.

Styles and Formatting Font Style Font Size Bold Italics Underline Line Adjusts (Left, Center, Right, Full) Line Spacing (Single, Double, etc.) Bullets line indent Borders and Shading Highlight Font Color Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Superscript Subscript Language toolbar options

Inserting Content

It can be helpful to include items such as images and tables to add clarity to your document. To do so you must access the "Insert" menu. There are a wide variety of objects the user may insert.

  • Break - Places line or page breaks within the document.
  • Page Numbers - Inserts pages numbers where desired within the document
  • Date and Time - Inserts the date and/or time in various formats
  • Auto Text - Inserts common phrases, such as "attention:", "thank you", etc.
  • Field - This is used when creating merge documents, such as letters, etc.
  • Symbol - Inserts a dizzying array of symbols - such as ©, £, ‰, etc. - into your document. My all-time favorite feature.
  • Comment - This is primarily used when editing a document. Adds a comment to the document
  • Reference - Adds a footnote, caption, cross-reference, or index and tables
  • Web Component -
  • Picture - Inserts various image types into the document.
  • Diagram - Allows the user to add and create various diagrams
  • Text Box - Adds a text box to the document, in which the user can add text to
  • File - My second all-time favorite feature. Allows the user to insert a file - another Word document, and Excel file, etc. - into the document.
  • Object - Inserts an object into the document. Not all objects make the transfer correctly, so use judiciously.
  • Bookmark - Works just like in a webpage, adds a bookmark to the document. What's a bookmark? Just like the ones used for real books, it "marks" a spot in the document that the user can create a link to, somewhat like a hyperlink.
  • Hyperlink - Yes, just like the ones in this webpage. Select the word (or words), click on "hyperlink" and then type - or cut and paste - in the URL. In Word you can also link to other documents, files, images, or places within the document in addition to webpages.

Your Assignments

The best way to learn how to do something is to just do it. You will be creating three documents using Word: 1) Writing a short paper on El Nino, 2) writing up a Proposal for your research project, and 3) creating a newsletter for your Christmas (or Hanaka or Kuanza) cards to mail to your friends and family. It will be up to you to decide how to format each. You will be given time in class to work on each of these assignments, and you may use any and all resources at your disposal (including me) to figure out how to create your documents.

When you have completed them, please upload them to your folder on the server before the due date.