ACOM1066 Introduction to IT for Humanities Students

1
ACOM1066Introduction to IT for Humanities
Students

• Lecture Six

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The Wordprocessor Word

• A wordprocessor is more than a mere text editor
  like Notepad (which simply stores strings of
  characters and codes such as carriage returns).
  A wordprocessor can also format text in a wide
  variety of ways.
• At Leeds we use the industry-standard
  wordprocessor Microsoft Word - you can access it
  from the University desktop icon or from the MS
  Office XP program group (from the Programs
  section of the Start menu).
• Word is a typical Windows application, and by
  learning to use this you will also become
  familiar with the main features of many other
  applications (e.g. screen layout, use of menus,
  short-cut keys, highlighting, clipboard, dragging
  and dropping, on-line Help system).

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First Principles

• SELECT THEN DO - this rule applies to most
  Windows applications, and Word is no exception.
• There are three main types of formatting -
  remember which menu items to use
• Character formatting (use Format/Font)
• Paragraph formatting (use Format/Paragraph)
• Document formatting (use File/Page Setup)

• Each paragraph has its own individual format, and
  they are separated from each other by a carriage
  return (inserted with the Return or Enter key).
  Dont confuse end of line with end of paragraph.
• When typing new text, note the distinction
  between Insert and Overwrite modes (the
  Insert key toggles between these).

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Characters Fonts Styles

• Font Styles
• Normal
• Bold
• Italicised
• Underlined
• SMALL CAPITALS
• Combined together in DIFFERENT permutations
• Text can be Superscript or it can be Subscript

• Font Types
• Times New Roman (The standard, serif font - has
  curvy ends)
• Ariel (A non serif font)
• Monotype Corsiva (A fancy font)
• Font Sizes
• medium small Large
• The normal font size used for the main text of
  essays is 12 point (with a smaller type such as
  10 point for footnotes)

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Paragraphs Spacing Justification

• Left Justification (Alignment)
• This paragraph is justified (or aligned) tothe
  left margin. One common use for this is to give
  letters or other documents an informal feel (to
  make them look less wordprocessed!).
• Right Justification
• This paragraph is justified (aligned) to the
  right margin. Right alignment is commonlyused
  for addresses on letters.
• Fully Justified Paragraph
• This paragraph is fully justified Word
  automatically widens gaps between words so that
  the text is flush to both the left and right
  margins, providing a neat finish for your work.
• Recommended Formatting
• For essays 12 point Times New Roman font, double
  spaced, and left-aligned.

• The text below is single spaced.
• This text is single spaced, which is OK
  forletters, but not so good for essays or other
  work on which people may want to write comments.
• Whereas the following is 1.5 line spaced.
• The text in this little paragraph is one and a
  half line spaced - often an attractive compromise
  between single and double spacing.
• This is double spaced
• This text is double line spaced, leaving plenty
  of room for comments.
• And this is 1.8 line spaced
• You get these intermediate values by selecting
  Multiple under Line spacing.

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Paragraph Indents

• Left and Right Indents
• Use these for block quotations, which are almost
  always indented from the left margin and often
  from both.
• First Line Indents
• An indent of the first line of each paragraph is
  often used to show clearly where the paragraph
  begins.
• Hanging Indents
• An effective means of presenting lists the
  first line is aligned with the left margin, but
  subsequent lines of each paragraph are indented.
• These effects are often achieved using Tab, but
  it is far better to use Format/Paragraph, and
  select the Special menu for first line and
  hanging indents

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Examples of Paragraph Indents

• The paragraph below is a block quotation,
  indented from both margins And were there a
  planet, wholly inhabited by spiders (which
  is very possible), this inference would there
  appear as natural as that which in our planet
  ascribes the origin of all things to design and
  intelligence ...Following the block quotation
  (here from Hume 1779), the indents are undone to
  show that we have returned to the main text.
• These two paragraphs both have indented first
  lines, with the remainder of each paragraph being
  flush with the left margin. As you can see, it
  makes clear where each new paragraph begins, and
  is usually essential unless there are gaps
  between paragraphs.
• (a) A hanging indent produces this sort of
  effect, with all but the first line being
  indented.(b) It is very useful for numbered
  lists and suchlike, since it ensures that the
  structure of the list is clear even if the list
  items are long.

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Other Paragraph Formatting

• Some types of paragraph formatting are provided
  through special options within the Format menu.
• Format/Bullets and Numbering enables your
  paragraphs to be grouped into lists, with Word
  handling any numbering or lettering
  automatically.
• Format/Borders and Shading can be applied to part
  or all of a paragraph.

• Each paragraph can have its own individual tab
  settings, set through Format/Tabs. Right tabs
  are particularly useful for letter addresses etc.
• If youre dealing with a file of any significant
  length, by far the best method of formatting your
  paragraphs is to use automatic paragraph styles
  (from Format/Styles and Formatting, using the
  Styles and Formatting Task Pane).

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Document Formatting

• Document formatting, which fixes the overall
  appearance on the page, is (slightly confusingly)
  accessed through File/Page Setup rather than the
  Format menu.
• Use View/Print Layout and View/Header and Footer
  to see what the margin settings and the headers
  and footers look like as you adjust them.

• It is possible to divide your document into
  Sections (Insert/Break), each of which has its
  own page layout, headers, footers etc.
• To allow the headers/footers to change between
  sections, deselect Same as Previous in the
  header/footer toolbar
• Use File/Print Preview to see how the printed
  document will look (and save your printing
  costs!).

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Using Tables

• Tables often give a much tidier effect than
  lists, especially when presenting data.
• Select Table/Insert and choose the number of
  columns and rows you want. Columns and rows can
  be added or deleted later if you need more or
  fewer.
• To enter text into a table cell, click in the
  cell first so that the cursor appears there.
• The size of rows and columns can be changed by
  dragging and dropping with the cursor.

• Or select the part you want to change and
  right-click, then use Table Properties from the
  shortcut menu (this menu is often extremely
  useful!).
• Use Borders around (and Shading of) table cells
  to improve presentation (use Format/Borders and
  Shading, or the shortcut menu, or the Borders
  toolbar button).
• To convert plain text to a table, or vice-versa,
  select Table/Convert.

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Using the Clipboard(s)

• The clipboard provides a temporary storage area
  for text, pictures etc.
• To place text (etc) into the clipboard, first
  highlight it by dragging the cursor.
• Edit/Cut (or the scissors icon) removes text to
  the clipboard Edit/Copy (or the copy icon)
  copies text to the clipboard.
• Edit/Paste inserts the clipboard contents into
  your document, at the current cursor position.

• The clipboard can also copy material between
  Windows applications. It usually works in a
  broadly similar way (highlight, then cut/copy,
  then paste) and preserves formatting (where
  possible).
• The Task Pane (View/Task Pane if necessary) can
  give access to multiple Clipboards (up to 24!).
  To select the Clipboard Task Pane, use the menu
  from the down-arrow at the top of the pane.

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Spelling, Grammar, and Thesaurus

• Tools/Spelling and Grammar or F7 or click on
• Either select some text and check just that, or
  check the whole document. But the spell checker
  is stupid! It will not correct homonyms e.g.
  there for their. So always proof-read!
• Only Add words to the dictionary if you
  certain that they are correct - use Ignore if
  in doubt.
• There is also a grammar checker, and while this
  is too fussy to be reliable, it can pick up some
  of the more obvious slips.
• To have the spelling checker on while you work,
  select Options/Spelling Grammar from the Tools
  menu.
• Tools/Language/Thesaurus or SHIFTF7 provides a
  useful thesaurus facility (listing words with
  similar meanings).

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Menu Tour

• View/Ruler makes a ruler appear with
  measurements so you can visually gauge the size
  of your text, tables etc.
• Insert/Page Numbers enables you to format the
  page numbers (even if theyre already there).
• Insert/Symbol is used to insert non-standard
  (e.g. foreign) characters.
• The Insert menu also handles section breaks,
  References (footnotes, content tables etc),
  images, and other objects.

• File/Properties enables you to specify properties
  for file indexing etc. (e.g. author).
• Edit/Replace provides a powerful search and
  replace facility.
• To edit the document in its approximate printed
  layout, use View/Print Layout.
• View/Toolbars enables you to reveal the Drawing
  toolbar very useful for including diagrams etc.

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Using Paragraph Styles

• Defining paragraph styles gives your document(s)
  a consistent overall design, speeds up document
  creation, and also allows you to adjust their
  design very easily.
• Format/Styles and Formatting will bring up the
  Task Pane this can be used to select from the
  defined styles, or to redefine them.

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Creating a New Style

• To create a new style, click on the New Style
  button, which brings up this dialogue box

• Choose a suitable name for your new style, then
  click on Format to define it.
• Note that you can use any existing style as a
  basis for your new style, and also which style
  should follow it within a document (e.g. you
  might want a particular heading style always to
  be followed by some First of Section style).

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Defining A Style

• The Format button brings up a menu (shown here)
  which is very similar to Words standard Format
  menu. Go ahead and format your style, just as
  though you were formatting a paragraph of text.
• Once your style has been defined, it should
  appear in the list of styles in the Task Pane at
  the right (together with the standard styles
  Heading 1, Normal etc.)

• If you point the cursor at your style in the
  list, youll see how youve defined it.
• Click on the drop-down button to modify or delete
  your style.

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Planning Your Styles

• Plan a coherent set of styles that will serve you
  for plenty of documents. Heres a basic set you
  could use for essays etc.
• Normal 12 point, Times New Roman, fully
  justified, no indents, 1.5 line spacing, possibly
  with a 6 point gap before. You might also want
  to define a number of tabulation points (e.g.
  left-tabs at 1.5 cm, 3 cm, 4.5 cm), including
  also a right-tab at the right-hand margin (for
  your address in letters etc.).
• FirstLine with a first line indent
• Hanging1 with a single hanging indent (e.g. 1.5
  cm)
• Hanging2 with a double-width hanging indent
  (e.g. 3 cm, but with a tab stop at 1.5 cm, the
  position of a single indent)
• BlockQuote 10 point, indent from left and right
  margin, single spaced
• Bibliography 10 point, single hanging indent
  (e.g. 1.5 cm)

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Predefined Styles

• In addition to the above user-defined styles, you
  will also need some predefined styles provided by
  Word, but which you can also edit to suit
  yourself
• Footnote Text 10 point, single spaced
• Header and Footer standardly set to have a
  centre-tab in the middle, and a right-tab at the
  right margin
• Heading1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 Arial font,
  bold, various sizes and spacings. Standardly
  keep with next, so that the following paragraph
  is always on the same page.
• If you use the Heading styles, you can easily
  generate a table of contents for your document
  with Insert/Reference/ Index and Tables/Table of
  Contents, and you can also use View/Document Map
  to overview and navigate around it.

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Templates
Oddments

• When youve defined your styles, save your
  document with File/Save As, and choose document
  template in the Save as type dropdown).
• If you call it Normal.dot (in directory
  M\office2002), it will be treated as your
  standard template.
• To start a document based on another template, do
  File/ New and click on General Templates in the
  Task Pane.

• Your document can be made multi-column with
  Format/ Columns. If its divided into sections,
  these can have different column layouts.
• Insert images with Insert/ Picture, and text
  boxes with Insert/Text Box. To make text flow
  around them, right-click on the object, choose
  Format Picture or Format Text Box, and from
  the Layout tab select Square.