Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Introduction
This document covers the basic techniques necessary in Microsoft Word to write a simple
essay. It has some advice on typing and using the keyboard for complete beginners, and
thereafter reference information on the functions necessary to layout a document and
enter references.
Prerequisites
This document assumes that you are familiar with the use of a computer keyboard and
mouse and have a working knowledge of Microsoft Windows
Contents
1. Introduction 2
2. The basics 2
3. Typing Text 3
4. Select, cut, copy and paste 4
5. Correcting text 6
6. Formatting text 7
7. Save and retrieve a document 8
8. Using the Header and Footer 10
9. References 11
10. Next steps 12
1. Introduction
1.1 Opening Word
Birkbeck‟s computers have Word 2007 installed on them. To start the
program, click on
Start
Programs
Microsoft Office
Word 2007
2. The basics
Objectives A checklist of the essentials for word processing
2.1 Essentials
A few rules and techniques that you may know already;
Don‟t press return at the end of every line – allow text to flow,
Word will automatically wrap it around at the end of the line
Use page breaks to jump to a new page (rather than pressing
return) – Insert – Page Break
Use Word‟s page numbers to label pages where needed (Insert –
Page Number)
After working through this document you will also know how to use
Keyboard
Line spacing
Footnotes
Headers and footers
Birkbeck IT Services 2
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
3. Typing Text
3.1 The keyboard
This guide cannot teach you to type, but some pointers on keyboard use
are below.
Keyboard layout
Tab: Moves
cursor along, Deletes letters
or into the to the right
next box (e.g.
from username
to password Deletes letters
box) to the left
Enter key Note that you should only press this key to end a paragraph,
not at the end of every line. The computer will automatically
move text onto the next line once you reach the end.
Shift keys The two shift keys allow you to enter capital letters, and to
type the symbols on the top half of keys, e.g. the ! on the
number 1 key, or ? on top of the /.
Ctrl keys The two ctrl keys are used for keyboard shortcuts (e.g. hold
ctrl and press s to save your work).
Typing
Whatever you type will appear wherever the cursor (a flashing vertical line)
is positioned within the document. Move the cursor by using the arrow
keys or by moving the mouse and clicking.
Practice is the most important thing, and you will become quicker over
time. However, if you have the time to practice the correct hand position
you may find you can become an accomplished typist. The website
http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/ offers free typing lessons.
Birkbeck IT Services 3
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
You may select text with either the keyboard or the mouse. There is one
important difference – if you use the keyboard, Word will assume you
are minimising use of the mouse and therefore will not show the mini
toolbar (which requires use of the mouse). Try selecting with the mouse
at first but if you find you do not need the mini toolbar, try using the
keyboard.
In either case you use the paste command to insert the text into the
document.
Both functions are on the Home Ribbon, within the Clipboard tool
group.
Birkbeck IT Services 4
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
4.3 Paste
Once text is cut or copied, you should paste it into the document. The
text will be pasted wherever the cursor appears, so make sure you move
that to wherever you want the text to appear using either the mouse or
the arrow keys.
You may paste text more than once, regardless of whether it was
originally cut or copied.
Birkbeck IT Services 5
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
5. Correcting text
Objectives To correct text wrongly typed
A red squiggly underline indicates a spelling mistake (this may include text
separated by a comma but no space, such as „and,so‟)
A green squiggly line indicates a grammatical „mistake‟. This may just be
where you have used the passive voice, common in academic writing, but
sometimes Word has spotted an extra space mark or similar.
Birkbeck IT Services 6
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
6. Formatting text
Objectives To change the appearance of text as desired
Two groups of tools are of most use here – Font and Paragraph. Both
are next to each other on the Ribbon but are shown separately below.
The Font group allows you to change the font‟s appearance. Use the B to
change text to Bold, I to italicise text and U to underline (note that this is
considered archaic for headings – those would more normally be made
bold and appear in a larger font). All those tools are toggles – click once
to switch on, click again to switch them off.
The icons at the bottom left of the Paragraph group allow you to change
text alignment – the icon lit up shows that text is currently aligned with
the left of the page.
The single most useful icon here is the , which is used to change the
line spacing (e.g. from single to double line spacing).
Birkbeck IT Services 7
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
Instead, you should save your document regularly. You will also be able
to return to a saved document at a different time or on a different day.
To save your document, click on the blue disk icon at the top left
of the screen, to the right of the Office button, as shown
Once you have saved the document for the first time, just click the blue
disk again regularly to save the newer version in the same place – it will
automatically replace the older one.
Birkbeck IT Services 8
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
list by clicking on the pin icon to the right of the file-name – particularly
useful if you will be working on a document over time.
Click that button and you will be taken to the open document dialog box,
which will show the contents of the last file location you browsed
(usually the My Documents folder).
Find the file, click it once and then click Open to see the contents.
Birkbeck IT Services 9
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
The header is the blank area at the top of each page – anything you type
will not normally appear in here.
To move the cursor into the header so you can add text there, double-
click anywhere in the top inch of the page. You can also click on the
Header icon (shown above) and choose Edit Header from the bottom
of the list.
Aligning text
To align all text in the header to the right, use the icon in the Paragraph
tool group on the Home Ribbon.
Birkbeck IT Services 10
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
9. References
Objectives To add references using footnotes or in-text citations and
understand how to format text appropriately
9.1 Format
Your course handbook will normally suggest a style of referencing for
you to use, and you should follow the advice therein or ask your lecturer.
If you are given a choice, between say short in-text citations (Smith,
2000) or longer footnotes, make sure you pick a system and stick with it
for that piece of work.
To italicise text, select it (click and drag with the mouse) and then click
the button, which can be found on the Home Ribbon and the mini
toolbar.
To underline text, select it and then click the button, found next to
the italic icon, above.
To embolden text, select it and then click the button, found next to
the italic icon, above.
Birkbeck IT Services 11
Essay writing Doc. 5.169
(http://www.bbk.ac.uk/its/help/documentation/pdf/public/5-165.pdf)
Reference manager
Word has an inbuilt reference manager. Not recommended for
beginners, but it offers a relatively straightforward way to organise
references and make sure that they appear in a consistent format within
your document.
(http://www.bbk.ac.uk/its/help/documentation/pdf/public/5-162.pdf)