Hi Parents, students, and teachers:
Welcome to my Microsoft Office Word Basics tutorial. This page will contain basic
commands and step-by-step instruction of some of the basic skills that students
need to be familiar with when using Microsoft Office Word.
My students will be working with Microsoft Word XP in the classroom.
The information below does not go with the Microsoft Office 2007 version
although you might be able to find these commands by exploring the 2007 version.
What is Microsoft Word? Microsoft Word is a word-processing-based application
which allows the person to type reports, create brochures, newspapers, and various
other documents. This is the application that most students will see in a school
or college setting to type their reports and research papers. This application can
do much more; however, I want to focus on the basics. There is a difference between
Microsoft Works and Microsoft Word. I have had experiences where these two programs
have an incompatibility issue. Make sure that your home computer and the school
computer have the same program. Microsoft Word 2007 has a compatibility feature
that allows you to save 2007 documents so that they may open on earlier
versions (97-2003 versions) of Microsoft Word. Seek technology help on these
issues before you pursue typing that research paper or report so that it
will be compatible in the school, college, or university computer labs where you attend.
Here are the basics that students will need to know by the time they leave Crestview Middle.
Saving a document:
Every time you make changes to the document, always save those changes.
Click on File, Save or click the little floppy disk that performs the same
function of saving. SAVING is important. If you do not save, you loose
what you type. Believe me, it is going to make you angry at yourself
that you typed a 10 page report and forget to save it when the lights
go out. Please save your work everytime you make changes or create a
new document.
Save your document first, to your G drive (at school) or to a folder (on
your home/personal computer).
Follow these steps:
1. Click on File.
2. Save As...
3. Where it says Save In..., next to it change the folder directory from
what it shows now to your G drive (at school) or to a personal folder
on your home computer.
4. Click in the File Name box at the bottom of the Save As... dialogue
box and give the file a name of your preference.
5. Click Save.
Opening a saved document:
To open a saved document from a folder or network drive,
Follow these steps:
1. Click on File.
2. Open
3. Where it says Look In, change the folder directory from what it
shows at that point to your G drive (at school) or to a personal folder on your home
computer where you saved this file last.
4. When you find the file, select it.
5. Click Open.
Section 1: Margins
Section 2: Line Spacing
Section 3: Clip Art & Pictures
Section 4: Columns
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Section 1: Margins
Margins. Margins play a role in this application because it is the distance
from the bottom, top, right, and left edge to the center of the document. In
writing standard reports or research papers for high school or colleges, the
margin is set at 1" (1 inch) for all four margins so that all four sides
have equal distance from the edge to the center. To set the margin, follow
these steps prior to beginning your typing:
With your mouse, go to
Step 1: File.
Step 2: Click on Page Setup
Step 3: Click the Margins tab if it does not show.
Step 4: Look in the Margins section of the Page Setup
box to make sure
that the
Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins are set to 1. Do not type the quotations.
Those will appear automatically.
Step 5. Click OK.
Your margins are now set.
See these sample documents for different margin settings of 1, 2, and 3 inch top,
bottom, left, and right margins.
Document Sample 1" Margins
Document Sample 2" Margins
Document Sample 3" Margins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Section 2: Line Spacing
Line Spacing. Line spacing is the distance between one line of text
to the next. See the example below.
Here is an example of a single line space.
Here is an example of a double line space.
What does this have to do with writing a report or research paper? In writing a
standard report or reserach paper, elementary or middle school teachers might say
you can use single line spacing. However, when you get into high school and
colleges/universities, the rule will likely change to double line space. Pay attention
to what your teacher/instructor wants.
To set a double line space for a report or research paper before you begin typing
your report or research paper, do the following:
Step 1. Go to Format
Step 2. Click on Paragraph
Step 3. Make sure the Indents and Spacing tab is
selected.
Step 4. Go to the section that says Spacing.
Step 5. Locate Line Spacing to the right of the Before and After boxes.
Step 6. Select Double.
Step 7. Click OK.
See these sample documents for different line space settings of Single and Double Line Spacing.
Document Sample 1, Single Line Spacing
Document Sample 2, Double Line Spacing
~~~If by chance you forget to set your line space to double after you typed
your report, do the following carefully so that each line of text is double spaced
before printing out the report.
1. Highlight all of your text in the report, excluding your name.
2. Go to Format
3. Click on Paragraph
4. Make sure the Indents and Spacing tab is
selected.
5. Go to the section that says Spacing.
6. Locate Line Spacing to the right of the Before and After boxes.
7. Select Double.
8. Click OK.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Section 3: Clip Art & Pictures
You've typed your report. It has all of this wonderful information in it you've
researched but it is missing something. Clip Art or Pictures. This is often used
when journalists write magazine or newspaper articles to be published. Keep
in mind, your teacher or instructor might not want to deal with pictures. Follow
the directions to your teachers' request.
A clip art is a type of media that Microsoft Office often has in a gallery. You
might add a few of these to give an idea of what your topic is that you are
writing.
To insert a clip art into a Word document, perform the following steps:
Step 1. Click Insert
Step 2. Navigate to Pictures
Step 3. In a Submenu, click Clip Art.
Step 4. You are not going to see clip art right away. You have to search for it.
Step 5. Locate the Search box in the Clip Art Search pane on the right.
Step 6. It is not very often you will find what you are looking for; however,
you will find generic clip art.
Step 7. Type a generic category word such as Christmas, trucks, people,
cars, business, signs, etc. in order to
find pictures that are in the
Microsoft Office Clip Art gallery. An Internet connection may be required.
At times if Microsoft Word
does not find the clip art you are requesting, chance
s are it will pull clip art from the Internet.
There is another type of media you can insert into a word document to
identify the topic of your writing. It is usually in a .jpeg (Joint Photographic Experts Group),
.png (Portable Network Graphic), or .gif (Graphic Interchange Format) picture.
You can find these mostly on the Internet, from a digital camera, a scanner, clip art CD,
or other sources. When you locate this type of media on the Internet, do the following steps:
Step 1. Place your mouse on the picture.
Step 2. Right click the picture with your mouse.
Step 3. Left click Save Picture As... (Note: If this
command is not available, it is
not a picture you can save. It
may be an animated shockwave or adobe flash animation.)
Step 4. Click the white space to the right of Save In.
Step 5. Locate your G drive. If at home, locate your desktop or other folder
in which
you wish to store this file.
Step 6. In the File Name box, type a name for it.
Step 7. Click Save.
Click to Download Picture 1, and Download Picture 2
To insert the picture,
Step 1. Go to Insert, Pictures
Step 2. Go to From File.
(Why From File? You saved a file from the Internet, imported from a camera, scanner,
or other device that was not likely in your clip art gallery.)
Step 3. In the Look In box..., locate the folder or your G drive to find where you saved this picture.
Step 4. Select the picture.
Step 5. Click Insert.
Problem? Your picture will not move around the document exactly the way
you want it. Your text may become misaligned. In order to get your picture to
freely move around on the document, perform any of these commands:
Step 1. Left click the picture to select it. Selection is indicated by the
black boxes around the corners of the picture.
Step 2. Double click the picture with your mouse or go to Format in the menu.
Step 3. Click Picture.
Step 4. Click the Layout Tab.
Step 5. Click on one of these layouts to discover what it does: Inline Text,
Square, Tight, Behind Text, and In Front of Text.
When you find the right option you are looking for, click OK.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Section 4: Columns
Columns are another feature in Microsoft Word that allows you to write news
stories to condense your content close together for large stories you may be
writing. When the left column fills up with text, it moves to the right column
in the same page. However, when the right column fills up with text, you will
see it move to page two, left column. The process repeats again and again...
.until you finish your story. If you want to create a newspaper using columns,
click these commands to get prepared to type your content:
Step 1. Format
Step 2. Columns. You will see Presets of One, Two, Three, Left, and Right.
Step 3. Select the Two column format.
Step 4. The width and spacing is already defined for you. Preferrably, make sure
that Equal Column Width is checkmarked if you use Two or Three columns.
The Left and Right Column will likely have unequal columns.
Step 5. Click OK when finished.
There are many tasks that you can do with Microsoft Word. To learn more
visit these web site sources below to become an intermediate and advanced user
of Microsoft Word. This is like a course itself that you could take in a technical
school or community college. The main thing is to listen to what your teachers
want as far as typing reports and research papers. Each teacher varies depending
on preference of writing. You are also going to be required to cite your sources.
This will come later in high school and college. You will have to back up your information
usng what is called the Modern Language Association format (MLA) or the American
Psychological Association format (APA).
Here are some website sources for you to view in using Microsoft Word and citing
sources when it comes to writing reports.
Microsoft Word resources
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line_word.htm Internet4Classrooms
Microsoft Word Tutorial Module
MLA Format
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/15/ The Owl at Purdue University.
Has information regarding a new MLA publication just released and samples on how to cite your sources in MLA style.
APA Format
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ The Owl at Purdue University.
Has information regarding APA citation formats and other information that is useful for
research paper writing. Please note that this is not used in the middle school setting
but mostly in community colleges and universities when writing research and dissertations for publishing.
As more web pages become readily available, this web page will be updated with
more sources. Thanks for visiting. Mr. M. If you have questions, please
e-mail me at JMooney@tipton-county.com.
Microsoft 
Office 
Word 
Basics
