Session 4 - Columns and section breaks

-

Tabs and the amazing Ruler

I’m a bit of a visual person when it comes to setting tabs. I like to use the ruler. If the ruler is not visible, you can change it in the View Ribbon by checking Ruler box. By default, TABS are set at every half inch across the ruler. (One inch is 2.54cm).

The Ruler is the best way to play with TABS and the best way is to see this in action.


Class Activity 1

Practice setting up TABS using the ruler

Try adding a dot leader

Page Layout

Page Layout options include Margins, paper or page orientation, paper or page size, columns, and page and section breaks. Margins, orientation and paper size are easy and pretty obvious.COlumns and section breaks can get more complicated.







Columns and Section breaks

Columns on their own are quite simple, but columns mixed with section breaks are truly awesome. The best way to appreciate this is to see it in action.

Video tutorials for Section Breaks






Video Tutorials for Columns


Proofing Tools

Under the Review Ribbon, you will find your proofing tools. These include spell checker, grammar checker, thesaurus, research and translate. These tools should be used at the end to make sure that your document is accurate for spelling and grammar. I must admit, I don’t like the grammar checker as it always gives me heaps of errors. I guess I tend to type/write how I talk and not always with correct and proper sentence structure, althow I pryde meself on me spellin. You will also find your Word Count tool – just in case you have to write a 500 word essay and you need to keep track of your word count so you don’t go overboard.




You will notice that Word, by default, spell checks as you type - just in case you didn't know what those red squiggly lines were, they indicate a spelling mistake. A word of warning though -  don't just rely on these proofing tools to ensure that your document is accurate as a spell checker is just that and will not always pick on words that are used in the wrong context, but are correctly spelt. English can be a fickle language and can be confusing even for those who speak it as their native tongue!!! Take words like stationary and stationery; there, their and they're; where, wear and we're; your and you're; too, to and two etc. Word can figure out when some of these are used in the wrong context, although spelt correctly, but not all.

As well as spell checking as you type, you can specifically run a spell check on your document or you can look up a particular word to make sure that you are using it correctly. To run a spell check on your document, click on the Spelling & Grammar button in the review ribbon.

When a word is found that is not in the dictionary, you will get a window that will allow you to replace the word with one of the suggestions, ignore the word, or add it to the dictionary.






You can use the right mouse button on any words that have the squiggly lines to see various corrections. With the context menu, you can quickly select an alternative from the list, ignore, add the word to the dictionary, or look up the word.
                               
You can also change the language from English (US) to any other language.

Options

The last topic for today will be looking at the options, particularly those that relate to the proofing tools. Options can be accessed from the File menu.

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Session 1 - Introduction to MS Word and Styles

-
Image
As a student of Chisholm, you have access to Office 365 as well as the ability to download and install the latest desktop version. To get to your Office 365 account, use the link from the Chisholm website / Students / Current Students. When you start Word, you can create a Blank Document or choose an existing document from the recent list. If your document isn't there, you can browse the drive and folder to locate it. Word 2016 Microsoft Office utilises the Microsoft Ribbon (actually all Office applications from version 2007). Above the ribbon, are TABS that will display other tools. The tools that you use regularly will be on the Home TAB. Your cursor will be placed on the document ready for you to start typing. If your Rulers are not displayed, you can use the View tab to add them. I find the rulers very useful and great for quick page formatting stuff. Selecting text  I am not going to spend much time here, but leaving it as a refere...
Read more

Session 5 PowerPoint basics

-
Image
PowerPoint  There are a number of different ways of putting together a presentation with your PC. The most common is using presentation software such as Microsoft’s PowerPoint, which is where we will start our journey of discovery into the world of presentations and presentation software. The main advantage of PowerPoint is that it is very, very easy to use and put together a presentation. What is PowerPoint? As mentioned before, PowerPoint is Microsoft's Presentation application. A PowerPoint presentation is made up of a number of slides. Although it can be standalone, it is usually used as a visual aid for a formal presentation. A PowerPoint presentation is executed as a slideshow and each slide can be displayed on the screen one at a time. This is the traditional way of creating a presentation. When creating a traditional presentation, be careful not to crowd the slides with too much information. They should not include your whole presentation word for word, just highlig...
Read more