Computer-Integrated Courses

Student Guide

• USING MICROSOFT WORD
  • BASIC FEATURES
  • PEER REVIEW AND EDITING FEATURES
• INTRODUCTION
• GETTING AROUND IN THE LAN
• MANAGING FILES WITH WINDOWS EXPLORER
• A QUICK GUIDE TO DOCUMENT CONVERSIONS
• TRANSFERRING FILES VIA SSH SECURE SHELL FTP
• FIRST DAY IN THE LAN
• USING BABEL
• USING POWERPOINT
• CREATING WEBPAGES WITH SIMPLESITE
• WEB AUTHORING WITH MOZILLA COMPOSER
• CREATING E-PORTFOLIOS
• GLOSSARY OF TERMS
• 

Using Microsoft Word

Basic Features

Microsoft Word is a program that we will be using often in CIC, and it is important that you become familiar with its main features. Fortunately, it’s a very easy program. When you open Word by clicking on the icon, a new document will automatically appear for you. Below we have included the essential information on creating and modifying documents in Word.

GETTING IN

From the desktop, click on the Word icon. An empty document will automatically be created for your use.

SAVING A FILE

There are two commands for saving a file:

• • Save As: Use to name a file and to save it for the first time. Also used to make a personal copy of a master file. Choose the Save As function under the File menu. Can also be used to save files to a disk.
• • Save: Use to save changes to a file that has already been saved once. You can find the Save function under the File menu, or you can select the save icon located on the tool bar.

PRINTING A FILE

Choose Print from the File menu, or click on the Print icon on the tool bar.

EXITING WORD

To exit the program, select Exit from the File menu.

GETTING AROUND

Microsoft Word provides three ways to execute a command:

• • Menus
• • Tool Bars
• • Shortcut Keys

Tool bars and menus are the easiest functions to learn, but as you get more and more familiar with Word, you may decide that you prefer using the shortcut keys instead. Many of these shortcut keystrokes can be found in the menus, next to their commands.

Word Quick Reference Guide

Command	Tool bar	Menu	Shortcut key
New document		Select New from the File menu	Ctrl + N
Open document		Select Open from the File menu	Ctrl + O
Save document		Select Save from the File menu	Ctrl + S
Print document		Select Print from the File menu	Ctrl + P
Print Preview		Select Print Preview from the File menu	N/A
Cut selected text		Select Cut from the Edit menu	Ctrl + X
Copy selected text		Select Copy from the Edit menu	Ctrl + C
Paste selected text		Select Paste from the Edit menu	Ctrl + V
Check spelling		Select Spelling from the Tools menu	F7

FORMATTING TEXT

To change the font or to place text in bold, italicized, or underlined type, you need to highlight the text you want to change, then select the changes you want to make by using the formatting tool bar.

FONT TYPE/SIZE/APPEARANCE

Standard MLA format requires a 12 point Times or Times New Roman font, which you can set with the font type and size buttons on the formatting toolbar. Bolding, underlining, and italic keys are useful as well. Remember that titles of books and journals must be underlined or italicized, while essays, articles, and poems require “quotation marks.”

ALIGNMENT

Use these buttons to align text to the right, left, or center, or to justify the text to the margins. Standard MLA format requires left-aligned text and a centered title. Use the center button instead of tabbing to center your titles.

PROMOTE AND DEMOTE

Use these keys to quickly change the indentation of selected text. This function is useful for formatting block quotations and creating outlines.

BORDERS

Highlight the text you wish to place a border around, and then click the outside border icon. To change the border’s appearance, highlight the text again and go to Borders and Shading on the Format menu.

LINE-SPACING

The line spacing button allows you to easily single or double-space selected text.

FONT COLOR

While font colors generally are not used in academic papers, they are available for different kinds of assignments, such as group presentations. To change font color, select the text you want to alter and click the arrow next to the font color icon. Select your desired color from the palette that appears.

HIGHLIGHTING

This function is great for editing your own paper, and for use in peer reviewing someone else’s paper. To add highlighting, select text and click the arrow next to the highlight icon. Select your desired color from the palette that appears.

HYPERLINKS

You are able to place hyperlinks in your document to link to web resources, other files, and different places in your document. Select the text you want to link and choose Hyperlink from the Insert menu. You have the following options in the box that appear

IMAGES AND DIAGRAMS

You may use your mouse to copy and paste most images directly into a Microsoft Word document. You may also select an image file by using Insert > Picture > From File
Once you insert an image, a Picture toolbar will appear that will let you edit your image in the following ways:

DRAWING

If you do not already see a Drawing toolbar at the bottom of your Word window, select View > Toolbars > Drawing. The Drawing toolbar allows you to use the following functions to create your own visual aids:

CHARTS AND GRAPHS

If your Word document will include data or empirical research, you can select Insert > Picture > Chart to make charts and graphs.

• • You can add and change the content of the chart by double-clicking on the chart and selecting View > Datasheet.
• • You can change other attributes of the chart's appearance by clicking on the chart and selecting Chart > Options.

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Peer Review and Editing Features

In addition to basic features, Word has advanced features that allow users to insert comments into documents and to track changes between first and final drafts.

INSERTING COMMENTS

Word's comment function allows multiple reviewers to add commentary to an essay draft. The writer can then print the commented version of his or her draft.

• • Go to the Tools menu and select Options.
• • Select the tab marked User Information.
• • Type in your name and initials at the prompt.
• • Click OK.
• • Click and drag your mouse to highlight the word or phrase on which you wish to comment.
• • Go to the Insert menu and click on Comment.
• • Type in your comments in box that appears in the margin of the text.
• • If your comments appear at the bottom of the screen, you can select Markup from the View menu to make them appear in the margin.

TRACKING CHANGES

Track Changes documents your revision process by preserving deleted text in a margin box and marking added text in red.

• • Before making changes to the document, go to the Tools menu and select Track Changes.
• • Click on the Highlight Changes option.
• • Click on all three boxes until checks appear.
• • Click OK.
• • Right click each marked portion of text to accept or reject changes.

CREATING AN AUTOMATIC ABSTRACT

• • Go to the Tools menu and select AutoSummarize.
• • Click on Insert an executive summary or abstract at the top of the document.
• • Click OK.

COMPARING FIRST AND FINAL DRAFTS

An alternative to Track Changes is Word's document comparison function. This tool automatically marks the changes from one draft to another. With your final draft open, select Compare and Merge Documents from the Tools menu. In the window that appears use the drop-down menu next Look in box to locate your earlier draft. Click the arrow next to the Merge button and select Merge into New Document.

ADDITIONAL EDITING FEATURES

Word has numerous features that can be very helpful for proofreading papers. Here are a few things that the program can do for you.

What It Is	What It Does	Where To Find It
Spell-check	Alerts you to any misspelled or unknown (and possibly nonexistent) words in your document.	An icon for spell-check is located in the tool bar, but you can also find it under the Tools menu.
Auto-Summary	Summarizes your key points, showing the clarity of your organization.	Under the Tools menu.
Grammar	Identifies sentences that may be grammatically incorrect. Explains key grammar rules.	Under the Tools menu.