Introduction to editing text in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a popular word processing package. With it you can type up things such as letters, reports, leaflets and a whole host of other documents containing text and pictures.

Mostly it is used for letter writing but in this particular instance it is being used for teaching you how to use it.

The most common editing functions can be found in the tutorials in this document, these being:

Copying text to another part of the document Pasting text into another part of the document Cutting text from a document Moving text to another part of the document Using bold Using underline Using italics How to change font (the type of text) How to change the font size

You will also learn as part of using the tutorials what the text cursor is and how it works, what the mouse pointer is and how it works.

You will find exercises at the back of this document which uses the facilities outlined in the tutorial.

First of all some terms:

Mouse pointer, this is the small white arrow you see move round the screen when you are using windows

The Left mouse button – there are two buttons on a mouse, the right and left buttons, the left mouse button is used for making selections and carrying out actions, for example, you will use the left mouse button to select a folder on the desk top by placing the mouse pointer on the folder then clicking the left mouse button to select it, double clicking the left mouse button will carry out an action, for example, double clicking on a folder on your desk top will open that folder.

Right mouse button – this is also known as right clicking, this button is use dot bring up a menu of options you can use for the operation you are doing, for example, if I right clicked on an empty part of the desk top, I would get a menu and one of the options will be a New option through which I could create another folder on the desk top.

Copy – to move something to another location, for example, move a folder on the desk top to another part of the desk top

Paste – to insert something in a specific location Font – the type of text you use, different styles of text are different fonts

You first need to create a word document, this is done as follows:

Creating a Word Document

Open Microsoft Word by :

1. Placing the mouse pointer on the start button found in the bottom left hand corner of the desk top

2. Click with the left mouse button and a menu of program will be displayed, (it sit ii large to show

here)3. Look through the program till you see a folder labelled Microsoft Office, place the mouse pointer on

it and a list of programs in the folder will be displayed4. Move the mouse pointer down to the item that says Word and click with the left mouse button.5. After a brief pause, Microsoft Word will open complete with a new document as shown on the next

page

Selecting text

You may wish to make some text in your document stand out from the rest as I have done with the title at the top of this page. Text is made bold in the following way:

NOTE:- selecting text is done in the following way:

Place the mouse pointer at the beginning of the section of text you wish to make bold

Press and hold down the left mouse button

Whilst holding down the left mouse button drag the mouse pointer to the end of the text you wish to make bold

Release the mouse button and your text will remain selected, as shown in the example below:

To make your text bold (as in this subtitle)

1. Select the text you wish to make bold, (see above)

2. Move the mouse pointer up to the Bold button and click it with the left mouse button3. Deselect the text by clicking anywhere on the document other than on the selected text.4. The text will now be bold faced.

To put your text into italics (as in this subtitle)

1. Select the text you wish to make italics, (see above)

2. Move the mouse pointer up to the italics button and click it with the left mouse button3. Deselect the text by clicking anywhere on the document other than on the selected text.4. The text will now be in italics.

To underline your text (as in this subtitle)

1. Select the text you wish to underline, see above)

2. Move the mouse pointer up to the underline button and click with the left mouse button3. Deselect the text by clicking anywhere on the document other than on the selected text.4. The text will now be underlined.

To change the font (type of text) as in this subtitle

1. Select the text you wish to change, (see above)

2. Move the mouse pointer up to the font box 3. Click on the small downward pointing arrow with the left mouse button and you will see a drop

down box with a list of available fonts

4. Place the mouse pointer on the font you wish to change the selected text to and you will see a preview of the text over the selected text

5. You can scroll through the list of fonts using the scroll bar on the right hand side of the box to see the other available fonts.

6. When you have seen the font you wish to change the selected text to, cl;ick on it with the left mouse button

7. The text you selected will now be in that chosen font

Copying and Pasting

Sometimes you may wish to copy text to another part of the document instead of typing in the same text again, this is done through copying and pasting and is done in the following way:

1. Select the text you wish to copy (see above, selecting text)

2. Move the mouse pointer up to the copy option 3. Click on it with the left mouse button, (a copy of it is stored in a special part of the computers

memory)4. Move the mouse pointer to the place in the document you wish to copy the text to and click with

the left mouse button (this places the text cursor there)

5. Move the mouse pointer up to the paste option 6. The text you copied will now be pasted (copied) to the location you indicated with the mouse

pointer

To change the size of the font (as in this subtitle)

1. Select the text you wish to change the size of, (see above, selecting text)

2. Move the mouse pointer up to the font size box 3. Click on the downward pointing arrow with the left mouse button and you will see the following

drop down list will appear

4. Select the size of the font by placing the mouse pointer on the desired font size (you can scroll through the list if you wish by using the scroll bar on the right hand side of the list)

5. Click the selected font size with the left mouse button6. Your selected font will now be that size.

Cutting and Moving

1. Select the text you wish to move, (see above, selecting text)

2. Move the mouse pointer up to the cut option and click with the left mouse button, (the text you selected will have been removed from the document, it hasn’t been deleted, it’s just been removed and stored in a special place in the computers memory)

3. Place the mouse pointer at the location in the document you wish to place the text4. Click with the left mouse button5. Your text will have reappeared in the location you selected

Steps 1 and two above are also used to cut text from a document, this is handy if you wish to delete large pieces of text from the document.

Saving a Document

There will eb times when you are part way through typing up a document and you need to put it to one side and come back to it later, this is where you will save the document and this is done ion the following way:

1. Move the mouse pointer up to the file menu tab

NOTE:- it should be highlighted in blue and is known as a tab because the menu items across the top look like tabs (as in a filing cabinet) when you click on them

2. Click with the left mouse button3. You will see a screen similar to that shown below

4. Move the mouse pointer to the save as option 5. You will see a standard windows file search dialogue box come up(as shown below) , navigate to

the folder you wish to save the document in

6. Click on the Save button which is found on the bottom right hand side7. Your document wil now be saved and you will be returned back to the document

NOTE:- I cannot stress enough though, save your work often, it will save you hours of work at a later date

Opening a document

Not all documents are started from the beginning, some have to be saved for one reason or another, this is where you will need to open a document and is done as follows:

1. Move the mouse pointer up to the File menu tab 2. Click with the left mouse button 3. You will see a screen similar to that shown in step 3 in saving a document above

4. Move the mouse pointer to the Open button 5. Click with the left mouse button6. You will see a standard windows file search dialogue box appear similar to that shown in step 5 in

saving a document above7. Navigate to the folder or place you saved your document and click on it with the left mouse button

8. Click on the open button 9. After a brief pause, your document will be open and ready to continue being worked on

Exercises

Type in the following text :

Learning styles

Learning styles is a term generally used to describe an individual's natural or habitual pattern of acquiring and processing information in learning situations. There is no commonly accepted definition of learning styles; however, a core concept is that individuals differ in how they learn. The idea of individualized "learning styles" originated in the 1970s, and acquired "enormous popularity”.

Proponents for the use of learning styles in education said that teachers should assess the learning styles of their students and adapt their classroom methods to best fit each student's learning style. Although there is ample evidence for differences in individual thinking and ways of processing various types of information, few studies have reliably tested the validity of using learning styles in education. Critics say there is no evidence that identifying an individual student's learning style produces better outcomes.

There is evidence of empirical and pedagogical problems related to the use of learning tasks to "correspond to differences in a one-to-one fashion". Well-designed studies contradict the widespread "meshing hypothesis", that a student will learn best if taught in a method deemed appropriate for the student's learning style.

** Copy the first paragraph to the end of the document, (it should be the first paragraph and the last

paragraph)

** Change the font style (to any you wish) of the first three lines of the second paragraph

** Make the first word of each paragraph bold

** Make the first line of each paragraph italic

** Underline all lines in the second paragraph

** Cut the last two lines in paragraph two from the document

** In addition to the underline, make all of paragraph 2 bold

** Centre and bold the line that says learning styles and make it a title

** Centre the last paragraph

How to Centre Text on a Page

By default, the text on a page in Microsoft Word is left aligned, when you are writing documents you may wish to place titles in the centre of the page, this is known as centreing text. This is done in the following way:

1. Place the mouse pointer where you wish the centered text to be in the document2. Click with the left mouse button, (to place the text cursor, that is the little flashing I)3. Type in the text you wish to be centered4. Select the text by placing the mouse pointer at the beginning of the text to be centred and whilst

holding down the left mouse button, drag the mouse pointer to the end of the text to be centred5. On reaching the end of the text to be centred, release the left mouse button

6. Move the mouse pointer up to the Centre button and click the left mouse button7. The selected text will be centered

How to left align text on a page

After you have centered the text and brought the cursor to the line below, the cursor is still in the centre of the line and in order to carry on typing you need to bring the text cursor back to the left hand side of the page, this is known as left aligning text and is done in the following way:

1. Move the mouse pointer up to the left align button and press the left mouse button2. The cursor wil be back at the left hand side of the page

AN

INTRODUCTION

TO

MICROSOFT

WORD

Copy & Paste

Bold

Italics

Underline

Cut and Move