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Word Processors

Why Should I Care?

No one uses typing machines, and very few people write papers by hand. Using word processor software, such as MS Word, or Google Documents, is really popular and useful. Here are the most important functions you need to know, to use word processors efficiently.

This lesson has 4 parts

  • Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Formatting Text
  • Formatting Paragraphs
  • Creating a Table of Contents

What are Word Processors?

The personal computers' main function has been to help people write, being invented as an extension of the typewriter machine. Naturally, every computer has to be equipped with a word processor software, an application that allows you to write, and format text. The dominant product in this space is Microsoft Word, which bundled with other applications, is the keystone of the Microsoft Office suite. Other software packages include Apple Pages for Macs, and Google Docs, which is a cloud-based service with fewer functionalities, but very impressive document sharing possibilities for teamwork.

The tips shown here are for MS Word, but they should apply in other software as well. We highly recommend that you have a downloaded version of the program you are using, rather than a web-only cloud-based version, which usually hold fewer functions.

Word Basics Tutorial

  • Keyboard Shortcuts

You can save a lot of time, and keep your arm healthy, by using the keyboard instead of the mouse.  Try these functions and make a mental note of what they do. 

Moving Around

Ctrl-Arrow
This allows you to move the cursor to the end of a word, line or paragraph.

Shift-Arrow
This allows you to select text, one letter at a time.

Ctrl-Shift-Arrow
This allows you to select text, including whole words, lines or paragraphs.

Ctrl-A
Select all, the whole text

Copy-Cut-Paste

Ctrl-X
Cut the selection

Ctrl-C
Copy the selection

Ctrl-V
Paste the selection

Manage the document

Ctrl-O
Open a document.

Ctrl-S
Save the document. Quick save.

Ctrl-P
Print the document.

Ctrl-W
Close the document

Undo Redo

Ctrl-Y
Redo the last action.

Ctrl-Z
Undo the last action.

  • Formatting Text

The basic formatting requirements are to learn to use text formats, such as bold, italic and underlined, as well as the right font, size, margin alignment, and line spacing.

Ctrl-B
Makes selection bold, thicker, darker.

Ctrl-I
Makes selection italic, slanted forward. Useful for foreign words or slang.

Ctrl-U
Makes selection underlined.

Ctrl-Shift-P
Changes fonts. Preferred fonts are with serif, which are little lines added to the letters. We recommend Times New Roman and Garamond. Sans serif fonts do not have these lines. This manual is using a sans serif font.

Ctrl-Shift-E
Changes the font size. We recommend 12 pts throughout, even for cover page and section titles.

Ctrl-Shift-GL
Aligns the text to the left. This is standard and recommended for personal essays or opinion papers.

Ctrl-J
Justify margins. Aligns the text to both the left and right margins. The spacing between letters is adjusted automatically. This is recommended for science papers and research reports.

Line spacing
Use the mouse, click on the line spacing icon, choose 2.0. Apply this to the whole text, including references and cover page. (Ctrl-A to select all).

Indent
Use the TAB key on the left hand size, next to the letter Q, to indent paragraphs.

Hanging indent
Use Ctrl-TAB to indent the second line of a paragraph. This is very useful to format bibliographies (references).

  • Formatting Paragraphs

The idea behind paragraphs is that readers need a visual marker that the text is going in a new direction. There are no hard rules to how many paragraphs your text should have. This said, you should be able to associate each paragraph to a single idea. If there are more than one, don't be shy to hit the Enter key, and break a new paragraph. Visually speaking, many readers appreciate to have at least two and at most five paragraphs per page.

About pasting from the web

Be careful how you copy-paste material from the web, or between documents on different software. It could easily create formatting issues in your word processor. The simplest way to do it, safely, is to paste as 'text only' in a blank document. To do this, copy the material, then hit Ctrl-V to paste. At the bottom of the text, you will see a drop-box, click on that and select the icon with the letter A (text only). The copied material will have lost all formatting, and you might have to reorganize it. However, it will now mesh perfectly with the formatting of your document when you copy it and paste it one last time.

Show / Hide the formats

Ctrl-*
There is a funny looking icon that allows you to see the format codes in the word processor. These codes never print. This is very useful when the formatting is doing something odd, and you don't know why. Play around with different keys, to see what they do, such as the space bar, enter, shift-enter, and tab.

  • Creating a Table of Contents

To create a Table of Contents, you must first format the Chapter titles. Then you can create the table very quickly.

Step 1 - Format each chapter title using the format Heading 1.

Step 2 - Format each chapter sub-title using the format Heading 2.

Step 3 - Place the cursor in the location desired for the Table of Contents.

Step 4 - Open the References section of the tool bar, click on Table of Contents.

Step 5 - Choose and click on a style. The Table of Contents will appear.

The Table of Contents automatically shows the page numbers for each chapter. If you modify the text and move pages around, you can update the Table of Contents very quickly. 

To update: right-click on the Table of Contents title – select update entire table.

References and Further Reading

Gookin, D. (2021). Word for Dummies. Wiley.




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