Throughout your graduate career, you will need to use Microsoft Word for various assignments, including your final project. Below are several useful tips for working in Word, as well as key functions of Word.
Microsoft Word is most useful for final drafts of documents and those involving special formatting. When submitting assignments, printing documents, or formatting final projects, you will want to use Microsoft Word.
Here is a link to a general training in using Word for Windows. This page offers helpful information on document sharing and editing, and it highlights several useful features in Word.
Section Breaks allow for formatting to be changed between pages or columns in word. This can be useful to change the page numbering type (between Roman and Arabic numerals for example) or changing a pages orientation to landscape between portrait pages.
| Break Type | When to use |
|---|---|
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Page breaks should be used to separate pages that will have the same formatting as the pages before. These will move content to the top of a new page. Example: to end one chapter and begin a new one |
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Column breaks allow for multiple columns of text to be created on one page, much like a table does, and are used to indicate where one column should end and the next should begin. |
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Section break (next page) will allow you to alter the formatting between two sections including how pages are numbered, orientation of pages, etc. This should be used anywhere that major formatting needs to change. |
Nonprinting characters or formatting marks can be helpful while formatting your document. They show things like page breaks and tabs.
| Markup | Formatting information |
|---|---|
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This indicates a tab. Tabs can be used to indent text or objects. |
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Spaces are shown by little dots. Each dot is one space. |
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Hard returns are often used to signify the end of a paragraph. These are made by pressing enter / return. Hard returns restore formatting to the default text. |
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Soft returns are used to signify the end of a line. These are made by holding shift while pressing enter / return. Soft returns maintain any formatting work done between lines. This is helpful for formatting CHAPTER headings or table titles. |
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Page breaks add a new page and force all content typed after it to start on a new page rather than continuing on the previous page. These maintain formatting between pages and should be used at the end of chapters to start the next chapter. |
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There are several types of section breaks. The Section Break (Next Page), shown here, allows formatting to change between pages. This helps change the page numbers between the front matter and the body of the document or allows landscape pages to be inserted between portrait pages. |
The rulers show the margins of the document, indentation settings, etc.
Ruler settings can be found under the VIEW tab. Select ruler to turn on or off.
The reference / bibliography / works cited page should be formatted to have a hanging indent. This means the top line is flush left with the margin and that any subsequent lines for the reference entry are indented 0.5". To do so, click on the bottom tab and drag it to the right.
The grayed areas on the rulers indicate the margins. Any content below the grayed areas are in the margins and outside of the content area and will need to be moved.
Most of this guide uses Microsoft Word on Windows to show examples. One of the main formatting differences on a Mac is the location of Dialog Boxes. Dialog boxes are windows that open with additional menu items. These can be located throughout the ribbon at the top of the document:
Mac users should use the "Format" menu located at the top to the appropriate dialog boxes:
When sending papers to reviewers for feedback, you may find that the "Track Changes" feature is useful. This feature allows your reviewer to directly make highlighted changes to your document. When you receive the document back from your reviewer, you can then easily find and accept or reject these changes.
Open the document you wish to edit. Click the "Review" tab on the top ribbon and find the "Tracking" box. Expand this box with the carat underneath to see your options for tracking.
Click the "Track Changes" box if you wish to track changes made to the document. The box should be gray if changes are being tracked.
If you are a reviewer making changes, click this box before making any changes to the document.
Once you have turned on Track Changes, your edits will appear in red throughout the document.
If you receive a document that has been edited using Track Changes, you will see red bars running vertically along the margins of your document. These bars mark places where changes have been made. Clicking on a red bar will show the changes in red text in the body of your document. Deletions will be marked with a strikethrough, and additions will appear as underlined text.
If you have received feedback from multiple reviewers, each reviewer's comments will appear in a different color.
In some cases, you may want to accept or reject a reviewer's changes immediately. This can save you the trouble of typing out the changes yourself.
Under the "Review" tab, click "Changes." This is directly next to "Tracking." The "Changes" box will expand to show you an "Accept" button and a "Reject" button.
Clicking the "Changes" box will highlight the change you have clicked on in the body of your document. If you have not clicked on a change in the body of your document, clicking the "Changes" box will highlight the first change in your document.
If you wish to accept the reviewer's change, click "Accept." This will immediately convert the text in your document into the text that your reviewer has created.
If you wish to reject the reviewer's change, click "Reject." This will immediately convert the text in your document into its original form (before any reviewer changed it).
Comments are a helpful alternative to inserting changes directly. Reviewers can insert comments in order to offer advice, ask questions, provide external resources, or suggest changes.
Under the "Review" tab, find the "Comments" box. Clicking on "Comments" will show you several different options for using comments.
If you would like to insert a comment in a document, click the "New Comment" option. This will insert a comment in the right-hand margin wherever your cursor is in the document. Make sure you find your cursor before inserting comments.
If you would like to comment on a particular word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, you can also highlight that text in the document, then click "New Comment." You can also insert a comment by highlighting text, then hovering over it and finding the "Insert Comment" option in the menu.
All comments will appear in the right-hand margin of a document. If you are receiving feedback from a reviewer, their comments should automatically be visible to you.
If you would like to respond to a reviewer's comment in your document, hover over the comment. There will be two options on the bottom of the comment: "Reply" and "Resolve."
Click "Reply." This will create another comment attached to the original one. You can then send the document back to the reviewer if they would like to see your replies.
Once you have looked over a reviewer's comments and changed your document accordingly, you can easily delete comments to create a clean document. Just right-click on a comment and scroll down the menu to find "Delete Comment." This will fully erase the comment from your document.
Note: clicking "Resolve" on a comment will not delete it from your document.
