Word Activities – Overview
[This section should take you around 15 minutes to complete]
Topic Two explored how to insert images into a Word document, in addition to a range of basic Word document formatting including: hanging indent, underline, italics and bolding text.
This current topic, which is also significantly skills-based, explores more advanced Word document formatting skills, allowing you to build a longer document of the kind typically used in academic and professional settings.
This topic is structured as a series of practice-based Word document tasks. You will practice the formatting skills newly introduced and apply those skills in activities culminating in two longer documents, which need to be submitted as part of Assignment 3.
By the end of this topic, you should have completed the following practice-based documents:
- Activity – Word 1
- Activity – Word 2
- Activity – Word long document 1
- Activity – Word long document 2
- Activity – Word long document 3
But first: What is formatting?
/ˈfomat/
noun
the way in which something is arranged or set out.
“the conventional format of TV situation comedies”
verb
(especially in computing) arrange or put into a format.
“how to format a document”
(Google Dictionary, 2022)
Let’s see if the comment and discussion below about why formatting is important aligns with the dictionary definitions above.
Why Is Formatting Important
A sample of comments expressed at Quora.com on the significance of document formatting reveals the following points of view:
Formatting makes the document readable and comprehensible to the person reading it. Points are laid out clearly and consistently. If they are not, either the reader will misinterpret the meaning of the document or stop reading it altogether.
It is a bit like using correct spelling and grammar. If you want to communicate a thought, make it understandable in the simplest way possible (2022).
Mostly formatting is used for ease of reference and ease of reading. For example, in a lengthy document an index is useful. In order to create an index, we need to format headings within the document to ‘title’ type (2022).
Brad Bjorndahl
Information must be as easy as possible to access. Easy access means you can find it, extract it, and understand it.
Formatting helps finding information with headings, tables of contents, and emphasis (e.g., bold text).
Formatting helps you extract information by providing readable type face and font (they can differ by media such as paper or screen size), structure such as tables and lists, and clearly labelled links.Formatting helps you understand information with headings (again), structure such as sidebars, footnotes, and appendixes. Sometimes information can be colour coded to help comprehension (but that is risky).No formatting or bad formatting can make a document painful to use.
As noted earlier, in Topics Four and Five, concerning attributions and referencing, the APA style guide also explores formatting.
You can download a PDF copy of the APA Student Paper Checklist, or the CDU Library version of the APA 7th Style Guide.
Note, however, that your lecturer may require your work to be formatted slightly different to the standards set out in the APA. In this instance always follow the directions set by your study guide for the particular unit and task.
Building and manipulating documents in this topic will support your progress and acquisition of the more advanced Word document formatting skills.