Word processing is undoubtedly the most common use of computer, so we assume that you are already familiar with basics, such as changing font face and size, underlining, centering paragraphs, etc. However, once we become comfortable doing certain tasks in our own ways, we stop exploring other features of the software we are using. In this chapter, you will be introduced to some common features of many word processing programs which do not seem to be used correctly. By doing so, we would like you to break your own plateau. These features are indentations and tabs, style sheets, and find and replace functions. They will enable you to do various tasks more efficiently and, at the same time, you will become able to manipulate text document more skillfully.

I. Using indentations and tabs

Look at the following sample document (Figure 3.1). This is an excerpt from a fictitious test which include directions, a reading passage, and a list of comprehension questions. (A gray arrow indicates a tab key and a paragraph mark indicates a return key.) Paragraphs are marked as P 1.1, P 1.2, P 1.3, and P 1.4.

Figure 3.1


 

    You can download an example of the file used in the above discussion. This file contains the same text, but all of the formatting has been eliminated for your practice.

      < Download Ex1txt.doc (Microsoft Word Document) >

    You can also download a file of the formatted text as shown above.

      < Download Ex1fmd.doc (Microsoft Word Document) >

 

1.1 Formatting the paragraph for a direction

P 1.1 indicates directions to a question which start with the left margin and spills over to the next line. The second line should start where the word "Read" starts. The correct format for this paragraph in MS-Word is shown in figure 3.2 below.

Figure 3.2


The top triangle (TR1) on the left indicates where a paragraph starts. A common term for TR1 is "first line indentation." Since the directions start at the left margin, TR1 stays where it is. The bottom triangle on the left (TR2) indicates where the second line and the rest of the paragraph begin. TR2 is called "left indentation." It needs to be moved to the right. A tab key which is typed after "1." in the first line causes the next word (i.e. "Read..") to start where TR2 is.

1.2 Formatting the paragraph for a reading passage

The reading passage (P 1.2) is narrower than the others on both ends and the first line is further indented. The line spacing is double space. Figure 3.3 shows the correct format for this paragraph. TR2 and TR1 are both moved to the right, but TR1 is moved further to the right so that the first line is corrected indented. (Notice that there is no need to use a tab key.) In order to move the right hand edge of the paragraph, TR3 has been moved to the left. TR3 is called "right indentation." Line spacing is changed by choosing double spacing. (We assume you know how to do it.)

Figure 33


1.3 Formatting the paragraph for comprehension questions

A tab key moves text to a location to the nearest tab stop. A tab stop is usually specified on the ruler which shows up at the top of the document window. Since a tab stop is expressed in an absolute measurement such as 0.5 inch or 2.25 inch, it is a reliable way to line up text. (Never try to line up text by hitting space bar several times!) There are four different types of tabs in most word processing programs: left justified, right justified, center, and decimal. (Experiment with each type of tab to see what happens to the text.) By using correct tabs for different tasks, formatting a document becomes easier.

A line for comprehension questions begins with a tab key, while the first line indentation remains unchanged. What follows then are a number, a period, and a question itself. As Example 1.3 shows, we assume there are more than ten comprehension questions and the numbers must be aligned at the decimal point. ("1" in "10" should stick out to the left.) This can only be achieved by the use of the decimal tab. (See Figure 3.4.) The decimal tab is one of the four types of tabs word processors provide. After choosing the decimal tab, create a tab stop at the 0.5 inch position. This correctly aligns the number at the decimal point (period). Then, move the left indentation to the one-inch position. Since there is another tab key after the period, the tab key causes the question to begin at the one- inch position. With this setting, the second line of a question comes back to the beginning of the text in the first line.

Figure 3.4


1.4 Creating the long blank underline for an answer

A long underline for an answer can be easily created when indentation and a tab key are used correctly. Figure 3.5 illustrates a simple and elegant method of creating a long blank underline. To create it, move the first line indentation to the right (TR1). Then, set a tab location somewhere close to the right margin. (TAB1). Now, press the tab key once. Highlight the tab and set the underline attribute on, just like setting bold or italics attribute on letters.

Figure 3.5


II. Style sheet

Once you format paragraphs using indentations and tabs, you might wonder how you can register the paragraph formats so that you can use them repeatedly. A feature called style sheet lets you do just that. A style sheet contains a number of "paragraph styles." A paragraph style contains various information about a particular paragraph such as locations of indentations, tabs, and spacing. It also contains information about character attributes such as font face, font size, bold, and italics for the entire paragraph.

When you format a paragraph as seen in the previous examples, you can give a name to each paragraph style and register it using style sheet. Once a style is registered, you can apply it to new paragraphs using the name.

Figure 3.6 shows a screen in MS Word where styles are created and registered. Please refer to the manual of your word processing software to perform the same task. (Once you have a conceptual understanding, finding how to create styles in different programs is easy.) In this page, there are four user defined styles. They are named Blank Underline, Comprehension question, Direction, and Reading passage.

Figure 3.6


When you create a new style, it will be added to the pull-down menu for styles as shown in Figure 3.7. By selecting an appropriate style, you can apply it to different paragraphs in your text.

Figure 3.7


Once you correctly apply styles to paragraphs, it is easy to make a global change. For example, if you want to change the length of underlines you have created, you do not have to go through the entire text and make change on each underline. Rather, you open the dialogue window for styles and modify the definition of the style Blank Underline. As soon as the definition of Blank Underline is changed, every paragraph in your text which the Blank Underline style has been applied to will change Since styles carry information about font size and font face, you can easily change the font characteristics of a particular paragraph very quickly.

Furthermore, styles can be transferred to new documents so that you do not have to recreate the ones you have already done. Using this feature, you can create documents such as tests and examinations with a uniform look.

There are quite a bit more features available in style sheets. Since they are beyond our focus, I will leave them for you to explore.

You can download the following file which contains the correct styles.

      < Download Ex1sty.doc (Microsoft Word Document) >

 

III. Using Find and Replace functions

Due to the wide availability of WWW, authentic texts have become accessible through the Internet. You can easily copy a part of today's newspaper in the target language and paste it into your word processor. However, a typical text you have ported from WWW browsers look like Figure 3.1. It essentially lacks formatting and a paragraph mark, which signals a presence of a return, appears at the end of each line. Unless you get rid of these extra returns somehow, it is very cumbersome to format and edit the text. Returns (or paragraph marks) should only appear at the end of each paragraph as shown in Figure 3.14

Figure 3.8

        < Download Example3.doc (Microsoft Word Document) >


The following three steps will achieve the conversion of Figure 3.8 to Figure 3.14. First, you need to identify what marks the end of a paragraph. In this text, two consecutive returns indicate the end of a real paragraph. Thus, you will look for two consecutive returns using the find function and replace them with something which is not likely to appear as a part of the text. In this example, five asterisks have been chosen. Figure 3.9 shows the replace window in MS Word. ^p is a symbol for a return since a return key itself cannot be typed in the field. This window indicates that the user is ready to replace two consecutive returns (^p^p) with five asterisks (*****). The result is shown in Figure 3.10.

Figure 3.9


Figure 3.10


Next, single returns need to be eliminated. Figure 3.11 shows how to set this up. By leaving the Replace-With field empty, the program will remove all instances of return. As a result, the entire text becomes one long paragraph, as shown in Figure 3.12.

Figure 3.11


Figure 3.12


Finally, real paragraphs will be recreated by replacing the five asterisks with two consecutive returns. (Figure 3.13)

Figure 3.13


Figure 3.14


 

Exercises for Chapter 3

  1. Find a formatted file of your own. Save it as a text-only file. (This will result in the loss of formatting. It is the topic for the next chapter. Get a help from somebody if you don't know how to do this.) Then, reformat the file using the features discussed in this chapter. Find the limitation of styles.

  2. Copy some text from WWW and paste it in your word processor. (Get a help from somebody if you don't know how to do this.) Try to format the text as much as possible with the techniques you learned in this chapter.

  3. The find-&-replace function can look for many other special characters in addition to the return key. Find out what they are.