What is MS Word?

A word processor used to type manuscripts
Graphics may also be embedded
Using the mouse

Selecting text is done by left-clicking and dragging across the text you wish to select
Right-clicking will give context-sensitive menus

The File Menu

Opening, closing, saving, and printing documents

Remember to use "Save As" to change the name of a file
Page Setup can be used to change margins and page size
APA format suggests 1" margins on all sides

The Edit Menu

Used to cut, copy, and paste text

Move text around from within Word
Copy tables and charts from SPSS, or copy graphics from Navigator
Undo can be used to undo the last change to a document (note--the Undo command cannot undo everything)

The View Menu

Used to change the way the document looks on your screen
Creating headers and footers is done here

APA format requires a header (the first two or three words of the title) on the top-right corner of every page along with the page number

The Insert Menu

Used to insert symbols such as Greek letters
Files and pre-made graphics can be inserted using this menu

The Format Menu

Used to change the font (typeface and size)

APA suggests using easy-to-read typefaces such as Times New Roman, Courier, or Arial
Fonts can also be changed to create subscript or superscript
Format Paragraph changes the line spacing
APA requires double-spacing everything

The Tools Menu

Use spelling, thesaurus, and grammar tools

The grammar tool may indicate you have passive tense, but sometimes passive tense is necessary to avoid first-person language
Count the number of words in a document
The abstract should be no more than about 120 words

The Table Menu

Used to create tables to describe your data
Once created, you can make adjustments to your table, such as creating borders
Turn off the gridlines to see what it looks like when printed
Click here for some of the class notes on this.

The Window and Help Menus

The Window Menu allows you to move from one open document to another
The Help menu gives you help (obviously)