the Word processor

Introduction

To many of us, MS Word is just the equivalent of typing on a computer screen instead of directly on paper. I remember Ms Gapud, my second-year Math teacher in UP Rural High, having problems with printing the symbol for average (x with the overbar) in our exam questionnaires. However, my experiences the past few days (two weeks, to be exact) made me realise how powerful this software can be. Here, I am sharing some of my shortfalls in using what is seemingly a very simple software (at least in my erroneous opinion).

Materials and Methods

Of course, there are other word-processing software out there, but I was only able to use several versions of MS Word, and yet only up to some degree.

Results and Discussion

Equation Editor. Ah, yes, the feature in the 2007 version of Word that I could not use to full capacity because I was keeping my document compatible to the older versions of Word. When I used this with the intent of pasting the equation from Word 2007 to the Word 2003-compatible, the font was default at Cambria Math, font size 11, and I couldn't change the font to something else. After figuring out how to get the equation into the editor, I had trouble pasting the equation into the compatible version, because the equation gets converted into a picture! With time running out, Bob decided that it's better, under the circumstances, that I just type in the equation in line with the text (no fancy Equation Editors involved).

Field Codes. I used these to insert captions and titles to figures and tables, and then to insert cross-references into the main text. Apparently, field codes can also be used to insert equations (which I obviously did not know) and symbols that are not found in the Insert Symbol function of the software... such as Math symbols. EndNote citations are also inserted into the document as field codes before these are formatted based on the style required.

Styles. Heading 1, heading 2, heading 3, normal, caption, clear formatting... These are the choices for the style of the text in the manuscript. The title of the chapter has heading 1, the introduction has heading 2, and so on... I used to just write the chapters using the font I wanted. However, I found out that styles saves time in preparing the Table of Contents because everything that has a style assigned to it will be included in the table! So, instead of taking a day to write the TOC, it took me about an hour including checking the numbering. This could have been quicker if I had used the numbering feature of Word 2007, which automatically assigns outline numbers to the different sections of the manuscript. Another feature of styles is its capacity to keep section titles and text together in a page, called "keep with next," and this is very useful in maintaining a clear flow in the manuscript.

References. One of final steps before handing in the manuscript is formatting the list of literature cited. I thought I wouldn't have problems here... it was just a matter of clicking the Format button in the EndNote Add-In. Unfortunately, my EndNote library did not include the reference style preferred by my supervisors in a PhD manuscript. So I had to redo the formatting a few times, using the style Bob provided from the Australian Research Council.

Captions. Ever wonder how to quickly keep the text of a long figure caption together in one page? Simple... Melissa's advice is to use text boxes... and don't forget to group the figure and the caption together. That way, when the text about the figure moves about, the figure and its caption stay together.

Summary and Conclusion

What did I learn in all of these? Before embarking on the gruelling task of writing a thesis, get acquainted with the many powerful features of the word-processing software.