PRDV003: Word Processing Using Microsoft Word

This course is designed for the novice who has little or no word processing experience. This software program referred to and used in this course is Microsoft Word. However, if you do not have a subscription to the Microsoft Office programs, you may still take this course. You can download a 30-day trial of Microsoft Office, for free, at this link: https://products.office.com/en-us/word

You may also use another word processing software of your choice. For example, Google Docs is available to anyone with a Gmail account, which you may create for free here: https://accounts.google.com/SignUp

Last, remember that most colleges, universities, and some public libraries offer public computer stations with at least one word processing program ready for you to use.

This course will introduce you to the Home Ribbon and the File Ribbon. A "ribbon” is a toolbar interface on which you will find tools to change the appearance of your document. The tools within each ribbon are put into different groupings, based on their functionality. Some ribbons appear only when certain objects are used or selected. For example, a Picture Tool Format Ribbon will appear once a graphic has been inserted through the Insert Ribbon.

Home and File are the most commonly used Ribbons. You will work with these Ribbons and Commands from the Font and Paragraph groupings to create, save, and print a block style business letter and a block style business memo.

In this unit, we will compare the Office Button from Microsoft Word 2007 and the File Ribbon from Microsoft Word 2010. We will also discuss how to save and print a document using both of these versions. This unit will introduce you to the Quick Access Toolbar, and you will learn how to add and delete commands from the toolbar.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 1 hour.

There are several styles of business letters. In this unit, you will learn the basic block style business letter used in many offices. Pay particular attention to spacing, as it is an important component of this style. 

In the newer versions of Microsoft Word the default spacing style is the Normal Style, which automatically creates a space after each paragraph. This spacing style is not appropriate for business letters. Rather it is better suited for on-screen spacing. You will use the No Spacing style when creating documents for this unit.

This unit also discusses non-printing characters. These are on-screen characters that are viewed when the Show/Hide button (¶) is enabled. They allow a "background" view of the document to see if correct spacing and other formatting techniques were used. Here is a list of three non-printing characters you will see and use in the following two units:

¶ appears each time the Enter key was pressed

· appears each time the Space bar was pressed

→ appears each time the Tab key was pressed

Completing this unit should take you approximately 1 hour.

Businesses use a variety of templates and styles for their business memos. In this unit we will look at the basic block style business memo.

You will use font "styles" such as bold, italicize, and underline to emphasize text. This unit will also highlight the use of borders as a visual break between sections of a memo.

Often, for business memos, you will use a "CC" line. CC means "carbon copy" and refers to an old practice in which a piece of carbon paper is put between two pieces of paper while a document is written to create a copy of the document. Nowadays, to CC someone means to send a copy of the original document to that person. Today, a CC is most commonly used with email.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 1 hour.