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Bellingham School District

Edit a Report & Insert a Table

 Word Processing notebook icon

GOALS: Use editing tools efficiently and productively to improve written content, and use table tools to visually organize information.

TASK:

Format a report according to MLA guidelines, edit spelling, grammar and content features, insert a table, and use citations properly.

PRODUCT:

Properly formatted and edited report with in-text citations.

RESOURCES:

ASSESSMENT:

PROCEDURES:

You will edit and format a report that is already typed, using the tools in Word.

  • For help with the editing and table design tasks listed below, open Instruction Tables or the online Technology Skills Tutorial at Florida G.C.U.
  • Part 4 of this task reviews procedures in the MLA section of the word processing module

In the RESOURCES box:

  • Open the sample report—it opens as a Word document in your Internet window
  • DO NOT edit this document—save a copy to your own files
  • Choose Save As and place RsrchPprSamp.doc in your H: drive
  • Use the Internet back button to return to this page
  • Open the sample report in your H: drive.

Complete the following tasks:

1. Format Research Paper

Open the sample document in PDF format.  Follow guidelines in gray boxes.

2. Edit Research Paper

  • Correct all misspellings.  Proofread to find an error that Spell Check missed. (Hint—it’s near the end of the report.)
  • Consider Grammar Check suggestions and accept or ignore.  Change to active voice in paragraph 3, sentence 6.
  • Use Thesaurus to replace the word “curious” with another appropriate word. (Use Find to locate the word.)
  • Use Find and Replace to correct all instances of white house to White House.
  • Move text with mouse: place paragraph 9 before paragraph 8.

3. Insert Table

  • At the end of paragraph 1, compose and type a phrase to introduce this table into the report.
  • Then type the information shown below, formatted in a table. Include row borders as shown.
  • The dotted gray lines you see here are instruction guides—they should not be visible in your Print Preview.

Table image

  • Use AutoFit to:
    • Align table with side margins
    • Distribute space in columns according to contents
    • Distribute rows evenly
  • Center contents in cells vertically and horizontally
  • Important: to make the rows in the “invisible” table appear double spaced and consistent with the rest of the report, you need to follow this sequence: first enter text double spaced, then use Distribute Rows Evenly, and apply single spacing last. 

4. Format Research Paper Sources

  • Insert a page break before the source list
  • Change the title to Works Cited
  • Create a hanging indent for entries that wrap
  • Arrange list alphabetically using A-Z Sort tool
    • Scan the re-sorted list to see if it is alphabetically correct
    • Use your mouse to move items that didn’t sort properly (if they begin with punctuation or an article)

The writer of this report cites sources 11 times. 7 parenthetical citations are already in the report—look for them, and use them as examples. Red numbers direct you to the appropriate source and provide page numbers.

    • Create citations at each of the 4 bold numbers spread throughout the report
      • Use last name(s) of author(s), followed by page number(s)
      • No author: use title, in quotes or underlined
      • Use one word from a title, or just enough words to direct reader to a particular source
      • Omit article (a, an, the) if it’s the first word of a title
      • Place the parenthetical note before the sentence period
    • Remove any bold formatting that remains

Finally, remove all red text from the Works Cited list.

    • Use Edit > Replace
    • In Find dialog box, indicate font features to find
    • Replace with box—leave empty
     
DO NOT PRINT THE REPORT. Show your teacher your print preview for check off on completed tasks, and be prepared to demonstrate how to use the tools included in the report formatting assignment.

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