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Unit Two is combines Lesson 46 - which introduces cut, copy and paste, with Lessons 29 - 32 which introduces business letter formats. Lesson 46 is moved to this point in the course to make your life easier as you work through your lessons.
NOTE: In Lesson 46 you will open files from the
data files. Data files are typically word documents. Data
files are located on the CD that came with your book.
To use the files on your Data Disk
Example: On page 169, Lesson 46 - Drill One, you will open the Microsoft Word document named Cut and Paste, from Unit 7 on the CD located in the back of your book. Lesson 46 In this discussion I'll discuss the differences between cut, copy and paste, and give you some practical applications. Then I'll discuss the two formats of business letters; block format and modified block format. Cut, Copy and Paste Cut, copy and paste are Word functions. These functions allow you to take text you've keyed in and use it somewhere else in that document, or even in another document. When you cut text, you are removing it from the original location, and placing it in another location. When you copy text you are also placing text in another location. The difference her is that you are also leaving the text in its original location. You are making a copy. Whether you are cutting or copying text, you will use paste to put the text in the new location. Let's look at some examples. Cutting Example:
Copying Example:
As you can see the only difference between the outcome of copying and pasting is that with copying the original document is not changed. You can cut and/or copy text, pictures, paragraphs, or formatting from one area of a document to another, and even from one document to another. This works great if you are writing letters and use the same closing on several separate documents. You can copy the closing in the original document, and paste it to the other documents saving you time and keystrokes!
Remember:
Beginning on page 168 your book discusses the exact keystrokes you will use to cut and copy information. Follow these directions closely, completing all the drills and the assigned lessons. Remember you are responsible for the content of the assigned lessons, whether I cover the topic here or not, so don't skip the section on the Office Clipboard. Character and Text Effects Both character and text effects change the appearance of text on your screen. The difference is in the printing.
Lesson 29 Lesson 29 introduces the most basic style of business letter, called block style. In a block style letter you will start all of the parts of the letter at the left margin, which means you start keying information without using your tab key or entering indents. Block letters are clean and contemporary and are a favorite in many offices. As I mentioned in the last lecture, not all offices use the same format or styles, but you are required to learn the different styles presented in the textbook. Once you learn to follow a style with consistency, it won't be hard for you to adapt to a particular companies own style.
Note:
Note:
All business letters you create in this class contain standard letter parts. On page 92 your book lists and explains the purpose and content of each part. Make sure you understand the information that belongs in each letter part, and the sequence the letter parts appear in standard business letters. The basic letter parts are:
Letter formats such as Block Format and Modified Block Format, refer to the way the letters parts are set up in the document. The sequence of each part is the same. Let's discuss the Block Format first. Block Format Business Letters Page 93 of your text shows an example of a Block Letter Format. Follow the standard directions for spacing between letter parts. In a Block letter all the standard letter parts begin at the left margin. Letter components starting at the left margin (no indents or tabs) is what sets a block letter apart from other formats. Review Lesson 29: Make sure you understand the basic parts of a business letter, the correct spacing between the parts of the letter and what sets the Block letter format apart from other formats. Lesson 30 Lesson 29 allows you to practice creating block letters, and adds the steps required to have Word generate an envelope. Remember, create the letter first, then when you follow the steps on page 96, Word will automatically find the Letter Address, and create an envelope. When you are printing envelopes in an RVC computer lab, you MUST go to the printer after sending the envelope to print, and press the green GO button several times. The printer is waiting for you to put an envelope into the printer. You will not do this, you will just press the GO key and print the envelope on plain paper. For students printing away from RVC, follow your printer's directions. Don't forget to practice the section on the function Change Case on page 96. Lesson 31 Lesson 31 introduces setting and using tabs. You will need to understand tabs before you can create the next letter format. This lesson can be challenging, often because it is easy to confuse the terms. Remember the TAB key on the keyboard? You have used this to add space at the beginning of a document. Usually the TAB key will move your insertion point (the blinking vertical bar where your typing appears) about 1/2 inch to the right. Now try and stay with me, this is where Word can get a little tricky. Word has a feature called AutoCorrect, you saw it in action when you tried to type your initials in lower case at the beginning of a line and Word automatically capitalized the first letter. Word may also try to AutoCorrect when you press the TAB key. In other words, you press the TAB key and word does not insert a tab character, Word inserts an indent. That's OK if you just want a paragraph to start 1/2 inch from the left margin. However, an indent acts differently than a tab and you need to be able to tell which Word is using. Your text book is about as clear as mud on this point. Here is an example of a indent and a tab character.
OK so know you know how to insert a tab character using the TAB key on the keyboard. You also know how to make sure Word entered a tab character. Now its time to control how tabs behave. If you do not set a tab stop, Word automatically moves your insertion point to the next default tab stop. Default tab stops are set every 1/2 inch. You can override the defaults by inserting your own tab stops, which is also known as setting tabs. Your textbook does a good job of explaining the different types of tab stops you can set on page 99, and giving you step by step directions for setting and controlling tabs. Just be aware that the text book shows you two separate ways of setting tabs. On page 99 you are shown how to set tabs using the horizontal ruler. This method works great, but sometimes can get a bit complicated. On page 100 your book shows you how to set tabs using the Tabs dialog box. You should use this method to set all types of tabs if the horizontal ruler method isn't working for you. Using the Tabs dialog box (Select Tabs, from the Format menu) you can set tabs at exactly the length you want from the left margin, change tabs to whatever alignment you want, add leaders, and clear one tab or all the tabs. Spend some time working with this dialog box. Please read the directions to the applications (31d-d1 and 31d-d2) very carefully. Please be patient with this section. You may need to read these directions, refer to the text book, then reread these directions before tab stops, setting tabs and non printing tab characters become clear to you. Lesson 32 Don't panic, Lesson 32 doesn't introduce new Word skills. In this lesson you will apply what you've learned about formatting letters and creating tab stops. This lesson introduces the Modified-Block Format business letter. A modified block format letter only differs from the block letter format you learned in lesson 29 by two small changes.
The textbook also introduces two optional letter parts. By optional, we don't mean you can put them in if you want to, we mean only that they are not part of every letter, the way the standard letter parts are required for every letter. For example, if you put a resume in with a cover letter and send the documents to a prospective employer, you must have an Enclosure Notation at the end of the document. Your text book does a good job of discussing these letter parts on page 102.
Hint: Using Paragraph Formats
Tab stops are part of group of format techniques called Paragraph Formats. Paragraph formats, as the name suggests control the way paragraphs work, in much the same way character formats control the way words and letters look. Paragraph formats include line spacing, like double spaced reports and single spaced letters. They also include those pesky tab stops we've just been talking about. What this means is if you, key a letter, then decide you want to add tab stops at 3" from the left margin, you must insert the tab stop in each paragraph. You cannot click in the date line, add a left tab stop at 3", and expect to use it at the bottom of the letter. Each paragraph (remember you create a new paragraph every time you press the Enter key) can have its own paragraph formatting. If you want to add that new tab stop to the entire document you must select, (highlight) the entire document, then while the document is selected, you will set the tab stop. OK folks, again I've lecture far too much for just one Unit. Don't skip reading the lectures and the lessons in your text book. Both readings will save you time in the long run. Good luck on Unit Two. Again, please let me know if you have questions or concerns. Lydia |
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is called an end of paragraph marker and shows
up when you press the Enter key.
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