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Formatting the Key to Creating a Readable Document

Delivering a polished manuscript regardless of whether you are writing to inform, persuade, explain or describe is, in some ways, like serving a fine meal. Not only is the aroma and flavour of the food important, but equally important is how it appeals to our other senses, in particular sight.

Poor presentation or lack of style can make the finest food or most brilliant idea seem lacklustre, tasteless, and even undesirable. Microsoft Word offers a number of formatting solutions that you should consider before submitting your document to your teacher, colleague, boss or client.

Formatting

Formatting refers to the layout and appearance of text and includes things like font type, font size, bolding, underlining, bullets, numbering, indents, and alignment of text.

Formatting can be executed in two different ways: Sheer Formatting and Style Formatting.

Sheer Formatting:

Sheer Formatting is simply the isolated use of individual formatting commands on selected text and pages. The navigation bar on a Word document will hold a number of formatting options. Centering a paragraph or word can be completed by highlighting the text and then selecting the centering function from the navigation bar. Formatting the font style is also quite easy. Under the Format button on the navigation bar, select Font. A menu box will open offering a number of choices for text style and providing a preview of the changes. To engage the preview box, first highlight the text you want to format. Then click on Format, followed by font. Now whatever changes you make to the text will appear in the preview box. With titles and headings a number of formatting options can be employed.Bold, Underline and Italics are the most common features used. There are however many other options like shadow, capitals, and emboss. The best way to determine which feature to employ is to experiment. Some industries have a default favourite. Writers, for example, tend to use the Times New Roman font in size 11 or 12, while All Caps seems to be a favourite of the legal and medical professions.

One caution to be mindful of is the application of formatting functions in a piecemeal fashion to each and every heading, section, paragraph and character. Often, when we are finished this laborious process, the resulting document is fragmented and unappealing. Some section headings may not match others; Indents may be inconsistent and cause the text to be misaligned; Fonts and font sizes may change paragraph by paragraph. In short the document looks like a dog's breakfast. A simple remedy is to change the formatting on certain words or phrases to become aligned with earlier occurrences. The fattest way to do this and ensure consistency throughout the document is to use the Styles feature.

Styles Formatting:

The Styles menu is located under the Format menu. It allows you to set specific formatting styles for headings, key words or phrases. Rather than select: Bold, Italic, and Arial in font size 12 each time you want those formatting selections, you can use Styles to capture this information and then apply it on subsequent words or phrases. This will not only save time and keystrokes, it will also allow you to become more consistent with your formatting without holding extensive amounts of details in your head.

Once you have selected the formatting that will be applied to the text, you can name the selection, edit, save and apply it to new text any number of times. Many different Styles can be designed, named and saved for specific use on your document. For example you may have all chapter titles appearing a certain way while your sub titles appear with different formatting. By selecting the formatting features that you want, naming and saving it, you can apply the same formatting to similar text with the stroke of one key. This feature can save you a great deal of time when editing large documents like sales reports or a PhD dissertation.

A capable writer, like the master chef, pays as much attention to the visual presentation of her masterpiece as she does to the content. Therefore, as you prepare food for thought, pay close attention to the Format and Style of your document so as to ensure the most favourable reception of your MS Word document.
 

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