St. Michael Foundation ECDL Module 3 Vers. 1.

ECDL Module 3 – Word Processing

Study resources for the module ....................................................................................... 3
Online sources................................................................................................................. 3
What is a Word Processor?.............................................................................................. 3
The Interface................................................................................................................... 4
Shortcuts to moving around the screen ............................................................................ 4
Spellchecking and Grammatical errors ............................................................................ 5
Preview........................................................................................................................... 6
Page Setup ...................................................................................................................... 6
Inserting Text.................................................................................................................. 6
Deleting text ................................................................................................................... 7
Finding and replacing text ............................................................................................... 7
Special Characters........................................................................................................... 8
Page Setup ...................................................................................................................... 9
Changing Fonts, Sizes and Outlines .............................................................................. 10
Alignment ..................................................................................................................... 10
Text Colour................................................................................................................... 11
Changing cases ............................................................................................................. 11
Changing Line Spacing ................................................................................................. 11
Format Painter .............................................................................................................. 12
Indenting Text............................................................................................................... 12
Headers and Footers...................................................................................................... 12
View ............................................................................................................................. 13
Zoom ............................................................................................................................ 13
Page breaks ................................................................................................................... 13
Bullets and Numbering.................................................................................................. 13
Unordered List .......................................................................................................... 13
Ordered List .............................................................................................................. 13
Tabulations ................................................................................................................... 14
Borders and Shading ..................................................................................................... 14
Tables ........................................................................................................................... 15
Mail Merge ................................................................................................................... 15
Step 1........................................................................................................................ 16
Step 2........................................................................................................................ 16
Step 3A ..................................................................................................................... 16
Step 3B ..................................................................................................................... 17
Step 4........................................................................................................................ 18
Inserting graphics.......................................................................................................... 19
Resizing an image ..................................................................................................... 19
Moving/Copying pictures .......................................................................................... 20

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Borders around graphics............................................................................................ 20

Deleting Images ........................................................................................................ 21
Practice Exercises ......................................................................................................... 21

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 St. Michael Foundation ECDL Module 3 Vers. 1.0

Study resources for the module.

Modules 2-7 of the ECDL examination are practical examinations, in other words,
the student is expected to show competent knowledge in the use of the
applications. This knowledge may only be gained through continual practice,
gained through using the application and experimenting with various scenarios.
On the other hand Module 1 is a ‘written’ examination; the form of the exam is
one of a multiple choice. Real insight is needed in the interpretation of the given
answers.
It is very important that the student does not solely rely on the work that is done
in the classroom, but supplements their knowledge by searching the internet for
past papers and attempting them, asking where they do not understand. These
notes are designed to supplement course content delivered in class and should
not replace any notes you should be taking. Remember people have failed the
exams because they could not interpret the question and did not know what the
examiner was asking them to do.

Online sources
http://www.stmichaelfoundation.org > syllabus > Computer Studies and ICT> ECDL
ftp://ftp.ghalliem.net
Google seach engine > type in +ECDL +Module +3 +Practice +Papers (or any other similar
combination)

What is a Word Processor?

A word processor is an application whose principal function is the preparation

of documents and letters, for the purposes of the ECDL we will be using an
application called Microsoft Word which forms part of the Microsoft Office
package. Word is a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) application, in
other words if you type in a‘t’ that is what you will see on your screen.

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The Interface

Cursor

Vertical Ruler
Horizontal Ruler

Document area

Text is usually typed into the application and will be located where there is the
awaiting cursor, this point may be entered by either positioning the cursor in the
location you want to enter your text, and alternatively you may also use the arrow
keys.

Shortcuts to moving around the screen

Backspace – Deletes one character at a time backwards <-

Del – Deletes on character at a time forwards ->
Home – Takes you to the beginning of the line.

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 St. Michael Foundation ECDL Module 3 Vers. 1.0

End – Takes you to the end of the line.

Ctrl+Home – Takes you to the start of the document.
Ctrl+End – Takes you to the end of the document
Page Up – Moves your document one page up
Page Down – Moves your document one page down.

Spellchecking and Grammatical errors

Word automatically checks your documents for spelling and/or grammatical

errors.
Spelling errors are underlined with a red wavy line e.g. Confadent to correct this
error right click on the word and you will be given a drop down list of possible
alternative correctly spelt words. Note that Word bases its corrections upon
words found in the English dictionary (if the application is set to be based upon
that language) therefore a word spelt in Maltese Torri , will still be marked as
being spelt incorrectly even though it is actually correctly spelt, in this case ignore
the underline.
Grammatical errors would be underlined with a green wavy line e.g. ,The ;
again, right click the underlined text and Word will give you a recommended
option.

You may also check your document by clicking Tools > Spelling and Grammar
and following the instructions, replacing wrongly spelt words with recommended

ones. There is also a shortcut button on the formatting toolbar .

To change the dictionary e.g. from and English Dictionary into a German
dictionary:

Tools > Spelling and Grammar > Change dictionary

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Preview

You can preview your document prior to printing it to ensure that your work is
correctly aligned etc.
File > Print Preview
Or

To go back either hit Esc or else Close the window to return to the previous
document window.

Page Setup

To change the attributes of the page select File > Page Setup.

Select the side and top/bottom

borders of your document

You may set the page orientation

from portrait (long) to landscape
(wide)

Select this tap to change the type

of paper you intend to print on i.e.
A4, A3, and Landscape etc.

Inserting Text

To insert text position the cursor where you would like to insert the new text then
start tying in the new text

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I need to insert text between these words

Place the cursor here to insert

I need to insert text new text inserted between these words.

Deleting text

To delete text highlight the text and either press the Del key on your keyboard or
else select Edit > Cut.

Finding and replacing text

To find text in a document press Edit > Find and key in the word you are looking
for then press Find Next to go through all your document.

To replace text click the replace tab

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You can now type in the word that you would like to Find and Replace it with
whatever word you wish, note that you may replace individual words or similar
words in the document, for example you may wish to replace the word hello with
goodbye which is repeated seven times in a document.

Copying, Cutting and Pasting

To Cut text highlight the required text and press Edit > Cut the text is now stored
on the clipboard. Cut moves text from its original position and may be pasted in
another location.

To Copy text highlight the required text and press Edit > Copy the text is now
stored on the clipboard. Copy makes identical copies of the text in its original
position and also pasted in another location/s, note that text may also be copied
from one document to another.

Special Characters

To insert special characters e.g. ∑ or ® Insert > Symbol select your symbol and
click Insert once, your symbol is now inserted.

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Page Setup

To modify the page layout from landscape to portrait or vice versa

File > Page Setup and select the orientation that you require.

To change the Page margins select

File > Page Setup and change the parameters of the margins i.e. the left right
margins and the gaps at the top and bottom of your text.

Superscript and subscript

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Select the text and press Format > Font and choose Subscript or superscript

Examples:
Hello
Superscript : this can be also used for fractions.
Subscript : Goodbye again this is put to good use in fractions.

Changing Fonts, Sizes and Outlines

To change the font, size or outline of any of your selected text you either set the
parameters of the text before you start typing or alternatively you may select the
text and choose the parameters that you require.
Italic Underline
s

Font Bold
Size

Alignment

To align text, select the text and then select the icon for the required alignment

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Align Left Align Centre Align Right Justify

Text Colour
To change the colour of the text highlight the text then Format > Font > Font

colour or else highlight the text and choose the button.

Changing cases
To change the cases of text select the text then Format > Change Case and
select the required case.

Changing Line Spacing

To change the line spacing select the tract of text that you would like to increase
the line spacing, right click on the highlighted text and select paragraph, from the
window change the line spacing to the required one.

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Format Painter
To copy text with specific formats and styles select that text and double click the

format painter button . You can now paste identical formats of the text and
styles in you document.

Indenting Text
To indent text select the text and select either the increase indent button or

else the decrease indent button .

Headers and Footers

To insert a Heading and/or Footer into your document select View > Headers and
Footers, the following window will appear

Insert Date Insert Time Go to Footer

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View

To view different outlines of your pages select View then choose the appropriate
view layout.

Zoom
You can change the size of the page by zooming in and out; this may be done by

selecting the zoom button and choosing the appropriate size .

Page breaks

To insert a page break select Insert > Break > Page Break.

Bullets and Numbering

Bullets are split into two main types:

Unordered List
• Butter
• Margerine
• Milk

Ordered List
1. Pay Reception
2. Enter Door
3. Watch Film

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Note that an ordered list may be either organized in alphabetical order or else in
numeric order, including roman numerals.

Tabulations

- Left tab stop (text flows to the right of the tab stop).
- Centre Tab means that text is centered in the middle of the icon.
- Right tab stop (text flows to the left of the tab stop).
- Decimal tab (numerics with decimal points are aligned under each other)
e.g. 23.456
3.456
12345.89
29
Tab stops are positioned as required in the horizontal ruler:

Borders and Shading

To add a border or shading to your document

select the text then Format > Borders and
Shading
It is very important that you select the
colours and type of border before selecting
where you want your borders to appear.

Saving of documents

You may save your word documents in varied formats dependant upon the type
of file you need or else the space required

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File > Save as > Choose file type

Various file
types

Tables

To create a table select Table > Insert > Table and from the window that appears
select the amount of rows and columns that your table would have

Alternatively you may use the Table icon found on the

formatting toolbar (Right) and
select the amount of rows and
columns by shading those cells.

Mail Merge

Mail merge is a function in word that lets the user prepare one document that he
would like to send to many recipients whose details are stored in a database (an
application that stores information).

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To start the mail merge wizard select Tools > Letters and mailings > Mail merge
wizard, the following screen will appear.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3A

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Step 3B

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Step 4

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Inserting graphics
You may insert graphics into any part of your document by:

Insert > Picture > Select whether from file or alternatively whether it is clipart.

Resizing an image

To resize an image click on the image, eight squares will appear around the
image.

By dragging this square the picture

heightens

By dragging this square the picture will

widen

By dragging this square the picture will

enlarge keeping its aspect ratio.

To resize with more precision right click the image > Format Picture and from the
window that appears select the sizes.

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You can set the height and

the width by typing in their
values.

You can change the size

by resetting the
percentage of its size

IMPORTANT: Remove the

lock aspect ratio if you
want to change the
attributes of the image

Moving/Copying pictures

To Move (Cut) or copy a picture right click on the image, select cut or copy from
the attached menu, the image is now stored in the clipboard of your computer, go
to where you desire to insert the image, right click on that location and select
paste from the drop down menu.

Borders around graphics

You can insert a border around a graphic by right clicking the image and
selecting Borders and Shading.

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Deleting Images

To delete an image right click on that image and select delete from the menu,
alternatively select the image and use the Delete button from your keyboard.

Printing

To print your document you can either choose the shortcut print button which
would print according to your default settings or alternatively File > Print.

Print to file is used when you

need to send an electronic copy
of a printout., it is NOT printed on
paper

Practice Exercises
Type out the following extract

1. Sixty years ago, the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki became the
victims of the most appalling and radical form of total war,'' said Giovanni
Di Stasi, President of the Congress of the Council of Europe, on the 60th
anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.

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2. A police dog and her handler weave through the debris where the WTC
south tower once stood. Rescue dogs like this one are trained to detect
traces of sweat and other musky odors exuded by the body during stress.
They are also able to distinguish between the living and the dead.
3. As a new student no doubt you will have loads of questions about the
university and how it works. This is a very common experience of many of
our new students here and as the weeks go by your questions are likely to
be answered.

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