How to format documents

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Congratulations! You're invited to a fancy dinner. Leaders of industry will be there. Celebrities. <figure><a title="Pete Souza , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Passover_Seder_Dinner_at_the_White_House_2011.jpg"><img width="512" alt="Passover Seder Dinner at the White House 2011" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Passover_Seder_Dinner_at_the_White_House_2011.jpg/512px-Passover_Seder_Dinner_at_the_White_House_2011.jpg"></a><figcaption>Illustration of a fancy dinner. In fact, this is a Passover seder at the White House.</figcaption></figure> This opportunity could change your life, or at least your Instagram account. How do you dress? * [[Casual]] -- I'm more comfortable in sweatpants anyway. * [[To the nines]] -- I am going to make sure I look the part. (Hey now, I don't have time for any fancy dinner! Just give me [[the facts->Recap]])

Here you are at the event with your friends. Look how comfortable you look! And happy! <figure><a title="Punkt 8 at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sweatpants.jpg"><img width="256" alt="Sweatpants" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Sweatpants.jpg/256px-Sweatpants.jpg"></a><figcaption>You and your friends in casual clothes</figcaption></figure> You were denied entry. Life is unfair, but that's the way it works. You gotta dress the part. Better luck next time. [[Back->Home]]

Good choice. You have been admitted! Your life is looking up. <figure><a title="See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frock_Coat_April_1904.jpg"><img width="256" alt="Frock Coat April 1904" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Frock_Coat_April_1904.jpg/256px-Frock_Coat_April_1904.jpg"></a><figcaption>Fashionable dress from the 1890s</figcaption></figure> Good job making a good choice. You have to LOOK THE PART to get taken seriously. Same with your documents! [[Next->Paper formatting like dress]]

The BIG IDEA -- if you want your college papers to be taken seriously (and you do), they need to LOOK THE PART. To be taken seriously in a formal setting, a person needs to wear a suit and tie, or a dress, or whatever the conventions are. Equivalently, your papers need to have PROPER, COLLEGE-LEVEL FORMATTING. <figure><a title="US-Regierung, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Executive_Order_9981.jpg"><img width="512" alt="Executive Order 9981" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Executive_Order_9981.jpg/512px-Executive_Order_9981.jpg"></a><figcaption>A well-formatted document -- Executive Order 9981 dated July 26, 1948 in which President Harry S. Truman bans the segregation of the Armed Forces</figcaption></figure> [[Next->Organization]]

Now then, suppose I hand you a book and ask you to turn to page 37. <figure><a title="nae, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_book_nae_02.svg"><img width="256" alt="Open book nae 02" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Open_book_nae_02.svg/256px-Open_book_nae_02.svg.png"></a><figcaption>A book!</figcaption></figure> You take the book. You open. OH NO. There are no page numbers. (You knew there would be a trick.) All of a sudden, a task that should be EASY (finding page 37) has become HARD. Not good! [[Next->Reader's perspective]]

!Help the reader navigate your document! When you compose a document, imagine yourself as the reader of the document. Help the reader navigate your document! PAGE NUMBERS are a good start. (Don't know [[how to do page numbers]]? No shame, it's easy!) What else? LABEL THE PARTS of your document. For example, in your PD 1: Creativity and the Tale of Sinuhe, you are illustrating FOUR SCENES. So, be sure to label FIRST SCENE, SECOND SCENE, THIRD SCENE, FOURTH SCENE so that the reader can easily find their way around. Again in your PD 1, each scene has FIVE PARTS -- label each part A, B, C, D, E. [[Next->Title]]

Some students are afraid of page numbers because they think they have to write a number on each page. Don't do it that way! For one thing, it doesn't even work. When the teacher sees your document in Canvas, the numbers are going to be all messed up. Instead, use the PAGE NUMBER FEATURE of your word processor. * For example, in Google Docs, go to INSERT > Page Numbers. * In Microsoft Word, go to INSERT > Header and Footer. Once you've created a header (or footer), then you can add page numbers to it. Still not sure? Contact the teacher and let's Zoom about it. I promise it's easy! [[Back->Reader's perspective]]

Suppose you came across the document below. <figure><a title="late antique copyist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vergilius_Augusteus,_Georgica_141.jpg"><img width="256" alt="Vergilius Augusteus, Georgica 141" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Vergilius_Augusteus%2C_Georgica_141.jpg/256px-Vergilius_Augusteus%2C_Georgica_141.jpg"></a><figcaption>A mysterious document</figcaption></figure> Can you quickly tell what information the document contains? * [[Yes->Can read Latin]], it is totally easy to tell what info is in this document * [[No->Can't read Latin]], what the what?!

Well, you are an educated person! You can read Latin, and you see that this is the text of Virgil's //Georgics//, composed over 2,000 years ago. But still, you gotta admit, it sure would be nice to have a title at the top to tell the reader what's in the document! Go [[Back->Title]], and choose no. Because really, I don't think you knew what was in the document!

That's right, it's hard to know what this document contains! Wouldn't it be great if the document had a TITLE, especially one in TITLE POSITION (top center), to tell us what the document conains. Do that. Put a title on your document. Top center. Every time! A GOOD TITLE: * Tells the reader what info is in the document. * Is YOUR OWN WORDS. Don't just recycle the name of the assignment. * Is MEANINGFUL -- "Essay" or "PD 1" are NOT good titles! [[Next->Metadata]]

!Let's talk METADATA Now then, the content of your document is the DATA. That's your essay, or journal reflection, or professional development work, or whatever brilliant text you wrote. Data is just information of any sort. Now then, METADATA is -- wait for it -- DATA ABOUT THE DATA in your document. * So, for example, the TITLE is metadata. The title tells the reader what information the document contains. * The PAGE NUMBERS and SECTION LABELS are metadata, because they tell what parts of the document are where. [[What else?->Heading]]

Now then, imagine someone across the country -- let's call him Bob -- finds a document you have made. <figure><a title="Jtneill, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_administration_symbol.svg"><img width="256" alt="Survey administration symbol" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Survey_administration_symbol.svg/256px-Survey_administration_symbol.svg.png"></a><figcaption>Bob holding your document. Bob needs some help with coloring, but that's a problem for another day.</figcaption></figure> Bob is not in your class. Bob doesn't know you. Bob doesn't know anything about this document. HELP BOB OUT! So, there's another IMPORTANT KIND OF METADATA -- namely, the HEADING. The heading should go at the top left of your paper, or the top right if you prefer. It should be immediately visible to whoever might glance at your document. The HEADING tells the reader about the context in which the document was created. When Bob sees your heading, he knows that your document was created on such-and-such a date, that it was created for such-and-such a class. BUT NO NAME IN THIS CLASS! Normally, you would put your NAME in the heading, but in this class, DON'T PUT YOUR NAME IN THE HEADING. Your document is being submitted to the Turnitin database, so it shouldn't have your name. You don't want your name stored in the Turnitin database. [[Next->Recap]]

Ok, so a well formatted document is essential. It's like dressing well. What does that mean? * [[PAGE NUMBERS and SECTION LABELS->Reader's perspective]] -- Help the reader navigate your document! * [[TITLE->Title]] -- in the top center -- tell the reader what info is contained in the document -- be sure to write YOUR OWN title, and don't just recycle the name of the assignment * [[HEADING->Heading]] -- let the reader know the context in which your document was created Collectively, all of this is [[Metadata]]. Look -- all of this formatting stuff is REALLY EASY. And yet it's not. Somehow, people just won't do it! But that's a BIG ADVANTAGE for you -- by using proper college-level formatting, you're setting yourself apart from the herd. You're showing you care about your work. You're opening doors for yourself.