By Shadiqin Halim
As a student, doing assignments and tackling the workloads are making it compulsory for us to at least know the basic on how to use word processing software such as Microsoft Word to be able to complete our task. Apart from that, there are also several common mistakes that we always do, which will be addressed here.
Microsoft Word features a lot of shortcut keys that we can master to help us in reducing our troublesome while finishing our written documents in which will lead to saving of time. Therefore, I want to share a list of shortcut keys that I used as produced below for your reference:
| Keys | Description | Keys | Description |
| Ctrl + 0 | Add spacing before paragraph | Ctrl + T | Set to hanging paragraph |
| Ctrl + 1 | Set to single-spacing | Ctrl + U | Underline selected text |
| Ctrl + 2 | Set to double-spacing | Ctrl + V | Paste |
| Ctrl + 5 | Set to 1.5 spacing | Ctrl + W | Close current document |
| Ctrl + A | Select all contents of the document | Ctrl + X | Cut (copy and replace) |
| Ctrl + B | Set font to bold | Ctrl + Y | Redo last action |
| Ctrl + C | Copy highlighted content | Ctrl + Z | Undo |
| Ctrl + D | Open font formatting window | Ctrl + Shift + L | Create bullet point |
| Ctrl + E | Set the paragraph to center | Ctrl + Shift + > | Make font bigger |
| Ctrl + F | Searching tool | Ctrl + Shift + < | Make font smaller |
| Ctrl + I | Set font to italic | Ctrl + Shift + Arrow < | Highlight words before |
| Ctrl + J | Set the paragraph to justified format | Ctrl + Shift + Arrow > | Highlight words after |
| Ctrl + K | Insert hyperlink | Ctrl + Arrow < | Move to first letter of word |
| Ctrl + L | Set the paragraph to left | Ctrl + Arrow > | Move to last letter of word |
| Ctrl + M | Add indent to paragraph | Shift + Arrow < | Highlight letter by letter to the left |
| Ctrl + N | New document | Shift + Arrow > | Highlight letter by letter to the right |
| Ctrl + O | Window of selecting files to open | Ctrl + End | Move to the last word of the document |
| Ctrl + P | Open print window | Ctrl + Home | Move to the first word of the document |
| Ctrl + R | Set the paragraph to right | Ctrl + Spacebar | Set highlighted words to default font |
| Ctrl + S | Save To save as new file, use Alt + F | Type and highlight ˜fdfa + Alt + X | ï·º |
Common mistakes that students should avoid and bear in mind in the making of assignments:
- Avoid plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of copying other people’s work and used it as our own. This is what a student must definitely prevent from doing. Do not simply copy and paste sentences, instead we have to paraphrase the whole sentence and include proper citation. If we got caught plagiarising, we may be receiving low marks and worst, no marks at all!
- Set references list to hanging indent
Please refer to the above table for shortcut key on making a hanging indent.
- References link should be set to normal font instead of blue underlined font
When you copy and paste links, it will be automatically set as a hyperlink. Therefore, we need to set it back to default font type.
- In-text citations must be included
Usually, any written report should be in American Psychological Association (APA) style. This is what it should be written.
- Arrange references list in alphabetical order
In arranging the references, what you need to do is; (1) go to paragraph section, (2) click on sort, (3) ˜sort by should be in paragraph, set it order in ascending, (4) click OK. Thats it! Here what is supposed to look like.***
