Topics Covered

On this page

1. 3.1 Word processing basics
2. 3.2 Presentation tools
3. 3.3 Keyboard shortcuts
4. Exam questions from this unit
5. Mistakes that cost marks

Syllabus topics: Word processing basics — using MS Word/Google Docs: formatting, styles, tables, mail merge. Presentation tools — using PowerPoint/Google Slides: slide design, animations, transitions. Applications — creating resumes, reports, brochures, and presentations. Keyboard shortcuts.

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This unit is learned at a keyboard. Reading about mail merge teaches you nothing; doing one mail merge teaches you all of it.

3.1 Word processing basics

Formatting levels

Level	Controls	Where
Character	Font, size, bold, italic, underline, colour, superscript	Home → Font
Paragraph	Alignment, indentation, line spacing, spacing before/after, bullets	Home → Paragraph
Page	Margins, orientation, size, columns, borders	Layout
Section	Different headers, footers or orientation within one document	Layout → Breaks
Document	Styles, theme, template	Design

Styles — the thing most students skip

1. Consistency — every heading looks identical automatically
2. One-step global change — modify the style, and all 40 headings update

3. Automatic table of contents — generated from heading styles; without them it cannot be built at all

4. Navigation pane — jump between sections

5. Accessibility — screen readers use heading structure

This is the single most useful thing in this unit. Direct formatting on a long document is slow to apply and painful to change; styles make both trivial.

To generate a table of contents: apply Heading 1/2/3 styles, then References → Table of Contents. Update it with F9.

Tables

Insert → Table, then drag to size or specify rows and columns.

Task	How
Add a row	Tab at the last cell, or right-click → Insert
Merge cells	Select → right-click → Merge Cells
Split cells	Layout → Split Cells
Repeat the header row across pages	Select header → Layout → Repeat Header Rows
Sort	Layout → Sort
Simple formula	Layout → Formula, e.g. =SUM(ABOVE)
Convert text to table	Insert → Table → Convert Text to Table

Word tables support basic formulas, but anything numerical is better done in a spreadsheet and pasted in.

Mail merge — the most examined topic in this unit

The problem it solves: you must send the same letter to 200 people, each addressed personally. Typing 200 letters is absurd.

Mail merge combines a template with a data source to produce personalised copies.

Three components:

1. Main document — the letter, with placeholders

2. Data source — a table of recipients (Excel, Access, Outlook contacts, or a Word table)

3. Merged output — one copy per record

The six steps (Mailings tab):

1. Start Mail Merge → choose the type (Letters, Envelopes, Labels, Email)
2. Select Recipients → Use an Existing List, and pick your Excel file
3. Edit Recipient List → filter or sort; untick anyone to exclude
4. Insert Merge Fields → place «FirstName», «Address» in the letter
5. Preview Results → step through records to check
6. Finish & Merge → Print, or Edit Individual Documents, or Send Email

The data source's first row must be the field names, with no blank rows above it. This is the commonest cause of a mail merge that will not work.

Merge rules for conditional content: Mailings → Rules → If...Then...Else — for example, "Dear Sir" or "Dear Madam" depending on a Gender column.

Other useful features

Feature	Purpose	Where
Track Changes	Record edits for review	Review
Comments	Margin notes	Review → New Comment
Find & Replace	Bulk edit — supports wildcards	Home, or Ctrl+H
Headers & Footers	Repeating top/bottom content	Insert
Page numbers	Automatic numbering	Insert → Page Number
Footnotes	References at the page foot	References
Watermark	Background text such as DRAFT	Design
Columns	Newspaper-style layout	Layout → Columns
Word Count	Statistics	Review, or the status bar
Spelling & Grammar	Proofing	Review, or F7

Creating resumes, reports and brochures

The syllabus names three document types, and each is really a question about which feature you reach for. That is what the examiner is testing.

Document	The features that matter	The mistake to avoid
Resume	A template; consistent styles; tables (borderless) for alignment; 1–2 pages; PDF export	Aligning with spaces or repeated tabs
Report	Heading styles; automatic table of contents; captions; page numbers; footnotes; section breaks	Typing the contents page by hand
Brochure	Columns or a tri-fold template; text boxes; images with text wrapping; landscape orientation	Dragging images so text reflows unpredictably

Resume. Start from a template rather than a blank page. Use a borderless table to line up dates against roles — it holds its alignment when the font changes, which a row of tabs does not. Keep it to one page for a student, two at most. Export to PDF, always: a .docx opened on another machine repaginates if the fonts differ, and your careful one-page layout becomes one and a half.

Report. This is where styles earn their keep, and it is the standard ten-mark answer:

1. Apply Heading 1/2/3 styles to section titles — not manual bold and size.

2. Insert → Table of Contents, which is built from those styles. Change a heading later and press F9 to update the whole contents page.

3. Add captions to figures and tables (References → Insert Caption), so they renumber themselves when you insert one in the middle.

4. Insert page numbers in the footer, and use a section break if the front matter needs Roman numerals and the body Arabic.

5. Use footnotes for references.

Every one of those five is automatic. A report formatted by hand has to be renumbered by hand every time it changes, which is why "I used Heading styles so the contents page builds itself" is worth more marks than any amount of description of fonts.

Brochure. A tri-fold is three columns in landscape orientation (Layout → Orientation, then Layout → Columns → Three). Place images inside text boxes or set their text wrapping to Square, so the text flows around them predictably instead of jumping when you nudge an image.

3.2 Presentation tools

Building a good deck

Element	Guidance
Slide layout	Use the built-in layouts, not manually placed text boxes
Slide master	Change the design once, applied everywhere
Theme	A coordinated set of colours, fonts and effects
Transitions	Between slides — one type, used consistently
Animations	Within a slide — use sparingly
Speaker notes	Your script; visible only in Presenter View

Transitions vs animations — an exam question

	Transition	Animation
Applies to	Moving between slides	Objects within a slide
Tab	Transitions	Animations
Example	Fade from slide 3 to slide 4	A bullet flying in

The animation types

Type	Effect
Entrance	How an object appears
Emphasis	Draws attention to something already visible
Exit	How an object leaves
Motion path	Moves an object along a path

Design principles worth stating in an exam

1. One idea per slide
2. The 6×6 guideline — at most six bullets, six words each
3. Large fonts — 28pt minimum for body text
4. High contrast — dark text on light, or the reverse
5. Images over paragraphs
6. Consistency — the slide master enforces it
7. Do not read your slides aloud — the slides support you, they are not the talk

Presenter View shows your notes and the next slide on your laptop while the audience sees only the current slide.

Useful presentation features

Feature	Purpose
Slide Sorter	Reorder slides visually
Hyperlinks	Jump to a slide or a URL
Embedded media	Audio and video (lab experiment 5 requires this)
Charts	Insert, or paste linked from Excel
SmartArt	Diagrams — processes, hierarchies, cycles
Rehearse Timings	Record how long each slide takes
Export to PDF	For sharing without the fonts breaking

3.3 Keyboard shortcuts

The syllabus lists these explicitly, so they are examinable — and they make the lab exam considerably faster.

Universal

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + N	New
Ctrl + O	Open
Ctrl + S	Save
F12	Save As
Ctrl + P	Print
Ctrl + W	Close
Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Y	Undo / Redo
Ctrl + C / X / V	Copy / Cut / Paste
Ctrl + Shift + V	Paste Special
Ctrl + A	Select All
Ctrl + F / H	Find / Replace

Formatting

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + B / I / U	Bold / Italic / Underline
Ctrl + L / E / R / J	Align left / centre / right / justify
Ctrl + Shift + > / <	Increase / decrease font size
Ctrl + Shift + C / V	Copy / paste formatting
Ctrl + Space	Remove character formatting
Ctrl + 1 / 2 / 5	Single / double / 1.5 line spacing

Navigation

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + Home / End	Start / end of document
Ctrl + ← / →	One word left / right
Ctrl + Enter	Page break
Shift + F3	Cycle case: lower → Title → UPPER

Presentation-specific

Shortcut	Action
F5	Start from the beginning
Shift + F5	Start from the current slide
Ctrl + M	New slide
B / W	Blank the screen black / white during a talk
Esc	End the show
Ctrl + P (during a show)	Pen annotation

B and W are genuinely useful — pressing B blanks the screen so the audience looks at you rather than the slide.

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Exam questions from this unit

Two marks

1. What is a style, and why use one?
2. Differentiate a transition from an animation.
3. What are the three components of a mail merge?
4. State any five keyboard shortcuts and their functions.
5. What is a slide master?

Five marks

1. Explain the mail merge process step by step.
2. Explain the levels of formatting in a word processor.
3. Explain the features used in preparing a professional report.
4. Explain the design principles for an effective presentation.

Ten marks

1. Explain word processing features in detail — formatting, styles, tables and mail merge — with the steps for each.

2. Explain how you would prepare a project report with a table of contents, headers, footers, page numbers, tables and figures.

Mistakes that cost marks