Essays, reports and other text-based documents will form the basis of much of your submitted work in university. Aside from timed exams, the bad old days of writing by hand or composing on a typewriter are thankfully gone. We are no longer burdened with scribbling draft copies of written work full of crossings-out and mistakes and then having to work late into the night to produce a clean copy for submission.

Word processing was one of the first important benefits of personal computing back in the early 1980s. Suddenly, we could compose right on the screen, freeing us to experiment and be creative in the full knowledge that we could easily change and correct as we work and make a final polished version with little effort.

Microsoft Word has become the most common word processor in general use, and its file format is a standard for sharing documents: those created in Word can be accessed using many other packages.

This video gives you an introduction:

If you have time, watch this video tutorial from Tech for Teachers and Students on Word Basics:

If you want to learn more, this downloadable guide will help you understand Word as a tool for creating professional looking documents:

MS Word Document Design for Students (pdf)

"Familiarise yourself with all the basic functions of Microsoft programmes." Fatima, 1st-year student