Chapter 2: Editing and Proofreading Documents

Overview

In this chapter you will learn to:

• Edit a document.

• Use text entry shortcuts.

• Find the best word.

• Use an outline to rearrange paragraphs.

• Find and replace text.

• Check spelling and grammar.

Unless the documents you create are intended for no one s eyes but your own, you need to be able to ensure that they are correct, logical, and persuasive. Whether you are a novice or an experienced writer, Microsoft Office Word 2003 has several tools that make creating professional documents easy and efficient:

• Editing tools provide quick-selection techniques and drag-and-drop editing to make it easy to move and copy text anywhere you want it.

• Shortcuts for handling often-used text enable you to save and recall specialized terms or proper names with the press of a key.

• Reference and research tools include a thesaurus that makes it easy to track down synonyms and a research service that provides access to a variety of Internet reference materials.

• Outlining tools allow easy rearranging of headings and text to ensure that your argument is logical.

• Search tools can be used to locate and replace words and phrases, either one at a time or throughout a document.

• Spelling and grammar features make it easy to correct typos and grammatical errors before you share the document with others.

In this chapter, you ll work with the text of a document to get it ready for distribution. You ll explore editing techniques, create and enter AutoText entries, ensure that the document is organized logically, and check that the language is precise and correct.

See Also  

Do you need only a quick refresher on the topics in this chapter? See the Quick Reference entries on page xxxiii.

Important  

 On the CD    Before you can use the practice files in this chapter, you need to install them from the book s companion CD to their default location. See Using the Book s CD-ROM on page xxi for more information.