Report Writing using MS Word

A guide to using MS Word to write your report / thesis

by Dr Muhammad Al-Salamah

Systems Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

salamah@kfupm.edu.sa

Last Modified: Jan 25, 2007

Using MS Word to write your report / thesis may seem at fist especially for the novice an intimidating task. MS Word was not designed to be that ugly; in fact, we the users have made MS Word what it is today. In this guide, you will be exposed to techniques and ways to make your experience with MS Word worthwhile. First, we will start with the most useful feature MS Word can offer to us, SEQ field. Based on our knowledge of the field, we will show how it can be used to simplify the writing process. This guide covers only the not-well known techniques that are not usually found in any other guide. For some basic stuff, check

• Microsoft Office Word website
• Word guide by I4C
• The Word MVP Site
• Learningelectric.com

SEQ Field

Using MS Word, you can automate the process of numbering using this field. Numbering chapters, sections, equations etc will be a snap. Let’s see how this can be done.

From the main menu, select Insert Field.

In the Field dialog box, choose Numbering from under Please choose a field Categories.

The last entry in Field names: is the field SEQ. The SEQ field works by giving a unique identifier to each distinct sequence you have in your report. For example, you might identify your chapter sequence with the three-letter identifier “chap”. A good identifier for a reference entry would be “ref”. And so on.

The SEQ field has more into it than this. Clicking on Options will open up the Field Options dialog box. This dialog box gives you more control on how you want SEQ field to be. The General Switches tab has to areas where you can customize the SEQ field. The first of which is Formatting. Choose the type of numbering you want for your sequence, Arabic numbering, alphabetic, roman numerals, etc. Numeric area is where you can customize the numbering formatting you have chosen.

Switches are special commands you may want to include in the SEQ field for example to reset the numbering sequence, hide the number, insert the next sequence number, etc.

In the Field Specific Switches tab, there are 5 switches you can choose from. Choose the switch you want and click on Add to Field button and the switch will appear after the word SEQ in the little window below the middle of the dialog box. If you are not sure which switch you are looking for, highlight each one in turn and read the description of it under Description at the button of the dialog box. Some switches require some kind of input from you, such switches are "\r" and "\s"; while some others require none. The most useful switches and the ones you will use a lot are "\c" and "\r". The best way to explain how they can be used is through examples which will be given when we discuss figures and tables.

Page Break and Section Break

In some instances, you might want to break a page and move to the next page; especially if you want to start a new chapter. If you want to keep the same page orientation, use page break. Do the following: choose Insert from the main menu and then Break.

The Break dialog box appears. By default, Page break radio is selected. Click OK. A new page will be created and you can start typing from there.

If you want to change the orientation of one page to landscape, then you have to use section break. To do that, you have to do just like what you did to insert a page break but once you reach the Break dialog box, and under Section break types, choose Next page. Click OK. This will take you to a new page and now you can change the orientation of it independently of the others. To go from landscape orientation to portrait orientation, use section break one more time and then change the orientation.

Here is an example where changing the page orientation is required.

Chapters and Sections Numbering

In your report / thesis, you will have chapters and in each chapter will have at least one section and in large reports, there will be subsections and sub-subsections and so on. Not only manual numbering of chapters and sections is slow and error prone, it is imposable to do if you have a large report such as a thesis. Here is where you can put SEQ field into a good use.

Numbering chapters is different from numbering sections and that is because in one report there is only one chapter called "Chapter 1", "Chapter 2" and so on. But with sections, you will have "Section 1" in the first chapter, the second chapter, etc. Therefore, with sections, you have to reset your numbering each time you start a new chapter. First, lets start with chapter numbering.

The first thing is to choose an identifier to tell SEQ field the type of sequence you want to start. So, choose an identifier that is easy to remember and long enough not to be confused with other identifiers. Lets assume you have chosen the identifier "chap". In the Field dialog box, type 'chap' after the word 'SEQ'. Hit OK.

Your page will look like this:

Now you can go ahead and type the text you want. You will repeat the same thing for every chapter of your report.

If your chapter has sections and you want number them in order, you have to use SEQ field; but this time with a different identifier. Lets identify section sequence by 'sec'; the Field dialog box will look like this:

Word will insert 1, starting a new sequence called 'sec'. If you want to include the chapter number along with the section number, such as '1-1', you will have to insert two SEQ fields, one for the chapter and the other for the section. For this one, you have to be careful because you are still in Chapter 1. Hence, we have to use the switch "\c" we talked about before. In the Field dialog box, type 'chap' after the word "SEQ" and click on Options and select Field Specific Switches tab.

Highlight '\c' switch and click on Add to Field. Hit OK. In your document, you will see 1 as your chapter number, not 2, and that's what we want. The result will be:

Now, if you are in Chapter 2 and you want to start a section, you will have to use '\r' switch to reset the count to 1. To do this, you have to add '\r' switch to the SEQ field followed by '1'.

Hit OK and you will reset the count to 1. Do this only for the first section; for the other sections, do not use '\r' switch because you do not want to number all sections with '1'.

Equation Numbering

To number your equations, you have to use SEQ field with a different identifier and use the techniques explain previously. Remember to reset equation count on the first equation in each section or subsection.

Tables and Figures

Table and figure numbering is handled similarly with unique identifiers for tables and figures.

Appendix

Appendices are usually numbered using upper-case alphabet. To switch from numerical to alphabetical formatting, choose "A, B, C, ..." under Formatting from the General Switches tab and click on Add to Field.

Here, I am using 'app' as an identifier for the appendix count.

List of Tables and Figures

One old method of building the list of tables and figures is done manually;  people used to type the table or figure caption along with page number where the table or the figure appears and form lists labeled as List of Tables and List of Figures. This method is no longer used and you can let Word do it for you instead.

The first thing you have to do is to create a new style identified with the table caption and another with the figure caption. From the main menu, choose Format, and then Styles and Formatting... from the submenu.

The Task Pane will switch to Styles and Formatting. Click on New Style and New Style dialog box appears. Give your new style a name, such as 'figure caption'; keep other properties as they are. Set the formatting you prefer and click OK.

The newly created style will appear under Pick formatting to apply. Do the same thing to create a formatting for your table caption.

Half of the work is done, the other half involves the creation of the list of tables and list of figures. I will show you how to create the list of figures and you will understand how to create the list of tables.

From the main menu, choose Insert Reference Index and Tables.

From the Index and Tables dialog box, click on Table of Figures tab. If you prefer, you can uncheck Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers under Web Preview. Click on Options button at the bottom of the box.

From the Tables of Figures Options dialog box, choose the style you created for your figure caption which we called 'figure caption' from the dropdown menu; make sure to check the Style box; and hit OK.

Click OK again and you will see in front of you the list of all the figures in your report / thesis.

Skip Page Numbering

In some schools, some formatting requirements are imposed on the thesis report. Even thought not common, one of such requirements is to have a cover page before the start of a major section of the thesis and this cover page is neither counted nor numbered. For example, before the start of the References section, a cover page with the word REFERENCES centered on the page has to be included in the report. To create your document with a proper page numbering, some tricks are needed as it will be explained below. You should note that TOC will not display page numbers correctly.

The first thing we need to do is to insert two new sections on two new pages; the first section is for the cover page and the second one is for the first page of the section itself. After this is done, we need to turn off the Link to Previous option from the Header and Footer option bar (the button should look like as if it is depressed.) Do not forget to do this for both sections. We do not make any distinction between the header or the footer and you should adjust the discussion here to suit your situation.

Once your are done, delete the page numbers on both sections. For the second section, the only thing you have to do is to delete the page number on the first page and the rest will be deleted automatically. As far as the first section (cover page) is concerned, our work is done and you can go ahead and type your cover page title.

Going to the second section, we will have to change the page field to have the proper page number sequence. We will use the PAGE field. First, place the curser at the place where you want the page number to appear. Then, press [Ctrl] and F9 simultaneously to create a field. Inside the newly created blank field, type '=' (pay attention to the spaces) to have .

After '=', place the cursor and press [Ctrl] and F9 simultaneously to create a new field inside the already created field to have . Inside {}, type PAGE. Go out of the inner field and type '-1'. You will have . While inside the field, press F9 and a new page numbering sequence will be created. (The small dots represent spaces)

Another trick you have to do is when you have to create another cover page. To do this, you have to do all what we have done previously except this time, you have to replace '1' by '2' in our field, which will look like . Replace '2' by '3' if you have a third cover page and so on.

In some instances, you might want to hide the page number of a particular page without disturbing the page numbering sequence. For example, you have a report of 5 pages and you want to number the first three pages 1, 2, and 3 and the last one, page number 5, and leave page number 4 unnumbered. To do this, you have to create two new sections after page 3, the first section is for the fourth page and the second section is for the fifth page. Now, in the first page's header or footer, insert the following field . You can replace the second PAGE field with the exact page number you want to hide, in this case 4; but you will run into troubles if you decide to insert a new page before the current page. What this field will do is it will print an empty space in the place of the page number. In the second section, insert a PAGE field and the result will be the page numbering you desired. A good thing to mention here is that hiding page numbers does not change the correct page numbering sequence in TOC.

Attachment of a Data Source to a Document

This feature of Word is very helpful when you are in the situation in which you want to create letters of invitation, for example, certificates, or any document in which all pages share the same design but they differ in some fields such as names or addresses.  All of this can be done by a Word tool called Mail Merge. Maybe this feature is not related to report writing, which is the scope of this guide, but it will be helpful at times when you want to organize your data in a certain order.

To explain how to use this tool, consider the data stored in an Excel file which represents the ages of three persons A, B, and C. The name of the Excel file is data.xls. Now, open a new Word document and set it up in a way that fits your needs. For example,

The next step is to open the data source; that is, you need to specify the file that contains the data. First, make sure that the Mail Merge toolbar is visible. If not, go to View Toolbars Mail Merge. On the toolbar, click on Open Data Source.

The Select Data Source dialog box pops up on the screen:

Use this box to navigate your hard desk for your file containing your data, in our case it is the Excel file data.xls. When you click on Open, the Select Table box opens up asking you to select the sheet that contains the data.

When you click OK, you associate the data source in Excel sheet to the document. Now you need to tell Word where to put the data in your document. This is done by specifying special fields called Merge Fields. Put the courser in your document where you want to insert the content of the first column in the Excel file which contains the names of the patients. On the Mail Merge toolbar, select Insert Merge Fields.

The Insert Merge Field box opens up in which you need to specify the content of the first field in your document which is the name of the patient. Select ‘Name’ in the Fields list. Click Insert and then Close.

Move the courser to the front of ‘Age:’ in your document and insert a merge field, but this time choose ‘Age’ from the Fields list. Your document should look like this:

The work is not quit finished and what remains is to ask Word to generate a page for each patient where each page consists of the patient’s name and age. To do that, click on Merge to new document in the Mail Merge toolbar.

MS Word Shortcuts

Here are some time savers you will appreciate:

• + : rotate (lowercase first letter cap all cap).
   
• : update a field.
   
• ++: superscript.
   
• +: subscript.