Project 3 - Lab Discussion
I do not expect you to produce a cover letter and a resume that you would send to a corporation. The reason I chose a cover letter and resume is because these types of documents permit the use of a varied set of word processing techniques. So, I am not as interested in the content as much as I am interested in the use of these word processing techniques. You can make up whatever you want for the content; it usually makes it more interesting as I read your project submissions. Picture yourself 20 years in the future; what is your dream job. Then write a cover letter and resume that could support you getting that job.
This project is not about how the document looks but rather if you used the correct techniques to achieve the look. Too often I receive projects that do not use the best word processing techniques to achieve the desired look but only use the space key to make it look the same as the example. You are sending me the document and I do examine whether you made use of the techniques or are just faking it.
Clicking the Project Examples link on the Blackboard page for the course will bring up the different examples available. The Project 3 sample document provides a view on how your document should look. Do not just copy this document and then insert your own text. Usually I can figure it out if that is what you did.
This project requires that both the cover letter and the resume are in the same document. The difficult part is that the cover letter should not have a header and footer but the resume needs to have a header and a footer.
The cover letter part is straight forward. After opening up a new blank document, just type in two or three paragraphs. A good cover letter needs to grab the interest of the reviewer. You need to emphasize what you would be bringing to the job in terms of your experience and leadership. I feel it is also important to describe why you think the company is worth working for. Once you have finished the above paragraphs then insert a page break to position the insertion point on the next page. Too often I find students just pressing the Enter key to get to the next page. This is the wrong technique since if I were to enter more information on the cover letter, I would have to delete a number of empty lines at the beginning of the second page.
Note: In the following images you will note some formatting marks. These are turned on by clicking the Show Formatting Marks icon, ., on the Home tab in the Office ribbon. I have these turned on when examining your word documents to help me see if you applied the techniques correctly.
The resume needs eight sections. Pick a heading type paragraph style from the available styles and use it for each of these section headings. The objectives section is just a simple paragraph describing your short and long term goals. The next word processing technique that you need to apply is a hanging indent. A hanging indent would be found under the Home / Paragraph / little arrow at bottom right corner of Paragraph section / Indentation / Special drop down box.
A hanging indent has the first line indent further left than the rest of the lines in the paragraph.
In the above image you can see the First Line Indent indicator, , which is positioned to the left of the Left Indent indicator, on the horizontal ruler. Setting the hanging indent using the Indentation / Special / Hanging with an amount for the hanging indent will produce the same affect as manipulating the indicators on the ruler.
You need to apply the hanging indent to the Recent Projects section.
Another word processing technique you need to use is creating two columns by using center-aligned tabs. This is can be done through the - Home / Paragraph / little arrow at bottom right corner / Tabs buttom in the dialog box - to set the tabs at the chosen positions and indicating that the type of tab should be the center tab under the Alignment section. You can also set these tabs using the ruler. First, you need to set the type of tab. A small icon is found on the same line as the horizontal ruler on the very left of the window. Click this icon until the indicator shows. Now, when you click in the ruler, this center alignment type of tab control will be set at the distance you click in the line. Below is an example of setting the center-aligned tabs.
The third word processing technique involves using a table to help organize the information. You can apply the table structure to either the Work Experience or the Educational Background sections. MS Office has a wide variation of preformatted tables. You will use the Table / Insert menu item to bring up a dialog box. Choosing the number of columns is more important than choosing the number of rows. The rows will automatically grow as you add more rows. If your inserted table is the active element, you should see the Table Tools tab in the Caption bar and under it the Design tab. Make sure the Design Tab is active and then choose one of the Table Styles and review the options set in the Table Styles Options.
You are offered a large number of preformatted table styles to choose from. To populate the information in each cell, enter the data and then hit the Tab key to move to the next cell.
After you have added the data you can still manipulate the table formatting on your own such as changing fonts for the column headings, centering the text, and adjusting the column widths
The fourth technique is using different bullet symbols in two different sections. Within a section, all the bullet points should be the same. You can use the drop down arrow next to the bullet button icon to choose an existing bullet symbol or to define a new bullet symbol. To define your own bullet symbol, click on the Define new symbol and then choose Symbol followed by choosing a font that will supply the symbols. There are several Wingding fonts that are nothing but symbols. Pick one of the characters from one of these fonts.
You must also use a Numbered List for your Skills section. Right next to the bullet symbol tool icon is the numbered list tool icon. Use the drop down arrow to choose one of the numbered lists.
The last technique involves getting the cover letter not to have a header and a footer but force the resume to have a header and a footer. First, make sure you are positioned on the resume page. Use Insert / Header menu item to add a header to the document. Also insert a footer section. If the Header/Footer Tools button is active along with the Design tab, you will see an Options section. In it, you need to choose the Different first page option. You can make the Header /Footer Tools button active by double clicking in the Header section after the header information has been added. This will remove the Header and Footer sections from the first page.
You can also set the same options by using the Page Layout tab and then the little arrow in the bottom right of the Page Setup section. This will bring you the dialog box below. You can click in the Different first page check box.
Now, just complete the eight sections and you should be ready to submit your project. Make sure to use the rubric on the project description document as a checklist before turning in your project.
Finding Related Material in the MS Office 2013 Book
Page breaksWD 105
First page header
Inserting a table
Apply table style
Center-aligned tabs
Bullet listsWD 23-24
Numbered lists
John North1CIT120