A Software application is a computer program which has been designed for a specific purpose. In the past people used to use type writers to create letters and other printed documents. When computers were introduced Word Processing Software was developed to allow people to create letters and other documents. Throughout this course we will be learning about learn about  the following pieces of Software.

Word Processing Software

Presentation Software

Spreadsheet Software

Database Software

Email Software

Desktop Publishing Software

Web Authoring Software

A template is a predefined layout which we can use  in most software applications. We use the template and only change the key pieces of information. Think about customer letters form O2, if each one had to be made individually it would take a long time. The template would contain the logo, business address and the key parts of the text. Specific pieces of data about each customer is imported from a Spreadhsheet or Database automatically. This might include their name and address.

Formatting techniques allow us to change the visual appearence of a document. We sometimes want to improve the aesthetics of a document by highlighting certain pieces of text, adding images or changing background colours. It is important to consider the purpose and audience for a document when applying formatting techniques. Most of the formatting techniques can be found on the top ribbon of Microsoft Word shown above.

Bold

This is used to emphasise the key points of the text, it appears thicker and encourages the reader to slow down and pay close attention to that piece of text.

What are Italics?

Italic font, or italics, is a style of typeface in which the text appears slanted, like this. While italics are mainly used to draw attention to certain words or passages, the font also plays an important role in differentiating the titles and names of things—such as novels, movies, and even spaceships—from other text. If the title is short we can use quote marks as opposed to italics.

When do we use italics?

Italics are used for the titles of longer written works, including books, volumes, dissertations, reports, and epic poems. 

Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time talks about astrophysics in a way anyone can understand. 

Swann’s Way, the first volume of Marcel Proust’s masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time, includes the famous anecdote about the madeleine. 

Underline: 

An underline is a section of text in a document where the words have a line running beneath them. For example, this text should be underlined. Underlined text is commonly used to help draw attention to text. Today, underlines are commonly used to represent a hyperlink on a web page. 

Shading; 

This is used to add a colour behind a section of writing. In the same way we would apply a highlighter to written notes to highlight key points. It is often used in tables within documents to help the titles stand out.

Line spacing; and 

This refers to the distance vertically between the lines on a page of text. We can increase the space to improve readability or reduce it to fit more words on a page. 

Text alignment; 

This refers to way the text is aligned horizontally on the page. Align left pushes the text to the left, align right pushes the text to the right and justify centres the text.

 Cut, copy and paste text and images;

These tools allow us to move items of text or image around a document. Cut will remove the  items from the place in the document they currently are, whereas copy will make a copy and leave the items in the original location. We use paste to put the item in it's new location. We can copy and paste within documents or across different. documents.

Insert a header and footer. 

Headers are located in the margin area at the top of the page. Footers are located in the margin area at the bottom of a page. Headers and footers generally contain document information, such as the file name, author, date created, page numbering and the like. This information is repeated on each page and thus enables the reader to easily navigate the document. 

Insert an image appropriately; 

Images can enhance the aesthetics of a document and help to communicate meaning.  We can add photographs, clip art or digitally created images to a document. When we add images we may have to format the spacing to ensure we are happy with how it appears on the page.

Use a spellchecker; 

This is used to check a document for spelling or grammar errors. Errors will be highlighted and possible suggestions indicated to the user.

Business Letter

Task 1

Create a Business Letter for an organisation of your choice. The letter should be informing a recent job applicant that they were unsuccessful at interview.

Task 2

Refer to the success criteria for business Letters. 

How did you do?  Did you make need to make any changes?

Save both versions of your letter.

Task 3

Complete the mail merge past paper question with your teacher's guidance, your teacher will share the files needed and explain the techniques.