Writing a book or thesis
We make plans before a long journey, and we need to plan how to write a long document just as carefully - it will save a lot of time in the long run.	Word Processors Word Versions Styles Heading Formatting Navigating Planning Tracking Speed tips Replace tips Chapters

. Which Word processor? Open Office * free & v good. * can open and save all important formats including the latest Word DOCX * lacks some of the sophistication of Word esp for writing books Nota Bene * Tom Wright produces all his manuscripts on it but getting used to it is difficult * good integrated database & bibliographic tools, but non-standard in too many ways Melel  * if you want to write Hebrew on a Mac, you need to use this * it is Israeli, fairly cheap, can be hard to learn, but very good Word * I'll assume you are using this. Very good and very complete.

. Which version of Word? Which version of Word? * by default you'll probably use the latest version * but think about it. There is no killer feature in the latest version * so use whichever version is your favourite, anything from Word 97 onwards. My favourite is Word 2003 * faster with large documents than Word 97 * more customisable than the later versions * especially: No ribbon cluttering up the top of your screen * if you want lots of buttons, you can put them down the side. * however, if you have Word 2007+, try minimising your ribbon   (Word 2007 little button top left;  Word 2010 dedicated button top right) Menu RibbonIf you have Word 2007 onwards, and you get lost often: * you can install the old ribbon. Get UBit one free (for non-commercial use) (there are others from SobolSoft.com and AddinTools.com but they aren't free)

. Writing with Style If you use Styles, you can concentrate on your writing instead of formatting * so get into some good habits at the start and you can format afterwards. Standard Styles * whether you realise it or not you are using Styles, so make them work for you * the default style is Normal – you automatically use that for your paragraphs * another default (automatic) style is Footnote Text – so you already use Styles! * use Heading 1 for a chapter title, then Heading 2 for sub-sections * if you are really organised you can use Heading 3 and 4 for smaller sub-divisions * and when you get to a quote, use Quote * and when you want something to stand out, use Emphasis * and if you don't see what you want, create a Style or right-click and modify it   (but it is best not to let this distract you till you've finished writing.) Why bother with Styles? To save time and to be professional * a Style defines a set of formatting throughout your long document * you decide, at the end of your book, that you don’t like the look of your block quotes * you don’t need to go through changing every quote – just change the Quote style * every quote in the book will change, and all look the same as each other * same with the headings and footnotes – you can change them all at a click

. Headings What Style am I using now? * in word 2007+ the Home ribbon will tell you (though you may need to scroll) * in Word 2003+ you can open  the Styles box – though it is a bit big   (Word 2003 Menu: Format > Styles.  Word 2007+ Ribbon: Home > Styles popout) * in Word 97 – 2003 you can see the Styles in the Style Area (go Tools>Options) * with each of these, a right-click leads you to formatting Styles * but I caution against wasting time formatting styles till you've written your book.   Headings are special* the Headings quotes are special in that they have a Level assigned to them * this makes the difference between a long document you have to wade through   and a long document you can navigate easily and go wherever you want * and, when you are done, you can make a Table of Contents at a click. Finding Headings in Word 2007+* Styles are generally easier to find in Word 2007+, but Headings are hidden * only Heading 1 is listed by default in the Ribbon and in the Styles sidebar * to find them, click on "Options" at the base of the Style box and select "All Styles"

. Modifying and Creating Styles * remember, don't let this distract you. Finish writing your draft at least * to modify, right-click on a style in the Style pane * or click on "New Style" in the Style pane (in 2007+ it is a button at bottom left) * pick the style type. There are mainly two different types:   Character styles (eg Emphasis) defines font, size, colour etc.   Paragraph styles (Eg Heading, Quote) do all this plus line spacing, tabs, margins etc * pick a related style in "Based on", so when you change the font etc in that style, then this new one will change accordingly to keep a consistent look throughout. * "Style for following para" will be automatically set when you start a new para. Eg you press Enter after writing a section title, and it changes automatically to Normal. * be conservative with what you set. Ideally you want most things set in "Normal" and then inherit changes through the "Based on" setting.

. Navigating round a long document Where was I?* you go looking for something, and then you can’t find the last place you were * click on undo, then re-do. It takes you back to where you made the last change Where am I?* you are writing a paragraph and you can’t remember what chapter you’re in   (it will happen! – when your work has got large and you are editing it) * use the Document Map (or ‘Navigation Pane’) in Tab/ Menu “View” * this only works if you have been using Heading styles.

. Plan where you are going Where am I going? * make a plan. It is comforting. And you can always move things around * use Outline (View > Outline)  * this depends (like so many things) on using styles. * an Outline lets you see the big picture * you can see just Headings 1 (Chapter titles) or also Headings 2 (Sub headings) * you can also see the first line of each paragraph * and you can collapse any section you like, or expand a section to see more detail * and you can move whole sections around just by dragging them

. Tracking what you have done What have I done? * when you've finished, and you're dotting around editing, Tracking is useful   (double-click on Trk in the Status bar at the bottom.    In Word 2007+ you this is hidden, so rt-click on the Status bar and tick it) * especially if you give a chapter to someone else to read. Turn Tracking on * then every change is recorded, and later you can simply accept or reject the change * you can see the document before you made any changes, or after the changes * or you can see the changes inline, or at the side. * in Word 2007+, the Navigation panel highlights sections with tracking changes

. Find & replace tips Word 2007+ Find list* in the Navigation panel, click on the top right button ("Browse your results) * it only works for about 100 results, and you can't use wildcards, but it’s a start * the old Find & Replace is in the dropdown on the right as "Advanced Find" Find & Replace More* this is your key to speedy work * Ctrl-F. It is worth knowing some keyboard shortcuts which you need very often. * Ctrl-PageDown goes to the Next find, and Ctrl-PageUp goes to the previous * click on "More" to match case and (in 2007+) to ignore punctuation etc (useful!) * wildcards are very useful: ? = a single letter, and * = one or more letters * so "write?" finds "writes" and "writer" but "write*" also finds "writers" * click on "Special" to find even more wildcards and types of characters * esp. useful ^p = end of paragraph, ^t = tab.

. Automatically replace formatting Find & Replace Formatting * click on "Format" (click on "More" if you can't see "Format") * you can find a particular font or style or things you have highlighted You may want to replace every place where you use Italic with the Style "Emphasis" * put your cursor in the Find box, empty it, then click on Format>Font>Bold * put your cursor in the Replace box, empty it, then click Format>Style>Emphasis * click Alt-F (to do the first find). Then Alt-R replaces or Alt-F moves on to the next

. Chapter divisions Don't bother with a Master Document * the Master Document & Sub-Document feature is really good * but don't bother with it unless you are writing a book bigger than the Bible * if you do use it: a couple of pointers: * make sure you define your formatting in the Master document, and let the subdocuments pick it up from there. Otherwise you'll be in a mess * keep backups. It is easy to mess this up so the links gets confused Sections & restarting footnotes* you need this if you are writing chapters with footnotes * if you don't create sections, your footnotes won't restart with each chapter * you want a New Page section break, so your chapter starts on a new page * to insert a section break: Word 2003- Menu: Insert > Break > Section Break    or Word 2007+ Ribbon:  Page Layout > Breaks * then change the footnote numbering from "Continuous" to "Restart each section"   (Word 2003- Menu: Insert > Reference > Footnote     Word 2007+ Ribbon: References > Footnotes popout)