Writing a Scientific Text in Microsoft Word

versions 2002 and 2003

Birgitta Malmfors
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Dept of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Uppsala

Contents
Margins, Language, Spelling................................................................................................................... 1
Save ......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Style sheet ............................................................................................................................................... 1
Content list .............................................................................................................................................. 2
Bullet list ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Tables ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Figures..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Equations................................................................................................................................................. 6
Reference list........................................................................................................................................... 7
Page numbers .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Print preview ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Track changes.......................................................................................................................................... 8
Shortcut buttons and keyboard shortcuts................................................................................................. 8
Help ......................................................................................................................................................... 9

This MS Word guide focuses on items which are useful when writing a scientific paper, report or
monograph, e.g. a BSc, MSc or PhD thesis. The advice given is based on the author’s own experience
of using the software. The versions referred to are MS Word 2002 and 2003, but much of what is
described might be applicable also for earlier versions. The user of this guide is expected to have some
basic experience of using MS Word.

Main Menus
Toolbar Click down arrow
for more buttons
Style box
Shortcut buttons (icons)

Text Box tool

Drawing toolbar

MS Word Guide, 2006-07-01

Margins, Language, Spelling
To set margins in a document: Click File menu – Page Setup – select values for margins at Top,
Bottom, Left and Right – click OK. If you want to change the computer setting from “inches” to “cm”
(or vice verse): Tools menu – Options – General – Measurement unit.
Expand the menu (click the down arrow within the menu) if you don’t find the item you look for.
Define the language you use for your text: Tools menu – Language – Set language (UK English, US
English, French, etc) – OK. It’s useful to have Spelling and Grammar check on continuously while
you write; “Do not check spelling or grammar” in the Language window should then not be ticked.

Save
Save your file frequently! Otherwise there is a risk that you might loose your text. To save the file for
the first time: File menu – Save as – Name your file (in the “File name” box) – Save.
To save the file thereafter: Do as above, or make it even simpler: File menu – Save; or click the Save
icon []. Alternatively, make Save by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S (i.e.press the keys Ctrl and
S simultaneously).

Style sheet
Making a “Style Sheet” means that you in your document define formatting of different items, e.g.
headings at different levels, regular text, table text, table and figure captions, references. Once this is
done, you simply connect to the style sheet when writing a heading at level 1, for example. When
using a style sheet, you can easily change the appearance of headings etc. You just make the changes
in the style sheet, e.g. change the font type and size of heading level 1, and all headings defined as
level 1 will change throughout your document.
Another advantage is that when heading levels are defined in a style sheet you can easily generate a
content list for the document (see section “Content list”). This is useful also if you will produce a pdf-
file from your Word document; headings that are defined in the style sheet are shown also as clickable
“Bookmarks” in the pdf-file. It might seem a little laborious to make a style sheet, but remember that
you just do it once for the whole document, and you quickly get used to making style sheets.
Furthermore, it saves time when you do the writing.
If you choose not to write in a style sheet, then you must select font type, size, points before/after etc,
every time you write a heading, and again when you go back to writing regular text (and remember
what settings to make). You can then no longer generate a content list automatically; you have to write
it yourself.

Making a Style Sheet in MS Word 2002 and 2003

Define in the style sheet first of all items that you use frequently, e.g. headings at different levels,
regular text (normal), figure captions, table headings, table text, references, …
1. Format menu – Styles and Formatting.
2. A window “Styles and Formatting” opens to the right of the screen. Go to the box “Show” at the
bottom of the window and click the down arrow if you want to change what items that are shown.
Selecting “All styles” can be useful when you make the style sheet, whereas showing only
“Available Styles” gives the best overview when you use the style sheet.
3. Point at Heading 1 (in the box “Pick formatting to apply”); you then see the pre-set formatting for
this heading. To modify the settings: Click the down arrow shown to the right when you point at
the heading, select Modify. A window “Modify Style” opens.
4. In the Modify Styles window:
Modify font type, font size, alignment, bold, italic etc for heading level 1 as desired.
To do further changes: Click the Format button – select the item you want to modify. For example,
to modify points before/after a heading: select Paragraph, and make the change. “Style for
following paragraph” should usually be “Normal”. Under Format you can also modify the settings
for tabulators (Tabs). Click OK to apply settings you make in a window.
Note! Normally you should NOT tick “Add to template” or “Automatically update”.

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5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any item you want to define or modify. To add a new style (one you don’t
find in the “all styles” list): Click the “New Style” button at the top of the window; name the style
and make the settings.
Once your Style Sheet is defined you use it when writing your document.
To write a heading at level 1, for example:
Place the marker where the heading should appear in your document – go to the box “Style” in Format
toolbar (see the picture in page 1) and click the down arrow – click Heading 1.
Or, you can write the heading text first, and then go to the Style box and click Heading 1.
If you don’t find the Style box in the Format toolbar shown on your screen:
Go the end of the Format toolbar – click the down arrow – Add or Remove buttons – Formatting – tick
“Style”. If you wouldn’t find it there either, follow the instructions in section “Shortcut buttons and
keyboard shortcuts”.
To reduce the number of items shown in the Style box: Format menu – Styles and Formatting – go to
the box “Show” in the window that opens on the screen – select “Available Styles” – Close window.

Making a Style Sheet in MS Word 2000

In MS Word 2000 a style sheet is done a little differently; a brief description is given below.
a. Format menu – Style. A window “Style” opens – Select “All styles” in the List menu. You then
see which styles are defined already. The list is in alphabetical order.
b. Mark Heading 1 and click the Modify button.
c. A window “Modify Style” opens. Click the Format button. Modify the settings as you wish (see
bullet 4 in the description for Word XP/2003). Check “Style for following paragraph”; you might
need to change it to “Normal”. Do not tick “Add to template” or “Automatically update”. Click the
Apply button. You can also add new Styles: Format – Style – New.

Content list
As mentioned already, a content list can be generated “automatically” when headings in your
document have been defined in a Style Sheet. Write the word Contents (or Content list) just above
where you will to insert the content list; do NOT use the Style Sheet when you do this, just write the
word Contents in the same font type and size, etc as your other level 1 headings. This is to avoid that
the word Contents will be listed within the content list.
To insert a Content list:
a. Place the marker under the Contents heading that you wrote. Click Insert menu – Reference –
Index and Tables – Table of Contents.
b. Indicate in the box “Show levels” how many levels of headings you want to appear in your content
list. The headings shown in the list should clearly reflect the contents of the document, but not to
the level where the overview is lost.
c. Click the “Modify” button if you want to change the pre-set font type or size and/or spacing for the
content list. A Style window opens (TOC1 = heading level 1; TOC2 = heading level 2, etc); Click
“Modify” and make the desired changes of formatting. The content list might be easier to read if
you add some space between the rows of the list (Modify Style window: Format – Paragraph).
d. To make changes in the content list after that it has been inserted: Mark the list – go to Insert menu
– Reference – Index and Tables – Table of Contents. Thereafter, follow the instructions in bullets
b (levels shown) and c (formatting). Click OK to replace the list you marked.

Update the content list!

Whether you generate a content list “automatically” (as described above) or write it yourself, you must
remember to update the list when you have made changes in the document. You normally update the
list regularly, and always as the last thing you do in the document. See next page.

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To update the content list you generated from headings defined in a style sheet:
Right-click on the content list – select “Update Field” – tick either “Update page numbers only” or
“Update entire table. You need to update the entire table of contents when you have added or rewritten
headings; if you have not done that you only need to update the page numbers. Formatting done of the
content list is sometimes lost when you update the entire table. However, this should not happen if the
formatting is done by using the “Modify button” (bullet c above).

Bullet list
A listing in the text might be easier to read if it is written in bullets. To write a bullet list:
• Format menu – Bullets and Numbering – choose Bullet Type (or Numbering/ Lettering).
• Define what spacing you want between the bullets (Format menu – Paragraph – Spacing –
Before/After); bullets are easier to read if there is some space between the bullets A suitable
spacing between bullets might be about 3-6 points. If there is a lot of text in each bullet even a
little longer space might be better. You can define formatting for bullet lists in your style sheet, but
you might still need to adjust spacing and alignment for bullet lists individually.
• Write the text for the first bullet, press Enter, etc. To end the list, press the backspace key to
eliminate the bullet that appeared after the last Enter (or click the Bullet icon in the Format
toolbar). Adjust the space between bullets if needed.
• If long spaces appear between words in the individual bullets, then it is better to “Left Align” the
text in the bullet list. However, if there is a lot of text in each bullet, then it might look nicer to
“Justify” the bullet text (assuming the rest of the body text in the document is justified).

Tables
Tables are done usually by use of the Table feature in MS Word. Note that tables normally should
have horizontal lines only (at top and bottom of the table, and in the table head). There are many
Auto-Formats for tables available in Word, but usually none of those fits the format required in a
scientific text. In the following, therefore, a general procedure for making a table is described. Assume
you are going to make a table that looks like this:

Breed A Breed B
Trait Feed 1 Feed 2 Feed 1 Feed 2
Growth rate, g/day 600 800 700 850
Chest girth, cm 170 180 178 190

To make the above table:

1. Table menu – Insert – Table.
Define number of columns and rows. More rows and columns can be added later, if needed.
(To do the example table, insert 6 columns and 4 rows. Note that the fourth column is inserted to
make a space between the two “Breed lines”)
Click OK. A table with lots of lines appears on the screen.
2. First make all lines “invisible” (for a printout):
Mark the table 1 – select “No Border” in the drop down menu of the Border icon (in Format
toolbar); or do it via Table menu – Table Properties – Table – Borders and Shading.
Note! You will still see faint lines on the computer screen, but those are not seen in a printout
(check via File menu – Print Preview).

1
You can mark the whole table by clicking the little square that appears when you place the marker just outside
the upper left corner of the table.

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3. Write text in the second row of the table head, and in the left column of the table. The font size to
choose for tables is often a little smaller than the font size used in the document text.
4. Change column widths to fit the table contents and also the margins of the document text:
Mark the column(s) – Table menu (or right-click in the marked area) – Table Properties – Column
– Set preferred width. If several columns should have the same width they can be marked jointly.
5. Merge cells (Table menu – Merge Cells) in the table head where needed, and enter the remaining
text of the table head. (In row 1 of the example table the cells in columns 2 & 3 were merged, and
also the cells in columns 5 & 6. In column 1 the two cells in rows 1 & 2 were merged).
6. Make lines where there should be lines. To make a line: Mark the cells in question – click the
Border icon – select ”top ” or ”bottom ” border as desired.
7. Fill the rest of the table.
8. Layout the table contents:
Make Align left, Center, or Align Right as suitable (mark cells and click alignment icon).
To build text from the bottom of each cell: Mark the table (or individual cells or groups of cells) –
Table menu – Table properties – Cell – Bottom. In the same way you can select Top or Center.
Normally you also need to regulate the spacing between the different rows to get a nice layout of
the table. You can do that through Format menu – Paragraph – Spacing Before/After.
(In the example table in the previous page spacing is: Before 2pt and After 2pt, but for the growth
rate row it is Before 4pt and After 1pt).
9. The table might be Left Aligned or Centered on the page. To make the alignment, mark the whole
table (see footnote 1) – Table – Table Properties – tab Table – choose alignment. Note: if you left
align the table, enter a number in the box “Indent from left” so that the lines of the table will not
stick out in the left page margin. When you are in the tab Table you can also change the cell
margins if you want (click button Options).
10. Note that the table width should not exceed the width of the document text. Reduce the column
widths if needed, or take out some of the table contents. Another alternative is to make the table in
a page with Landscape orientation within your document. Search for “Select page orientation” in
Help for instruction on how to mix Portrait and Landscape orientation within a document.

The example table could be done alternatively with

columns and rows switched:

Trait
Growth rate, Chest girth, The table inserted here was 4 columns and 6
Breed Feed g/day cm rows. In the first two columns the cells in
A 1 600 170 rows 1 & 2 were merged; so were also the two
last columns in row 1. Some spacing was
2 800 180
added everywhere, but in the first row for
B 1 700 178 Breed B spacing “Before” was increased a
2 850 190 little more to separate the breeds.

In this example text is written next to the table. To be able to do that you need to make a setting for
“Text Wrapping”: Mark the table – Table menu – Table Properties – tab Table – select text wrapping
“Around” – click Positioning button – set Distance from surrounding text. The distance between the
table above and the text to the right of it was set to 0.5 cm

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Figures
Figures might be various types of graphs, flow charts, drawings, clipart, photographs, etc. In the sub-
section below some advice is given on how to enter figures into MS word, and in another sub-section
some advice is given on formatting figures entered.

Entering figures into MS Word

Photographs are best inserted through Insert menu – Picture – From File – mark the photo – Insert.
Note: do not use copy and paste to enter photos into a Word file (nor into PowerPoint); when using
copy and paste the photos might take substantially more disc space (KB).
Clip Art are found by clicking the clip art icon in the Drawing toolbar (or through Insert menu –
Picture – Clip Art) – enter Search text – click the clip art you choose to insert. If the computer is
connected to the Internet you normally find a number of clip art when searching for item. If the
computer is not connected, however, you might not find what you want.
Graphs (e.g. column chart, bar chart, pie chart, scatter chart or line chart) can be produced in
Microsoft Excel. For some brief guidance on how this is done, se e.g. Strandberg & Malmfors (2006).
To enter an Excel graph into your MS Word file: Copy the graph in Excel (after having done desired
formatting etc) – Go to the Word file – Paste the picture using one of the following two alternatives:
Alt 1. Edit – Paste Special – Picture (Enhanced Metafile). The graph (picture) is entered as an object
that can be formatted in MS Word, but not edited. If you would want to edit the data behind the
graph, you do that in the Excel file where you produced it (assuming you saved the file), and
make a new copy to replace the previous graph you entered in your Word file. Pictures entered
as described in this alternative display quickly in MS Word, and are usually easy to handle.
Alt.2. Edit – Paste Special – MS Excel Chart Object. A graph (picture) entered like this can be
formatted in MS Word. It can also be edited as if you were still in your Excel file; the full Excel
workbook is copied into the Word file (double-click the picture to see that). However, the
picture might not be so easy to handle, and it will take more disc space (KB) as compared to Alt
1. Note: if you use Paste (instead of Paste Special) the graph is entered as when using Alt 2.
A graph might be easier to read if the explanatory text is placed close to the line or bar, etc it defines.
When producing a graph in Excel you get a figure legend outside the graph. If you want, you can drag
the legend into the figure (e.g. into a column chart) while you are still in Excel. In a line chart, for
example, you can delete the legend and write explanatory text in Text Boxes 2 next to each specific
line. This can be done in Excel; it can also be done after that the graph has been entered into MS Word
(there you can crop the legend to get rid of it). Another alternative is to paste the Excel graph as a
picture into PowerPoint, crop and write the text boxes, and thereafter enter it into Word (see below).
PowerPoint Slides. Drawings and other illustrations might be produced in Microsoft PowerPoint. For
a brief introduction on using MS PowerPoint, see e.g. Malmfors (2006). Make your figure as a slide in
PowerPoint – switch to the mode ”Slide sorter view” – copy the slide – go to your MS Word file –
paste the Figure, using one of the following three alternatives:
Alt 1. Edit – Paste Special – Picture or Picture (Enhanced Metafile). The picture is entered as an object
that can be formatted in MS Word.
Alt 2. Edit – Paste Special – MS PowerPoint Slide Object. Pictures entered like this can be formatted
in MS Word. They can also be edited; the PowerPoint window is copied into the Word file
(double-click the picture to see it). However, these pictures might not be so easy to handle in
Word, and they take more disc space (KB) as compared to than when alternative 1 is used.
Alt 3.Edit – Paste Special – Picture GIF (or some other extension). Out of the three alternatives, these
pictures occupy the least space, but the picture quality might be reduced.

2
Text Box and Autoshapes buttons are found in the Drawing Toolbar (if you don’t find it, click: View –
Toolbars – Drawing). If you have a problem to handle text boxes in MS Word XP/2003, go to Tools menu –
Options – General – Delete ticking of ”Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting autoshapes”.

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Flow charts can be produced either in MS Word or MS PowerPoint. You then use AutoShapes and
Connectors from the Drawing toolbar (see footnote 2). To write text in an AutoShape entered in Word:
right-click the shape and select “Add text”. For further instructions on making flow charts, see Help in
Word and PowerPoint.

Formatting figures in MS Word

A figure (picture) inserted into MS Word can be formatted. Right-click on the picture – select “Show
Picture toolbar”. Examples of formatting:
• Crop the picture: Click the “Crop” icon in the Picture toolbar – place the crop tool where you
want to crop the picture – drag inwards to “delete” parts of the picture (you can still drag it
outwards if you cropped too much). If you want to delete the cropped areas for good (to reduce the
space of the picture in KB), click the “Compress pictures” icon in the Picture toolbar and select
desired alternative(s). Sometimes you might want to flip a picture you entered; to do that: Draw
menu (in Drawing toolbar) – Rotate and Flip – Flip Horizontal.
• Reduce or increase the size of the picture: Click the ”Format picture” icon in the Picture toolbar –
tab Size – tick “Lock aspect ratio” if the change is to be proportional – when possible also tick
“relative to original picture size” – set the Size desired.
Alternatively, you can mark the picture and drag it in a corner to change the size proportionally, but
then you don’t see directly (in % or cm/inches) how much you change it.
• Change brightness and contrast. Click the brightness and contrast icons in the Picture toolbar.
• Wrapping of text near to the Picture
a. Click Format Picture icon Picture toolbar – tab Layout – click button Advanced – tab Text
Wrapping. Select:
- “Top and bottom” if you want the picture to appear between full lines of text.
- “Square” if you want to have text next to the picture. Tick side for wrapping text (left, right, or
both sides).
- “In line with text” if you want the picture to appear in line with text.
b. Set desired distance between picture and text (tab Layout – Advanced – tab Text Wrapping).

Figure caption. Each figure in a scientific paper/report should have a figure caption (including the
figure number and a sentence telling what the figure illustrates). The caption can be written under the
figure as a regular text line. However, it is sometimes easier to write the figure caption in a Text Box
(see footnote 1) and group the box with the figure (especially if you have body text next to the figure).

Equations
You can write symbols (such as μ, σ, λ, ∑, ±, ×, ≥, ≤ ) in MS Word. Go to Insert menu – Symbol –
select font Symbol – mark the desired symbol – click Insert button. You can also use superscript to
write h2, for example, and subscript to write rg. You find superscript and subscript as tick alternatives
in Format menu – Font. You can also insert superscript and subscript shortcut buttons in the Format
toolbar (see section “Shortcut buttons and keyboard shortcuts”).
To write equations and formulas, however, you usually need an Equation Editor. Such a tool is
available in MS Word; to find it you can try the following:
Alt 1. Check if you find the icon α for Equation Editor in the toolbars shown on the screen; Click
the icon. If you don’t find the icon you can insert it in a toolbar yourself (see section “Shortcut buttons
and keyboard shortcuts”).
Alt 2. Insert menu – Object – Create New – click Microsoft Equation 3.0 in Object Type box – OK.
The Equation toolbar should appear when you click the Equation icon (Alt 1) or perform alternative 2.
If the toolbar does not appear the Equation feature might not have been installed when MS Word was
installed, and you may need to get the feature installed.

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To write an equation or formula using the MS Equation Editor:
Open the Equation toolbar. Click the toolbar buttons and select desired alternatives to write your
equation (formula). Variables and numbers you type from the keyboard. Close the toolbar when the
equation is finalized; the equation then appears in your document.
To edit an equation inserted in your document, double-click the equation and do the editing. Use the
Help function within the Equation Editor for further instruction.
A more advanced Equation Editor with more features (MathType) can be incorporated into MS Word,
but a separate license is required. It might be useful to have MathType if you write equations and
formulas often, and especially if those are complicated.

Reference list
Each reference in the reference list is often written with an indent after the first line of the reference;
this is called “hanging”. To do the hanging: Format menu – Paragraph – tab Indents and Spacing –
click the down arrow in box Special – select “Hanging” and set the indent desired.
The references are easier to read if there is some space (e.g. 6 points) between the references. Go to
Format menu – Paragraph – Spacing Before (or After).
It is often the best to Left Align the reference list. Otherwise there might be long spaces between the
words in some rows. You might define the settings for the reference list in your Style Sheet.

Page numbers
Alt 1. Page numbering starts from the first page of the document
To insert page numbers: Insert menu – Page numbers – choose Position and Alignment for page
numbers.
Decide whether the page number should be shown on the first page or not. Click the Format button in
the Page numbers window if you want to change the number format. For example, if the first page is a
title page and the body text or your document starts in the second page you can format the numbering
to start at zero and not be shown in the first page. The second page will then get number 1.
Alt 2. Page numbering starts at the earliest from the third page of the document
If the first page of your document is a title page and the second page is a content list, you might want
page numbering to start at the third page (if that’s where the body text starts). In that case you need to
section the document before inserting page numbering. You then can do like this (click OK to apply
settings you make in a window):
a. Place the marker at the bottom of the last page of section 1 (e.g. the page with the content list).
b. Insert menu – Break – tick Next Page.
(If you want to delete a section break: Click View menu – Normal – find the section break line on
the page, mark it and press delete).
c. Place the marker at the top of the first page of section 2.
d. View menu – Header and Footer – Header and Footer toolbar appears on the screen.
Click the icon “Switch between header and footer” to get to the footer (assuming page numbering
is to be at the bottom of the page).
Click the icon with two parallel pages (named “Same as previous”) to delete the link to the footer
in section 1. Close the Header and Footer toolbar.
e. Place the marker in the first page of section 2.
f. Insert menu – Page numbers – choose Position and Alignment for the page numbers.
g. Click Format button – tick Start at 1. If this wouldn’t work, try doing ”Insert page number” when
the marker is placed in the footer (bullet d)
In case you would want a section with page numbering i, ii, iii etc: Place the marker in the first page of
that section – Insert menu – Page numbers – choose Position and Alignment – click Format button –
select Number format i, ii, iii – tick Start at ”i”.

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Print preview
It can be a good idea to preview on the computer screen what you document will look like in print.
You then see if something should be corrected before you make the printout; this saves time, paper
and ink.
To do a preview, either go to the File menu and select Print Preview; or click the Print Preview icon
(sheet with magnifying glass in the Format toolbar).
In the preview mode, double-click on the page to switch between 50% and 100% zoom, or set the
zoom % you want. Click Close to get back to the writing mode (or press the Esc key). You can also
switch in and out of Print Preview by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F2.

Track changes
When someone else is going to read and suggest changes in your document it is useful to use “Track
Changes”. With the Track Changes feature turned on, each insertion, deletion, or formatting change
made in the document is tracked, i.e. you will see what has been done and can decide what changes
you want to accept or reject. The other person can see what changes you did, etc. Note that Track
Changes must be turned on during the whole reviewing process for changes to be shown.
To turn on the Track Changes feature: either go to the Tools menu and select Track Changes,
or click the Track Changes icon in the Reviewing toolbar.
If the icon is not shown, go to View menu – Toolbars – click Reviewing.
Comments can also be entered through the Reviewing toolbar. The comments appear in the margin of
the document. Place the marker in the text, table, object etc, that the comment should refer to and click
the “New Comment” icon.

Shortcut buttons and keyboard shortcuts

Using shortcut buttons and keyboard shortcuts reduce the number of mouse-clicks when you write in
MS Word.
Shortcut buttons appear as icons in the different toolbars, and the command behind the button is
displayed in text when you point at the icon. Clicking a shortcut button is quicker than getting to the
command via main menus and sub-menus.
If you don’t find a specific icon/feature in the toolbars shown on the screen, you can enter it yourself:
Tools menu – Customize – tab Commands – select item in box Categories – find the desired feature in
the Commands box and mark it – press the left mouse button and drag the icon into the toolbar on the
screen where you want it to appear – Close the Customize window.
If you want to delete an icon: Go to Tools menu and do as described (above) up through the step
where you marked the icon/feature. Thereafter, place the pointer at the specific icon in the toolbar on
the screen, and drag the icon out of it. Close the Customize window.
Keyboard shortcuts are commands operated from the keyboard. For example, if you mark a text
section and press the keys Ctrl and X simultaneously then the marked text is cut from the page. This
specific keyboard shortcut is “named” Ctrl+X; if consists of a “modifier” (Ctrl+) and a “key” (X).
Alternatively you could click the icon for “Cut” (a scissor). It can be an advantage, however, to use
keyboard shortcuts when writing a text; your hands can then stay by the keyboard.
Note! The keyboard shortcuts are not the same in all languages. The English keyboard shortcut for
making text bold is Ctrl+B, but in a language where the word for “bold” in another one, the letter to
press might be different. So, you need to know the keyboard shortcuts specific for the language
version of your MS Word software. Some English (US) keyboard shortcuts are listed in the next page.

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Some English (US) keyboard shortcuts

Command Keyboard shortcut Command Keyboard shortcut

Bold Ctrl+B Mark all Ctrl+A

Italic Ctrl+I Find Ctrl+F
Underline Ctrl+U Hard line break Enter (Return key)
Indent Ctrl+M Soft line break Shift+Enter
Superscript Ctrl++ Page break Ctrl+Enter
Subscript Ctrl+Shift+0 Spelling & Grammar F7
Copy Ctrl+C Thesarus Shift+F7
Cut Ctrl+X Open document Ctrl+O
Paste Ctrl+V Print Preview Ctrl+F2
Copy the last window Go to beginning/end
Alt+Prnt Scrn Ctrl+Home; Ctrl+End
opened on the screen of document
Copy everything shown Help
Ctrl+ Prnt Scrn F1
on the screen
Undo Ctrl+Z Save Ctrl+S
Redo Ctrl+Y Save As F12

For some commands the keyboard shortcut is repeated to get out of the command. For example, to
make some words italic press Ctrl+I, write the words and thereafter press the command again to return
to regular text. Do in the same way to switch between superscript, subscript and regular text.

?
Help
There are numerous possibilities and features in MS Word. You can get much help and learn a lot by
using the Help feature.
To access Help: Click Help menu – Microsoft Word Help; or click the Help icon [?]; or press F1;
You can search for a specific item by writing search words. You can also view all contents in MS
Word, and get into specific items from there.

Citation for this guide

Malmfors, B. 2006. Writing a scientific text in Microsoft Word, versions 2002 and 2003. In: Animal
Genetics Training Resource, version 2, 2006. Ojango, J.M., Malmfors, B. and Okeyo, A.M. (Eds).
International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya, and Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Guides to MS Excel and MS PowerPoint referred to in the text

Malmfors, B. 2006. Producing visuals in Microsoft PowerPoint 2002/2003: an introduction. In: Animal
Genetics Training Resource, version 2, 2006. Ojango, J.M., Malmfors, B. and Okeyo, A.M. (Eds).
International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya, and Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Strandberg, E. and Malmfors, B. 2006. Using Microsoft Excel: an introduction. In: Animal Genetics
Training Resource, version 2, 2006. Ojango, J.M., Malmfors, B. and Okeyo, A.M. (Eds). International
Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya, and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,
Uppsala, Sweden.

MS Word Guide, 2006-07-01 9