Using the
Computer for
Essays
English 10
August 25 and 26, 2011
Why can’t I just write it out and turn it
in?
 Standard: Writing Strategies 1.8 – Design and publish
documents by using advanced publishing software
and graphic programs.
 ESLR: Use multi-media tools for communication.
 Rationale: No matter what field you work in when
you graduate from high school/college, you will
definitely have to use a computer for both
professional and personal tasks.
 In order to help you prepare for this, you will be
expected to use Microsoft Word to properly format
every essay that you write for this class.
Steps to Take Before You Type an
Essay
 Set margins to 1” (inch) all the way around the
document.
 Set the spacing to “double.”
 Set font to 12 pt. Times New Roman.

NO OTHER FONT OR SIZE IS ACCEPTABLE!

Do not add in any extra bolding, italicizing, or underlining.
(Underlining/italicizing titles of long works of writing is
acceptable, but this, of course, would not be considered “extra”
because it is grammatically correct.)
 Remember to type your name (first and last), your
teacher’s name (Ms. Barron, Mrs. DeVries, Ms.
Handley, Mrs. Harkins), the course name (English 10),
and the date the essay is to be turned in (day month
year) in the top left-hand corner of the first page.

Note: Your heading should be double-spaced.
What Does the Heading Look Like?
Steps to Take Before You Type an
Essay
 Center your title, but make sure the rest of your essay
is left-justified (def: lined up on the left side of the
page).
 Indent each new paragraph by hitting the “Tab” key
once.
 Remember to save your work every couple minutes
(“Ctrl” + “S” on a PC; “Apple” + “S” on a Mac) and
back it up to a flash drive or to your email.

It’s always good to have two copies of your document in case
something happens to your computer. You should NEVER
submit to www.turnitin.com without saving a copy somewhere
first.
 Use spell check to look for typos and spelling errors.
 If you have a word limit, use the word count tool to
see how many words you have written.
 Did you make a mistake? Use the “undo” and “redo”
buttons to help you fix it.
Setting the Margins: Word 2003
 From the “File” menu, select “Page Setup.”
 Use the up/down arrows to make sure that the Top,
Bottom, Left, and Right margins all say 1”. Do not
adjust anything else.
 Click “OK.”
Setting the Margins: Word 2007
 On the “Page Layout” tab, click the “Margins” button.
 Select the “Normal” option, which is 1” on each side.
Setting the Spacing: Word 2003
 From the “Format” menu, select “Paragraph.”
 In the “Spacing” section of the dialog box, use the
pull-down arrow to select “Double.”
 Click “OK.”
Setting the Spacing: Word 2007
 On the “Home” tab, click on the “line-spacing” button,
which is in the “Paragraph” box.
 Make sure there is a checkmark next to “2.0.”
 Note: You may be able to do this with Word 2003 as
well.
Setting the Font: Both Versions
 Use the pull-down menu for “Font”
to select “Times New Roman.”
 Use the pull-down menu for “Size”
to select “12.”
 If you need to italicize/underline a
title, use the “I” or “U” button in
the toolbar.

Keyboard Shortcuts: “Ctrl” + “I” or
“Ctrl” + “U” for PC; “Apple” + “I” or
“Apple” + “U” for Mac
Centering the Title and Left-Justifying the
Essay: Both Versions
 Use the “Center” button in the toolbar to center your title.
 Use the “Left-Justify” button in the toolbar to line the rest
of your essay back up on the left-hand side.
Saving Your Work
 For Word 2003, click on the “File”
menu, then select “Save.”
 For Word 2007, click on the “Office”
button, then select “Save.” (Note: On
a Mac, you will need to click on the
“File” menu in the menu bar at the
top of the screen.)
 Keyboard Shortcuts: “Ctrl” + “S” for
PC; “Apple” + “S” for Mac
Saving Your Work

Use the buttons on the left side of the box and the folder icons in the
middle to help you locate the place where you want to save your
document. (Hint: If you’re looking for your flash drive, it will be
under “My Computer.”)

Once you have selected the right location for your document, type a
title for your document in the “File Name” box. It is important to
give your document a title that will help you remember what it is!

Click “Save.”

After saving the first time, all you need to do is select “Save” from
the “File” menu, click on the disk button on the toolbar, or use a
keyboard shortcut.
A Few Important Notes on
Saving
 Make sure you save every couple minutes so you
don’t lose your work due to a computer malfunction.
 You should also save a back-up copy of your essay
on a flash drive or email a copy of it to yourself in
case your home computer crashes (or the hard drive
on the school computer gets reformatted).
Using Spell Check
 For Word 2003, click on the “Tools” menu, and then select
“Spelling and Grammar.”
 For Word 2007, click on the “Review” tab, and then select
“Spelling and Grammar.” (Note: On a Mac, you will need
to use the “Tools” menu in the menu bar at the top of the
screen instead.)
 For both versions, look for the icon that has a checkmark
and the letters “ABC.”
Using Spell Check

Each time Microsoft Word discovers a misspelled word (indicated while
you are typing by a red squiggly line) or a grammatical error (indicated
while you are typing by a green squiggly line), the spell check tool will
help you look for corrections.

Don’t automatically select “Change” for everything! Sometimes a word is
spelled correctly or there is no grammatical mistake, but it is not in the
computer dictionary.

Look at each possible change individually and try to determine what the
correct change (if any) should be.

Also, don’t forget to read through your essay to check for mistakes that
spell check didn’t catch!
Finding a Word Count
 For Word 2003, use the “Tools” menu to select “Word Count.” You
will see a box that tells you how many words you have written.
 For Word 2007, the word count will be in the bottom left-hand
corner of the screen. (Note: On a Mac, it may be in the bottom
middle instead.)
 If you only want to see the word count for part of the document
(e.g., without your heading and title), highlight the section of the
document that you would like counted and follow the steps above.
Fixing a Mistake using “Undo” and
“Redo”
 If you make a mistake and you’re not sure how to fix it, click
the “Undo” button on the toolbar.
 If you accidentally undo something that you meant to do, click
the “Redo” button on the toolbar.
 If you are using Word 2003 and you can’t find these buttons, you
can also find them on the “Edit” menu.
Your First Computer Assignment

In order to make sure you have learned these skills before you
complete your first major essay for this class, we are going to ask
you to format a document at home and submit it to
www.turnitin.com.

This assignment will be due to www.turnitin.com by 11:59 p.m. on
Wednesday, August 31, 2011. You must also bring a hard copy (def:
printed out copy) to class on Wednesday, August 31, 2011.

In order to receive credit, you must write 200-300 words introducing
yourself to us. What are your interests? Are you involved in any
clubs or sports here at school? What is your favorite subject in
school? How do you feel about English? What are your goals for
this year? What did you like most about The Hunger Games (don’t
forget to underline the title or put it in italics!)?

You must use the ten steps at the beginning of these notes – you
will lose credit for each step you do not complete. If you do not
submit your assignment to www.turnitin.com (we’ll show you how
tomorrow), you will receive a homework card and a zero on the
assignment.

This assignment will be worth 25 points in the essays and writing
category of your grade.
Internet Tools You Should Know
There are several websites you need to be familiar with in
order to be a successful sophomore English student at
Segerstrom High School:
 www.dictionary.com – Many homework assignments for
this class will require you to look up the definitions of
words you don’t know. This website will help you to
complete these assignments, especially if you do not
have a dictionary at home.
 http://src.scholastic.com/ecatalog; www.arbookfind.com;
www.amazon.com – These three websites will help you
look up word counts for your Independent Reading
book reports.
 www.turnitin.com – This website is where you will
submit your Independent Reading questions and all of
your essays. We will come back to this website in just a
minute!
 www.sausd.us/segerstrom - This is the school website,
which you will need to access in order to find the English
10 page.
Accessing the English 10 Page
 Once you get to
the school’s
website, click on
“Resources,” and
then click on
“English
Department.”
Accessing the English 10 Page
 On the left side of
the page, under
the heading
“English
Department,” click
on the “English
10” link.
 You may also
click on your
teacher’s name in
the “Sophomore
Courses – 10th
Grade” box;
however, your
teacher’s page
will probably
direct you back to
the course page.
Accessing the English 10 Page
 Once you have
reached the
English 10 page,
you can click on
any link (def: the
underlined
words in blue) to
save the file to
your computer.
You can then
open these
documents, print
them, and, in the
case of book
reports, type
directly into
them.
What Is Turnitin.com?
 You should have used www.turnitin.com last year to
submit your summer reading assignment, Independent
Reading book reports, and essays.
 You will be asked to submit every single essay you write
for this class to www.turnitin.com.
 You will not receive a grade until you have done this,
and if you do not submit your essay on time, you will
receive a homework card, as your work will be
considered incomplete. It is important that you learn how
to do this correctly!
 Remember that www.turntin.com is a plagiarism
prevention website. If you submit something that has
ever been typed by someone else and published (def:
posted online), you will be caught and sent to the office
on a referral.

This includes essays that other students have submitted to
www.turnitin.com – the system will compare your essay to every
other essay that has been submitted to www.turnitin.com as well as
every known published material on the Internet (including websites
like SparkNotes and Wikipedia).
Creating an Account
 You should
already have an
account at
www.turnitin.com
from last year. It is
very important
that you do not
create a second
account if you
already have one!
 If you do not have
an account, click
the link in the top
right corner of the
home page that
says, “Create
account.”
Creating an Account
To create your account, you will need:
 An email account that you:

Check regularly

Will not, under any circumstances, lose the password to

Will not change for any reason during this school year

Know is school appropriate

If you do not have an email account, you can easily get one for free at
www.yahoo.com; www.hotmail.com; or www.gmail.com.
 Access to a computer
 At home – make sure to let your family know ahead of
time that you will need the computer for an extended
period of time. Problems with your computer are never an
excuse for late or missing work!
 The school library – make sure to bring your flash drive or
email a copy to yourself because the hard drives are
reformatted often.
Creating an Account
To create your account, you will need:
 Your Class ID#
 Period 2: 3438520
 Period 3: 3438522
 Period 5: 3438523
 Period 6: 3438525
 Your Class Password: handley
 Use the Class ID# and Class Password to set up your
account. You will not need to use these ever again.
When you log in to www.turnitin.com, you will need to
use YOUR email account and the password you created.
Don’t forget these – ever! Write them down and store
them in a safe place if you have to! Under no
circumstances should you ever create a new account
just because you forgot your password!
Creating an Account
 If you do forget
your password,
click on the link in
the upper righthand corner of the
home page that
says, “Retrieve
password,” and
answer the
questions to have
a new password
sent to your email
address.
Enrolling in This Class
 For those of you
who already have
an account,
enrolling in this
class is easy!
 Log in by typing
YOUR email
address and
password in the
upper right-hand
corner of the home
page, and then
clicking “Sign In.”
Enrolling in This Class
 Click on one of the links that says, “enroll in a class.” There is
always one on the left-hand side of the page; however, since it is a
new school year, there may also be one in the middle of the page.
Enrolling in This Class
 Type in your Class
ID#:

Period 2: 3438520

Period 3: 3438522

Period 5: 3438523

Period 6: 3438525
 Type in your Class
Password: handley
 Click “Submit.”
 You should now
see this class listed
on your home
page every time
you log in.
Submitting an Assignment
 Log in to
www.turnitin.com
by typing YOUR
email address and
password in the
upper right-hand
corner of the home
page, and then
clicking “Sign In.”
Submitting an Assignment
 Click on the link for this class.
Submitting an Assignment
 You will see a list of assignments. Scroll through the list to find the
correct one. You will only be able to submit an assignment if the due
date has not yet passed.
 Once you have found the correct assignment, click on the gray
button that says, “Submit.”
Submitting an Assignment
 Make sure that:

The pull-down menu for
“Choose a paper
submission method”
says, “single file upload.”

Your first and last name
are correct.

You have given an
appropriate title to your
paper.
 Click the button that
says, “Browse . . .”
Submitting an Assignment
 A “File Upload” box
will appear. Find the
document you want to
submit, click on it once,
and then click “Open.”
 Click “Upload.”
Submitting an Assignment
 You’re not quite done
yet! Forgetting this
second step is a crucial
mistake many students
make! Look in the box
that says, “Preview
Paper” to make sure
that you have submitted
the correct paper.

Don’t worry if the
formatting is not correct.
Just make sure you
submitted the right
document.

If you submitted the wrong
document, click “return to
upload page” and submit
the correct document.
 Click “Submit.” You are
not done until you do
this!
Submitting an Assignment
 You should now see a green checkmark telling you that you have
successfully submitted your document, as well as a copy of your Turnitin
Digital Receipt.

You will need to either print a copy of this digital receipt or save a copy of the email
www.turnitin.com will send you when you successfully submit a document. If you do not
have this receipt, it means we did not receive your essay and you will receive a
homework card and a zero. The only way to prove that you submitted your work on
time if there is a problem is to show us a copy of this receipt.

If you think there was a problem with your submission, email your teacher immediately
and attach a copy of your completed work. This is the only way that you can prove your
work was completed on time.
 Congratulations! You
may now log out and
move on to your math
homework!
A Few Reminders

If you submit the wrong file on accident, you may overwrite
your own submission up until the due date. You may not alter
(def: change) the submission after the due date without your
teacher’s permission.

Make sure you submit early – the server at www.turnitin.com
gets busy when many students are trying to submit work at
once (usually around 11:59 p.m.). If you don’t get to submit
because you waited until the last minute and the server was too
slow, you will get a zero and a homework card!

Once a due date has passed, you cannot make any more
changes.

If you attempt to submit an essay that was not typed in
Microsoft Word (the file should end in .doc or .docx), it often
comes out in gobbledygook computer code and will probably
be formatted incorrectly, which will affect your grade. Just use
Microsoft Word! If your essay is formatted incorrectly – it will be
YOUR FAULT, not your teacher’s!


If you do not have Microsoft Word at home, there are many computers
on campus you can use, but you will have to plan ahead. We always give
you several days to submit assignments to www.turnitin.com for this
reason.
Once the time for submissions is over (usually 11:59 p.m.), your
teacher does not have to open the folder again for you. It is
YOUR responsibility to turn your work in on time.