The American Psychological Association has come out with the 6th edition of their style manual, and it is easier to understand and use. Full of errors, too, but they're going to fix that with a second printing and a free supplement for those who purchased the first printing. You can even turn your error-filled book in and get a copy of the second printing free. The supplement that fixes the errors is available here:

This crazy friend of mine is always volunteering to do things that are, as she puts it, "outside my comfort zone." She loves a challenge, and not knowing how to do something is no excuse, in her mind, for not doing it--one must learn new things to stay sharp, and sharp she is. Here's the question she presented me with while working on a Word document the other day: How do I begin numbering pages starting with number 1 on the fourth page instead of on the first page? This is a not-uncommon dilemma, so here's the answer.

The key to having different formatting in different parts of a document is to use sections. To quote Microsoft Office Word Help, you "insert section breaks to divide the document into sections, and then format each section the way you want." To solve my friend's problem, we inserted a section break beginning on the fourth page, then started the automatic page numbering feature in that new section. We severed the links between the headers on the third and fourth pages, and formatted the page number to start with the number 1. We ended up with no page numbers on the first three pages, and page numbers beginning with 1 on the fourth page and following--just what she wanted.

The trick to sections, for me anyway, is understanding the goofy names the delightful programmers at Microsoft assigned to the different type of section breaks. To insert a section, put your cursor where you want the section to begin. From the toolbar, click on Insert, then click on Break. A box will pop up giving you several options. You can insert a page break from this box as well, but we'll ignore that for now. Under Section, you'll see these choices: next page, continuous, odd page, and even page. If those make intuitive sense to you, then you should go write code for Microsoft.

I suppose "next page" is logical enough. If you select "next page," the new section will start on the next page--ta-da!! This would be useful if you have come to the end of a page and know that you want a new type of formatting to begin on, ummm, the next page.

"Continuous" makes no sense to me at all. It should be called "here." When you choose "continuous," a section break is inserted at the spot where your cursor is at that moment. This is what we used in my friend's document, at the top of the fourth page, although "next page" would have worked if we put our cursor at the end of the third page. I suppose they use the word "continuous" because you can stay on the same page without an obvious break and yet still have an invisible section break that separates the formatting. Who knows? Furthermore, who cares?

To quote Microsoft Office Word Help again, "Odd page or Even page inserts a section break and starts the new section on the next odd-numbered or even-numbered page."

Here's one more bit of advice from Microsoft Office Help: "Keep in mind that a section break controls the section formatting of the text that precedes it. For example, if you delete a section break, the preceding text becomes part of the following section and assumes its section formatting."

To my friend Lee, who inspires me daily, and to everyone who struggles with Word on a daily basis--be careful when playing with sections, because you can get burned. But remember that wonderful Undo button and keep on typing.

Or else what? Well, you can always permanently or temporarily disable the automatic correction feature in Word, and I'll show you how. But once you understand it, it's more efficient to surrender your will to Word. AutoCorrect is a great help if it is set correctly.

The best way to understand AutoCorrect in Word is to look at the possibilities. In Word, go to Tools and select AutoCorrect Options in the pull-down Tools menu. There are five tabs: AutoCorrect, AutoText, AutoFormat, AutoFormat As You Type, and Smart Tags. We'll tackle AutoFormat As You Type first, because it seems to be the one that usually drives people crazy.

Click on AutoFormat As You Type. Read all the lovely possibilities for Word to make you nuts--everything in the list that is checked is something that Word will do for you without asking your permission first. If Automatic Bulleted Lists and/or Automatic Numbered Lists are checked, then whenever you insert a bullet or type a number that looks to Word like you want to start a list, Word will automatically assume you want a bulleted or numbered list and will format it as such. This is a feature that I happen to like, because I know I can easily alter the style of the bulleted or numbered list (more on that later) when I want. It bothers a lot of people, though, especially those who aren't familiar with Word's list formatting options. If you're one of those, you can easily turn this feature off by unchecking those boxes. Ta-da!! No more aggravating changes made by Word behind your back.

Word does have a mind of its own, sort of, but you are the one who decides whether or not to let Word use its full brain power, or whether to put yourself fully in control (in all your smarter-than-Word glory). Check out the other things in the AutoFormat As You Type list and you'll begin to see why Word does some of the things it does. Feel free to check or uncheck according to your preferences. You can easily change whatever you choose later.

Stop fighting with Microsoft Word! You know who you are. You wrangle with Word, undoing the automatic corrections it makes, cussing at its formatting changes, and painstakingly counting spaces and measuring inches so you can get margins, indentations, spacing, and the like to conform to APA. You can quit now, because I'm going to show you a better way. Relax.

Repeat after me: Word is my friend. Word can help me and save me time. The trick is to learn the ways of Word and figure out what you need to change and what you need to accept. It's like the Serenity Prayer: accept the things you cannot change, change the things you can, and be wise enough to know the difference.

Let's tackle those red and green squiggly lines that keep appearing underneath your brilliant prose. DO NOT IGNORE those colorful lines! They are trying to tell you something significant. A red line under a word means that the word does not exist in that form in the Microsoft Word dictionary. In other words, it might be misspelled. Notice I said might. Since nurses and nursing students usually write papers that contain medical language, many of the words we commonly use are not in the Microsoft Word dictionary. Also, many names, like those of authors you might be referencing, are not in the dictionary.

Here's how to handle a red squiggly line. Right-click on the underlined word. A menu will appear that gives you several options. Probably Word will suggest a word that it thinks you might have meant--if you typed the word "gynoplasty," for example, Word might suggest "cytoplast." If you typed the word "totol," Word might guess that you meant to type "total." 

If you misspelled the word, and Word correctly guesses the word you meant to type, select that word and left-click on it. The right word will magically appear in place of the misspelled word. Wonderful.

However, if you know for sure that you did NOT misspell the word, then you should choose the option in the menu that says "Add to Dictionary." This will make the red squiggly line disappear, and Word won't bother you about this word in the future. It will know that when you type "gynoplasty," that's what you mean. There's nothing worse than software that nags you incessantly about something that you know is correct, so this will effectively stop the nagging. Over time you will build up a nice little customized dictionary in Word that contains lots of medical terminology that Word recognizes. Just be sure you are filling this dictionary full of correctly spelled words!! You are setting yourself up for problems if you add misspelled words to the Word dictionary.

Sometimes Word doesn't recognize a word, and it also doesn't have any suggestions to make. You'll have to figure out for yourself if the word is misspelled or if it is correctly spelled and you want to add it to the dictionary. If you're not sure, select "Look up" in the menu. A Research Pane will come up in the Task Pane, with the word in question and the results of a search through Microsoft's reference books. Pretty nifty.

You can also choose to "Ignore All," which means Word will overlook this particular word, thereby causing the red squiggly lines to disappear. You can select "AutoCorrect," which means Word will fix the word for you--the AutoCorrect features are a whole 'nother blog unto themselves. If you have somehow wandered into using the wrong language in Word, you'll get lots of red squiggly lines under words that you know are correct--check to be sure you are using English by choosing "Language" in the right-click menu.

Enough for now. We'll tackle the green squiggly lines later.

Contrary to popular opinion, APA style does not apply only to reference citations. There are some basic formatting rules that accompany APA style, and they are:

1.  Use Times Roman or Courier font, 12-point size, for everything.

2.  Double space everything, and I do mean everything: all content, tables, references, block quotes: everything.

3.  Keep 1-inch margins on the top, bottom, and both sides of the paper (excluding the headers and footers).

4.  Do not underline anything. Use italics for most things you used to underline, such as for emphasis or book and journal titles.

5.  Do not use bold type for anything. Again, you will use italics when needed.

6.  Did I mention that you should double space everything?

7.  Indent all paragraphs 1/2 inch. The only exception is the paragraph on the Abstract page.

8.  APA has defined the type of headings you should use to organize your paper. That's a complicated subject, so we'll tackle it separately later. Just know that there are rules for headings.

9.  Always include a title page with an APA-style document. We'll discuss the format of the title page another time.

10. Double space everything. No exceptions.

These are good, basic formatting rules that should apply to every paper you produce for school or business. Using these rules enhances readability and improves the appearance of your documents.

Here's a philosophical (sort of, in a nerdy kind of way) question I get asked a lot: Why use APA in schools of nursing? My answer: Because I said so.

Just kidding. Believe it or not, there are some good reasons to insist that professional nurses learn to use the APA style of writing. First, when you communicate well in writing you signal the world that you are a professional. Conversely, when your written communication is sloppy you are telling the world that you are either not too bright or you just don't care. Is that the impression you want to give people as you try to enhance your career?

APA style is an excellent, clear, standardized way of writing, formatting, and referencing works. By having a standard that we all adhere to, we make things easier in the long run. I don't have to make decisions about how I will format my paper. Will I double space? What margins will I use? What information will I include in the references? All that has been decided by a panel of experts, all of us in the nursing profession have agreed to use it, and all I have to do is conform. Easy.

APA style greases the wheels of written communication in the educational and publishing worlds. You might not think that you will ever publish an article, but life is long and twisty, and many of you eventually will do exactly that. You have to submit articles for publication to professional nursing journals in APA format, and that's that. Anything less will not be accepted. Just as in school, having a standard that we all agree to adhere to makes the expectations clear and smooths the path of communication.

Part of my job is to teach nurses how to be professionals. Professionals are supposed to communicate well when writing and speaking. I would be a very poor teacher if I didn't insist that you learn how to do APA style, when I know that it will help you sharpen your writing skills and learn how to present yourself in a professional manner in the world of work.

If you're new to blogging or reading blogs, there are a few things you should know. First, the goal of this blog is to provide information about computers, software, and APA style, and it is specifically written for nurses and nursing students. Second, it's not fascinating reading--think of it as more of a reference tool.

Look at the menu on the right-hand side of this blog. You'll see that the entries are categorized, so you can click on a category that interests you, say APA, and go directly to the entries that have to do with that subject. That's one handy way to skim through to find answers to questions or see what I'm emphasizing.

Another great tool is the Search feature, also on the right-hand sidebar. Let's say your teacher took off points on your last paper because your headers were done incorrectly. Type in "header" in the search box, and you'll see the blog entry or entries that give information about setting up your page headers in APA style. Easy and fast.

The calendar might be helpful, too, although I'm not sure why most of you would use it. The numbers on the calendar in bold type are days that I posted a new entry. I guess if someone told you to check out my entry on February 12 for instructions in using this blog, you could click on that date and go straight to the entry or entries I posted that day.

The right-hand sidebar also has links to the most recent postings, with titles displayed so you can see if something interests you or not.

Did you know that blogs are meant to be interactive? This is supposed to be you and me talking to each other about the subject of this blog, or about anything else you want to ask me (personal questions are OK, but I'm not very interesting--I'm married, have two dogs, two grown kids, and am working on my doctorate in nursing). To ask a question or make a comment, click on the underlined links at the end of each entry. You can also vote on how helpful a particular entry is by clicking "More," which will take you to a little one-button survey. Doing that helps other people know if an entry is any good or not. As you will see if you look at the links at the bottom of this entry, you can easily post a comment and also read other people's comments.

I promise to answer any questions as soon as I can, which usually means within 48 hours. If you need a faster answer, send me an email at sbucarole@sbcglobal.net.

There's a great little free program that will turn your Word documents into pdf (portable document format) files, available at: http://www.primopdf.com/.

Why would you want to do such a thing, you ask? One reason is to preserve the formatting of your Word document when you send it somewhere else by email, CD, the Web, or whatever. When you put a document into pdf, there's no danger of moved margins, altered fonts, or skewed headings when someone else opens the document on their computer. Also, it prevents people from copying, changing, or otherwise messing with your work--well, they can still do that, but you make it a lot harder for them.

The PrimoPDF program, although free, doesn't come with any ads or aggravating pop-ups, and no registration is required. Cool stuff.

What!! You still aren't using updated virus protection?? What kind of nurse doesn't understand the need to protect oneself from bugs?! You simply must, must, must have virus protection software on your computer, and you must keep it constantly updated or it's useless against the new viruses that come out almost daily. If you're a poor student, or a poor teacher, or even if you're rich as Midas, this free program can be downloaded from the Web, updates itself daily, is easy to use, and provides absolutely excellent protection against viruses. It's called AVG Anti-Virus from Grisoft, and the free version for non-commercial home computer users can be downloaded from this link: http://www.grisoft.com/doc/289/lng/us/tpl/tpl01

Do it today!

When you find a file on the Web that you want to use, I recommend that you save it to your computer so you can retrieve it easily later. Right-click on the link and choose "Save As" or "Save Target As" from the pull-down menu. Save it to your computer in a place you will remember. Then open the file from within your computer instead of from the Web site.

If you need to open documents that are in pdf, or portable document format, you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Go to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html to download the free reader.