How to...

Format any coursework for Psychology

In How to...: Word: Choose suitable fonts for coursework | Move a Style Set | Unsticky Style Sets | Sticky Styles | Keep with Next | Manage images successfully | Image Layout | Group Images | Manage tables successfully | Columns and Section Breaks | Page Layout Problems | Avoid Textboxes | Citations in text boxes | Landscape Pages | Views in Word | News and Views Article | Patient Information Leaflet | Format Psychology coursework | Edit Psychology template
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Starting a piece of coursework

You should use the Psychology Word template for all Psychology coursework.

• You should have already saved a copy of this to your H: drive, in one of the IT skills tutorials that you have attended.
• If you do not have this template, save a copy of it to your H: drive (My Documents folder) now.
• psychology.dotx

Start a new document by double-clicking directly over the template.
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• To do this, go to your My Documents folder and find the psychology template. Look for the orange bar across the top of the Word icon.
  
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• Double-click on this template to start a new Word document from this template.

This Word document will contain four pages with title text, formatted key headings, header and footer information, and you should have amended the template so that it contains your name and student number.

• These headings can be added to or deleted.
• Read on to see how to format new text in the document.
• Information on how to amend the template to contain your name and student number.

Formatting your coursework

Using styles

You should format the text using the styles availlable in the Quick Style Gallery, as these have been modified especially to meet the School of Psychology formatting requirements for coursework.

The Quick Style Gallery is available from the Home tab > Styles group.

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Title should only be used on the front page, as indicated by the template.

• It should be applied to the document title, your name and the text 'Newcastle University'.

Headings 1, 2, 3 etc should be used for main and sub headings, such as Introduction, Methods, References, Participants and Data Analysis.

• Many of these headings already exist within the document.
• The formatting applied to heading text should reflect the structure and order of importance within the headings.

Normal should be used for all the main text of your document.

Caption will be applied to text when a Caption is inserted.

• Captions for Figures should go BELOW the image.
• Captions for Tables should go ABOVE the image.

The Pictures style should be applied to any image that you insert.

Psychology Table and Psychology Large Table should be used to format table text.
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• Use Psychology Large Table for very large tables which require small text to fit the table onto one page.

References should be either formatted using the style References, or with the EndNote bibliographical style 'APA 5th'.

• They should appear in their own section on the last page.

Inserting Captions and Cross-references

Captions are associated with images, tables, equations and other objects within the document. They are made up of three sections:

• Label (i.e. Figure);
• Number (in order of appearance);
• Explanatory text (the description of the object that you write in).

Captions can be inserted via the References tab > Captions group > Insert Caption button.
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• Remember to include explanatory text on the same line as the caption label and number.
• Captions are essential for all figures and tables in your document.
• Captions for Figures should go BELOW the image.
• Captions for Tables should go ABOVE the image.

Cross-references appear in the prose of your document and refer your reader onto the relevant object.

• Captions must be inserted first.

Cross-references can be inserted via the References tab > Captions group > Cross-reference button.
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Managing Images

Managing the position of an image on the page in Word is most easily achieved if you use the layout 'In line with text'. 'In line with text' positions the picture in a paragraph of space.

• Check and change the layout option used for a picture by going to Picture Tools tab > Format tab > Arrange group > Text wrapping option.
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Formatting Tables

Use the Psychology Table style to format the text in the table.

Format the table borders so that only Horizontal (left-to-right) borders remain.

Centre the table on the page, by right clicking over the table > Table Properties > Table tab > Centre.

Other things to remember

Use Next Page breaks, inserted through the Page Layout tab > Page Setup group > Breaks option, to move text permanently onto the next page.
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• The Title and your name should appear on the first page, only.
• The Abstract, if required, should appear on its own page.
• References should appear alone on one page.

Avoid blank lines in the document!

Use EndNote to manage the in-text citations and bibliography, using the 'APA 5th' bibliographic style.

More information

More information can be found in Managing your Report.

Also see how to get help.