Word Processing: Writing Stories

A Word Processor is software used for creating documents that are mostly text. You can use it to write a letter, a story, or a school report.

What can you do?

In a word processor, you don’t just type words. You can make your writing look professional and fun!

You can change how your text looks to make it stand out:

Font: Change the style of the letters. Some look formal, while others look like handwriting!
Size: Make your title big and your story text smaller.
Color: Use different colors for your headings.
Bold, Italic, and Underline: Use Bold for important words, Italics for book titles, and Underline for headings.

You can decide where the text sits on the page:

Left Align: The lines of text all line up on the left side (this is how we usually write).
Center: The text is right in the middle (great for titles!).
Right Align: The lines of text all line up on the right side.

Example of Left, Center, and Right alignment in a word processor

If you are writing a shopping list or steps for a recipe, you can use:

Example of Bulleted and Numbered lists in a word processor

Add Pictures: Put photos or drawings into your document to help tell your story.
Check Spelling: The software helps you find words you spelled wrong by putting a red squiggly line under them.

Microsoft Word: The most famous one, used by many people at work and school.
Google Docs: A free one that works inside your web browser! You can even work on the same document with a friend at the same time.
LibreOffice Writer: A free word processor for Linux and Windows.
Pages: A beautiful word processor for Mac and iPad.

Before computers, people used Typewriters. If you made a mistake, you had to use special white paint (called “Wite-Out”) or start the whole page all over again!
The first word processors weren’t software on a computer; they were huge, heavy machines that could only do one thing: type and edit text.
The “Copy and Paste” feature was invented by a man named Larry Tesler. He wanted to make it easier for people to move text around without retyping it.

If you wanted to write a book report, what kind of software would you use?
You are writing a title for your story. Which alignment would make it look best in the middle of the page?
What is the feature called that helps you if you spell a word incorrectly, and what does it usually look like on the screen?
Why would you use a Numbered List instead of a Bulleted List?
Name one word processor that you can use for free on the internet.