Lefkowitz 1 Alex Lefkowitz Goulding CIS 1020-030 Extra Credit 30 April 2013

New Material I Learned from CIS

In this paper I will discuss some of the new information that I learned in the class CIS 1020-030, and will also elaborate on some of the features I found to be most significant within the programs Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. During my time in CIS 1020 I learned a lot of valuable information. However, Id say that the most impactful information I learned was about the programs Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. I will take the rest of the paper to explain some of these learned concepts. To be honest, at the beginning of the semester I was very confident in my abilities to use Word and Excel, and thought that I didnt need to take CIS 1020. This arrogance, I think, came from the fact that Ive used the two programs for the better part of the last four years. You see, in high school I was a member of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, which is similar to the Advanced Placement (AP) program, but is often regarded as much more rigorous. As such, I frequently used Word and Excel to create college level papers and projects (the expectation in the IB program is that youre completing college level work while in high school). It is this frequent use of the programs, perhaps, that caused me to underestimate the importance and complexity of the programs. For example, one of the most simple and profound functionalities that I learned about in CIS 1020 was the Format Painter button in Word. Simply put, this button is a huge timesaver,

Lefkowitz 2 and allows you to copy the format of a selected area of text, and paint it onto a different area of text. If you have a section of text, for example, that is italicized, underlined, in Cambria 15.5 font, colored in red and highlighted in yellow, you can use the Format Painter to quickly transfer that format to a different area of text. Instead of taking the time to cumbersomely italicize the selected text, underline it, change it to Cambria font at size 15.5, color it in red and highlight it in yellow, you can use the Format Painter to select the text and then change it to that format in 1 simple click and drag of the mouse. Since learning about this amazing functionality I have used it in almost every paper Ive written to quickly create the format for my headings and the body of my paragraphs. Another functionality in Word that I learned about in CIS 1020 was the Header & Footer options. Now, I've always just created a header by double clicking on the top of the page and entering the header in that way. But, I was unable to create page numbers because if I entered the number 1, for instance, at the top of the page, it would display the number 1 at the top of every page. Because of this, I resulted to manually typing out the page number at the top of each page. However, my time in CIS 1020 has taught me that there is an entirely separate Header & Footer Tools Design tab. The tab is in plain sight, but I didnt even know it existed! In essence, the tab gives you a wide range of options such as the ability to put in page numbers, date & time, use a different header/footer for different odd and even pages, and a different header/footer for the first page. Similar to the Format Painter, this functionality is fairly simple and obvious, but if you dont know about it you wont use it. Now that I know about it however, it has saved me

Lefkowitz 3 enormous amounts of time. As a matter of fact, I used the Header & Footer Tools Design tab to create the header for this document in about 10 seconds. My time in CIS 1020 also introduced me to the Page Layout tab in Word. This tab has been extremely useful because Ive learned how to create page breaks, line numbers, and quickly adjust margins using the Page Setup dialog box. The Page Setup dialog box is particularly useful because it allows you to adjust the majority of the page Layout options in a simple and confined area. But, if you dont know where the Page Setup dialog box is its hard to find, since its most readily accessed by a small button in the corner of the Page Setup area in the Page Layout Tab. The practice tests and grader assignments also taught me how to adjust Page Borders and Indenting and Spacing in the Page Layout Tab, which has been of particular use in my English class. Additionally, my time in CIS 1020 has taught me a lot about Excel. Perhaps the most prevalent functionality of Excel that I learned about was the Formulas tab. Before taking this class, I knew that Excel was commonly used as an organizational and logistical tool involving formulas, but I had no idea just how many formulas there were, or how to use them. Now, however, Ive become quite accustomed to a variety of formulas including the Financial PMT formula, and many others like the Logical If formula. Furthermore, Ive learned of the potential value of the Date & Time formulas. In the past Ive used Excel to keep record logs according to date and time, but I would manually enter the date and time into the fields. Looking back I feel rather foolish because I could have easy used a

Lefkowitz 4 formula such as the Date, Day, or Days360 functions to automatically calculate the date for me. The Formulas tab can be a rather tricky area of Excel, but Id say that I feel at least 10 times more comfortable with the tab than I did before CIS 1020, and that now I also feel like I have enough knowledge to explore and experiment with the formulas in the tab. I would also like to mention the Chart Dialog box under the Insert tab in Excel. When I first learned about and explored this dialog box in a practice test and grader project I nearly fainted with excitement. The Chart Dialog box is extremely cool and fun to play with, but more importantly, the possible applications it has in helping me with school and other projects is insurmountable. Back in high school for example, I remember seeing one of my classmates David create extraordinary graphs and line charts for his IB Extended Essay. I assumed that while the charts looked amazing, they must have taken him hours of work to construct. Yet, in CIS 1020 I finally discovered that the secret to Davids amazing charts was Excel, and that they must have only taken minutes to create! Using the Chart Dialog box is very simple. All you have to do is enter your data in a logical format in the fields, and then click on the picture of the graph you want to create. Simple! Even more impressive however is the ease at which you can customize and change the charts. You can change the colors and aesthetic appeal of the charts, but you can also add advanced tools to the chart such as trendlines, up/down bars, lines, and error bars with as little as two clicks. I plan to heavily use the Chart Dialog box in future essays and projects to add incredible charts and create an aurora of professionalism in my work.

Lefkowitz 5 Throughout my time in CIS 1020 Ive learned about more applications and functions of Word and Excel than I can count. But, I decided to include a somewhat brief list of these applications and functions in this paper because I feel like they are the most notable and useful features that I have learned. To recap these notable features: I found the Format Painter, Header & Footer Tools Design tab, and Page Layout tab to be the most important features of Word that I learned. Additionally, I acquired an immense about of knowledge concerning the Formulas tab and Chart Dialog box in Excel. Armed with a new knowledge of these features and the various other features I learned throughout the class I feel as if Ive become a master of Word and Excel, and now have the skills and abilities to create stunning reports and projects, and reduce the overall amount of time that it takes to create them.