Session 3: Professional Documents

Every document has a physical destination, and page setup exists to match it. Page size in Nigeria is almost always A4 (210 × 297mm); Letter is the American size and printing an A4 document on Letter paper, or the reverse, cuts off content. Set it explicitly on Layout → Size rather than trusting the default, because Word inherits it from the printer driver and shared machines change. Margins are the blank border: Normal (2.54cm all round) is standard, Narrow (1.27cm) fits more content but looks cramped and often fails to print because most printers cannot reach the paper edge, and Wide suits documents that will be bound. Orientation is Portrait for reading and Landscape for wide tables and charts — and you can mix both in one document using section breaks, which is what professional reports do.

Get these three settings right before typing. Changing page size after writing reflows everything and destroys careful layout work, which is the reason beginners end up fighting their own documents in the last ten minutes before a deadline.

A header sits in the top margin of every page; a footer sits in the bottom. Insert → Header or Footer opens the header area and, crucially, switches on the Design tab with the tools that control them. Page numbers go in the footer for most documents (Insert → Page Number → Bottom of Page) and are not optional on anything longer than two pages — a printed report without page numbers cannot be referenced, filed or discussed.

Three options matter. 'Different First Page' removes the header from a cover page, which is what formal reports need. 'Different Odd & Even Pages' supports double-sided printing where the header mirrors. And section breaks let you have no header on page one, Roman numerals in the front matter and Arabic numerals in the body — the pattern every dissertation and formal report uses. Type your document title or organisation name into the header once and it repeats automatically; never retype it per page.

Tables are the correct answer to almost every layout problem beginners solve with tabs and spaces. Insert → Table, choose your rows and columns, and you get a grid where content aligns perfectly and stays aligned no matter what anyone edits. Use them for comparison data, schedules, price lists, CV work history, and for placing text beside an image.

Two habits separate a working table from a broken one. First, use the Table Design and Layout tabs that appear when the cursor is inside a table: they hold cell merging, row and column sizing, alignment within cells, and border and shading control. Second, set the header row to repeat across pages (Layout → Repeat Header Rows) so a long table split over two pages still labels its columns. If a table will not stay on one page, do not fight it — right-click the row, Table Properties → Row, and untick 'Allow row to break across pages'.

Insert → Pictures places an image, but the step everyone skips is Wrap Text (Picture Format → Wrap Text). The default 'In Line with Text' locks the image to the text line and makes it impossible to position; 'Square' or 'Tight' lets text flow around it and lets you drag it freely. 'Behind Text' puts the image under your text, which is how you make watermarks and certificate backgrounds. Then use Position and Align (Picture Format) for exact placement rather than eyeballing with the mouse.

Shapes (Insert → Shapes) give you lines, arrows, boxes and callouts; Text Boxes (Insert → Text Box) give you movable containers for text that sits outside the normal flow — essential for certificates, flyers and pull quotes. Both need the same wrap-text decision. Hyperlinks (Ctrl+K) make text clickable: select the words, press Ctrl+K, paste the address. Never paste a raw URL into a formal document; link the words instead. For internal links, choose 'Place in This Document' to jump to a heading — that is how you build a clickable table of contents.

A certificate is landscape, centred, uses a serif display face for the recipient's name, has a decorative border or background image set to 'Behind Text', and includes the course title, date, signatory name and space for signatures. Keep the text short — a certificate that explains too much looks amateur.

A formal letter in the Nigerian business convention puts the sender's address top-right, the date below it, the recipient's designation and address on the left, a formal salutation ('Dear Sir/Ma' or 'Dear Mr Okafor'), a bold underlined subject line, the body in short paragraphs, then 'Yours faithfully' with signature space and the typed name underneath. Get this structure right and the letter reads as competent before anyone reads a word.

A CV is one to two pages, reverse-chronological, with consistent section headings: personal details, personal statement, work experience (role, organisation, dates, three bullet achievements), education, skills, referees. Use a table with invisible borders to align dates against roles — that is the trick behind every clean CV. No photograph unless requested, no date of birth or state of origin unless the employer asks, and always send it as a PDF.