FYS 103 - Geology in the Field

Instructions for preparing a Word document with illustrations

  1. Download Image(s). Transfer images from your iPad to your laptop or desktop computer using Dropbox, email or another method. You may also download photos to use from the Field web pages. For downloading from the web page, place the cursor on the image and “right-click” or “control-click”. Choose “Download image to disk” or “Save image as” or similar, depending on your computer.
  2. Type your field report. Please save and name your report “Your_Name_2.docx”, where “Your_Name” is your name, “2” is the number of the field report, and “.docx” (or .doc) tells Moodle and my computer that this is a Word file.
  3. Insert image(s). Place the cursor where you want the image. Choose “Photo/Picture from file” on the “Insert” pulldown menu and navigate to the folder that contains your downloaded image. Select the desired image.
  4. Adjust the size of the image. If the image is not the size you want, click on it and drag the handle in the lower right corner to resize the image without distortion. Use the corner anchors and hold down the shift key while dragging to avoid distortion.
  5. Adjust text flow. “Right-click” or “control-click” on the image and choose “Format Picture”. Click “Layout” and, when the window opens, press the “Advanced” button. Select the “Text Wrapping” tab and choose “Square” or “Top and Bottom”. Choose appropriate (0.1”) “Distance from Text”. Important: Select the “Position” tab and uncheck the “Move with text” and "Allow overlap" options. This will help prevent unwanted picture and text movement.
  6. Add a caption. “Right-click” or “control-click” on the image and choose “Insert Caption". Enter your caption and press "OK". Select both the image and the caption (shift click on the image so that both the image and caption have handles). “Right-click” or “control-click” on the image and choose Grouping and Group.
  7. Position the image and caption. Select the image and caption text box (one click should do it if you have grouped them). Drag them together to the desired location on the page.
  8. Labels. Lables and arrows are best added by using a photo editor before inserting the image in Word. You can add labels, etc., using the Word picture editor, but the Word file size may become quite large.
  9. Image editing. Adobe Photoshop is available on the Mac computers in the Geology Computer Lab, B-109. Text and arrows are easily added in layers. “Flatten” the layers to make a jpeg file for Word. Keep a Photoshop (“.psd”) version in case you want to make changes later. You can’t easily edit a flattened image.
  10. Diagrams/Drawings. These are best made with Adobe Illustrator, which is also available on the computers in B-109. Save these files in “.eps” format if you want to insert them in Word.
  11. Report submission. Print or convert your file to .pdf format. This will significantly reduce the file size. Login to Moodle (using your Smith password and username). Choose “FYS 103. Geology in the Field.” Choose "Assignments" under "Activities" and follow the instructions to submit your field report.