Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
Using Inspiration ® to create structured essay outlines.
This document provides you with: 1. A tutorial to help you learn how to use Inspiration ®; 2. A reference source you can always return to;
Many students use Inspiration ® to structure their essays more effectively. Any ideas you have for your essays, can be speedily captured in diagrams that can visually help you to better understand the key areas of the topic. When you work with visual diagrams of your ideas, you can more easily see how one idea relates to all the others. Your learning and thinking can also be more effective, because ideas seen in a visual format are usually recalled better than ideas you have only read textually. Creating diagrams may also visually highlight where your deepest knowledge lies, and where any gaps in your understanding are. Use Inspiration ® to help you organize your thoughts and to save you time. Use the visual Diagram view part of Inspiration ® to play with your ideas, to arrange them and group them - in other words, to clarify your thinking. When you finish your diagrams, they can be made into essay Outline plans at the touch of a button. The Outline part of Inspiration ® lets you easily alter or reorganize your ideas, and create the best structures for your written documents, speeches or plans. Finally, you can transfer your essay outline to Word, where it can guide you to create the best logical structures for your essays or dissertations. The following document is only a basic tutorial for planning the main body of your essays. It assumes you will automatically add an introduction, a conclusion and a bibliography, to all your essays, at a later point. For many students, gaining their tutor’s approval of any essay Outline, before they actually write their essays, can save a lot of wasted effort. This tutorial refers to Inspiration ® Version 8, but can be used with earlier versions. Screen illustrations may vary slightly from those shown herein.
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Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
Using Inspiration® to create structured essay plans.
CONTENTS .................................................................................................. PAGE
Working in Diagram view. ...................................................................... page 3
(Method 1.) Using RapidFire to quickly capture your ideas. .............. page 4 (Method 2.) Using the Create tool to add new symbols manually. ..... page 5 Changing the colour of symbols in Diagram view. .............................. page 6 Adding a Note to any symbol in Diagram view.................................... page 6 Printing directly from Diagram view. ................................................... page 7 Adding a hyperlink in Diagram view .................................................... page 7
Working in Outline view. ........................................................................ page 8
Switching from Diagram view to Outline view ..................................... page 8 Improving the essay structure in Outline view................................. …page 9 Adding a topic in Outline view. ............................................................ page 10 Adding a subtopic in Outline view ....................................................... page 10 Adding some Notes text to a topic in Outline view .............................. page 10 Hiding and showing Notes text in Outline view ................................... page 11 Transferring Outline or Diagram views to a word processor ............... page 11
DART, 2006
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Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
If you decide to undertake this tutorial, consider printing off a copy for you to refer to as you work through the exercises.
Find Inspiration ® in Start /All Programs, or if available use the desktop icon.
Version 8 opens to present various options to you. For this tutorial, select and open ‘Create a diagram’. Earlier versions omit the options step and open directly into ‘Diagram view’.
1.In the Diagram view screen, a symbol is shown with the words ‘Main Idea’ selected. It’s easy to get started—just type in your own topic and the words Main Idea will be replaced.
2. Replace the words in the Main Idea symbol with your own essay or topic title. Then, click outside the symbol, but do not press the Enter key.
In this example, the essay title will be Seasons of the Year.
Tip: Make any symbols bigger if it helps you. Do this by highlighting them and dragging this corner square until the symbol is a suitable size.
There are 2 ways of adding more symbols in which to display your ideas. Both methods are shown on the next few pages, and should be read (and tried) in the given order.
DART, 2006
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Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
(Method 1.) Using RapidFire to quickly capture your ideas.
Rapidfire lets you focus on capturing your thoughts and ideas. It creates the symbols for you, rather than you creating symbols one at a time. Don’t start organising yet; just get your ideas down to ‘see’ what you think. You’ll learn more about organizing the information later in this tutorial. 1. Select and highlight the Main Idea (e.g. Seasons of the Year) symbol. On the Diagram tool bar, click the RapidFire button. A red flash appears in the symbol to show the tool is turned on. Now just type some of the key ideas or issues that an essay about Seasons of the Year might have, as follows: 2. Type Summer and press Return (Enter). 3. Type Winter and press Return (Enter). 4. Type Spring and press Return (Enter). 5. Type Autumn and press Return (Enter). 6. Simply click the RapidFire button again to turn it off. Here’s what our diagram looks like now. Tip: These key ideas could possibly be the chapter headings in the essay. 7. Now click on the Autumn symbol and activate Rapidfire again to add your ideas for that chapter. 8. Type Halloween and press Return (Enter). 9. Type Bonfire Night and press Return (Enter). 10.Type Falling Leaves and press Return (Enter). The 3 new ideas are linked to the Autumn symbol. These ideas could be sub-headings within the chapter called Autumn. Tip: You can use Drag and Drop to move the symbols around, if you want. Inspiration® keeps the links attached, so you never lose the connection between symbols or ideas if you do rearrange the diagram.
DART, 2006
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Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
(Method 2.) Using the Creat’ tool to add new symbols manually.
Although slower than RapidFire, the Create tool lets you add new linked symbols in the direction you want. 1. Using our example, click on and highlight the Summer symbol. Hovering the cursor over any point on the Create button will highlight, in green, the direction in which the next new symbol will be created. 2. Click the middle right-hand point and see a new symbol appear, connected to the right of the Summer symbol. The new symbol is selected and ready for you to type in a new key idea. 3. Type Warmer Weather into the new symbol. (In your essay, this could introduce a sub-section in the Summer chapter.) 4. Select and highlight the ‘Warmer Weather’ symbol to add a second, linked ‘sub-symbol’. Tip: Always highlight the desired source symbol before using the Create button. 5. Position the cursor over the lowest point on the Create button, click that point and see a new symbol appear on the diagram screen. 6. In the new symbol, type the keyword(s) for the new idea that you feel should link from the Warmer Weather symbol. We have chosen Holidays. Here’s what our diagram looks like now. Ideally, these new ‘sub-symbols’ will reflect any issues you might include in a chapter entitled Summer. Note: You can add linked ideas to the other chapters in the same way. Tip: If you do misspell or type any wrong words into a symbol, don’t worry. Simply double-click the text in the symbol, select the words to change and type over them.
DART, 2006
Page 5 of 11
Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
Changing the colour of symbols in Diagram view.
Use colours to visually identify specific symbols or groups of related ideas.. 1. To select a whole group of symbols, click and hold down the mouse to drag a selection box around the symbols (or press the Shift key and click each desired symbol) 4. On the Formatting tool bar (at the bottom of screen), click the Fill Colour button and choose your colours from the palette. Changing the fill colour of a symbol alters the colour inside the selected symbols. The example now shows all Autumn ideas in pink. Tip: Select a light colour so the text shows up nicely and can still be seen. 5. Click somewhere off the symbols to de-select them -------------------------------------------------------
Adding a Note to any symbol in Diagram view.
The basic diagrams show ideas as single words or phrases in each symbol. The Notes feature lets you expand on an idea in any symbol. 1. Select the Bonfire Night symbol. On the top tool bar, click the Note button. See how a note box opens below the relevant symbol. 2. Type whatever you like into the note. Note lets you expand ideas or add useful information or reminders which you do not need to ‘see’ on screen all the time. Clicking the corner button in the note box will hide the box from view. Click the relevant symbol to enable it to be re-opened at any time. -------------------------------------------------------
DART, 2006
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Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
Printing directly from Diagram view.
When you print from Diagram view, the default is Fit to 1 Page, which automatically sizes the diagram to fit on one page. If desired, this can be adjusted so the diagram prints full size on multiple pages. 1. On the File menu, choose Page Setup. Here you set up the diagram layout, determine margins, headers and footers, and preview your diagram before printing. 2. Make your selections, and then choose Print Preview to preview your work. 3. Click Print to print your diagram. -------------------------------------------------------
Adding a hyperlink in Diagram view.
You can further enhance a project by integrating resources from the Internet. You can also hyperlink to a document created with Inspiration. 1. Select the Bonfire Night symbol (and its linked Note). 2. On the Diagram tool bar, click the Hyperlink button. The Hyperlink dialog box appears. 3. Select Web Page. The selected text appears in the Hyperlink Text box. 4. In the Link To box, type: http://www.guy-fawkes.com/ Click OK. This creates a hyperlink to the web page. 5. Click off the symbol to deselect it.
The Bonfire Night symbol will now link to the relevant web page when necessary. Users can Copy and Paste web addresses into the Link To box if preferred.
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Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
Working in Outline view.
Switching from Diagram view to Outline view.
Previous exercises in this tutorial have shown how to display your ideas in the Diagram view screen. When you switch to Outline view, your ideas and notes are displayed in a more conventional and textual outline. Viewing work in either Outline or Diagram views is like clicking a switch! In the Diagram view, click the Outline button on the top tool bar. In the Outline view, click the Diagram button on the top tool bar.
In Outline view the content of your symbols now appear as topic and sub-topic headings, and any existing Note texts also become visible. Here’s what our Diagram example looks like in Outline.
DART, 2006
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Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
Improving the essay structure in Outline view.
In our example, the chapters could be displayed in a more logical sequence. 1. If it’s not already selected, select the Autumn topic by clicking in the Selection control column on the left (in the smaller cell). A selection box appears around the topic to show it’s selected. 2. Hold the mouse button down to ‘Drag and Drop’ the topic just above the Winter topic. A horizontal black line indicates when you are in the correct position to let go. 3. The Autumn topic (or chapter heading) and all its sub-sections and Notes are now repositioned more logically above the Winter topic. 4. Repeat this action with the Spring topic, placing it above Summer. With some essays, it may be harder to decide the most logical sequence. In this tutorial, your Outline screen should now look like this example.
If a chapter number disappears, highlight the relevant chapter title (e.g. Autumn) and try clicking the Left or Right buttons to regain them. You should now save the document to your files, using File and Save As. Tip: When you have no more changes to make, print the Outline view list of topics, and consider showing it to your tutor as your proposed essay plan. When they approve your essay plan then you will be more confident that it will be structured properly. Your tutors may even enjoy reading your essays more!
DART, 2006
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Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
Adding a topic in Outline view.
You can add a new topic in Outline View as easily as you added a new symbol in Diagram View: 1. If it’s not already selected, select the Seasons of the Year topic by clicking in the Selection control column on the left. A selection box appears around the topic to show it’s selected; 2. On the Outline tool bar, click the Topic button. Inspiration inserts a new topic line below the selected one, and automatically assigns it a prefix. The cursor moves to the new line so you’re ready to enter text for your new idea; 3. Type Topic X. -------------------------------------------------------
Adding a sub-topic in Outline view.
It’s easy to add new sub-topics to your essay outline. These will be ideas providing information subordinate, or supplemental, to a topic: 1. With Topic X selected, click the Subtopic button on the Outline tool bar. When you add a sub-topic to a higher topic, Inspiration automatically indents it one level below the higher topic and assigns it a prefix. The cursor also moves to the new line, so you can enter text for the new idea; 2. Type Sub-topic Y. -------------------------------------------------------
Adding some Notes text to a topic in Outline view.
Notes text is a good way to further develop ideas in Outline View. You can add anything from one sentence to several pages of text: 1. Select a topic; 2. On the Outline tool bar, click the Note button. The cursor moves to a new line so you can enter the notes text; 3. Type your note;
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Handy Tip: If you make any mistakes doing this tutorial, simply click on Edit and Undo to undo the mistake. Handy Tip: Inspiration ® contains a HELP facility offering information in both audio-visual and textual formats.
When you add a note, a Note icon appears in the column to the left of the topic.
Hiding and showing Notes text in Outline view.
Just as you can hide and show sub-topics, you can hide or show your Notes text: 1. With a topic selected, click the Note icon to hide the notes text; 2. Simply click the Note icon again to show the note. -------------------------------------------------------
Transferring Outline or Diagram views to a word processor
When you are ready to finalize your work for publication, you can easily transfer it to a word processor. 1. Make sure you have saved your work in Inspiration; 2. Click the Transfer button on the tool bar; Inspiration automatically launches your preferred word processor (e.g. Microsoft Word) and transfers your work into it. The new document retains the look and structure of your Inspiration Outline. If you transfer to Word from the Diagram view, a picture of both the diagram and the outline will appear in the word processor. ----------------------------------------------------------------
Using the dictionary and thesaurus (synonyms) in Word Guide:
Click on the Word Guide button on the tool bar to see the Word Guide dialog box. Type a word (e.g. prison) in the lower right space, and click on Lookup. This reveals any available definitions and synonyms for that word.
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