Table of Contents

Course Project: Draft and Final

Yumi Suh Updated by Yumi Suh

Lifecycle of a Course Project

A course project is one of the required course elements where students are directed to practice objectives. Its final format is a Word document (.doc or .docx)  but initially is created as a Google document (.gdoc). 

The IDA can either:

A) Style the course project (or any Word document) in the 5. Review, 6. Implement Faculty Edits. When the IDA is “finished” styling, they can assign the graphic designer in 5. Review, 7. Conversion to Word Doc

B) Keep the course project as a Google Doc. Do not style it. In 5. Review, 7. Conversion to Word Doc, assign the graphic designer to style the course project.

Wrike Process:

For Styling: Course Project / Microsoft Word Styles

If the IDA would like the course project styled by the graphic designer:

  • All edits must remain in the Google document (.gdoc) in order to track changes and in order to avoid versioning issues. Please see below in Common Questions for why it must be a Google Document (formatting is affected and causes repeated styling of the Word document)
  • The course project will not be styled by the graphic designer until all reviews are over. The IDA should request this in 5. Review, 7. Conversion to Word Doc and should tag the Graphic Design Coordinator (Yumi Suh). This means that when the faculty reviews the course project, it will not be in its final styled form. 

Rules To Follow

  • All edits must be in Google Doc in order to track changes and in order to avoid versioning issues. 
  • If you would like to have the graphic designer style the course project, the graphic designer will not style until all reviews are over. (They will style it in 5. Review, 7. Conversion to Word Doc).
  • Once 5. Review, 7. Conversion to Word Doc happens, no one can touch the formatted Word document (.doc or .docx) besides the QA team and the graphic design team. This includes course projects and any file that is a Word document (.doc or .docx) as the final file.  If it is touched and the formatting has been altered, an additional day will need to be allocated out for each file that needs formatting to be fixed.

Common Questions:

Why is the course project created as a Google document first when the final file is a Word document?
Google document (.gdoc) keeps all the edits and tracks the history of changes online. Word documents (.doc or .docx) can have formatting affected when anyone opens the file online (e.g., opening a shared link to a Word document on Google / Safari / Firefox). Word documents also may cause people to have different versions of files since they can be downloaded and the can result in confusion.

For example, faculty could have a version with their own changes while an IDA has a different version with their own edits. Consolidating both edits could result in feedback with different directions and will result in time trying to find out what changes are needed.
Is it just the course project that goes through this process or other Word documents? What about an assignment?
If it's a file(s) that is submitted by students and has a final format of a Word document (.doc or .docx), the IDA is free to style to the best of their ability or can have the graphic designer allocated to the course style the file(s).
When in the process do the footers get added and by whom?
Footers will be added during 7. QA, 3. Final Creative Review and Export. Sometimes they are added by the QA team because they fully copy edit course projects but if it's not there, the graphic design team will add it in during this task.
When do Word documents (not course project) get styled?
They can be requested in 4. Tools, 1. Tool and Interactive Styling.

If they are requested in the 5. Review, 7. Conversion to Word Doc, time may need to be added depending on the quantity of Word documents and page content for each Word document styling needed.
Could I download the Google Doc version of the course project and save it as a Word doc?
No. Downloading a Word version (.doc or .docx) from the drafted Google Doc version (.gdoc) does not preserve the styling /formatting of the file and will result in recreating the file again.

Step 1: Course Project Draft - The Google Doc Template

The course project should be drafted initially as a Google Doc (.gdoc) to track changes easily and to avoid many versions of the file from existing.

Step 2: Course Project Final - The Word Template

The course project Word doc is a Word template (.doc or .docx) and it should be in the ABC101 (Course Name) > 3 Non-Video Assets in the Microsoft & Google Doc Templates folder that was duplicated over by you.

The graphic designer will add the final course project Word document (.doc or .docx) into the Final Files folder on the CSG Tools folder in 5. Review, 7. Conversion to Word Doc

For Styling: Course Project / Microsoft Word Styles

If you would like to style the course project or any Word document, please see below on the styles you can use.

Below you'll find the different styles (type/font, spacing, colors, and tables) you can use for all Word files, including the course project template.

Type/Font

  • All fonts in Microsoft files are Arial.

When and what styles to use?

  • In the Design Tab, choose Arial as the default theme font.
  • Some of the styles Word provides you won’t use so use the Recommended Styles or the Styles in Use. You'll find eCornell styling when selecting those.
Text / Paragraph Styles
Subtitle Style
Use for the "COURSE PROJECT" and "PART X" titles

Title Style
Use for the actual course title. It can be a little tricky to copy & paste the title into this doc. See Tips for pasting content below.

Header 1
Use for the Title of the parts only.

Header 2
Use for Instructions or any header that is after the title of the parts.

Table Headers
Usually 14pt bold and white. Used for styling headers in table.

Course Name Footer
Use for the footer. Not necessary though as graphic designer or QA will add the footers during QA.

Sponsoring School Footer
Use for the footer. Not necessary though as graphic designer or QA will add the footers during QA.

Copyright Footer
Use for the footer. Not necessary though as graphic designer or QA will add the footers during QA.

1. List Number
Use for numbered list

Bullet List
Use for bulleted list. There is also a secondary bullet style, but you can also press "tab"

Answer Prompt
Use this "Answer Prompt" to indicate when students should write their answers/responses.

A. List, Header Part A, B, C
Use this for any lettered sections that need to be used as headers.

To Submit...
This is the last line in the course project. A line appears above the text. It is already in the template but if it gets deleted, you can use this style to bring it back.
Colors
White (#FFFFFF)
Used for Table Headers text.

eCBlack (#393F47)
Used for all of our text.

Light Gray (#ECECEC)
Used for 2nd Header or Subheader fill. Fill color for callouts.
*Accessible with eCBlack text.

Crimson (#B31B1B)
Used for headers. We avoid using this for table header fills / backgrounds.

Dark Gray (#606366)
Used for table header row instead of Hyperlink. Try to not use Hyperlink and Dark Gray together/next to each other.
*Accessible with white text.

Hyperlink (#3A708B)
Used for table header fills/backgrounds. Used for hyperlinks to websites etc.
*Accessible with white text.

Seaweed Tint (#BAE2DD)
Used for cell highlights, or if need be extra cell header fills.
*Accessible with eCBlack text.

Sea Blue Tint (#DEF3F5)
Used for cell highlights, or if need be extra cell header fills.
*Accessible with eCBlack text.

Border Gray (#CECECE)
This is used for table borders only.

Crimson Tint (#F0D1D1)
Used for cell highlights, or if need be extra cell header fills.
*Accessible with eCBlack text.
Tips & Tricks
General Tips:
The paragraph tool is helpful in finding any double spaces, extra returns and formatting issues. It's the top right paragraph symbol.

Shift + return is also very helpful when you want to keep the same style/formatting of the font but still want the text on the next line.

If you need to have column be the same size, go to Layout > Distribute Columns button

Pasting Content
When you paste in content, click on the clipboard icon and click on "Match Destination Formatting". That will match the formatting that the text was in originally and will allow you to keep bolded and italicized words.

When inserting the title,
1) put your cursor in front of the "Course Title" and paste the new title.
2) Select the new text and click on Title style.
3) Then you can delete the "Course Title" text and the line and spacing will be preserved.

Make sure there are only single hard returns (paragraph symbol) between content.

Table Headers
Make sure your header repeats as it goes across pages.
1) Right click on the table (icon is 4 directional arrows pointing outwards).
2) Go to Table Properties.
3) Click to the Row tab. Make sure that "Repeat as header row at the top of each page" is clicked and the hit Ok.
4) Select your header row.
5) Right click to go to Table Properties > Cell tab and click on Center for Vertical Alignment.

Margins
When pasting in new content, make sure the margins align with everything else — especially when pasting content into a table, as it can go outside the bounds of a table cell.

To edit margins, go to the ruler section at the top of the editable space and click on the arrows to move them around.

The top arrow is for the first line, and the bottom arrow is for the rest of the content. This is helpful if you need hanging indent. You can grab onto the bottom arrow to move the entire body of text.

Restart List Numbers
This can be tricky because Word can mess up the margins.
1) Select all the text that is going to be a list, click on the List Numbered style and then right click to select Restart numbering.

The key is to have the whole entire list selected, otherwise the first number moves to the left.

Reformatting (due to opening Word (.doc or .docx) in Google Drive)
The same issues happen:
1) Each title has a hanging indent issue and will need to be realigned.
2) The page number will automatically appear next to the Cornell logo and will need to be put back on the right side.

To fix this:
1) Click into the footer area and go to Page Number and click on Page Number.
2) Change the alignment to Right and then hit OK
3) you will need to fomat the page number to Arial, eC Black and place it in the correct spot.

How did we do?

General Overview of Downloadables Process

Excel Tools: Draft and Final

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