Welcome to tutorial #2, “Using the Autotext Writing Assistant Template.”  This tutorial will show you how to insert autotext links into your student’s paper, assuming you have already installed the autotext template into your Microsoft Word program.  It will also show you how to create your own autotext hyperlinks for use in future grading sessions in your Office Hours environment.

     First, in order to track all the changes you make in the paper, you should click on the “TRK” button at the bottom of the document.  This will allow the Word tracking to show the student all the changes and inserts you make to his or her paper.  I also send my students an M.L.A. template that they load in their Word program to do assignments. 

     Now let’s look at the student’s paper.  It looks to be in good formatting for M.L.A.  If you need to show the student the proper formatting, then you could insert a hypertext link that would take him or her to the resource on the Internet.  Simply choose the Project.Module1.InsertATNoFormat button and then type in “M.L.A.”  Notice how the autotext template will immediately bring up the M.L.A. guide insert.  Highlight the M.L.A. guide and then click the insert button.  See how this inserts the link into the student’s paper?  Space once after the link to activate the hypertext.  Now, hit the control button on your keyboard and left-click on the link to see what the student sees when he or she clicks the link in his or her paper.  This is the online website that will show the student how a paper is formatted for the Modern Language Association Style.  It is a general resource, and you can also refer the student to a specific part of the guide by revising autotext link or creating a new one.

     To create a new autotext hypertext link, you first find the link you want to use.  Let’s take the Sample Works Cited page link.  Choose copy and then paste this link into your document.  Space once and then highlight the link.  Click on the “New” button to the left of the Project.Module1.InsertATNoFormat button and type in the name for the link you want to have.  We’ll call it “Works Cited sample.”  Click the Okay button.  Now you have a new resource added to your autotext template!  However, be certain to save the changes made to this template when you exit Word, or else it won’t add the new link.

     Now, let’s go through the first sentence in the student essay.  I see a comma error after the word “editorial.”  I simply add the comma and it will be tracked, and then I can add an autotext link to allow the student to see the rules on commas at the click of a mouse button! 

     This is how you use your autotext template on a student’s paper.  When you find an error in the manuscript, you just click on the Project.Module1 button and type or scroll down to the desired link you want to insert, highlight it, and then click “insert.” 

     Finally, after you’ve added all the autotext links to the student’s paper, you want to make certain the links are “live.”  So, just click on the Project.Module2.GetHTTP button.  This will automatically go through the student’s document and activate the hypertext links.  Save the paper again and email it back to the student as an attachment in Word or rich text format.

Good luck!