1.4 GETTING STARTED: Setting Up a Google Doc

If your writing instructor asks you to submit your work using Google Docs, here are a few easy steps to set up your file before you begin writing your essay:

1. Open a new, blank Google Doc. Tip: Sometimes it’s easiest to enter from your college Gmail account by clicking on the Google Apps icon (the nine little squares in a grid) and then Docs.
2. Give the document a name by clicking in the box in the upper-left hand corner. Tip: Be specific so that it is easy to find later (for example: Krause – Essay 01).
3. Click the Share button in the upper right-hand corner to share the document with your instructor; type your instructor’s email address in the pop-up window. Make sure that your instructor’s role says “Editor” (see picture below). Then click Send.
4. From the menu bar near the top, click Format > Line and Paragraph Spacing > Double to use double-spaced lines.
5. From the menu bar near the top, click Insert > Page Numbers > upper-right picture to put page numbers in the upper right of the header of each page. Click the space before the page number and type your last name and then a space (see the example in the image below). The click anywhere below the header to return to the body of the document.
6. In the upper left-hand corner of the document itself, type:

   Your Name

   Level 8 Writing 

   January 13, 2022

    

7. On the next line, type the title of your essay. Use the Center Align button in the toolbar to place the text in the center of the page.
8. Press Enter and click the Left Align button to start the first paragraph at the left margin.  Press the computer’s Tab key to indent the first line of the paragraph.