How to Use Microsoft Word's Commenting Features

(Note: The instructions and screen shots below are taken from Word 98 and Word MX for Macintosh and Word MX for PC.)

Click here for a one-page handout on Word commenting on the Mac, created by Mariela Gunn. (.doc format)

Setting Up the Computers to Comment Online in Class

One of the attractive features of Word's commenting function is its ability to label different people's comments by initials and by color all within the same document. In order for this feature to work properly, however, two things have to happen:

1. The comments need to be made by apparently different people; and
2. The "Track Changes" option must be turned on.

The first criterion would not ordinarily be a issue if students were using the versions of Word they have at home--there, Word would usually be set up with their identity when they register the program. However, here in the Lab, the computers start up with the same identity, and so everyone appears to be the same user for purposes of commenting and tracking changes.

Step 1: Telling Word Who You Are

In the Word menu, select Preferences (on the PC, go to Tools | Options):

In the dialog window that appears, click on the User Information button (on PC, click the tab). Type your name and initials in the appropriate boxes (use middle initials if more than one person in the class share first and last initials):

The default editing color for Word on both the Mac and PC is red, which many instructors prefer not to use when commenting on student work. To change the default color, click on the Track Changes button (on PC, click the tab). You can then choose the colors you want -- in the below screen shot blue has been selected:

Close the dialog window by clicking OK or pressing the Return key.

Step 2: Turning On the Tracking Changes Option

If you are using a PC, go to Tools | Track Changes. A new toolbar will pop up on your screen just below the others. You are now set to use Word Commenting. If you have a Mac, please continue.

In the Tools menu, select Track Changes, and select Highlight Changes... in the submenu:

In the dialog that appears, make sure all three checkboxes are checked so that your edits will be marked as such on screen and in printouts:

Close the dialog window by clicking OK or pressing the Return key.

You can confirm that tracking is on by looking in the status bar at the bottom of the window. Tracking is on when the green light is on:

You can toggle tracking on and off either with the menu command or with the keystroke combination cmd-shift-E.

You can also bring up the Reviewing Toolbar, which will make the process of adding comments much easier. On the Mac, go to Tool | Customize, and select Reviewing from the list. The following toolbar will pop up on your screen:

Making Comments and Selecting the Appropriate Commenting Mechanism

Once Word knows that you are different from the author of the document and that you want to track the changes you make, you are ready to comment on a document. These comments come in two basic kinds:

1. In-line comments inserted directly in the body of the document; and
2. Hypertextual comments made to appear in pop-up balloons next to a tagged piece of text.

To comment directly in the body of a document, place the cursor you wish your comments to go and begin typing. The comments should appear in a different color from the rest of the text. If you delete text, it will not vanish but will instead appear as struck-out text.

To add a hypertextual comment to a word or sentence (or any other set of characters you choose), select with the cursor the text to which you wish to attach your comment. On a Mac, click the left most icon on the Reviewing bar (a yellow folder with a plus sign). On a PC select the icon icon that looks like a yellow folder with an asterisk behind it.

On a PC, a red callout line will appear with a Comment: heading. You can add your comments there. On a Mac, the document window will split into two panes, with the cursor appearing in the lower pane next to a new comment tag with your initials and a number in square brackets. Type whatever comment you wish in this pane. When you are finished, either click on the Close button to hide the Comments pane, or click in the upper pane to resume commenting elsewhere.

After you are finished typing your comment, press Enter. Your text you have commented will have yellow a highlight. Roll your mouse over the text and you will see your comments pop up.

On the PC, however, red {} will appear around the commented text; the callout will remain on the screen.

Because the two different forms of comments appear so differently in Word documents, you should differentiate between the kinds of comments you make with each form. One way to do so is to reserve in-line comments only for short editing comments--spelling, punctuation, word choice, and the like--since they actually become part of the essay. (For this reason, some instructors always place their in-line comments within square brackets so that the author can quickly identify what was added to the essay, even if the color-tag feature is turned off.) On the other hand, hypertextual comments, which are not part of the document proper, are better for longer, more substantive comments on the argument or any other point of discussion in the essay. Since most instructors like for reviewers to add a summary comment at the end, a hypertextual comment attached to a piece of dummy text (such as [comment] or the reviewer's name) is a good way to allow multiple summaries all in the same document.

Managing the Exchange of Documents in Class

In order for students to comments on each other's essays, they will need to be able to exchange documents electronically. To facilitate this exchange in class, there are two basic options, each with its own set of complications:

1. Students can exchange disks and work with the files on their own computers; or
2. Students can post their documents to a central exchange location on the classroom file server.

The mechanics of the first option are relatively simple: students hand their disks to their reviewers. The advantage of this is the simplicity of knowing where the document is. The disadvantages are that students might be letting potentially sensitive materials (email account access, other files, etc.) out of their control, that they risk exposing their disks to potentially harmful files (viruses or simply unwanted files), and that they may have disk problems as a result of file format incompatibility (if they are working with PC disks on a Mac, primarily).

If you decide to let students exchange disks, they should follow a few important guidelines:

1. They should use disks that are set aside solely for this purpose. Their disks should have on them only the documents they wish to submit for review.
2. They should use disks formatted for the platform in which they will be conducting the in-class review (Mac format in Parlin or FAC 10; IBM-compatible in FAC 9).
3. They should save a copy of the file to the hard disk of the computer on which they are working, eject the disk, make comments to the hard-disk copy, and then save their document back to the disk, preferably under a new name (read about naming conventions below).

If you wish to use the classroom file servers for exchanging documents, you don't have to worry about privacy or incompatibility issues. Instead, you have to worry about students' misplacing their files or commenting on the wrong documents. If you choose to go with the file server option (the more popular one here in the CWRL), here are the steps students should take to ensure smooth reviewing:

1. They should save a copy of the file they wish to submit for review to the local hard disk, and then eject their disk. This way they will keep their original file intact should it become lost or damaged in the process of reviewing.
2. They should rename this file according to some descriptive convention you determine for your class and for the assignment (such as lastname-dr1 for Lastname's draft of the 1st essay assignment, or xyz-definition for XYZ's draft of a definitional essay).
3. They should put this renamed file in a folder in your Teacher Folder that you create for this purpose (called Essay Exchange or Draft 1 Review or some such).
4. They should retrieve the document they are reviewing and save it on their hard disk. Under no circumstances should they open the document while it is still on the file server. If they do, they will slow the server connection and prevent anyone else from opening the file. (How you determine which essay they review is up to you--they can hash it out among themselves, or you can assign them partners/groups.)
5. Once they finish commenting on an essay, they should rename it in some descriptive way that indicates who has made the changes (for example, if reviewer ABC comments on XYZ's essay, the new file name might be xyz-definition-abc).
6. They should then put their renamed, commented files into the exchange folder and, time permitting, retrieve a second essay for review, following the same steps as above. For instance, if reviewer KLM reviews XYZ's essay after ABC has already done so, the resulting file in the exchange folder would be called xyz-definition-abc-klm.
7. When the review session is over, students should retrieve their own essays with the greatest number of comments on it for their own review outside of class. They should not be concerned that there will be several copies of their essay in the folder--the one that will provide them the most feedback is the one with the most commenting on it. They should save this file on their disks before logging out of the computers.

As the instructor, you may wish to comment on the most-commented version yourself, so you can avoid duplicating someone else's commentary as well as see what kinds of comments your students are making. If you do, treat yourself as any other reviewer and add your initials to the file name when you are finished.

Introducing Students to the Commenting Process and Mechanism

It is a bit much to ask students to go through the set-up procedures and review two essays all in one class period, even on the TTh schedule. Therefore, it's usually a good idea to introduce the review process to them more slowly, and always to expect that everything will take much longer than you plan for (even taking into account this very fudge factor). Here are some suggestions that have worked for other CWRL instructors:

1. Go over the computer set-up procedures the class period before you want to do peer reviewing. Insist that students take notes (or provide them with the set-up instructions listed above) and use them when they get into the review session "for real."
2. During the first review session, ask students to review one fewer essay than you normally would so they can have time to get used to the system. Alternatively, have them do a review session on a minor assignment of some kind so that they will become more familiar with the process before they embark on a major essay review.
3. Use the DLP projector to model the process on the screen, and ask them to mimic your actions so that they will get some visual familiarity with the process of setting up Word and commenting on essays.
4. Show them an example of a well-commented essay so that they can see what the finished product might resemble. Point out to them the different kinds of comments and the differing forms they might take.
5. Provide a Word document for them to follow as a rubric for what to look for during their review, just as you would with a traditional exchange of print papers. Since switching from one to another on the screen is just a matter of a mouseclick (or the keystroke shortcut cmd-F6), students often prefer having the electronic version open while they comment on essays. As students become more proficient with the review process, make the review rubric correspondingly more sophisticated.
6. Expect things to go wrong, and don't be afraid to call in the proctor to help students who are experiencing disk or file problems. Working through these glitches is part of the learning process in the CWRL, for students and instructors alike.