BLS117SEC-E

BASIC COMPUTER SKILLS

PRACTICAL MANUAL

SEMESTER - I

Dr.B.R. AMBEDKAR OPEN UNIVERSITY

HYDERABAD

2018
 COURSE TEAM

Course Development Team (2018)

Editor
Dr. G. Saroja

Course Writers
Sri Gorantla Ravi Kumar (Units 1-9)

Course Co-ordinator
Dr. G. Saroja

Cover Design & Graphics

G.V. Swamy

First Edition, 2018

© 2018, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad, Telangana

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the permission
in writing from the University.

The text forms part of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University Programme.

Further information on Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University courses may be obtained from the
Director (Academic), Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, Road No. 46, Prof. G. Ram Reddy
Marg, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500033.

Web: www.braou.ac.in

Printed on behalf of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad by the Registrar.

Lr. No. –

Printed at :

(ii)
 PREFACE

BASIC COMPUTER SKILLS – PRACTICAL MANUAL

Library and Information Science profession is one of the early adapters of computers. The advent of
Internet has revolutionalized the information world. Keeping pace with the developments in Internet
and world wide web several libraries have digitized their collections, subscribing the digital content
and providing automated library services to the users. In this background, the LIS students should
possess sound knowledge and skills in using computers, searching the Internet. With this intention of
imparting computer skills, the Department of Library & Information Science, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
Open University has introduced the course titled “Basic Computer Skills” as a practical component
in the Bachelor Degree in Library and Information Science (BLISc) programme in the first semester
as a Skill Enhancement Course, under the guidelines of Choice Based Credit System.
The specific objectives of the course are:

- To make the students understand the structure and components of a computer

- To make the students comfortably work with word processing software
- To enable the student to use the various features of MS-WORD including Mail merge
option.
- To enable the student to create tables and graphs using Spreadsheet application MS-EXCEL
and make effective presentations using MS-POWER POINT
- To impart understanding of Internet, Browsers, search engines, various services, products
and tools of Google; and Social Media.

The syllabus for the sake of convenience is divided into 3 blocks, comprising 9 units. Each unit
generally covers a specific area of the subject. The units are prepared by specialists in accordance
with a format so designed as to enable you to read and understand them without much difficulty.

Each unit begins with the statement of objectives followed by an introduction to the content of the
unit. Self-Check Exercises intended to test your comprehension of subject matter and corresponding
model answers to these self-check exercises are also provided. The key points of each and every
unit are summed up at the end of the unit. To give you clarity about the technical terms used in the
unit, glossary was added. Further, to train up you on the lines of final examination, model examination
questions are included.

The university hopes that this course material will help you to get acquainted with the Basic Computer
skills required to function effectively in Library & Information Centres.

(iii)
 CONTENTS

Block - I BASIC COMPUTER SKILLS 1

Unit - 1 Introduction to Computers 02 - 17

Unit - 2 Operating System 18 - 31

Block - II MS-OFFICE 32

Unit - 3 Working with MS-WORD 33 - 53

Unit - 4 Working with MS-EXCEL 54 - 74
Unit - 5 Working with MS-POWERPOINT 75 - 88

Block - III INTERNET, EMAIL & SOCIAL MEDIA 89

Unit - 6 Internet & E-Mail 90 - 102

Unit - 7 Search Engines 103 - 114
Unit - 8 Google Products, Tools and Services 115 - 124
Unit - 9 Social Media 125 - 135

(iv)
BLOCK – I : BASIC COMPUTER SKILLS
A computer is an electronic device which transforms “Data” into meaningful “information”.
Computer has the ability to store, retrieve, and process data. We can use a computer to create
documents, send emails and browse the Web. You can also use it to handle spreadsheets,
accounting, database management, presentations, games, graphs etc. A computer can process
data, pictures, sound and graphics. Computers can solve highly complicated problems quickly
and accurately.

Block - I consists of two units.

Unit – 1: Introduction to Computers

This Unit gives an overview of the computers. With the help of a block diagram, the components
of a computer are explained. Various hardware such as printer, keyboard, mouse, monitor,
microphone, optical scanners etc are described with the help of images. The unit also explains
different types of software including system software and application software. Student is
acquainted with the various icons on the desktop and the basic start and shutdown procedures of
a computer.

Unit – 2: Operating System

This unit details the functions of an operating system and discusses the features of windows
operating system. It explains the steps in creation, deletion of files and folders.

1
UNIT - 1 : INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS
Contents:
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Overview of the Computer
1.2 Hardware
1.2.1 Input Devices
1.2.2 Output Devices
1.3 Software
1.3.1 System Software
1.3.2 Application Software
1.3.3 Computer Languages
1.4 Start & Shutdown Procedures
1.5 Desktop, icons, Taskbar
1.6 Files and Folders
1.7 Summary
1.8 Check Your Progress – Model Answers
1.9 Model Examination Questions
1.10 Further Readings

1.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying the unit you should be able to:
• Explain the parts of a computer
• Distinguish between Hardware and Software
• Describe the various Hardware components
• Perform simple Startup & Shut down procedures of the computer

1.1 OVERVIEW OF THE COMPUTER

A computer is an electronic device which transforms “Data” into meaningful “information”.
Data is any objects or figures represented by alphabets, numeric and special characters. Processed
data is called information which is systematically organized and stored into a “File”. All the files
related to a specific subject are stored in a “Folder” or “Directory”. Hence we can say that data
is the main source to the computer to generate required information as desired by the user.

Figure : 1.1 - Desktop Computer

2
Data is organized into fields and a set of fields represent a record. For example the address of
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University can be called a record while each line in the address is a
field.
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University,
Prof.G.Ram Reddy Marg, Road No:46, Jubilee Hills,
Hyderabad, Telangana – 500033.
Computer has the ability to store, retrieve, and process data. We can use a computer to create
documents, send emails and browse the Web. You can also use it to handle spreadsheets,
accounting, database management, presentations, games, graphs etc.
A computer can process data, pictures, sound and graphics. They can solve highly complicated
problems quickly and accurately. A computer performs basically five major computer operations
or functions irrespective of their size and make.
• Accepts data or instructions by way of input,
•· Stores data,
• Process data,
• Gives information as results in the form of output, and
• Controls all operations inside a computer.
We can define the structure of a computer through its block diagram.

Figure : 1.2 - Computer Block Diagram

• The Process of entering data into the computer is called Input.
• Control Unit (CU): The process of input, output, processing and storage is performed
under the supervision of a unit called ‘Control Unit’. It decides when to start receiving
data, when to stop it, where to store data, etc. It takes care of step-by-step processing of
all operations inside the computer.
• Memory Unit: This unit is used to store data and instructions.
• Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): The major operations performed by the ALU are addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division, logic and comparison.
• Output: This is the process of producing results from the data for getting useful information.

3
 • The Arithmetic Logic Unit and the Control Unit of a computer system are jointly known
as the central processing unit (CPU). You may call CPU as the brain of any computer
system.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1. Define computer?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Explain the different components of the computer?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

1.2 HARDWARE
Any computer system will have two important components namely – Hardware and Software.
The Physical components of the computer is called “Hardware” which includes keyboard, mouse,
monitor, hard disk, mother board, CD-Rom, Memory chip etc.,
Peripheral devices:
Peripheral devices are those devices that are connected to the computer externally. These devices
are used for performing some specific functions.
1.2.1 Input Devices
Input devices accept data and instructions from the user. Following are the examples of various
input devices, which are connected to the computer for this purpose.
1. Keyboard
2. Mouse
3. Light Pen
4. Optical/magnetic Scanner
5. Touch Screen
6. Microphone for voice as input
7. Track Ball

4
Key board
A keyboard is the most common input device. Several kinds of keyboards are available, but they
resemble each other with minor variations. The keyboard in most common use is the QWERTY
board. Generally standard keyboard has 104 keys. In these keyboards, the cursor control keys
are duplicated to allow easier use of the numeric pad.

Figure : 1.3 - Keyboard

Mouse
A mouse is an electro-mechanical, hand-held device. It is used as a pointer. It can perform
functions like selecting menu commands, moving icons, resizing windows, starting programs,
and choosing options. The most common mouse uses an internal, magnetically coated ball to
detect the movement of the mouse across a flat surface, usually a desktop. Now a days Optical
or laser mouse is used to detect the movement. All windows based applications today are designed
to work with a mouse. A mouse is used to replace hard -to-remember key combinations with
easier “Point and Click” actions. However, it cannot substitute all keyboard operations. It can be
alternative for commands based operations. The mouse has three parts:
(1) Left Button: used for selection of objects such as files and folders.
(2) Right Button: used for knowing the properties of selected object such file, folder.
(3) Scroll Wheel: used for scrolling the documents / web pages.

Figure : 1.4 - Mouse

Light Pen:
Light Pen is an input device that utilizes a light-sensitive detector to select objects on a display
screen. It is similar to a mouse, except that with a light pen you can move the pointer and select
objects on the display screen by directly pointing to the objects with the pen.

5
 Figure : 1.5 - Light Pen
Optical Scanner:
This device is used for automatic data collection. The devices of this category completely eliminate
manual input of data. For example, the bar-code reader is actually just a special type of image
scanner. An image scanner translates printed images into an electronic format that can be stored
in a computer’s memory, and with the right kind of software, one can alter a stored image.
Another example of scanner is optical character recognition (OCR) device, used by banks to
convert the scanned image of a typed or printed page into text that can be edited on the computer.

Figure : 1.6 - Optical Scanner

Microphone: Microphone is an input device, which takes voice as input. The voice communication
is more error-prone than information through keyboard. There are two types of microphones:
1. Desktop Microphone
2. Hand held Microphone

Figure : 1.7 – Desktop Microphone & Handheld Microphone

6
1.2.2 Output Devices
An output device is computer hardware that uses received data and commands from a computer
in order to perform a task. This leads to the results of data processing carried out by an information
processing system (such as a computer) which converts the electronically generated information
into human-readable form. Some of the commonly used output devices are:
1. Monitor (Visual Display Unit)
2. Printers
3. Plotter
4. Speakers
Monitor:
Out of all the output devices, monitor is perhaps the most important output device because
people interact with this device more intensively than others. Information is displayed, visually
with a video adapter card and monitor. Information processed within the CPU, that needs to be
visually displayed, is sent to video adapter. The video adapter converts information from the
format used.
Two basic types of monitors are used with microcomputers, which are as follows:
1. CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)
2. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)

Figure : 1.8 - CRT Monitor & LCD Monitor

When people talk about the capabilities of various monitors, one critical statistic is the resolution
of the monitor. Most monitors have a resolution of at least 800 x 600 pixels. High-end monitors
can have resolutions of 1024 x 768 pixels or even 1280 x 1024 pixels. Thus monitors are
available either in low resolution or in high resolution.

7
Printer:
After a document is created on the computer, it can be sent to a printer for a hard copy (printout).
Some printers offer special features such as colored and large page formats. Some of the most
commonly used printers are:
Laser Printer:
A type of printer that utilizes a laser beam to produce an image on a drum.

Figure : 1.9 - Laser Printer

Ink Jet Printer:
An inkjet printer is a computer peripheral that produces hard copy by spraying ink onto paper. A
typical inkjet printer can produce copy with a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch (dpi). Some
inkjet printers can make full color hard copies at 600 dpi or more.

Figure : 1. 10 - Ink Jet Printer

Dot Matrix Printer:
A type of printer that produces characters and illustrations by striking pins against an ink ribbon
to print closely spaced dots in the appropriate shape. Dot-matrix printers are relatively expensive
and do not produce high-quality output.

8
 Figure : 1. 11 - Dot Matrix Printer
Line Printer:
A machine that prints output from a computer a line at a time rather than character by character.
The line printer is a form of high speed impact printer. They can Print 300 to 3000 Lines per
Minute.

Figure: 1.12 - Line Printer

Speakers:
A loudspeaker is an electro acoustic transducer; which converts an electrical audio signal into a
corresponding sound.
Speakers are another type of output device, which allow you to listen to voice like music, and
conversation with people.

Figure : 1.13 - Speakers

9
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
3. List out the input and output devices?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. Explain the different types of Printers?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

1.3 SOFTWARE
“Software” refers to the set of instructions or program / command that we give to the computer
to do a specific task. Software guides the hardware and tells how to accomplish a task. Some
examples of software include Web browsers, Word processors, Games, Spreadsheets, Database
applications etc. A set of instructions is called a Program. Software refers to a set of programs
that makes the hardware perform a particular set of tasks in particular order.
Software can be classified into three types:
1) System Software
2) Application Software
3) Utility Software
1.3.1 System Software
When you switch on the computer the programs stored in ROM are executed which activates
different components of computer and makes it ready for you to work on it. These sets of programs
are called system software. System software is sets of programs, responsible for running the
computer, controlling various operations like file management, memory management, user
interface and management of computer resources. Example: Windows 98, Windows 95, windows
XP, Solaris, Linux, Unix, Vista etc.
1.3.2 Application Software
Application software is a set of programs, which are written to perform specific tasks, for
example: An application package for managing library known as library automation software
used for various library operations such as Circulation tasks including Lending of Books; Serials
Control; Generating Bibliographies; Aquisition Processes etc. Keeping book details, account
holder details, book issue details, book return details etc. Another application package for managing
student details is called student’s information system, manages student’s roll no, name, parents
name, address, class, section, processing of examination results etc. Application software can be
broadly classified into two types:

10
(a) Generalized packages – These are user friendly software prepared to cater to the general
needs of the users like – drawing pictures, preparing documents, presentations etc. Ex: Word
Processing packages, spreadsheets, presentations, Database Management System and Graphic
tools like – Paint, Photoshop etc.
(b) Customized packages - These are the applications that are customized (or developed) to
meet the specific requirements of an organization/institution. For Example: Student information
details, Payroll packages, inventory control etc. These packages are developed using high-level
computer languages.
Utility software
Utility software is system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize or maintain a
computer.
• Antivirus scan for computer viruses.
• Nero (CD write software)
• Disk checkers can scan operating hard drive.
• Backup utilities can make a copy of all information stored on a disk
• Data compression utilities output a shorter stream or a smaller file
• Disk cleaners can find files that are unnecessary to computer operation
Compilers
Besides the application software and the system software, there is a third kind of software called
the compiler software.
Compiler is a system program that translates source code (user written program) into object
code (binary form).
The whole source code file is compiled in one go and a complete.
This means that the program can only be executed once the translation is complete. It is 525
times faster than an interpreter.
Ex - C & C++ are most popular compiler languages.
Interpreter
Translates the high level language and execute the instruction before passing on to the next
instruction.
An Interpreter in contrast to a compiler, analyzes & executes the source code line- by – line
without looking at the entire program.
First it translates & executes the first line then it moves to the next line of the source code &
repeats the process.
• Interpreter is slow process.

• It is used in FORTRAN program.

Ex : JavaScript & VBScript are interpreted language.

11
1.3.3 Computer Languages
Normally people interact with each other through a language. As computers cannot understand
the usual language of the user, computer languages were evolved. Computer language is understood
both by user and the machine. Just as every language has grammatical rules; every computer
language is bound by rules known as SYNTAX of that language.
Programming language
• A programming language is an artificial language that can be used to write programs
which control the behaviour of a machine, particularly a computer.
• Programming languages are defined by rules which describe their structure and meaning
respectively.
• Many programming languages have some form of written specification known as syntax.
There are two types of Programming Languages.
1. High-level programming language
2. Low-level programming language
High-level programming language
These languages are normal, English like, easy to understand statements to pass instruction to
the computer. The languages offer:
• Readability
• Easy Debugging
• Portability
• Easy software Development
Example:- Basic, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal and C.
Low-level programming language
Low-level programming languages are of two types.
1. Machine Language
2. Assembly Language
Machine Language
This is the only language understood directly by the computer. It is the language of ‘0 and 1’
i.e., Binary number. It is machine dependent. It is difficult to learn and write.
Assembly Language
It uses only letters and symbols. Programming is simpler and less time consuming than machine
language programming. It is easy to locate and correct errors in Assembly language.
It is also machine dependent. Programmer must have knowledge of the machine on which the
program will run.
An assembler is a program that translates an assembly language program into a machine language
program.

12
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
5. Give some examples for system software?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
6. Explain about application and system software?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

1.4 START & SHUT DOWN PROCEDURES

1.4.1 Starting a computer
To turn the computer on, find its power button and press it
When the computer starts, if a dialog asking you to logon appears, press (Esc) on the keyboard.
Look at the computer’s monitor.
Booting
When computer is power on, the power passes through SMPS unit where the direct power is
converted into alternate power and then power is supplied to main board, and each of the connected
peripheral device is checked and display the information on computer screen. After checking all
the components, operating system is loaded from the hard disk and shows START button.
The process taken from power on to displaying of start button is called booting time.
1.4.2 Shutdown process
“Closing of all opened applications and power off process” is called shutdown.
This can be done by clicking Windows Button then click – Shutdown button.

1.5 DESKTOP, ICONS, TASKBAR

Desktop Computer
Desktop is a personal computer consisting of a case (motherboard and processor), a monitor, a
keyboard and a mouse.
Desktop
Desktop is the working area of a computer screen and contains icons representing items such as
files and folders. All the programmes will be executed in the form of windows on the Desktop.

13
At a time many programmes can be executed in the form of windows. On the desktop all the files
and folders were arranged as icons, and provide a easy way of executing the programmes by
users.

Figure : 1.14 - Desktop

Icon:
An icon is a small graphical representation of a program or file. All the files and folders are
arranged on the desktop. The following are the images of some files and folders.

Figure : 1.15 - Different icons

1.6 FILES AND FOLDERS

Files
A media which is used to store or retrieve information such as text, image, sound is called as
FILE. Every computer system is organized into files and folders that are stored on the drive of
that system. Files are used to hold all the information that are required for a computer system to
function. Furthermore, most people have plenty of personal computer files with their own content
within. For example, any text document you create and save on your computer is saved as a file.
This also includes music, video and other application files that contain content for the user or
functions for the computer itself.
Folders
Every computer system comes with a file system to keep all its files organized in groups. Folders
serve to hold same subject related files as well as other sub-folders and subsequent files. Folders
help sort all the files on a system so the user can access files easily. Files can be arranged in a
coherent fashion. Many people have common folders on their computer such as a pictures folder

14
and a music folder. Most folders can hold as much information as the computer can store on its
drive and can hold any type of files. It would be possible to store photos in the music folder if the
user so desires.
Taskbar:
A bar located at the bottom of the screen which allows us to locate and launch programs through
the Start button or view any program that is currently open is called as Taskbar. The status of
opened files / folders will be minimized or maximized on the taskbar from left to right the Start
menu button, Quick Launch bar, taskbar buttons, and notification area.

Figure : 1.16 – Taskbar

Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
7. Explain icons on the Desktop?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
8. What is taskbar? Explain its parts?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

1.7 SUMMARY
The Salient features of the content covered in this Unit may be summarized as follows:
Computer is an electronic device which uses data as input and generates information. The
information is stored in file and related files will be stored in folder or a directory. It is also used
to store, retrieve, and process the data in speedy manner with accuracy.
The block diagram is provided showing the structure of the computer along with its components.
The computer components are called as Hardware which are controlled by programmes called
Software. The various input devices include - Keyboard, mouse, Light Pen, Optical / Magnetic

15
scanner, Touch screen Microphone and Track ball. The various output devices are - monitor,
Printers, Plotters, speakers are used for showing the data as information, printouts and voice
source.
The software of the computer is of three types - System software, Application software and
Utility programmes. The system software controls the hardware components i.e., Windows, Ms-
Dos etc., and the application software is predefined set of programmes to cater to the needs of
users i.e. Ms-office, Tally, PageMaker, CorelDraw. The utility programmes are third party software
like CD-ROM burning software etc.,
The computer languages are used for communicating with the computer and development of
packages, programmes etc., and are categorized as High level languages and low level languages.
The high level languages are similar to English like statements and easy to understand. Whereas
machine language is noted by codes called as “pneumonic” and it is very difficult to understand.
Starting the computer system from power on stage to displaying the desktop is called booting
procedure which takes very less time for checking the components and loading the operating
system and other application software. The closing of all applications along with operating
system is called shutdown procedure.
Desktop is the working area of a computer screen and contains icons representing items such as
files and folders. All the programmes will be executed in the form of window on the Desktop. At
a time more than one window can be opened. Toolbar is located at the bottom of the screen and
allows us to locate and launch programs.

1.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – MODEL ANSWERS

1. Computer is an electronic device that can perform the functions of accepting, storing,
processing the data and gives the result as output with greater speed and accuracy.
2. The components of a computer are: Input, Control unit, Arithmetic and Logic Unit, Memory
Unit and Output.
3. Keyboard, Mouse, Light Pen, Optical Magnetic Scanner, Microphone are some examples
of Input Devices Monitor, Printer, Plotter and Speakers are some examples of Output
Devices.
4. Some most commonly used printers are LaserJet printers, Inkjet printers and Dot Matrix
printers.
5. Windows 95/XP, Solaris, Linux, Unix Vista etc. are some examples for system software.
6. System Software activates different parts of a computer and makes it ready to work. Set
of programmes written to achieve specific task is called Application Software.
7. Some icons on the Desktop are: Mycomputer, Browser, Recylebin, Files & Folders
8 Taskbar is located at the bottom of the screen and helps to locate and launch programmes.
It consists of start button, Quick launch bar, taskbar buttons and notification area.

16
1.9 MODEL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS
I. Short Answer Questions
1. Define a computer. Explain the parts of a computer with the help of block diagram.
2. Explain various Input Devices and Output Devices?
3. Define Software and explain types of software?
4. Define the concept of Files and Folders?
II. Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of the following is an input device ( )
(a) Keyboard (b) Printer (c) Monitor (d) Speaker
2. Logical operations are carried out by ( )
(a) ALU (b) Control Unit(c) RAM (d) HARD DISK
3. The scanner is ..................... device. ( )
(a) Input (b) Output (c) Memory (d) Network
III. Fill in the blanks
1. ....................... Language is understood by the computer
2. All deleted files are stored in .......................
3. Properties can be viewed by pressing ....................... button of Mouse

1.10 FURTHER READINGS

1. Archana Kumar, 2011, Computer Basics with Office Automation, Oxford University Press
2. Satish Jain, 2011, Basic Computer Course Made Simple Paperback, BPB Publication
3. Vashisht Pawan, 2009, Basics of Computer Science Hardcover, Anmol Publisher
4. Reema Thareja 2014, Fundamentals of Computers Paperback, Oxford University Press

5. Pradeep K. Sinha, Priti Sinha, Computer Fundamentals, BPB Publication.

17
 Unit - 2 : OPERATING SYSTEM
Contents:
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Operating systems – Functions & Types
2.3 Windows Operating System
2.3.1 Features of Windows Operating System
2.3.2 Components of Desktop
2.4 Working with Files and Folder
2.4.1 Creation of files
2.4.2 Creation of Folders
2.4.3 Deletion of Files & Folders
2.5 Other Windows Applications
2.6 Summary
2.7 Check Your Progress – Model Answers
2.8 Model Examination Questions
2.9 Further readings

2.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying the unit you should be able to:
• Explain the functions of an operating system
• Work with Windows operating system
• Understand taskbar, icons and their importance
• Work with files and folders

2.1 INTRODUCTION
An operating system is the most important software that runs on a computer. It manages
the computer’s memory and processes, as well as all of its software and hardware. It also
allows us to communicate with the computer without knowing how to speak
the computer’s language. Most of the time, there are different computer programs running at
the same time, and they all need to access computer’s central processing unit (CPU), memory,
and storage. The operating system coordinates and controls all the programs.
The operating systems usually are developed by different software development companies
such as Microsoft, AT&T of United States developed world renewed operating systems like
Windows and UNIX. The first operating system is designed by the IBM Company. The same
is enhanced by Microsoft Company and named it as MS-DOS.

18
2.2 OPERATING SYSTEM – TYPES & FUNCTIONS
2.2.1 Types of operating systems
The operating systems are the special software designed for Personal Computers and Mobile
Devices.
The most common operating systems for personal computers are Microsoft Windows, MacOSX
and Linux. The Operating systems for mobile devices such as phones, tablet computers, and MP3
players are different from desktop and laptop computers, so they run on operating systems that
are designed specifically for mobile devices. Examples of mobile operating systems include Apple
iOS and Google Android.
2.2.2 Functions of an operating system
• Process Management
• I/O operation
• Memory management
• File management
• Data management
• Command Interpretation
• Security Management
• Bootstrap Program
Process Management
One of the main features of operating systems is process management. We can define the
process as a program in execution. For example saving a word document, spooling files to
printer, a mathematical calculation are called as different processes. These are performed and
terminated by the process management. The operating system contains different managers to
look after the different activities as shown in the figure.

Figure : 2.1 - Process Management

19
 Input / Output operations
The I/O devices are the pieces of hardware used to communicate with a computer. For example
a keyboard or computer mouse is an input device, while monitors and printers are output devices
which display the processed information.
‘IO’ is the standard acronym for Input/output and with input/outputs process like reading/writing
files in computer memory and files.
Memory management
Memory management is the process of controlling and coordinating computer memory, assigning
portions called blocks to various running programs to optimize overall system performance.
Memory management resides in hardware, in the OS (operating system), and in programs and
applications.
File management
File management is the system that an operating system or program uses to organize and
keep track of files, hierarchical file system uses directories to organize files into a tree
structure. The relations between operating system, hardware and files are as shown below:

Figure : 2.2 - File Management

Data management
Another important feature of the operating systems is Data Management, which consists of
physical storage and retrieval of data on a disk or other devices and some software that allows
the user to create, store, retrieve and manipulate files interactively ex: DBMS, Access.
Command Interpretation
A command interpretation is the part of operating system that understands and executes
commands that are entered interactively by a human being or from a program. We can also call
the command interpreter as “shell”. Ex: Execution of DOS commands under windows
environment.
Security Management
Operating system security (OS security) is the process of steps or measures used to protect the
OS from threats, viruses, worms, malware or remote hacker intrusions.

20
Bootstrap Program
A bootstrap program is the initial program that the computer runs when it is powered up or
rebooted. It initializes all the components of the computer system, such as CPU registers, device
controllers and memory contents.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1. Define operating system?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Describe the functions of an operating system?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

2.3 WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM

Windows operating system designed by the Microsoft Corporation, U.S.A. It is a popular
operating system which is used widely throughout the world.
2.3.1 Features of Windows
• It provides a user-friendly environment
• Every task is done by clicking and selecting the icons
• It supports multimedia system
• It supports to run Ms-Dos (Command Prompt) on Windows environment
When you switch on the computer, the following screen will appear:

Figure : 2.3 - Operating System startup screen

21
 After loading Windows – 7 Operating system the first screen will be displayed as follows along
with icons, files and folders.

Figure : 2.4 - Desktop

2.3.2 Components of the Desktop
The first screen of the windows is called Desktop. It displays Icons, files and folders which can
be accessed easily with the help of a mouse.
Icons
Icons are the small graphic symbols, which are used as shortcut to open programmes. Different
types of applications will have specific type of icons.

Figure : 2.5 - Icons

My Computer Icon
As soon as desktop appears, the first top left icon is “My Computer”. By clicking this icon with
the help of mouse it shows the files, folder, different drives, control panel etc., in a window with
left and right panels.

22
 Figure : 2.6 - My Computer Window
The other different sub-icons present in the computer are:
• Control Panel
• Recycle Bin
• Network
Control Panel
The control panel is the command centre of a computer system. We can access all peripheral
devices in the form of various icons which allows us to make changes / settings and add and
remove programmes.
Recycle Bin
Windows Operating system provides a trash or dustbin where we can keep all deleted items.
Windows reserves 10% of the space of the hard disk is for recycle bin. We can also restore the
deleted items from Recycle bin before they are permanently deleted. Items can be permanently
deleted using ‘Empty Recycle Bin’ option.
Network Icon
Network folder is used to show the network connections made with other computers. We can
access the data / folders of other computer through network connections.
Start button
Start button of the windows operating system is present at the left bottom of the taskbar. The
start button can be activated by pressing Control + Esc button.

23
 Figure : 2.7 - Start Button
When we press the start button, you can see a menu which is divided into three parts. They are
large left pane, search box and the right pane.
The large left pane: Displays a list of application programmes available in the computer.
These programmes are frequently used by the user. Ex: Ms-Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
Search box: It allows user to look for programmes / files of the computer. We can search any
file by typing its name.
The right pane: It provides the access to commonly used files / folders along with Shut Down,
Restart and other options.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
3. What are the features of Windows Operating System?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. What is control panel?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

2.4 WORKING WITH FILES AND FOLDERS

2.4.1 Creation of file
The information is stored in a file. The procedure to a create a file by using the following
options with the mouse.

24
Place the mouse pointer on the desktop area – then
<CLICK> - right button of the mouse
<SELECT> - New
<TYPE> - Name of file to be created.
Using windows explorer
<Click> - Start button
<Select> - application
• Ms-Word
• Ms-Excel
• Ms-PowerPoint
• Ms-PowerPoint
2.4.2 Creation of Folder
Place the mouse pointer on the desktop area –
<CLICK> - Right mouse button
<SELECT> - New
<CLICK> - Folder.

Figure : 2.8 - Creation of Folder

25
 2.4.3 Deletion of File
To delete a file, follow these steps
<SELECT> - File
<CLICK> - Right button of the mouse, a menu will appear
<SELECT> - Delete option
<CLICK> - OK.

Figure : 2.9 - Deletion of File

2.4.4 Deletion of folder
To delete a folder, follow these steps:
<SELECT> - Folder
<CLICK> - Right mouse button
<SELECT> - Delete option

Figure : 2.10 - Deletion of Folder

26
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
5. What are files and folders ?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

2.5 OTHER WINDOWS APPLICATIONS

We can find some other useful applications available under Windows such as Calculator, Recycle
Bin, Date & Time, Windows Explorer, Screen Saver.
Calculator
Calculator is an application to be used for simple mathematical calculations such as addition,
multiplication, division and subtraction. It is having four views / modes i.e., standard, scientific,
programmer and statics modes.

Figure : 2.11 - Calculator

Setting Date & Time
The date and time is displayed on the right of the taskbar. The following steps are used for
setting of date and time.
On Desktop,
<DOUBLE CLICK> on Time /Date
<SELECT> Change Date and Time settings

27
 Figure : 2.12 - Date & Time Options
Windows Explorer
The Windows Explorer application is used to display the files and folders of a computer along
with their description. The explorer is having two panels i.e., left panel and right panel. The left
panel shows all the files and folders in a tree structure. The description of the selected file or
folder will be displayed in right panel.

Figure : 2.13 - Explorer Window

Screen Saver
A screen saver is an animated image that is activated on a personal computer display when no
user activity has been sensed for a certain time. The original purpose of a screen saver was to
prevent burn-in (the burning of an image into the phosphor inside the cathode ray tube after
hours of the same image being rescanned).

28
To set screen saver, follow these steps :
on Desktop –
<CLICK> Right mouse button
<CLICK> Personalize option
<SELECT> Screen saver option

Figure : 2.14 - Screen Saver Window

Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
6. What is Recycle Bin? How to restore files from it?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
7. What is the use of Explorer application?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

29
 2.6 SUMMARY
The Salient features of the content covered in this Unit may be summarized as follows:
Operating systems is a system software, which controls the entire computer components and
allow user to work with several installed applications like Ms-Word, Ms-Excel, Ms-PowerPoint
etc.
The operating systems are designed for Desktops and mobile devices such as phones, tablet
computers etc.
The main functions of an operating system are Process Management, I/O operations, Memory
management, File management, Data management, Command Interpretation, Security
Management and Bootstrap Program.
Windows operating system designed by the Microsoft Corporation, U.S.A. It is a popular
operating system which is used by major computers worldwide.
Windows provides a user-friendly environment, supports multimedia system and to run Ms-Dos
(Command Prompt) on Windows environment.
The first screen of the windows is called Desktop, which displays Icons, files and folders that
can be accessed easily using the mouse.

2.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – MODEL ANSWERS

1. The “operating system” is system software designed for desktops and mobile devices
such as mobile phones, tablets computers etc. Without operating systems these devices
cannot work.
2. The main functions of the operating system are Process Management, I/O operation,
Memory management, File management, Data management, Command Interpretation,
Security Management and Bootstrap Program.
3. Windows operating system is most popular OS worldwide, developed by Microsoft
Corporation, USA. Operating system provides user to access various applications of the
computer for creation of files and all the programmes are executed in the form of windows
on the Desktop.
4. The control panel is the command centre of a computer system. We can access all
peripheral devices in the form of various icons which allows us to make changes / settings
and add and remove programmes. All the components are accessed through icons i.e.,
MyComputer, Control Panel, Network places, files and folders.
5. Files are data storage objects; the same subject related files are stored in folders. We can
create / delete / rename files and folders.
6. Recycle bin is a folder which stores all the deleted files. We can retrieve the deleted files
from Recycle bin by selecting ‘restore’ option.
7. Explorer is an application used to display the computer storage information in two panels
i.e., left and right panels. The left side panel displays objects in a tree structure and the
information about selected object will be displayed in right panel.

30
2.8 MODEL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS
I. Short Answer Questions
1. What is an operating system? Explain its functions.
2. What is the use of Windows explorer application?
3. Explain parts of Taskbar.
II. Multiple choice questions
1. The operating system acts as ( )
(a) Interface (b) Compiler (c) Message (d) Data
2. The Control panel shows ( )
(a) Hardware (b) Software (c) All the components (d) Printers
3. Date and Time options will be available at ( )
(a) Taskbar (b) Control Panel (c) My Computer (d) Explorer
III. Fill in the blanks
1. Operating systems is an ............................ software
2. A set of records forms a ............................
3. Screen saver is an ............................
4. Calculator is having ............................ number of views

2.9 FURTHER READINGS

1. Archana Kumar, 2011, Computer Basics with Office Automation, Oxford University
Press
2. Satish Jain, 2011, Basic Computer Course Made Simple Paperback, BPB Publication
3. Vashisht Pawan, 200, Basics of Computer Science Hardcover, Anmol Publisher
4. Reema Thareja 2014, Fundamentals of Computers Paperback, Oxford University Press
5. Pradeep K. Sinha, Priti Sinha, Computer Fundamentals, BPB Publication.

31
 BLOCK – II : MS-OFFICE
Ms-Office is a suit of office applications developed by Microsoft. Its desktop applications such
as MS-WORD; MS-EXCEL and MS-POWER POINT are widely used in day to day activities.

This block teaches the three applications to the students. The units included in the block are:

Unit - 3: Working with MS-WORD

Microsoft word provides complete word processing features to create different types of
documents, letters, templates and other text files. It enables users to create, delete, save, copy,
move text or paragraphs and spell check and other formatting options. Use of different menus
and related commands are explained in this unit. Mail merge, the procedure of sending same
document to multiple recipients is also explained in detail.

Unit - 4: Working with MS-EXCEL

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet programme designed for everyday tasks such as preparing
budget, preparing purchase orders, maintaining address lists, preparing graphs and charts, making
calculations using formulas etc. Using Excel, we can store, organize and analyze data. Using
various menus and commands, formulas and functions, inserting charts etc. are explained in this
unit.

Unit -5 : Working with MS-POWER POINT

Microsoft PowerPoint helps to produce professional-looking presentations with a comprehensive

set of features. It is possible to create and add designer-quality SmartArt graphics with only a
few clicks of the mouse. This unit helps the students learn the various techniques involved in
preparing effective power point presentations.

32
UNIT – 3 : WORD PROCESSING – MS WORD
Contents:
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Microsoft Word Structure
3.3 File Management Commands
3.4 Tabs
3.5 Mail Merge
3.6 Summary
3.7 Check Your Progress – Model Answers
3.8 Model Examination Questions
3.9 Further Readings

3.0 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to
• Understand the concepts of word processing
• Create and format document using MS-WORD
• Create and send multiple letters using Mail merge option in MS-WORD

3.1 INTRODUCTION
Microsoft word, popularly known as Ms-Word, is Application Software that provides complete
word processing features to create different types of documents, letters, templates and other
text files.
The “Word processing” feature provides users to create, delete, save, copy, move text or
paragraphs and spell check, make different documents such as text files, rich text files, web
pages, and other applications.
The features are described through different menus and related commands which are applied
on the text for different formats, styles, alignments etc.

3.2 MICROSOFT WORD - STRUCTURE

Microsoft Word is an application software designed for ready to use by the user to create
documents.
To run / execute Ms-word application software, follow these steps:
<CLICK> Start button
<SELECT> all programmes
<SELECT> Microsoft office
<CLICK> Microsoft Word

33
 OR
<CLICK> Start button
In the search box
<TYPE> “WINWORD”
Ms-word consists of work area, ribbons and commands. Work area is meant for typing of text,
editing of text and saving of text. It is the main place where entire processing of text can be
handled. The main processing of the text can be done by applying certain commands. These
commands are available under each ribbon (previously known as Menus) as per their functionality.
The terms menu and toolbars have been replaced with the Ribbon from Microsoft 2007 onwards.
The Ribbon is designed to help you quickly find the commands that you need to complete a task.
Commands are organized in logical groups, which are collected together under tabs. Each tab
relates to a type of functionality, such as saving, or printing a page.
For example Home tab contains the commands related to copy, paste, font commands, paragraph,
text styles and editing commands by default.

Figure : 3.1 - MS-Word Interface

Office Button
The file related commands like open, save, print, publish etc.are placed under Microsoft Office
Button.

Figure : 3.2 - Office Button

34
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1. What is a Ribbon?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Explain formatting commands of Ms-word?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3.3. FILE MANAGEMENT COMMANDS

3.3.1. OFFICE BUTTON
New – Opens a new file
Open – Opens an existing file
Save – Save a file
Save As – Save the file in other format
Print – Print a file
Prepare – Create document properties
Send – Send a document to email or fax
Publish – Publish blog, to Server, Workspace
Close – Close and exit Ms-word

Figure : 3.3 - File Options

35
 Ms-Word document is created by typing text and inserting other objects like images, hyper links
of other existing files etc.
How to apply a command
<Type> some of the text on the work area
<Select> the entire line by using Shift+left arrow key
OR
<Place> mouse arrow pointer at beginning of the line / sentence
<Click> mouse left button
Then apply any of the command from any tab.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
3. List out the file management commands?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3.4 TABS
3.4.1 HOME TAB
1) Font Tab

Figure : 3.4 - Font Tab

Change font name and size
Select any word or paragraph text,
CLICK on Font tab
<CLICK> font name
<SELECT> ARIAL
<SELECT> font size
<SELECT> 16 pt

36
Change the font color
Select Font tab
<CLICK> font color
<SELECT> color
<PRESS> OK
Change font case
Click on “Change Case Button – Aa”
<SELECT> the text you want to modify,
<CLICK> Font tab
<CLICK> change case (Sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalize Each Word,
tOGGLE cASE)
<SELECT> UPPERCASE

Figure : 3.5 - Different Cases

2) Paragraph Tab
Alignment commands
Select the entire text,
Then,
<CLICK> Paragraph tab
<CLICK> Left Align Button – for left Alignment or press (Ctrl+L)
<CLICK> Paragraph tab – <click> – Right Align Button – for Right Alignment or press
Ctrl+C
<CLICK> Paragraph tab – <click> – Center Align Button – for Center Right Alignment
or press Ctrl+R
<CLICK> Paragraph tab – <click> – Justify Button – for Justification of the text or press
Ctrl+J
The same operations can be done using shortcut keys by using keyboard

37
 Figure : 3.6 - Alignment Tab
Line spacing commands
Type a paragraph and select paragraph text
Double spacing
<CLICK> Paragraph tab
Under Indents and Spacing Tab
<CLICK> Spacing option
<CLICK> line spacing option as double the paragraph text will be arranged in ‘double’
spacing.
Single spacing
<CLICK> Paragraph tab
Under Indents and Spacing Tab
<CLICK> Spacing option
<SELECT> Line spacing option as ‘Single’. Paragraph text will be aligned in single spacing.
Navigating Techniques
Use of mouse pointer to move anywhere in the document and also we can move around the
document through (4) keyboard arrow keys.

Figure : 3.7 - Navigating Keys

38
Different navigation keys
KEY Action Performed
Up arrow Moves one line up
Down arrow Moves one line down
Left arrow Moves one character to the left
Right Arrow Moves one character to the right
Ctrl + Moves one word to the right
Ctrl + Moves one word to the left
Ctrl + Moves one paragraph down
Ctrl+ Moves one paragraph up
HOME Key Moves to beginning of the current line
END Key Moves to end of the line
Ctrl +G Moves to specified page number
Ctrl + Home Moves to beginning of the file
Ctrl + END Moves to end of the file
Page-up Displays the previous screen
Page-Down Displays the next screen
Selection of text in paragraphs
Selection of several paragraphs – down wards
<PRESS> Shift +Ctrl+End
Selection of several paragraphs – up wards
<PRESS> Shift +Ctrl+Home
To add tab space to first line of each paragraph of entire document:
<CLICK> CTRL+A (select all the text or entire document text)
<CLICK> Paragraph tab
<CLICK> Indentation option
Under special option select - First line.
To create Hanging type of paragraphs
<CLICK> CTRL+A (select all the text or entire document text)
<CLICK> Paragraph tab
<CLICK> Indentation option
Under special option select – Hanging

39
 Figure : 3.8 - Paragraph Options
2.3.2 Editing Tab

Figure : 3.9 - Editing Tab Options

Find and Replace
The find and replace commands are available under EDITING tab under HOME Ribbon.
<CLICK> Find option
You will find the following dialog box, that contains Find, Replace and Go To tabs.

40
FIND
<TYPE> the word you want to find in the ‘find what’ text box.
For ex.,
<TYPE> SOFTWARE in ‘find what’ text box
<CLICK> – Find Next option,
This operation places the cursor wherever the word ‘SOFTWARE’ exists.

Figure : 3.10 - Find & Replace window

FIND & REPLACE
To replace the word ‘SOFTWARE’ with ‘HARDWARE’, :
<TYPE> SOFTWARE in ‘find what’ text box
<CLICK> Replace
< TYPE> HARDWARE in replace with text box
<CLICK> Replace All option,
This operation can replace the word SFOTWARE with HARDWARE in the entire document.
GOTO
The other option GoTo provides the navigation the control to any of the specified page, selection,
line, Book mark, Table, Graphic, Field etc.,
For Example a document contains 10 pages, to move to 5th page directly,
<CLICK> Editing tab
<CLICK> GOTO option - a dialog box appears
<TYPE> 5 at space provided for ‘Enter page number’
<CLICK> GOTO option – it will place the control on page 5.

41
 4) Clip Board Tab

Figure : 3.11 - Clipboard options

Clip board tab provides basic editing operations like cut, copy, past, paste special and format
painter option.
The commands are activated only after selection of certain text.
COPY - PASTE
Select the text you want to copy
<CLICK > COPY option (or press Ctrl+C on Keyboard)
Then place cursor where ever you want to copy the same text,
<CLICK> Paste option (or press Ctrl+V on Keyboard)
CUT -PASTE
Select the text you want to delete
<CLICK> CUT option or press Ctrl+X on Keyboard
Then place cursor where ever you want to requires the same text to be copied,
<CLICK> – Paste option
To apply the all the properties of one object to another object then “Format Painter”
(or press Ctrl+Shift+C on Keyboard)
2.3.2 INSERT TAB

Figure : 3.12 - Insert menu options

42
The Insert Ribbon provides the following tabs
1. Pages
2. Tables
3. Illustrations
4. Links
5. Headers and Footers
6. Text
7. Symbols
1) Pages Tab
Provides such commands for creation of cover page and to insert blank pages to the current
document.
To create a Cover page
<CLICK> Insert Ribbon
<CLICK> Pages Tab
<CLICK> Cover page – select any of the available design for the existing document.
To insert a Blank page
<CLICK> Insert Ribbon
<CLICK> Blank Page option
To insert a Page break
<CLICK> Insert Ribbon
<CLICK> Page Break option
to create breaks between paragraphs,, pages etc.,
2) Table Tab
This tab is used to create, insert tables to the document
To insert table
<CLICK> - insert tab
<CLICK> - insert table option
<SELECT> - number of rows, and number of columns
<CLICK> - OK - to insert required table.

43
 Figure : 3.13 - Table Options
Example for Table containing 5 columns and 2 rows
1 2 3 4 5
1
2

Inserting a graphic image to document

Place mouse pointer where ever you want to insert the image then
<CLICK> Insert menu
<CLICK> Picture option – then
<SELECT> an image of your own choice from available images.

Figure : 3.14 - Text Wrapping Options

44
You can adjust / align the image as per your requirement and place it anywhere in the document.
<CLICK> on image then
<CLICK> right mouse button
<SELECT> Text wrapping
<SELECT> In front of text
3) Illustrations Tab
To insert images, shapes, pictures, clip art etc., to the document illustrations tab can be used.
To insert picture
<CLICK> Insert Ribbon
<GOTO> Picture option in illustrations tab
<CLICK> Picture
<SELECT> Picture file
<CLICK> Insert option
To insert shapes
<CLICK> Insert Ribbon
<CLICK> Shapes option
<SELECT> any symbol to insert
To insert Chart
<CLICK> Insert Ribbon
<CLICK> Chart option
<SELECT> any type of chart to be inserted to the document.
To insert other objects
To link any other objects (document/image etc.,) to existing document the Links Tab may be
used.
4) Links Tab
Hyperlink is used to navigate from one file by adding the address of that file / folder.
To add hyperlink to the existing document do the following
<CLICK> Insert Ribbon
<CLICK> Links Tab
<CLICK> Hyperlink
It will display a dialogue box with different folders and files to be selected. Select one of the file,
the files address is inserted to the document. To activate the file, press CTRL+ click on the link

45
 5) Headers & Footers
To insert Date, Time, Page No, clip art, heading, etc., on each page “Headers and Footers”
option is used.
To insert “Header” - <CLICK> Insert tab
<CLICK> Header option
<CLICK> Edit header
OR – “double click” on Header area on page
To insert “Footer” - <CLICK> Insert tab
<CLICK> Footer option
<CLICK> Edit Footer
OR – “double click” on footer area on page
6) Text Tab
Word Art
To create WORD ART like text to be inserted as Headings, or letter heads etc., we can use
word art from Insert tab.
<CLICK> Word Art
<SELECT> type of word art
<CLICK> ok – to insert required words to the existing document.
Here some of the word arts

Figure : 3.15 - Different Word Arts

7) Symbols Tab
We can also insert date & time and other symbols to the existing document from Text and
Symbols tabs.
Click Insert tab -
<CLICK> Date and Time from Text tab.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
11/16/2014 9:35 PM
Click Insert tab -
<CLICK> symbols and select any of the symbols etc., £ “ “ `”

46
2.4.3. PAGE LAYOUT TAB
Page layout Tab contains Page setup options, Page background and paragraph options
Under Page Setup tab we can set paper size, orientation, margins, columns, breaks, watermarks
etc,

Figure : 3.16 - Different Page Sizes

• Set paper size to A4
• Set paper orientation as Landscape
• click Break to create new page
• Again click Page Layout tab – click Size – select Legal
• Set paper orientation as Landscape

Figure : 3.17 - Different Page Sizes

47
 2.4.4. Review Tab
We can make spelling and grammar checking through REVIEW TAB.
Press F7 function key to start spell checking of the document.

Figure : 3.18 - Spelling and Grammer Window

Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
4. Explain the clipboard Tab commands and their keyboard controls.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5. How to insert a table in the word document?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3.5 MAILMERGE
One of the important features of the Microsoft word is Mail Merge. The concept is very much
useful when “same information is to be sent to multiple recipients”. The mail merge is a technique
which requires two files - one is main document and another one is address file. Through mail
merge we can print address on envelops, labels, and letters.

48
Let us create a main document. Main document always contains the information / letter /
Memo which can be sent to many persons.
Address file has to be created by the user by following some of the simple steps, which contains
the address of all persons / firms / companies etc.

Figure : 3.19 - Sample Letter

Steps in mail merge:
1. Creating Main Document
Open Microsoft word and do the following steps to perform Mail Merge.
• Open a new word document
• Type a letter by leaving 4 lines space for address and complete the remaining body of
the letter
2. Creating Address List

Figure : 3.20 - Select Option

49
 <GOTO> - Mailing Tab
<CLICK> – Select recipients
<CLICK> – Type New list
Then a dialogue box will be appear
<SELECT> – customize columns
<DELETE> all the existing fields (by selecting each one and press delete button)
After deleting,
<ADD> required field labels namely – Publisher Name, Address, Street, City, Pin code.
After adding of required fields enter data to the fields like, Rajkamal Publishers, Koti, Bank
Street, Hyderabad etc.
<ADD> all the records / field values
<SAVE> the file by giving a file name Ex. publishers_address.
After completion of one record,
<PRESS> – tab for new record or New Entry Button to add new record.
Enter all the records; and
<PRESS> OK button
<SAVE> Records by giving file name (.mbd – micro database file) and
<CLICK> Save button.

Figure : 3.21 - New Address list window

3. Merging the Main Document with Address file
After completion of the “addresses entry” part the control returns to main document.
<CLICK> - Mailing Ribbon
<SELECT> – insert Merge field option
<INSERT> the fields like, publisher_name, address, street, city, pincode to the main document.

50
After inserting the fields – check the correctness of fields and data
<PRESS> – Preview Results button
<CLICK> – Finish Merge option
<SELECT> all records option to generate letters with all the addresses.
By using “Ctrl+Mouse scroll wheel” option you can see all the generated letters.

Figure : 3.22 - Preview of all documents

Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
6. Explain the steps involved to perform Mail- merge.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3.6 SUMMARY
The salient features of the content discussed in this unit can be summarized as follows:
• Ms-word is used to create documents with different types of documents
• Word supports various fonts, styles and colors borders to create effective documents

• We can insert graphic images of any type, date time and also hyper links to other documents.
• Mail Merge is a special feature used to send same information to many persons.
• Word also provides options for find and replace, inserting table etc.,

51
 • Formatting refers to the appearance or presentation of text in a document. Most of the
pages contain at least four different kinds of text: headings, ordinary paragraphs, quotations
and bibliographic references. We can make formatting of a document with the commands
available under home ribbon. You have also learnt the formatting commands of MS-Word
such as Bold, Italics, Underline, Change case, Font type, Font color, Page size, Orientation,
Page numbers, Margin settings, Cut, Copy, Paste etc.

3.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – MODEL ANSWERS

1. Ribbon is used to find the commands. Commands are organized in logical groups called
Tabs and are accessible through the Ribbon / Menu.
2. Formatting refers to the appearance or presentation of text in a document. We can format
the document with the following commands available under home ribbon. The formatting
commands of MS-Word are Bold, italics, Underline, Font Color, Page size, Margins etc.,
3. File management commands are used for basic file creation operations like create a file,
saving a file, printing a file, closing a file and providing advanced word commands for
customization of ms-word.
4. Clip board commands are available in ‘Editing’ Tab. The Clipboard commands are:
1. Cut : Keyboard control Ctrl + X
2. Copy : Keyboard control Ctrl + C
3. Paste : Keyboard control Ctrl + V
5. <GOTO> Insert Tab
<CLICK> Insert Table Option
<SELECT> No. of Rows & No. of Columns
<CLICK> OK
6. Mail Merge is an important concept of Ms-word to generate number of documents with
different addresses from one document. Mail Merge requires two documents i.e., one
document consists of letter and another file is used to store address as database. The
merge concept takes one document and one address to merge and generate a complete
document. Generation of letters depend on the number of address stored in address file.

3.8 MODEL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

I. Essay Questions
1. Department of History, Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad is organizing a
National Seminar on the topic “Retrieving People’s History of Telangana” during 0 1 -
05th December 2015. Venue of the Seminar is Conference Hall, Academic B u i l d i n g ,
Dr.BRAOU. Prof. Y..Sudarshan Rao, President, Indian Council of Historical Research,
New Delhi, is invited as the Chief Guest for the Inauguration of the Seminar. Prof. Adapa
Satyanarayana, Dept. of History, Osmania University will deliver the Keynote address in
the Inaugural session. Vice-Chancellor, Dr.BRAOU will preside over the Inaugural session.
Design an attractive invitation using MS-Word.

52
2. Using mail merge send list of newly acquired books in your library to at least 10
students. Use the fields - Name of the library, city and pin code in your address
book. Create addresses on your own.
II. Short Answer Questions
1 Explain the use of Copy & Paste options in MS-WORD?
2. Explain the various options available in word for formatting paragraphs.
III. Multiple choice questions
1. Which of the following commands are present in Paragraph Tab? ( )
(a) Alignment (b) Copy
(c) Paste (d) Find
2. ‘Clip Art’ is found in which Ribbon? ( )
(a) Home (b) Mailings
(c) Insert (d) Page Layout
3. Page No., Headers and footers are available under .......... ribbon. ( )
(a) Home (b) Insert
(c) Page layout (d) Mailings
IV. Fill in the blanks
1. ..................... is shortcut key for Print.
2. The shortcut keys for copy ..................... and paste .....................
3. ..................... is used for selection of the entire text.

3.9 FURTHER READINGS

1. Shelly, Gary B - Cashman, Thomas J - Vermaat, Misty E, Microsoft Office 2007 -
Introductory Concepts & Techniques, Windows Vista Edition (08, 2007
2. Peter Weverka, Office 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies, Jan 3, 2007
3. Nita Rutkosky, Denise Seguin and Audrey Rutkosky Roggenkamp, Microsoft Office 2007
with Windows XP and Internet Explorer, 2007
4. Christopher W. Bruce and Mark A. Stallo PhD, Better Policing With Microsoft Office 200,
7Sep 3, 2009

5. Vicki F. Sharp, Make It with Microsoft Office 2007, May 23, 2007.

53
 UNIT – 4 : WORKING WITH MICROSOFT - EXCEL
Contents:
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 File Management Commands
4.3 Formatting Data
4.4 Simple Calculations using Formulas and Functions
4.5 Creating a simple Table and Inserting charts
4.6 Summary
4.7 Check Your Progress - Model Answers
4.8 Model Examination Questions
4.9 Further Readings

4.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to
• Learn the structure and features of Microsoft Excel Document
• Enter and Format Data in Excel
• Learn simple calculations
• Create tables and graphs

4.1 INTRODUCTION
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet programme designed for everyday tasks such as preparing
budget, preparing purchase orders, maintaining address lists, preparing graphs and charts, making
calculations using formulas etc. Using Excel, we can store, organize and analyze data.
4.1.1 Starting MS-Excel
1. <CLICK> Start button
<SELECT> – Microsoft office
<SELECT> – Microsoft Excel
OR
2. <CLICK> start button,
<CLICK> RUN
<TYPE> EXCEL
<CLICK> OK
Ms-Excel is mainly used to create Spreadsheets, Graphs and Databases. The main objective
of the Excel is to store / hold huge amounts of numerical data and to generate different types of
reports, various calculations etc., The excel sheet is created with rows (1 to 10, 38,576) and
columns 16,383 (from A to XFD) to hold the data. The Intersection of row and a column is
called CELL.

54
CELL is identified by a cell address consisting of row number and column number. For Example,
the data stored in the intersection of 5th row and column B will have the cell address as “B5”
ROW X COLUMN = CELL
5 X B = B5 - called as “Cell B5”
Cell is a basic unit to hold data in Excel sheet.
The columns and rows are resizable according to the size of data. An Excel sheet with columns
and rows is called “WORKSHEET”. Collection of more number of worksheets is called a
WORKBOOK. A workbook contains up to 256 individual sheets.
In the worksheet shown below, B5 is a cell which contains a number 15, numbers are always
right justified in the cell. Text is always left justified in the cell

Figure : 4.1 - Justification

To justify the contents of the cell – under Paragraph Ribbon 3 types of justifications can be
used. These are
Left Justified – Ctrl + L
Center Justification - Ctrl + E
Right Justified - Ctrl + R

55
 4.1.2 Formatting of Cells
To change the length, width of the cell or cells in works sheet, “CELLs” tab can be used. The
cells tab is available under Home Tab.
• To change the height of the cell select a column
<CLICK> Home Tab
<CLICK> Cell tab
<SELECT> Row height or column width to change width or height of the cell.
• To insert blank rows in between rows - select a column
<CLICK> Home Tab
<CLICK> Cell tab
<CLICK> insert option
<SELECT> row or column to insert new column or rows to existing worksheet.
You can also add a new blank sheet to workbook.
• To rename a work sheet
<CLICK> Home Tab
<CLICK> Cells tab
<SELECT>Format option
<CLICK> Rename.
• To create duplicate sheet of existing sheet
<CLICK> Home Tab
<CLICK> Cells tab
<SELECT> Format option
<CLICK> Move or copy command.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1. Explain the structure of a Worksheet?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4.2 FILE MANAGEMENT COMMANDS

Creating a new file
<CLICK> Home Tab
<CLICK> New option
Hold down the Control key and press N (Ctrl +N) – shortcut key

56
Open an existing file
• To open an existing file click Home Tab – then click OPEN command
It will display an Open dialog box – which is divided into two panels i.e., Left panel and Right
Panel. Left panel always displays the file storage locations and right panel shows list of stored
files and folders. Below these panel ‘file name’ option provides user to type FILENAME. To
open, click open option to open an existing file.

Figure : 4.2 - Open a File

Saving a file
• To save a file
<CLICK> Home Tab
<CLICK> SAVE command
It will display a Save dialog box – which is divided into two panels i.e., Left panel and Right
Panel. Left panel always displays the file storage locations and right panel shows list of stored
files and folders. Below these panel file Name option will provides user to type FILENAME to
save, then click save option to save file.

57
 Figure : 4.3 - Save a File
Save As Option
Save As option can be used to:
• Create a duplicate file
• Save in another old formats like 97 to 2003 file format
• Save as Web format files
• Save as Text files
• Save as Templates
• Save as Add-ins etc.
Using SAVE AS Option:
<CLICK> Home Tab
<CLICK> SAVE AS option
It will display a ‘SAVE AS’ dialog box – which again contains two panels i.e., Left panel and
Right Panel. Left panel always displays the file storage locations and right panel shows list of
stored files and folders. Below these panels, file Name option will provide user to type any
filename to SAVE, then click ‘SAVE AS TYPE’ from list of file formats option, select required
file format.

58
 Figure : 4.4 - SAVE AS options
Printing
To print work sheet in Excel, we have to specify the following-
• Specify the area to be printed
<SELECT> Page layout Ribbon
<CLICK> Set print area option
• Specify the file size
<SELECT> Page Layout
<CLICK> Page option
<SELECT> A3, Legal etc., sizes
• We can specify margins
<CLICK> Page Layout
<CLICK> Margins and set margins
<CLICK> Office button, then
<CLICK> Print Preview option – to view the printed page to be printed
<CLICK> Print option
then Printer dialogue box will be appear
<SELECT> Name of the printer from drop down list and set the number of copies,
pages from and to (ex : 2nd page to 13 pages)
<CLICK> print option to generate printout of a specified area.

59
 • We can even use - insert page breaks option - in the selected data to create / adjust
number of pages.
• Set page orientation i.e., Landscape or portrait for a document
• Some of the printing advanced option are available from Properties of Print dialogue
box, which provides the properties related to printer, text quality, both sides printing
option, etc.,

Figure : 4.5 - Printing Window

Setting Customized Lists

This option is used to generate certain series of data whenever it is required such as months
name, name of the persons, series of numbers etc.,
To create such lists
<CLICK> office tab
<CLICK> other options
<CLICK> Popular option
<CLICK> Edit customized lists.

60
 Figure : 4.6 - Popular Option

In the custom lists dialogue box

<CLICK> add button
<TYPE> list of items and click OK.

Figure : 4.7 - Custom Lists window

61
 To add lists to your worksheet - just type list first name and drag it.
For example: type “Jan” month name and select “Jan” cell and drag it to generate other months.
Different views in Excel
Ms-Excel supports (5) types of views by default under “VIEW RIBBON”. They are NORMAL
VIEW, PAGE LAYOUT VIEW, PAGE BREAK VIEW, CUSTOM VIEW and FULL SCREEN
VIEW.
• By default excel displays “Normal” view which simply displays the worksheet.
• “Page Layout” view is to see the headers, footers, and rulers
• “Page Break Preview” is to see exactly page breaks for printing of sheet
• Custom view is used to display and print settings
• Full Screen view is used to display only rows and columns without ribbons
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
2. What are the different views of Excel Worksheet?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4.3 FORMATTING DATA

Entering Data
Each cell of excel permits us to type numbers, words or formulas. Simply <CLICK> on the cell
and start typing the numbers, words or formulas.
To correct typing mistakes, select the cell and press F2 function key for correction / editing the
text or double click on the cell you want to edit.
Deleting Unwanted Data
To clear a cell contents,
<CLICK> right button of the mouse and from the popup menu
<SELECT> clear contents option, or
<CLICK> cell to be deleted, and press delete key.
Redo and Undo Commands
Excel supports features like REDO and UNDO commands which are used to delete and to
undelete contents or data entered in the cell.

62
Merging & Wrapping Of Data
Alignment Tab

Figure : 4.8 - Alignment options

Several alignments are available under Alignment Tab. These alignments are useful to arranging
text in cell as bottom, Top or center. We can also set text in different orientations.
To arrange text into bottom alignment
<SELECT> cell
<CLICK> Home Tab
<CLICK> Alignment Tab
<CLICK> Bottom alignment
• To arrange centre
<CLICK> Cell
<CLICK> right button from the pull down menu
<SELECT> Format cells option
<SELECT> Alignment tab- User Vertical option
<SELECT> Center option.

Figure : 4.9 - Format Cells options

63
 Different Styles of Orientation
Basic Alignments
Wrap Text Button
Merge & Center Button

Figure : 4.10 - Different Alignment Options

Decimal Button

Figure : 4.11 - Decimal Options

To increase or decrease indent text or number in a cell decimal tab button is used.

Figure : 4.12 - Indent Options

Generate Series

Figure : 4.13 - Generate Series Options

64
• Type 1 on any cell
<CLICK> Editing tab
<CLICK> Fill button
<SELECT> Series option
<SELECT> – Row button
and enter end value as 10
<CLICK> ok.
The above procedure creates a series of numbers from 1 to 10.
Insert an image to the worksheet
To inset an image to your worksheet
• <CLICK> insert ribbon
<CLICK> illustrations tab
<CLICK> picture – a picture dialogue box will be appear
<SELECT> a picture from right panel
<CLICK> ok button to insert an image.
• Insert a clip art image – from illustrations tab
<CLICK> clip Art – a clip art gallery window will appear
<SELECT> any of the image based on the category – by clicking the image – it will be
inserted to the worksheet.
• To insert different types of shapes to the existing work sheet
<CLICK> shapes tab
<SELECT> any of the required shape.
• To illustrate advanced concepts such relations, matrix and any business ideas to be
presented – then go for SmartArtGraphics option.

Figure : 4.14 - Smart Art Graphic Options

65
 Inserting hyperlink
Hyperlink is a technique used to execute another file, programme from existing worksheet. To
insert hyperlink, click “Ctrl + K” (OR) Hyperlink option from Links tab of insert ribbon.

Figure : 4.15 - Hypertext insert Options

Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
3. Explain about different format commands of Excel?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4.4 SIMPLE CALCULATIONS - FORMULAS AND FUNCTIONS

Excel supports different types of calculations like addition, subtraction, division, multiplication,
etc.,
To do any calculations in the cells Enter an ‘=’ OR ‘+’ sign in cell followed by the numbers. For
example:
A1 cell contains value 2,
B1 cell contains value 3,
The formulae for calculation of sum of these two numbers and placing the result in C1 cell,
<DOUBLE CLICK> C1 cell,
<TYPE> = A1+B1
<PRESS> Enter

66
 OR <TYPE> +A1+B1
<PRESS> Enter
The same procedure can be used for subtraction (-), division (/), multiplication (*), etc. using
appropriate signs.
Excel provides different types of formulas and functions.

Figure : 4.16 - Formula entering options

4.4.1 Formula
When we enter an ‘equals to’ sign (=) in a cell, Excel understands that a formula is about to be
entered. For example, in Column-B you want to place square root of the values that are entered
in column A (A1-A10). Then do the following steps.
1. Type values in column A (A1-A10)
2. In cell B1 type an equal sign and
3. Type A2^2 and hit enter.
4. Drag the fill handle to fill column B from B1 all the way to B10 with the squares of the
respective cells (A1 to A10).
The commands for constructing a formula are: addition is marked by +, subtraction by -,
multiplication by *, division by /, rising to a power by ^, and parenthesis to group.
4.4.2 Functions
The functions are categorized as data functions, date functions etc.
Function Name Syntax Result
Text functions
UPPER() =UPPER(“welcome”) WELCOME
LOWER() =LOWER(“WELCOME”) welcome
LEFT() =LEFT(“WELCOME”,3) WEL
RIGHT() =RIGHT(“WELCOME”,3) COME

67
 Date Functions
DAY() =DAY(“15-apr-18”) returns day ie.,15
MONTH() =MONTH(“15-apr-18”) returns month ie., 4
YEAR() =YEAR(“15-apr-18”) returns year 2018
Math functions
SUM() =SUM(A1:A5) Sum of the values from A1 cell to A5 cells
ROUND() =ROUND(125.75,0) displays rounded value as 126.00
MOD() =MOD(3, 2) gives reminder as 1
Logical functions
AND() =AND(A2>B2) compares a2 cell value with B2 velue and
returns true or false based on the values
OR() =OR (1+1=1) RETURNS TRUE
(2+2=5) RETURNS FALSE
other functions
MIN() =MIN(1,2,3,3,5) returns least value
MAX() =MAX(1,2,3,3,5) returns GREATER value
AVERAGE() =AVERAGE(10,20,30) returns average value ie., sum of total
values / no.of values, 60/3 = 20
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
4. Explain the procedure for entering a formula in MS-EXCEL with the help of an example?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5. List out the important ‘functions’ in MS-EXCEL?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4.5 CREATING A SIMPLE TABLE AND INSERTING CHARTS

4.5.1 Creating Simple Table
An example is given here to create a table with data on student performance and how to
calculate Total and Average marks.

68
Procedure
1. Type the data as specified in the cells
2. Change the color of the fields
(Select the fields by Holding Shift Key + Right Arrow)
3. Change the Font size as BOLD
After selection of the fields press CTRL+BOLD
4. Select entire table and click Box (for lines)
After selection only click BOX option as specified below figure.

Figure : 4.17 - Sample Students Table

To do calculations on the above table do as follows
1. Select the fields to be calculated by Shift + Right arrow key
(Here selection starts from D3 to G3 columns i.e., Sub1 to Sub4 only)
2. There are various methods for calculating SUM
I. Select fields from D3 to G3
<CLICK> AUTOSUM Option from EDITING MENU
OR
II. (Write the formulae in the H3 cell)
=D3+E3+F3+G3 and press Enter key
OR
+D3+E3+F3+G3 and press Enter key

69
 iii. To sum the values in an one column, click to on last cell (where total to be appeared)
just Hold down the alt key and press equal to sign i.e., ALT Key+ =.
(ex: Place cursor on D13 cell and press ALT + = symbol)
Repeat the same procedure for remaining records.
Calculate AVERAGE
In H3 column simply type =H3/3 to get the average
Repeat the same procedure for remaining records
4.5.2 Inserting Charts
Charts are used to display series of numeric data in a graphical format to make it easier to
understand large quantities of data and the relationship between different series of data.
Excel supports many types of charts to help you display data in ways that are meaningful to
your audience. When you create a chart or change an existing chart, you can select from a
variety of chart types (such as a column chart or a pie chart) and their subtypes (such as a
stacked column chart or a pie in 3-D chart). You can also create a combination chart by using
more than one chart type in your chart.
A chart has many elements. Some of these elements are displayed by default; others can be
added as needed. You can change the display of the chart elements by moving them to other
locations in the chart, resizing them, or by changing the format. You can also remove chart
elements that you do not want to display.
The chart elements are listed below
1. The chart area
2. The plot area
3. The data points of the data series that are plotted in the chart.
4. The horizontal (category) and vertical (value) axis along which the data is plotted in the
chart.
5. The legend of the chart.
6. A chart and axis title that you can use in the chart.
7. A data label used to identify the details of a data point in a data series.

Figure : 4.18 - Graph along with different options

70
Steps in Creating a Chart
1. Get your data into Excel: First you need to input your data into excel as shown in
section 4.5 above.
2. Choose a type of chart/graph to create
< CLICK> Insert Ribbon
<CLICK> “Chart” Ex.: “Column Graph”
3. To add Data labels
<DOUBLE CLICK> on the Graph - a Layout Ribbon activated – from that
<SELECT> – Data labels option
<SELECT> – outside end
4. On graph each data label will be displayed on each bar
5. You can change the graph type – double click graph – select type of graph
6. You can add more information to the graph – by selecting Layout Menu
7. You can change the colors of the graph – double click the graph then select chart styles

Figure : 4.19 - A Students table with its graph

71
 Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
6. Write the steps in performing AUTOSUM function?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7. How to insert pi-chart in MS-EXCEL?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4.6 SUMMARY
• Ms-excel is used to create spread sheets, graphs and data bases in an easy way.

• Excel provides an easy way to create tables and calculations and also design deferent
types of graphs
• The major features of formatting commands, editing commands, advanced commands
like creation of lists., etc.,
• Simple formulas are used to calculations on data and numerical values.

• importance of excel and its functions

4.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS –MODEL ANSWERS

1. The excel sheet is divided into rows and columns which forms CELL. Each row and
columns identified by number and alphabets respectively. The we define cell is an
intersection of row and a column. The cell is identified by its rows number and columns
alphabet i.e., A5 (A = Column, 1 = Row number)
2. MS-Excel supports 5 types of views - 1) Normal 2) Page Layout View 3) Page Break
View 4) Custom View and 5) Full Screen View
3. Different format commands in excel are -
Alignment - Right, Left, Centre, Bottom or top
Merging & Text Wrapping of data
Increase or decrease decimals
4. To perform any calculation we can use = or + sing in a single cell.
Example: =A1+B1

72
 5. Some important functions in Excel are -
SUM; AVERAGE; MIN; MAX etc.
6. Steps in performing AUTOSUM Functions are:
Select the fields for which AUTOSUM is to be calculated. Example: D3 to G3
Select AUTOSUM option from Editing Menu.
Press Enter Key.
7. The graphs can be created only after selection of a specific table (database) which
requires two to three columns of data by invoking the Insert menu – Click graphs option.
Click Pie Chart.

4.8 MODEL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

I. Essay Questions
1. Explain about the words spread sheet, graphs and Database in Excel?
2. Explain about any five functions with syntax?
II. Short Answer Questions
1. Discuss different views of Excel.
2. Steps in inserting a chart
3. AutoSum function
III. Multiple Choice Questions:
1. The file name of Excel is identified by ( )
(a) .xld (b) .xlsx (c) .xl (d) .xls
2. Pictorial Representation of data is called ( )
(a) Graph (b) Table (c) Colum (d) Row
3. The basic unit of data in Excel is ( )
(a) Row (b) Column (c) Function (d) Cell
IV. Fill in the blanks
1. To change text from uppercase to lower case ................... function is used
2. In Excel the sign used before formula is ...................
3. The shortcut Key of “Find and replace” operation is ...................

73
 4.9 FURTHER READINGS
1. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 for Dummies, Wiley, 2007.
2. How to do Everything with Microsoft Office 2003 : A Beginner Guide / Lauri Anna
Ulrich.
3. Fundamental of Computers / Reema Thareja ISBN : 9780199352729.
4. Computer Networks by Tanenbaum Andrew . S.3rd Editio. New Delhi, Pearson Education,
2003.

5. Computers for All by Sanjeev sharma.New Delhi, Sarup, 2005.

74
UNIT – 5 : WORKING WITH MS-POWER POINT
Contents:
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Presentation Basics
5.2.1 Creating a New Presentation &
Opening an existing presentation
5.2.2 Adding new slides
5.2.3 Deleting Slides
5.2.4 PowerPoint Views
5.2.5 Modifying Background
5.2.6 Running the Slide Show
5.3 Templates
5.4 Inserting Image, Table & Graph
5.4.1 Inserting Sound and Video
5.5 Concept of Master Slide & Layouts
5.6 Summary
5.7 Check Your Progress - Model Answers
5.8 Model Examination Questions
5.9 Further Readings

5.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will be able to:
• Create a new presentation using MS-PowerPoint
• Make modifications to the existing presentation
• Insert Picture, Animation, Sound and Video into the slides
• Run the presentation as Slide Show

5.1 INTRODUCTION
Microsoft Corporation has developed a presentation application to create effective presentations
in simple way. A simple theme is explained through images, sound, tables with colors and colored
back grounds along with different animation effects known as Presentation.
Microsoft PowerPoint helps you to produce professional-looking presentations with a
comprehensive set of features that you can use to create and format your information. You can
create and add designer-quality Smart Art graphics with only a few clicks of your mouse.
Basically PowerPoint is used to
• Create and deliver dynamic presentations
• Share information effectively
• Protect and manage information

75
 5.2 PRESENTATION BASICS
To create presentations, a theme or a concept related to any subject is required. The subject /
concept is further divided into slides along with text, colors, animations and tables, graphs etc.
For example: take the subject / concept of preparation of an “Invitation”. As we are aware, an
invitation contains address of the invitee, name of the guest and other invitees, venue, date and
schedule of programme etc. With this information, we can easily create a presentation by
distributing the concept into several slides.
Remember a concept is main source to create an effective presentation.
5.2.1 Creating a New Presentation & Opening an existing presentation
To execute PowerPoint application
<CLICK> Start button
<CLICK> Microsoft Office
<CLICK> Microsoft PowerPoint.

Figure : 5.1 - PowerPoint Application

Slide:
Slide is a work area where the theme and other objects like images, text, animations, and font
styles were placed and systematically presented. Presentation can contain number of slides which
are displayed one by one by pressing enter key or with pre-defined timings.
To open a blank presentation
<CLICK> Office button
<CLICK> New option (OR)
<PRESS> CTRL+N key from Keyboard as shortcut method
<TYPE> Text on slide or insert any image or table
To save a presentation
<CLICK> Office button
<CLICK> Save option - Save dialogue box will appear
<TYPE> a suitable filename, and
<CLICK> save button.

76
To open an existing presentation
<CLICK> Office button
<CLICK> Open option – Open dialogue box will appear
<SELECT> Filename and click open button.
Using ‘SaveAs’ option
<CLICK> Office button
<CLICK> SaveAs option – SaveAs dialogue box will appear
<SELECT> Choose the path where you want to save the file
<TYPE> File name in the filename box and also specify file type from the drop down
listing
<CLICK> save button.
To Close a presentation
<CLICK> Office button
<CLICK> Close option – which will prompt to save or not to save.
To Print a presentation
<CLICK> Office button
<CLICK> Print – Printer dialogue box will appear – you can provide several options
to take printout like handouts, slides, outline notes etc.- then
<CLICK> OK - to print presentation.
5.2.2 Adding new slides
<PLACE> mouse on thumbnail slide – and
<PRESS> Enter key (OR)
<PRESS> CTRL+N for new slide.
5.2.3 Delete a slide from presentation
<PLACE> Mouse on thumbnail slide
<PRESS> Delete key to delete slide.(OR)
<SELECT> Any slide
<PRESS> CTRL+X for cut operation of slide
You can also
<PASTE> the same slide by pressing CTRL+V shortcut key

77
 5.2.4 Power Point views
PowerPoint provides 4 views they are
1) Normal view
Normal view is used to display a thumbnail of slide as main slide. We can edit, insert, delete
and also add animations to the objects.
2) Slide Sorter view
Slide Sorter view is meant for displaying slides in sequential order, this view provides facility
to arrange, moving and deletion of slides.
3) Notes page view
This view provides text in “notes style”.
4) Slide Show
This view is used to start slide show.
5.2.5 Modifying Background
For the background to your PowerPoint presentation, you can specify the following:
• A solid fill
• A gradient fill
• A picture or texture fill
• A Pattern fill
To change your presentation background,
<CLICK> Design
<SELECT > Background
<SELECT > Background Styles
<SELECT> Format Background.
Alternatively, you can right click on a free area on a slide (and area that doesn’t contain an
object) and then select Format Background.
5.2.6 Running Slide Show
There are several ways to start your presentation. You can:
• <CLICK> on the Slide Show button at the bottom of your workspace (next to the zoom
slide)
• <PRESS> F5
• <CLICK> Slide Show in the ribbon > Start Slide Show, and then choose the most
appropriate way to run your slide show

78
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1. Explain the steps to create a new Presentation and adding slides to the presentation
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Explain the different views in Power Point presentation.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5.3 TEMPLATES
A template is a predesigned presentation you can use to create new presentations with the same
predefined formats which are already integrated into the template.
Template is a readymade / presentation / already created by someone for reuse of the same
template to generate “new template formatted document” by editing it.

Figure : 5.2 - Template

The use of a template
To create documents / presentations / spread sheets in a quick and speedy manner template will
help us to create within a short time. A template is available in a full formatting shape. Just need
to change the contents to create a new file without bothering about its formatting.

79
 How to create a template
The creation procedure of a template is as simple as creation of a PowerPoint presentation. The
same is explained in the form of steps.
<OPEN> Ms-PowerPoint application
<CLICK> Office button – then click – New option – an menu box will appear. Then
<SELECT> Create blank presentation - A blank presentation will be opened
Create few slides by inserting text, images, tables and complete designing the
presentation. Then
<GOTO> Office button – then
<CLICK> Save as option – then select the path and format for saving the presentation.

Figure : 5.3 - Slide

Whenever you want to create any presentation, simply open the powerpoint and select the saved
template, make corrections and save as pweorpoint presentation. It does not require any formats
and can be completed with in less time.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
3. Explain the steps to create a template
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. Explain the uses of Power Point Template.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

80
5.4 INSERTION OF IMAGES, TABLES, GRAPHS
• To insert any image, clip art, table, graph and smart tags
<CLICK> insert ribbon – then
<CLICK> picture to insert picture to the slide.
• We can also insert certain tables which are imported from Excel.
• We can also insert graphs by invoking insert ribbon and <CLICK> graph option
• To add anything from any other application, just copy that object by pressing CTRL+C
and on slide press CTRL+V to insert any object.

Figure : 5.4 - Inserting text object

Animation
Animations are visual effects for the objects in your PowerPoint presentation. Animations are
used to bring objects like text, images, or charts on or off your slide.
Microsoft calls these as entrances and exits. An entrance is an animation that brings something
onto the slide, while an exit will move an object off the slide. An animation can be used to make
an object enter or exit your slide (or even move it between spots on a slide.)
Adding Animations
It’s easy to add an animation to your PowerPoint presentation.
1. Add content to the slide
2. Click on an object to select it on any slide. This could be an image, chart, or block of text.
3. Now, find the Animations tab on the ribbon.
4. Find the Animation menu, which has star icons on it. Each one of these represents an
animation effect.
5. Click on one of the animation effects to add it to the selected object. For example, you can
click on Fade so that the text will fade in.

81
 Power Point has a great variety of styles to animate objects on your slides. With the animation
presets, you can quickly bring an object on or off a slide with one click.
On the Animations tab of the ribbon, there are many one-click styles to apply to an image. You
can scroll down in this menu to view them, or click the small double arrow to the lower right to
view them all at once.
Using too many animations is distracting. When you have objects flying in and out of the slide,
you’ll lose the attention from your audience.
Here are four key principles for applying animations in PowerPoint:
• Keep objects off screen until you’re ready to talk about them.
• If you put everything on the slide at once, your audience will stop paying attention to
what you’re saying, and start paying attention to the text on your slides.
• Use simple transitions such as Appear or Fade to keep your slides simple and clean.
• Limit your animations to one or two per slide to maintain simplicity.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
5. Explain the steps to Insert Tables & Graphs.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6. Explain how to add animation to the text in the slides.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5.5 INSERTING SOUND AND VIDEO

• To insert any sound clip or a video clip –
<CLICK> insert ribbon
then from the Media clips tab –
<SELECT> Sound option
<CLICK> – sound option to the slide.
• We can also insert certain sound tracks from CDs and clip organizer.
• We can also insert video clips by invoking insert ribbon and select Movie clips tab and
selecting Movie from file option to select video clip from outside folders.

82
 Figure : 5.5 - Using sound & Video clips

5.6 THE CONCEPT OF MASTER SLIDE & LAYOUTS

What is Master Slide?
A slide which provides facility to change / edit / set the layout, font, size, headings, date, time,
slide number etc., features when modified in one slide and can apply to all the remaining slides
is called as Master Slide.
Use of Master Slide
In a Master file we can control the various objects and by designing one slide instead of changing
all the slides of the PowerPoint.
Procedure to Create Master Slide:
• <OPEN> Microsoft PowerPoint
• <OPEN> a blank presentation
• <CLICK> – “View” Ribbon
• <SELECT> – “Slide Master”
• You will see – A Master Slide and its sub slides with different layouts
• Select any slide and apply the different font style, size, colors to the text boxes
• You can delete or add number of slides to the master slide with different layouts
• Once created, all the slides will be available under “Slides” option under HOME ribbon

83
 Figure : 5.6 - Master Slide
The following screenshot explains the change of color of title in Master Slide from Black color
to Red color and applying the same to all the slides of the PowerPoint Presentation.

Figure : 5.7 - Master Slide Layout

Adding of Layouts
If you don’t like the standard layouts that come with PowerPoint’s built-in Slide Master, you
can add a layout and customize it for your PowerPoint presentation. To add your own layout,
just follow these steps:
<Select> View tabb
Under Presentation Views

84
<Click> Slide Master option.

Figure : 5.8 - Insert layout option

On the Slide Master tab of the Ribbon,
<click> Insert Placeholder in the Edit Master group.
A new, blank layout is inserted in the current Slide Master.

Figure : 5.9 - Insert Placeholder options

Use the Insert Placeholder drop-down list in the Master Layout group on the Slide Master tab on
the Ribbon to insert whatever placeholders you want to add to the new layout.
This control reveals a list of placeholder types you can insert. The options are Content, Text,
Picture, Chart, Table, Diagram, Media, and Clip Art.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
7. Explain the steps to create a Master Slide?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

85
 8. Explain how to add new layouts ?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5.6 SUMMARY
One of the most common presentation tools is Microsoft Office is PowerPoint, which is used to
create effective presentations. In this unit, you have learnt -
• Techniques in creation of presentations.
• File related commands to create, save and delete and execute commands from different
ribbons
• Advanced techniques and shortcut keys in preparation of presentations.
• Adding Animations
• Save and save as commands

5.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – MODEL ANSWERS

1. Presentations can be created with Microsoft PowerPoint application. The steps in creating
a new presentation are:
1. Select ‘new’ option from office button or Press Ctrl + N Keys.
2. Type text on slide or insert image / table.
3. Use thumbnail slides or Ctrl + N to add new slide.
4. Save the presentation using ‘Save’ Option in the office button.
2. Power Point provides 4 views namely 1) Normal View 2) Slide Sorter View 3) Notes Page
View 4) Slide Show.
3. A Template is a readymade / already created by someone for reuse of the same template to
generate “new template formatted document” by editing it.
4. Template helps to create documents / presentations / spread sheets in a quick and speedy
manner. They help us to create presentations in a short time. A template is available in a
full formatted shape. Just need to change the contents to create a new file without bothering
about its formatting.
5. To insert a table, Goto Insert Ribbon and select table. Specify the No. of rows & Columns
and Press OK.
6. Steps in adding animations:
1. Create a slide and add content.
2. Select the object you want to add animation.

86
 3. Click on the animation tab.
4. Select appropriate animation effect.
5. Click OK.
7. The Master Slide concept is used to save the time in designing and editing and formatting
of the text in a less time. When we want all our slides to be contain the same fonts and
images (such as logos), we can make those changes in one place, and they’ll be applied to
all slides. To open Slide Master View, on the View tab, select Slide Master, then make
changes in the layout accordingly.
8. We can add new layout from the insert placeholder option under Presentation views tab.
We can directly add the new layouts to new slide.

5.8 MODEL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

I. Essay Questions
1. Explain in detailed procedure to create a Presentation.
2. Discuss different views of Ms-PowerPoint.
II. Short Answer Questions
1. Steps in inserting a sound clip
2. Use of Slide sorter view
III. Multiple Choice Questions:
1. The Ms-PowerPoint File is identified by ( )
(a) .PDF (b) .PPTX (c) .PTP (d) .PDS
2. Photo Album feature available under, Ribbon ( )
(a) Home (b) Insert (c) View (d) Design
3. No. of views in Power Point Presentation ( )
(a) 4 (b) 6 (c) 3 (d) 5
IV. Fill in the blanks
1. “Movie clips” can be inserted from ...................... ribbon
2. The custom animation option is available under ...................... ribbon
3. The master slide option is available under ...................... ribbon

87
 5.9 FURTHER READINGS
1. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 for Dummies, Wiley, 2007
2. How to do Everything with Microsoft Office 2003 a A Beginner Guide, Lauri Anna
Ulrich, 2003
3. Fundamental of Computers, Reema Thareja, 2014

4. Computer Fundamentals 3rd EDITION, Pradeep K. Sinha, Priti Sinha,1982.

88
BLOCK – III : INTERNET, EMAIL & SOCIAL MEDIA
In the previous blocks, you have learnt the basic skills in creating word documents, tables and
charts using MS-Excel and making effective presentations with the help of MS-Power Point.
Equipped with these skills, we now move on to Block III which focuses on Internet, search
engines, Google and Social Media. This block has four units (Units 6-9).

This block provides you few skills and strategies along with an awareness of corresponding with
people in both traditional and online environment.

The units included in the block are:

Unit - 6 : Internet and Email

The Internet is a worldwide telecommunication system that provides connectivity to millions of

smaller networks and therefore s referred to as network of networks. It allows users to communicate
with each other across distances and different computer platforms. This unit gives an overview
of the Internet and World Wide Web. It explains the steps in composing and sending emails.

Unit - 7 : Search Engines

Search engines are websites or software that enables people to find information on the internet.
This unit discusses the features of popular search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask,
AOL, Baidu, Wolframalpha, DuckDuckGo, and Internet Archive. Different techniques of search
are also discussed.

Unit -8 : Google Products, Tools and Services

Google is an American Multinational Technology company that specializes in Internet related

services and products such as – advertising technologies, search, cloud computing, software and
hardware. This units presents the various important Google applications and tools such as Youtube,
Google+, Google Maps etc. The important services of google such as Google Books and Google
Scholar are explained.

Unit - 9 : Social Media

Social media is the collective online communication channels dedicated to community based
input, interaction, content sharing and collaboration. This unit discusses the advantages and
limitations of social media, Popular social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Youtube etc. The Academic social networks such as Academia.edu and ResearchGate are also
discussed.

89
 UNIT – 6 : INTERNET & EMAIL
Contents:
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Internet Basics
6.2.1 Internet & WWW
6.2.2 URL
6.2.3 Internet Connectivity
6.3 Browsers
6.4 Search Engines
6.5 Email
6.6 Summary
6.7 Check Your Progress – Model Answers
6.8 Model Examination Questions
6.9 Further Readings

6.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying the unit you should be able to:
• Explain importance of internet and World Wide Web
• Understand the concept of URL
• Send mails

6.1 INTRODUCTION
The Internet is a worldwide telecommunications system that provides connectivity for millions
of other, smaller networks; therefore, the Internet is often referred to as a network of networks.
It allows computer users to communicate with each other across distance and different computer
platforms.
In the early days, most people just used the internet to search for information. Today’s internet is
a constantly evolving tool that not only contains an amazing variety of information, but also
provides new ways of accessing, interacting and connecting with people and content.
In this Unit, a brief overview of the Internet and World Wide Web are presented. You will learn
how to explore the various websites available on the Internet.

6.2 INTERNET BASICS

6.2.1 Internet & WWW
What is internet?
Some common definitions of internet are -
• “A global network that connects million of computers together, known as the internet.”

90
 • “Internet is the vast inter connection of computers across the world.”
• “The Internet is the fastest way of retrieving information”
• “It also called a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, get
information from any other computer if they have permission.”
History of internet
The Internet began in 1969 as the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Project
Agency (ARPA) to provide immediate communication within the Department in case of war.
Computers were then installed at U.S. universities with defense related projects. As scholars
began to go online, this network changed from military use to scientific use. As ARPAnet grew,
administration of the system became distributed to a number of organizations, including the
National Science Foundation (NSF). This shift of responsibility began the transformation of the
science oriented ARPAnet into the commercially minded and funded Internet used by millions
today.
The Internet acts as a pipeline to transport electronic messages from one network to another
network. At the heart of most networks is a server, a fast computer with large amounts of
memory and storage space. The server controls the communication of information between the
devices attached to a network, such as computers, printers, or other servers.
The concept of internet is basically developed for “exchange and sharing of information” from
one computer to another computer.

Figure : 6.1 - Concept of Internet

91
 World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW) allows computer users to position and view multimedia-based
documents (i.e., documents with text, graphics, animations, audios and/or videos) on almost any
subject. Even though the Internet was developed more than three decades ago, the introduction
of the WWW was a relatively recent event. In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee of CERN (the European
Laboratory for Particle Physics) developed the World Wide Web and several communication
protocols that form the backbone of the WWW.
The World Wide Web is a large computer network where required information can be obtained
by using browser applications like Google chrome, Netscape navigator, Firefox, internet explorer.
It consists of all the public web sites connected to the internet worldwide. The websites are
identified by short, unique, global identifiers called URLs (Uniform Resource Locator). The
WWW contains millions of documents in the form of “web pages” each page is created with
text, graphics, video, audio and link to the other web pages via hyperlink.
6.2.2 URL
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, and is used to specify addresses on the World Wide
Web. A URL is the fundamental network identification for any resource connected to the web
(e.g., hypertext pages, images, and sound files).
A URL will have the following format “
protocol://hostname/other_information
The protocol specifies how information is transferred from a link. The protocol used for web
resources is Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
The protocol is followed by a colon, two slashes, and then the domain name. The domain name
is the computer on which the resource is located.
Domain Names
Domain Name System (the DNS) is a standard addressing system on internet. Every computer
on the internet will have a unique address. This is called IP address and it is usually a number.
Since it is difficult to remember numbers, the DNS provides meaningful and easy to remember
names to all computers.
The domain names are identified by the extensions at the end of each address for example: .com.
(companies), .gov (government),.org (organization), .net (networks) etc., for example vsnl.net.in,
hotmail.com, thehindu.com, worldbank.org.
Each part of a domain name contains certain information. The first field is the host name,
identifying a single computer or organization. The last field is the top-level domain, describing
the type of organization and occasionally country of origin associated with the address.

92
Top-level domain names include:
.com Commercial
.edu Educational
.gov US Government
.int Organization
.mil US Military
.net Networking Providers
.org Non-profit Organization
Some Domain name country codes include:
.au Australia
.de Germany
.fr France
.nl Netherlands
.uk United Kingdom
.us United States
Paying attention to the top level domain may give you a clue as to the accuracy of the information
you find. For example, information on a “com” site can prove useful, but one should always be
aware that the intent of the site may be to sell a particular product or service. Likewise, the
quality of information you find on the “edu” domain may vary. Although many pages in that
domain were created by the educational institutions themselves, some “edu” pages may be the
private opinions of faculty and students. A common convention at many institutions is to indicate
a faculty or student page with a ~ (tilde) in the address. For instance, http://fcit.usf.edu/~kemker/
default.htm is a student’s personal web page.
6.2.3 Internet Connectivity
To get Internet facility a computer, modem and an internet service provider (BSNL, BEAMTELE,
AIRCEL, IDEA, AIRTEL etc., ) is required.
• A browser software i.e., Internet Explorer, Mozilla Fire Fox, Google Chrome, Opera,
Netscape Navigator etc.,

Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox Google Chrome

Figure : 6.2 - Logos of Browsers

93
 Components required to connect to Internet
Computer
• Any IBM compatible, Macintosh or UNIX computer has memory of 2GB or more and
at least 16 MB RAM is needed.
Modems
• A computer needs telephone cable to connect to the Internet.
• This cable can carry only Analog signals, unlike computer works with Digital signal.
• A hardware device known as Modulator-Demodulator (Modem) is used to convert the
digital signal from the computer to Analog signal that can be transmitted through telephone
lines. At the destination end, modem reconverts the analog signals from the telephone
cables to digital signals and passes the signal to the computer.
Telephone Line
• It is essential to have a telephone line connection to get connected to the Internet.
Internet Service Provider ( ISP)
• Earlier in India, internet connection was available through Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited
(VSNL).
• Now we can choose from 120 companies that have been granted ISP licenses.
Ex: -Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL) and Mantra online. Some private players are (i.g. Reliance, Airtel, Tata etc..)
Web Server
• A web server is a computer contains web server software.
• The web pages on the server are mostly hyper text markup language (HTML) documents.
The web client (i.e. the browser) makes a request to the web server.
• The web server software running on the server accepts the request, makes a search, and
then returns the result to the web client.
Web Browser
• A web browser is a program that allows you to view and search for information on the
WWW.
• The user type the URL of the website in the Web Browser, which is forwarded as the
request to the web Server.
• The most popular Web browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator,
Mozilla Firefox, Google chrome, Safari (for Mac computer).

94
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1. List out the essential components for Internet?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Explain the differences between web browser and web server?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………

6.3 BROWSERS
A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is a software application for retrieving,
presenting and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource
is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI/URL) that may be a web page, image, video
or other piece of content. Example: Opera (web browser) · Chromium (web browser) · Safari.

Figure : 6.3 - Different types of Browsers

95
 History of the Web browser
The first web browser was invented in 1990 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee is the director
of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which oversees the Web’s continued development,
and is also the founder of the World Wide Web Foundation.
Importance of Web browser
A website browser, or browser for short, is a window to the World Wide Web. Browsers are a
tool used to search for websites, and they display the website what we see in the window. There
are several website browsers available, Google Chrome, Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer,
Opera, and Safari etc., without browser we can not access any information from the internet.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
3. List out some important web browsers.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6.4 SEARCHING INTERNET

Internet is basically a vast resource of information, we can search and find information about
websites, images, news, questions and answers, videos etc., there are exclusive websites (also
called search engines) for searching information ex: www.google.com, www.bing.com,
www.yahoo.com.
For example, if you want to search the images of DR.B.R.Ambedkar Open University, open any
search engine on web browser and type search string.

Figure : 6.4 - Main Page of Google search Engine

96
The results of the search string i.e., “Dr.B.R Ambedkar Open University” images is as follows:

Figure : 6.5 - The information displaying about DR.BRAOU

Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
4. What is a search engine? Give some examples.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6.5 E MAIL
The process of sending information through internet is called as “e-mail” i.e., electronic mail.
Email is the fastest way of sending mails where the postal address details like Name, Address,
City, State, Pin code etc., have been replaced with e-mail address. The email address is given in
the format [email protected], we can send text, attach photos, videos etc., or other important data
along with our message. The specialty of e-mail is sending information and receiving information
from the same person through a computer within seconds anywhere, subject to availability of
internet facility. Now, email is very popular service and day by day importance of e-mail is
increasing. At present e-mail facility is available in mobile phones also.
Benefits of e-mail
• Through e-mail we can send the information very quickly.
• As there is no involvement in “man power” and all the process can be done through
computer, errors may be avoided.

97
 • The e-mail information is secure and no other person can access.
• Through e-mail address we can receive information from any wherefrom the world.
• Sending the information to various persons at same time.
• We can send the “reply” to emails very quickly.
• We can send the same information to many persons through forward option.
• We can send the more number of pages, like documents, images, videos, text files,
compressed files through attachment.
• Email facility is a free service; we need not pay any amount.
Disadvantages of E-Mail
• Emails may carry viruses. These are small programs that harm your computer system.
They can read out your email address book and send themselves to a number of people
around the world.
• Many people send unwanted emails to others. These are called spam mails. It takes a lot
of time to filter out the unwanted emails from those that are really important.
• Emails cannot really be used for official business documents. They may be lost and we
cannot sign them.
• Your mailbox may get flooded with emails after a certain time so you have to empty it
from time to time.
Some of the Email Providers
1. Gmail - Free Email Service
2. Zoho Mail - Free Email Service
3. Yandex.Mail - Free Email Service
4. AIM Mail - Free Email Service
5. iCloud Mail - Free Email Service
6. Outlook.com - Free Email Service
7. Yahoo! Mail - Free Email Service
8. Mail.com and GMX Mail - Free Email Services
9. Short mail - Free Email Service
10. Inbox.com - Free Email Service
E-Mail Address Structure
An email address is designed to show the basic information of the sender or receiver. Each part
gives specific to general information, much like a postal address. Most contain three basic parts,
Account Name
The first part of the email address shows the name of the account holder, or the sender, followed
by the “at” sign. It is usually the name used to log in to the account and is also called a username.

98
Domain
The name of the domain that hosts the account will follow the username and “at” sign. If a
person has a Google email account, the address would read [email protected].
Domain Extension
The last letters following the domain name and the dot will be an abbreviation of the type of
organization the address originates from. A commercial domain uses “.com,” government uses
“.gov,” educational institutions use “.edu,” organizations use “.org,” and networks use “.net.”
Country Code
If an email sender is from a foreign country, the email address may have two letters at the end
indicating which country it is coming from. This code may replace the domain extension or be
added after. For example, the United Kingdom is .uk, Ireland is .ie, France is .fr, and Australia
is .au.
Sub-Domain
The level of complexity will depend on the email server. Some organizations and companies may
add a sub-domain followed by a dot between the “at” sign and the domain name. Others may add
an extra part in the account name.
Composing and sending mail
To write a mail to any one, we have to click on New option (or any other similar option). It will
open a new window therein we type the e-mail address of the window wherein we type the e-mail
address of the receiver, subject of the mail and the text in the body. After composing an e-mail,
click the send button on the toolbar.

Figure : 6.6 - Composing of email by using Google

99
 Replying and forwarding e-mail
The Reply option is displayed when we open any e-mail. It is used to reply to a received e-mail.
We can simply type in our reply and click Send button.
The Forward option is used when we want to send the same or any received mail to number of
persons as the same time.
Adding a signature to a mail
A signature is a bit of personalized text (such as contact information or a favorite quote) that is
automatically inserted at the bottom of every mail we send. To create a signature follow these
steps:
• Click the gear icon – in the upper right then select settings option
• To enter your new signature text in the box at the bottom of the page next to the
signature option
• Click on save Changes tab.
Logout / Sign-out
Click Sign-Out button, once we have finished reading or sending the e-mails. This option will
quit from the e-mail account.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of e-mail?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6. Explain the structure of URL.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6.6 SUMMARY
The Salient features of the content covered in this Unit may be summarized as follows:
• The Internet is a network connecting millions of computers, smaller networks which provide
information in the form of web pages.
• The Internet began in 1969 as the U.S. Department of Defences’ Advanced Research
Project Agency (ARPA) to provide immediate communication within the Department in
case of war.

100
 • The World Wide Web (WWW) allows computer users to position and view multimedia-
based documents (i.e., documents with text, graphics, animations, audios and/or videos)
on almost any subject.
• The URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, and is used to specify addresses on the
World Wide Web. A URL is the fundamental network identification for any resource
connected to the web (e.g., hypertext pages, images, and sound files).
• The Domain Name System (the DNS) is a standard addressing system on internet. Every
computer on the internet will have a unique address. This is called IP address and it is
usually a number. Since it is difficult to remember numbers, the DNS provides meaningful
and easy way to remember names to all computers.
• To get Internet facility a computer, modem and an internet service provider (BSNL,
BEAMTELE, AIRCEL, IDEA, AIRTEL etc., ) is required.
• The Web Browser is application software which is used to display information in the form
of web pages.
• Internet provides the facility of searching information about websites, images, news,
questions and answers, videos etc., through various search engines like www.google.com,
www.bing.com, www.yahoo.com.
• The process of sending mails through internet is called as “e-mail”, Email is the fastest
way of sending mails.

6.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – MODEL ANSWERS

1. The essential components of Internet are Computer; Modem; Telephone Line; Internet
Service Provider; Web Server; Web Browser.
2. Web Server is a computer that contains webserver software. It saves the web pages in
html documents. Webserver accepts requests, makes a search & return results to the web
clients. Web Browser is a program that allows to view and search information on www.
3. Examples of some Web Browsers: Google Chrome; Mozilla Firefox; Internet Explorer;
Opera; Safari.
4. Search engines are exclusive websites to search information on the web. Some examples
are Google; Bing; Yahoo.
5. Mails can be sent quickly through email. Mails can be sent and received with in seconds
from any part of the world. It provides facilities to reply, forward the mail to many people
at a time. Text, Image, Videos can be sent as attachments. The disadvantages are - emails
can be attached by viruses; can be hacked; difficult to avoid spam mails.
6. URL has the following format:
protocol://hostname/otherinformation.
Protocol used for web resources in http. Domain name is the computer on which the
resource is located.

101
 6.8 MODEL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS
I. Essay Questions
1. Explain about internet and its benefits?
2. Define the procedure of creation of email?
II. Short Answer questions
1. What is www?
2. What is the Brower?
3. What is an URL?
III. Multiple Choice Questions
1. The concept of internet is developed at ( )
(a) USA (b) Canada
(c) Germany (d) France
2. http stands for: ( )
(a) hypertext markup language (b) hypertext transfer protocol
(c) hypertext telecost program (d) hypertext typing program
3. .com is a domain for ( )
(a) Commercial (b) Contract
(c) Command (d) Communication
IV. Fill in the blanks
1. WWW stands for ...........................
2. Email stands for ...........................
3. An application is used to display information as web pages ...........................

6.9 FURTHER READINGS

1. Richard Fox & Wei Hao, Internet Infrastructure: Networking, Web Services, and Cloud
Computing, 2017
2. Preston Gralla, How the Internet Works,2016, Que Publishing
3. Black, Computer Networks: Protocols Standards a: Protocols, Standards and Interface
Paperback, 2015
4 Tanenbaum Andre, Computer Networks, 2003, Pearson Education
5. iSRD, Internet Technology and Web Design, 2011

102
UNIT – 7 : SEARCH ENGINES
Contents:
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Popular Search Engines
7.3 How to search Google
7.4 Advanced Search Methods
7.5 Summary
7.6 Check Your Progress – Model Answers
7.7 Model Examination Questions
7.8 Further Readings

7.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying the unit you will be able to:
• Explain the concept of Search Engine
• Describe the types of search engines
• Conduct search on WWW

7.1 INTRODUCTION
Search Engine
Search engines are websites or software that enables a person to find documents or other media
on the internet. Most famous are, Google and Bing (formerly known as MSN search). There are
thousands of smaller search engines on the internet.
Definition of Search Engine
A web search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World
Wide Web. The search results are generally presented in a line of results often referred to as
search engine results pages (SERPs). The information may be a mix of web pages, images, and
other types of files.
It is a fact that a search engine named “GOOGLE” is a top most search engine which is used by
most of the people in the world.

Figure : 7.1 - Google Home Page

103
History
The first few hundred web sites began in 1993 and most of them were at colleges. Archie, was
the first search engine created in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in Montreal.

Figure : 7.2 - Archie Query Form

Parts of a Search Engine
Search engines constantly build and update their index to World Wide Web. Search engines have
an important component called spiders that crawl the web and fetch the required web pages.
Search engine spiders follow links on the web to request pages that are either not yet indexed or
have been updated since they were last indexed. These pages are crawled and are added to the
search engine index. When we search using a major search engine you are not actually searching
the web, but are searching the index that represents the content of the web. The third part of a
search engine is the search interface. For each search query search engines typically do the
following-
• Accept the user inputted query, checking to match any advanced syntax and checking to
see if the query is misspelled to recommend more popular or correct spelling variations.
• Check to see if the query is relevant to other vertical search databases (such as news
search or product search) and place relevant links to a few items from that type of search
query near the regular search results.
• Gather a list of relevant pages for the organic search results. These results are ranked
based on page content, usage data, and link citation data.
• Request a list of relevant ads to place near the search results.
Almost all search engine results consists of two types, organic and sponsored. The organic or
natural results are those that the search engines display on their own. The sponsored results are
paid by an advertiser. The sponsored results usually appear before the organic results.
Types of Search Queries:
As per the information mentioned in the “A Taxonomy of Web Search” which notes that most
searches fall into the following 3 categories:
• Informational - seeking static information about a topic
• Transactional - shopping at, downloading from, or otherwise interacting with the result
• Navigational - sending to a specific URL

104
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1. What is a Search Engine?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. What are the main parts of Search engine?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

7.2 POPULAR SEARCH ENGINES

1. Google
The Google search engine holds the first place in search with a stunning difference of 43%
among all the existing search engines on the web. According to the comscore report (February
2016) 64.0% of searches were powered by Google. Google is also dominating the mobile/tablet
search engine market share with 89%.
2. Bing
Bing is Microsoft’s attempt to challenge Google in the area of search, but despite their efforts
they still did not manage to convince users that their search engine can produce better results
than Google. According to the comscore report (February 2016) 21.4% searches are powered by
Bing.

Figure : 7.3 - Bing Search Engine Web Page

105
3. Yahoo
Since October 2011 Yahoo search is powered by Bing. Yahoo is still the most popular email
provider and according to reports holds the third place in search.

Figure : 7.4 - Yahoo search engine page

4. Ask.com
Formerly known as Ask Jeeves, Ask.com receives approximately 3% of the search share. ASK is
based on a question/answer format where most questions are answered by other users or are in
the form of polls and also has the general search functionality but the results returned lack
quality compared to Google or even Bing and Yahoo.

Figure : 7.5- Ask search engine page

5. AOL.com
According to net market share the old time famous AOL is still in the top 10 search engines with
a market share that is close to 0.6%. The AOL network includes many popular web sites like
engadget.com, techchrunch.com and the huffingtonpost.com.

106
 Figure : 7.6 - AOL.com search engine page
6. Baidu
Baidu was founded in 2000 and it is the most popular search engine in China. It’s market share
is increasing steadily and according to Wikipedia, Baidu is serving billion search queries per
month. It is currently ranked at position 4, in the Alexa Rankings.

Figure : 7.7 - Baidu search engine page

7. Wolframalpha
WolframAlpha is different than all the other search engines. As a Computational Knowledge
Engine it gives facts and data for a number of topics. It can do all sorts of calculations, for
example if you enter “mortgage 2000” as input it will calculate your loan amount, interest paid
etc. based on a number of assumptions.

107
 Figure : 7.8 - WolframAlpha search engine page
8. DuckDuckGo
It has a number of advantages over other search engines. It has a clean interface, it does not track
users, it is not fully loaded with ads and has a number of very nice features (only one page of
results, you can search directly other web sites etc).

Figure : 7.9 - DuckDuckGo search engine page

9. Internet Archive
Archive.org is the internet archive search engine. You can use it to find out how a web site
looked since 1996. It is very useful tool if you want to trace the history of a domain and examine
how it has changed over the years.

Figure : 7.10 - Internet Archive search engine page

108
10. Yandex.ru
According to Alexa, Yandex.ru is among the 30 most popular websites on the Internet with a
ranking position of 4 in Russian. Yandex present themselves as a technology company that
builds intelligent products and services powered by machine learning. According to Wikipedia,
Yandex operates the largest search engine in Russia with about 65% market share in that country.

Figure : 7.11 - Yandex.ru search engine page

Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
3. List out any five important search engines.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. What is Internet Archive?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

7.3 HOW TO SEARCH ON GOOGLE

1. Use of descriptive words.
Example: “where’s the nearest bus stand?”
If you’re looking for a place or product in a specific location, add the location.
Example: Bakery Kacheguda
2 . Search using your voice
Instead of typing we can search with our voice, say “Ok Google” or select the Microphone .

109
3. Choose words carefully
When you’re deciding what words to put in the search box, try to choose words that are likely to
appear on the site you’re looking for. For example, instead of saying my head hurts, say headache,
because that’s the word a medical site would use.
4. Spellings and Capitalizations
Spelling: Google’s spell checker automatically uses the most common spelling of a given word,
whether or not you spell it correctly.
Capitalization: A search for “Welcome to Hyderabad” is the same as a search for welcome to
hyderabad .
5. Find quick answers
For many searches, Google will do the work for you and show an answer to your question in the
search results.
Weather: Search to know the weather in your location or add a city name, like weather Hyderabad,
to find weather for a certain place.
Dictionary: Put ‘define’ in front of any word to see its definition.
Calculations: Enter a math equation like 25*25, will displays online calculator by Google, by
using calculator solve any type of complex equations.
Unit conversions: Enter any conversion, like 3 dollars in Euros.
Sports: Search for the name of your team to see a schedule, game scores and more.
Quick facts: Search for the name of a celebrity, location, movie, or song to find related information.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
5. Explain any 3 searching methods of Google?
……………………………………………………………………………………………….……
………………………………………………………………………………………………….…
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

7.4 ADVANCED SEARCH METHODS

Using Search operators
Exclude words from your search
Put - in front of a word you want to leave out. For example, Benz speed -car

110
Search for an exact match
Put a word or phrase inside quotes. For example, “tallest building”.
Search using wildcards or unknown words
Put a * in your word or phrase where you want to leave a placeholder. For example, ”largest * in
the world”.
Search within a range of numbers
Put .. ‘between’ two numbers. For example, camera Rs500..Rs1000.
Combine searches
Put “OR” between each search query. For example, marathon OR race.
Search for a specific site
Put “site:” in front of a site or domain. For example, site:youtube.com or site:.gov.
Search for related sites
Put “related:” in front of a web address you already know. For example, related:time.com.
Get details about a site
Put “info:” in front of the site address.
Search for images on Google
You can search Google for images, just like you can search for websites. For example, you can
check out pictures of potential vacation destinations, or find image for scientific formulations
etc.
How to find images
1. Go to images.google.com.
2. Search for a word or phrase. All the results will be images.
We can also do a search on Google for the image we want to find, then click Images.
Save & download images we find
Note: Images might be subject to copyright. If you’re looking for an image to reuse, consider
using Advanced Search to ”find images you can reuse”.
1. Conduct a search on images.google.com to find the image you want to save.
2. Right click the image you want to save.
3. Click Save image as.
4. Choose where you want to save the image. Once you save the image, you’ll have a
downloaded copy on your computer.

111
 Figure : 7.12 - Google Image Searching
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
6. Explain how do we search for an image?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

7.5 SUMMARY
The Salient features of the content covered in this Unit may be summarized as follows:
A web search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World
Wide Web in a line of results which contains mix of web pages, images, and other types of files.
At present search engine named “GOOGLE” is a top most search engine which is used by
majority of people in the world.
There are several search engines available for retrieving the information from web sites. Each
search engine shows different search results.
Some of the worlds’ top most search engines are Google, Bing, yahoo, Ask.com, AOL.com,
Baidu, Wolframalpha, DuckDuckGo, Internet Archive and Yandex.ru.
There are several types of search methods available; three important searching methods are
using descriptive words, voice, and proper words.
We use advanced search operators for quick results. The search operators are *, “ ”, + sign, ...,
OR, site: related: and info: etc. Google search engine also provides a facility to search images.
To search images www.images.google.com website is used.
Google tool bar provides online calculator by entering math equation like 25*25.

112
7.6 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – MODEL ANSWERS
1. Search engines are websites or software that enable users to find documents and other
media on the Internet.
2. The main parts of search engine are - 1) Spider 2) Search Engine Index and 3) Search
interface.
3. Some popular search engines are : 1) Google 2) Bing 3) Yahoo 4) ASK 5) Internet
Archive
4. Internet Archive is a search engines that can be used to trace history of a website and
also access internet content published since 1996.
5. Google has several search methods. Google can be used to search with descriptors or
voice. Search can be made to know the dictionary definition.
6. You can search Google for images, just like you can search for websites. For example,
you can check out pictures of potential vacation destinations, or find an image to used in
Scientific experiments etc.

7.7 MODEL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

I. Short Answer Questions
1. Explain the importance of Search engine?
2. Explain various types of search engines with examples?
3. What are the operators used in searching?
4. Explain any advanced search methods?
5. Explain parts of a search engine?
II. Multiple choice questions
1. Google is ( )
(a) Company (b) Search engine name
(c) Software development company (d) all of the above
2. To search an image .................. website will be used. ( )
(a) www.google.com (b) www.images.google.com
(c) www.aol.in (d) all

3. Search in ASK.Com uses ( )

(a) Question-Answer format (b) Filters
(c) Boolean Operators (d) Descriptors

113
III. Fill in the blanks
1. Widely used search engine in the world is ........................
2. “Definition” operator is used for ........................
3. Name of the first search engine........................
4. ..................., ..................., ................... are the types of Search Queries.

7.8 FURTHER READINGS

• John Battelle (Author), The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of
Business and Transformed Our Culture Hardcover, 8 Sep 2005.
• Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza, Search Engine Optimization All-in-One for Dummies,
2009.
• Alfred Glossbrenner, Search engines for the World Wide Web, 1998.
• Eric Enge , The Art of SEO, 2009.
• Donald Metzler, Trevor Strohman, and W. Bruce Croft, Search Engines: Information
Retrieval in Practice, 2010.

114
UNIT – 8 : GOOGLE PRODUCTS, TOOLS & SERVICES
Contents:
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Google and its products
8.3 Google’s popular Tools
8.4 Google Scholar
8.5 Google Books
8.6 Summary
8.7 Check Your Progress – Model Answers
8.8 Model Examination Questions
8.9 Further Readings

8.0 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to:
• Understand Google
• Use some Google products & Tools.

8.1 INTRODUCTION
“Google” a popular word known to every internet user. Google is an American multinational
technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, these includes
online advertising technologies, search, cloud computing, software, and hardware. “Google”
was founded in 4th September 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin of California, USA.

8.2 GOOGLE AND ITS PRODUCTS

Google is world’s renowned search enginge. The imapct of the name “Google” has become so
significant that the company itself is named after the search engine. Working from its head
office at California, at present the Google Company is producing Web based products,
Development tools, Operating systems, Desktop applications, Mobile Applications, Hardware
and Software. The same are further detailed below:
I. Web based products
1. Search tools:
Search tools are used for searching of text, phrases, pictures, etc on the Web. You have studied
how to search using Google in the previous unit.
2. Advertising services:

115
 An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency, is a business dedicated to creating,
planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for
its clients.
3. Communication and publishing tools:
A medium that can be used to create and publish ideas or thoughts to be distributed among the
public for promotion or marketing.
II. Development tools
1. Security Tools
2. Map-related products
3. Statistical tools
III. Operating Systems
Android – an operating system for mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet computers.
Chrome OS – Linux-based operating system designed by Google to work exclusively with web
applications. Runs on the “Chrome book” and the net top “Chrome box”, the first of which
(Samsung Series 3) was released in May 2012.
Google TV – smart TV platform that integrates Android and the Linux version of Google Chrome
to create an interactive television overlay on top of existing internet television and WebTV sites
to add a 10-foot user interface.
IV. Desktop Applications
AdWords Editor – desktop application to manage a Google AdWords account; lets users make
changes to their account and advertising campaigns before synchronizing with the online service.
(Supports Mac OS X, Windows 2000 SP3 , Windows XP, and Windows Vista.)
Google Chrome – web browser. (Supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Linux
(specifically Debian- and Red Hat/Fedora-based versions), and Mac OS X.
Google Earth – virtual 3D globe that uses satellite imagery, aerial photography, GIS from
Google’s repository. (Supports Linux, Mac OS X, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows
Vista, Windows 7, iPhone, iPad, and Android.)
Gmail Notifier – alerts users to new messages in their Gmail account. (Supports Mac OS X,
Windows 2000, and Windows XP.)
Picasa – photo organization and editing application, providing photo library options and simple
effects. Also includes Facial Recognition and GeoTagging features. (Supports Mac OS X, Linux,
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.)
Quick Search Box – search box, based on Quicksilver, which allows easily viewing installed
applications or performing online searches. (Supports Mac OS X.)
Android Studio - development tool for Android (supports Windows and Mac)
V. Mobile Standalone Applications

116
Books – (available in U.S., UK, Australia, Canada and India only) A downloadable application
that allows users to buy and download books and keep them stored on remote servers, allows
reading one book on a variety of devices. (Android, iOS)
Google Goggles – downloadable application from Google Labs that uses image recognition to
trigger searches based on pictures taken with a device’s built-in camera; taking pictures of things
(examples: famous landmark, product barcode) causes searches for information on them. (Supports
Android, iOS).
Listen – downloadable application from Google Labs for subscribing to and streaming podcasts
and Web audio. It runs on Android and other mobile phones.
Maps – mobile application to view maps on mobile devices. Lets users find addresses and plot
directions. Teamed with a GPS, it can use user geolocation and show current location on the
map. Users can also share current locations with friends through Google Latitude. The device
must have either a specific application to use Google maps or any phone with a properly configured
Java Virtual Machine. (Supports Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iOS, Symbian, Palm
OS, Palm WebOS, and J2ME).
Google Music – online music store which started operations on 16 November 2011. Music is
now available for free.
Sky Map – augmented reality program displaying a star map which is scrolled by moving the
phone. (Supports Android, Mobile).
Google Now – A built in application that acts as your personal assistant through voice commands
(Supports Android).
Google – A downloadable app that will allow the user to access the multilingual, social networking
site by Google Inc., It provides the user the ability to incorporate his/her accounts from YouTube,
Picasa in order to share photos and videos. Hangouts, Circles, Sparks and Ripples are some of
the new features that have been added by Google into G.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1. Describe Google and its services?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Explain different tools developed by Google?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

117
 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8.3 GOOGLE’S POPULAR TOOLS

Out of the most Google products some tools are very popular. The following are the main tools
using by most of the netizens. They are described along with their objectives as detailed below:

Figure : 8.1 – Google Products

YouTube: Video hosting service that publishes to a public web site available for both desktop
and mobile

Google+ : A downloadable app that will allow the user to access the multilingual, social net-
working site by Google. It provides the user the ability to incorporate his/her accounts
from YouTube, Google Photos in order to share photos and videos.
Search : Search the world’s information, including WebPages, images, videos and more. (This
product can be accessed through a browser on a mobile device.)
Translate: is a free multilingual machine translation service developed by Google, to translate
text from one language into another.
Books: is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that
Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its
digital database.
Blogger: is a blog-publishing service that allows multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It
was developed by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Generally, the blogs are
hosted by Google at a sub domain of blogspot.com.
Maps: Is a web mapping service developed by Google. It offers satellite imagery, street maps,
360° panoramic views of streets, real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for traveling by
foot, car, bicycle, or public transportation.

118
Play (formerly Android Market): is a digital distribution service operated and developed by
Google. It serves as the official app store for the Android operating system, allowing users to
browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit (SDK)
and published through Google.
Google News: is a computer-generated news site that aggregates headlines from news sources
worldwide, groups’ similar stories together and displays them according to each reader’s
personalized interests. And it is comprehensive, up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from
sources all over the world by Google News.
Google Photos: is a photo sharing and storage service developed by Google.
My Account: Control your Google experience, all in one place. My Account gives a quick
access to settings and tools for managing our Google experience on products like Search and
Maps. We can manage some privacy settings and access even more privacy and security controls
if we sign in or create a Google Account.
Docs: Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides are a word processor, a spreadsheet and
a presentation program respectively, all part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by
Google within its Google Drive service.
Gmail: is a free, advertising-supported email service developed by Google. Users can access
Gmail on the web and through mobile apps for Android and iOS, as well as through third-party
programs that synchronize email content through POP or IMAP protocols.
Google Drive: is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on
April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across
devices, and share files.
Google Calendar: is a time-management and scheduling calendar service developed by Google.
Google Contacts: is Google’s contact management tool that is available in its free email service
Gmail, as a standalone service, and as a part of Google’s business-oriented suite of web apps
Google Apps.
Google Hangouts: is a communication platform developed by Google which includes instant
messaging, video chat, SMS and VOIP features.
Google Keep: is a note-taking service developed by Google. Launched on March 20, 2013,
Google Keep is available on the web, and has mobile apps for the Android and iOS mobile
operating systems.
Google Images: is a search service owned by Google and introduced on July 12, 2001, that
allows users to search the Web for image content. The keywords for the image search are based
on the filename of the image, the link text pointing to the image, and text adjacent to the image.
Google Classroom: is a learning management system developed by Google for schools that aim
to simplify creating, distributing and grading assignments in a paperless way.

119
 Google Earth: is a computer program that renders a 3D representation of Earth based on satellite
imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography,
and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users to see cities and landscapes from various angles.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.

3. Briefly explain about Gmail, Maps, Drive and Earth tools of Google.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8.4 GOOGLE SCHOLAR http://scholar.google.com

Google Scholar was launched in November 2004 with the slogan “Stand on the shoulders of
giants” beneath its search box. The aim of the free service is to provide a search tool for the
researcher, enabling them to retrieve quality material from the Web not normally indexed via
Web search engines, and allowing searches across many disciplines and sources, including peer-
reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional
societies, preprint and online repositories, or databases at universities and other academic
institutions and organizations. It provides links to full-text documents some of which are freely
accessible (open access), for others you can read the abstracts but access to full text is subject to
a document delivery fee, unless you have access to the journals as an authorized library user at
an academic institution.
While principally designed for researchers, it is a useful tool to find peer-reviewed articles on the
Web, and searches can lead to a substantial number of freely accessible online versions of
thousands of scholarly papers. Google Scholar also lets you search for patents, and legal opinions
and journals, although the legal opinions are restricted to US federal courts.
How to search Google Scholar:
• An author search to find a specific paper is probably one of the most frequently conducted
searches.
• To increase the number of results, use initial(s) rather than the full first name
• You can mix author names with other search terms.
• However, when a word is both a person’s name and a common noun, or a popular surname,
use the “author:” operator in preference. This operator only affects the search term that
immediately follows it, and there must be no space between “author:” and your search
term.
• To search by title of article enter the paper’s title in double quotation marks. The results
will show either an article or a book by the author, or a citation of the author’s work in
books, journal articles, and conference proceedings, together with the number of citations,

120
 name of journal, book or other source of publication. Some results may be marked
[CITATION] but nothing happens when you click on to them. Google Scholar says “these
are articles that we have seen references to in other scholarly articles, but we haven’t found
the actual document online.”
• “Title” links to the abstract of the article. Frequently it may also offer a short extract or
article preview, e.g. for articles in subscription-based databases; or, when available on the
Web, the complete full-text article. Sometimes you will see a link to a PDF file of the
article next to the search result, indicating that a freely accessible PDF file is available.
Click on the link to lead you to the article.
• When you click on “Cited by” it will lead you to all the pages pointing at the original
article or book listed, through textual citations.
• Google Scholar does not currently offer a sort by date, but if you wish to track down the
most recent research on a particular topic, from the dropdown menu labeled ‘anytime’
select the period of your interest. You will see results limited to the period you selected and
reordered to help you find recent relevant research more quickly. However, you will need
to be aware that it can take quite some time until the most recent articles are picked up and
indexed by Google Scholar.
The results pages will also show links to ‘Library’ search and to WorldCat http://
www.worldcat.org/ which will tell you which academic libraries in your vicinity hold a copy of
the book or article. WorldCat is the world’s largest network of library content and services. It
lets you search the collections of libraries in US academic institutions and public libraries, and
thousands more around the world. Results in Google Scholar may also show sources where you
can purchase the full-text article.
A recently introduced new feature is Google Scholar Citations, which provides a simple way for
scholars to keep track of citations to their articles. Authors can check who is citing their
publications, graph citations over time and compute several citation metrics. Authors can also
create an automatically maintained public profile that lists all their articles. An author’s public
profile can appear in Google Scholar results when someone searches for his or her name. In
order to do so you will first need to create a profile.
While Google Scholar is primarily intended for academics and students undertaking serious
research, it can also be a very useful resource for non-academics and the general public seeking
access to reliable scholarly information. It can be a helpful starting point for a quick overview of
a specific topic, point you in the right direction, and then lead you toward relevant literature.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.

4. Briefly explain about Google Scholar.

121
 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8.5 GOOGLE BOOKS http://books.google.com

Originally launched in 2003 as Google Print, the books in Google Books come from two sources:
(i) The Google Books Library Project and (ii) The Google Books Partner Program.
(i) The Google Books Library Project http://www.google.com/googlebooks/library.html is
described by Google as “an enhanced card catalogue of the world’s books”. It envisages a mega
version of an OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue as used by libraries), at global level.
Under this project Google is digitally scanning into its database the collections of several renowned
libraries in the world. Google has already scanned over 15 million books in its ambitious goal to
digitize the contents of the world’s major libraries. However, there has been growing opposition
to these plans, and copyright battles threaten the project. Much of the opposition has come from
small bodies representing authors and publishers around the world, although, in the US, there
has been a recent out-of-court settlement with the Authors Guild of America, the Association of
American Publishers and a handful of authors and publishers.
(ii) The Google Books Partner Program https://books.google.com/partner is an online book
marketing programme designed to help publishers and authors to promote their books and make
the books discoverable on Google. Google says it currently partners with over 20,000 publishers
and authors. Publishers controlling rights in a book can authorize Google to scan the full text of
one or more of their books into Google’s search database.
In response to a search, Google will then display bibliographic information for the title containing
the search terms together with a link to relevant text. By clicking on the link the user can then
view the full page containing the search term(s) – a ‘Snippet View’ as Google calls it, a few
sentences of the search term in context – as well as a few adjacent or other limited sample pages
from the book if the publisher has given Google permission to make these available to searchers.
‘Buy this book’ links enable the user to purchase the book from online booksellers or the publisher
directly. Additional links on the results page include ‘Find reviews’, ‘Find related information’,
and ‘Find it in a Library’, which links to the Ohio-based non-profit Online Computer Library
Centre (OCLC) WorldCat http://www.worldcat.org/database , telling the searcher the closest
library that holds a copy of the book. You can also view the front and rear covers of each title,
the table of contents, the complete index (very useful this), complete copyright data, together
with full bibliographic and ordering information.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
5. Briefly explain about Google Books.

122
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8.6 SUMMARY
• Google is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-
related services and products, these includes online advertising technologies, search,
cloud computing, software, and hardware.
• “Google” was founded in 4th September 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin of
California, USA.
• Google is developing several types of tools i.e., Web based products, Development tools,
Operating systems, Desktop applications, Mobile Applications, Hardware and Software.
• Most renowned Google tools are Google+, Search, YouTube, Translate, Books, Blogger,
Maps, Play, News, Photos, My Account, Docs, Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Contacts,
Hangouts, Keep, Images, Classroom and Earth.

8.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – MODEL ANSWERS

1. Google is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-
related services and products, these includes online advertising technologies, search,
cloud computing, software, and hardware. “Google” was founded in 4th September 1998
by Larry Page and Sergey Brin of California, USA.
2. At present the Google Company is producing Web based products, Development tools,
Operating systems, Desktop applications, Mobile Applications, Hardware and Software.
Google’s’ most popular products are Google, Gmail, Drive, Books, Maps, Chrome
Translate etc.
3. Majority of people use Gmail to send and receive mails. Many vehicles now-a-days are
using Google maps to help in locating places and directions. Google drive is used to
store and access data from anywhere. Google drive is used to store and access data
from anywhere. Google earth tools also are used as location services.
4. Google Scholar was launched in November 2004 with the slogan “Stand on the shoulders
of giants” beneath its search box. The aim of the free service is to provide a search tool
for the researcher.
5. The Google Books Library Project http://www.google.com/googlebooks/library.html is
described by Google as “an enhanced card catalogue of the world’s books”. It envisages
a mega version of an OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue as used by libraries), at
global level.

8.8 MODEL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

123
 I. Essay Questions
1. Explain in detail about Gmail, Drive, Images, Maps & Earth.
2. Discuss Google Scholar & Google Books.
II. Short Answer Questions
1. Steps in using Gmail account of Google?
2. Define YouTube and its advantages and disadvantages?

III. Multiple Choice questions

1. Worlds main navigating software developed by ( )
(a) Microsoft (b) Google
(c) Sun Solaris (d) Yahoo
2. The worlds main video streaming application ( )
(a) Google (b) YouTube
(c) Yahoo (d) AOL
3. A free multilingual machine translation service developed by ( )
(a) Microsoft (b) Google
(c) Sun Solaris (d) Yahoo
IV. Fill in the blanks
1. “Google” was founded in .......................... by .......................... of California, USA.
2. Steve Jobs is CEO of ..........................
3. Gmail is a popular electronic mail service of ..........................

8.9 FURTHER READINGS

Rowel Rebecca, The Company and Its Founders (Technology Pioneers), 2011
Gilbert, Sara, The Story of Google Paperback, 2013, Jaico Publishing House
Eric Schmidt Jonathan Rosenberg, How Google Works, 2014.
Frederic Marsh, The Google Home Guide: 2016.

124
UNIT – 9 : SOCIAL MEDIA
Contents
9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Social Media
9.2.1 Advantages
9.2.2 Disadvantages
9.3 Popular Social Media Sites
9.4 Blogs
9.5 Academic Social Networks – Academia.edu; Research Gate
9.6 Summary
9.7 Check Your Progress – Model Answers
9.8 Model Examination Questions
9.9 Further Readings

9.0 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you should be able to
• Understand Social Media
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of social media
• Use the Social Media for communicating with LIS professionals

9.1 INTRODUCTION
Social media is the collective online communications channels dedicated to community-based
input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration.
After the invention of blogging, social media began to explode in popularity. Sites like MySpace
and LinkedIn gained prominence in the early 2000s, and sites like Flickr facilitated online photo
sharing. YouTube came out in 2005, creating an entirely new way for people to communicate
and share with each other across great distances.
By 2006, Face book and Twitter both became available to users throughout the world. These
sites remained some of the most popular social networks on the Internet.
Today, there is a tremendous variety of social networking sites, and many of them can be linked
to allow cross-posting. This creates an environment where users can reach the maximum number
of people without sacrificing the intimacy of person-to-person communication.

9.2 SOCIAL MEDIA – ADVANTAGES & LIMITATIONS

Advantages:
• Facilitates open communication, leading to enhanced information discovery and delivery.

• Social media can also be used to increase awareness of social and political issues

125
 • onveniently stay in touch with friends and family who live far away, connect with like-
minded people, and expand business contacts, usually for free.
• Expands market research, implements marketing campaigns, delivers communications
and directs interested people to specific web sites.
Limitations:
• Opens up the possibility for hackers to commit fraud and launch spam and virus attacks.
• Increases the risk of people falling prey to online scams that seem genuine, resulting in
data or identity theft.
• Potentially results in negative comments from employees about the company or potential
legal consequences if employees use these sites to view objectionable, illicit or offensive
material.
• Potentially results in lost productivity, especially if employees are busy updating profiles,
etc.
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1. Discuss the advantages of Social media
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. List out the disadvantages of Social media
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9.3 POPULAR SOCIAL MEDIA WEB SITES

Social media is that dominating force in the modern world that can change minds, catch more
business, increase sales or build and shape a brand or business. Now a days’ most of the pupil
spending more hours on these social media websites for their Tweets.
This is because of the impact social media has on all of us these days. Over the years, social
media sites have also proven to be effective platforms for marketing.

126
1. Facebook
This is the biggest social networking site with the largest number of users. There are more than
1 million small or medium sized businesses advertising here and it is estimated that larger
companies are spending as much as $100 million on Facebook advertising per year. To access
Facebook website all you need is valid email_id / valid mobile number along with password.

Figure : 9.1 - Facebook login page

2. Twitter
Twitter is loved for spreading the word via tweets. This site has revolutionized social media.
Approximately 81 percent of Twitter’s advertising revenue comes from mobile and there is a
$200,000 cost estimated for a 24-Hour Promoted Trend on Twitter.

Figure : 9.2 - Twitter login page

127
 3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn helps to build professional networks and engagement with other users. It is the world’s
largest professional network being used for this purpose. Today, it has over 332 million users
and each second adds two new members, all of which attracts marketers.

Figure : 9.3 - Lindin login page

4. Google +
This site has 300 million monthly active users and is used for relationship marketing. It has over
a 53 percent positive interaction between Google+ users and brands.

Figure : 9.4 - Google + page

128
5. YouTube
Currently, there are 6 billion hours of video watched on YouTube per month and 1 billion videos
watched over mobile phones per day.

Figure : 9.5 - Youtube page

6. Pinterest
Pinterest marketing is another social media tool helping brands to grow rapidly. There are over
70 million users of Pinterest of which 80 percent are women and 20 percent are men. Over 9
million users have connected their accounts to Facebook.

Figure : 9.6 - Pinterest login page

129
 7. Instagram
Marketers know the usefulness of Instagram marketing and use Instagram to market products
and services. It is a wonderful platform to share visual stories. There are more than 300 million
monthly active users on Instagram, of which 75 million are daily active users. Instagram is
widely being used for business marketing.

Figure : 9.7 - Instagram login page

8. Flickr
This image and video hosting social network has over 3.5 million images uploaded daily by users
and offers massive online photo storage.

Figure : 9.8 - Flickr login page

130
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
3. Describe Twitter?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. Describe about YouTube?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9.4 BLOGS AS TOOL OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Blog is a short form for Web log. A blog is an online Journal in which pages are usually displayed
in reverse chronological order. Blogs can be hosted for free on websites such as WordPress,
tumbler, Blogger.
There are many useful blogs created by Librarians on a number of LIS topics. Some popular
LIS blogs are mentioned below:
• LISNews (http://www.lisnews.org/ )
• Library Stuff (http://www.librarystuff.net/ )

• librarian.net (http://librarian.net/ )
• LisLinks (http://www.lislinks.com/ )

9.5 ACADEMIC SOCIAL NETWORKS

Academic Social Networks are emerging as intersection between the scholarly communication
and social media. Unlike other social media such as facebook, academic social networks offer
a specialized platform for academic community to exchange their academic activities, research,
data sets and discuss the trends and developments in academics. Academia.edu and
Researchgate are two social networking sites available for academics.
Academia.edu is a for profit American social networking website for academicians. It facilitates
sharing of research papers and the main objective of the company is to accelerate world’s
research. The website allows its users to create a profile, upload their work(s), select areas of
interests and then the user can browse the networks of people with similar interests among the
almost, as of January 2018, 59 million users from around the world. TechCrunch remarked that
Academia.edu gives academics a “powerful, efficient way to distribute their research” and that
it “will let researchers keep tabs on how many people are reading their articles with specialized

131
 analytics tools”. A registered user however needs to pay in order to avail the premium features
such as to know who are reading the articles, to see the results of search on the site.

Figure : 9.9 - Pinterest login page

ResearchGate
ResearchGate is built by scientists, for scientists. Founded in 2008 by physicians Dr. Ijad
Madisch and Dr. Sören Hofmayer, and computer scientist Horst Fickenscher, ResearchGate
today has more than 14+ million members. Its mission is to connect the world of science and
make research open to all.
It enables scientists to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According
to a study by Nature and an article in Times Higher Education, it is the largest academic social
network in terms of active users, although other services have more registered users and more
recent data suggests that almost as many academics have Google Scholar profiles.
While reading articles does not require registration, people that wish to become site members
need to have an email address at a recognized institution or to be manually confirmed as a
published researcher in order to sign up for an account. Members of the site each have a user
profile and can upload research output including papers, data, chapters, negative results, patents,
research proposals, methods, presentations, and software source code. Users may also follow
the activities of other users and engage in discussions with them. Users are also able to block
interactions with other users.

132
 Figure : 9.10 - ResearchGate page
Check Your Progress
Note: (a) Space is given below for writing your answer.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
5. Give some examples for Library blogs.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6. Give some examples for Academic Social Networking Sites
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9.6 SUMMARY
• Primitive days there are no communication mediums existed for sharing any of the information.
The information is communicated only through letters through post offices. After innovation
of Radio and Telegraph information passing is made more quick way. Modern information
sharing techniques are being following by the Social Network sites approximately there are
206 social network sites are available. Out of which Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube,
Instagram are very popular social networking sites. All social media websites are following
on the concept that is “sharing of data among all the registered users on the internet”. There
are several blogs created by librarians to share information, news and events taking place in
LIS profession. Academia.edu and ResearchGate are examples of popular academic social
networking sites.

133
 9.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – MODEL ANSWERS
1. The social media will provides the ffacilitates like open communication, leading to enhanced
information discovery and delivery and also increase awareness of social and political issues,
allows employees to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions and share links and also it helps
in cconveniently stay in touch with friends and family who live far away, connect with like-
minded people, and expand business contacts, usually for free. Expands market research,
implements marketing campaigns, delivers communications and directs interested people to
specific web sites, defined as advantages.
2. The limitations of social media are opens up the possibility for hackers to commit fraud and
launch spam and virus attacks. Increases the risk of people falling prey to online scams that
seem genuine, resulting in data or identity theft. Potentially results in negative comments
from employees about the company or potential legal consequences if employees use these
sites to view objectionable, illicit or offensive material. Potentially results in lost productivity,
especially if employees are busy updating profiles, etc.
3. Twitter is one of the popular social media sites. The messages sent through twitter are called
tweets.
4. Youtube is a video sharing website. Youtube allows users to upload, view, rate, share, report,
comment on videos.
5. LISNews; Library Stuff; LisLinks are some popular LIS Blogs.
6. Some academic social networking sites are - academia.edu; researchgate etc.

9.8 MODEL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

I. Essay Questions
1. Explain in detail social network sites with their functionality?
2. Discuss the various types of Video sharing social network sites?
II. Short Answer Questions
1. Research Gate
2. Define advantages and disadvantages of social network sites?
III. Multiple choice Questions
1. Blog is a short form of ( )
(a) Network (b) LIS jobs (c) Weblog (d) Webtools
2. Social media site with largest number of users is ( )
(a) Twitter (b) YouTube (c) Facebook (d) Whatsapp
3. Academia.edu and Researchgate are two social networking sites available for
(a) Academics (b) Businessmen (c) Real Estate (d) Farmers ( )

134
IV. Fill in the blanks
1. The world most popular video sharing tool .....................
2. The social media tool that helps brands to grow rapidly is .....................
3. The social media tool used for marketing is .....................

9.9 FURTHER READINGS

The Big Book of Social Media: Case Studies, Stories, and Perspectives Kindle Edition by Robert
Fine
ResearchGate, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ResearchGate
Mayank Trivedi (2010). Blogging for Libraries & Librarians. Library Philosophy and Practice.
380.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1396&context=libphilprac
Ovadia, Steven (2014). ResearchGate and Academia.edu: Academic Social Networks.
Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian 33.3 (2014):165-169.
Doug Sahlin and Jan Zimmerman, Social Media Marketing All-in-One for Dummies, 2010.

135
 FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
BLISc Examination, July 2018
Subject: Library & Information Science
Semester-1
Skill Enhancement Course
Introduction for Computer Practicals

Total Time: 2 Hours Max. Marks: 60

SECTION – A
[3 x 6 = 18 Marks]
Instructions to the Candidate:
a) Answer any Three of the following questions
b) Each question carries Six marks
1. Define software?
2. Describe the function of operating system?
3. What is Ribbon?
4. Explain structure of a work sheet?
5. Explain the steps to create a template?
6. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of e-mail?

SECTION – B
[3 x 10 = 30 Marks]
Instructions to the Candidate:
a) Answer all the following questions.
b) Each question carries 12 (Twelve) marks.
c) Create a folder on the desktop. Use last five digits of your Hall ticket Number as file name.
d) Save all your results in your folder.

1.a) Send a common mail to Librarians of all Universities in Telangana inviting them to
the National Conference being organized by you this year. Use Mail Merge option
to send mails.
(OR)
b) You are organizing National Library Week celebrations in your library during 14-
20th November 2018. Create an attractive invitation using MS-WORD. Use the
various formatting options.

136
2. Create a Students Table in MS-EXCEL with the following details.

Hall Ticket No. Marks

Scored Subject1 Subject2 Subject3 Subject4

100 66 80 78 75
101 60 58 56 70
102 70 76 50 65
103 80 70 70 65
104 65 75 80 65
105 55 80 50 50
106 60 50 55 65
107 55 40 40 60
108 70 80 40 50
109 45 55 45 40
110 40 60 60 50

a) Calculate Total marks, Average marks and rank for each student using formulas
or functions.
(OR)
b) Create a bar diagram showing the performance of students.
3. a) Create a PowerPoint presentation on “How to use the Library” for the benefit of
your students. Explain the different sections in the library; Lending of books;
Libraryautomation, Library services etc. Use different formatting options,
Animation and Slide transition to make your presentation attractive.
(OR)
b) Conduct a search in Google Books on ‘Digital Libraries’. Note down the
bibliographic details such as Author, Title, Place of Publication, Publisher and
Year of publication of any 5 books.

SECTION – C
[1 x 12= 12 Marks]
Note: i) Answer all the following questions.
ii) Multiple choice & Fill in the blank questions carry one 1 (ONE) mark each

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following units is responsible for processing of data?

(a) Keyboard (b) CPU (c) Printer (d) Mouse [ ]

2. The operating system acts as

(a) Interface (b) Compiler (c) Message (d) Data [ ]

137
 3. ‘Clip Art’ is found in which Ribbon? [ ]
(a) Home (b) Mailings (c) Insert (d) Page Layout

4. The file extension of Excel is [ ]

(a) .xld (b) .xlsx (c) .xlr (d) .xlc

5. The file extension of PowerPoint file is [ ]

(a) .ppsx (b) .ppt (c) .ppd (d) .pdf

6. Which of the following domain name represents Government of India? [ ]

a) braou.ac.in (b) col.org (c) nic.gov.in (d) Loc.gov

Fill in the blanks.

1. ............................ Language is understood by the computer.

2. Operating system is ............................ software.

3. ............................ is shortcut key for copy.

4. The keyboard option for “print” operation is ............................

5. ............................ is an example of social media

6. The URL of Google scholar is ............................

138