Employability Skills

Employability
Skills

Class XII

171275
NCERT

ISBN 978-93-5292-270-3 Textbook for Class XII

Cover I _ IV.indd All Pages 11-Jun-20 3:06:58 PM

Employability Skills
Textbook for Class XII
 ISBN 978-93-5292-270-3

First Edition ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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 Foreword

The National Curriculum Framework–2005 (NCF–2005) recommends

bringing work and education into the domain of the curricular, infusing
it in all areas of learning while giving it an identity of its own at relevant
stages. It explains that work transforms knowledge into experience and
generates important personal and social values such as self-reliance,
creativity and cooperation. Through work, one learns to find one’s place
in society. It is an educational activity with an inherent potential for
inclusion. Therefore, an experience of involvement in productive work
in an educational setting will make one appreciate the worth of social
life and what is valued and appreciated in the society. Work involves
interaction with material or other people (mostly both), thus, creating
a deeper comprehension and increased practical knowledge of natural
substances and social relationships.
Through work and education, school knowledge can be easily linked
to learners’ life outside the school. This also makes a departure from
the legacy of bookish learning and bridges the gap between the school,
home, community and workplace. The NCF–2005 also emphasises on
Vocational Education and Training (VET) for all those children, who wish
to acquire additional skills and/or seek livelihood through vocational
education after either discontinuing or completing their school education.
VET is expected to provide a ‘preferred and dignified’ choice rather than
a terminal or ‘last-resort’ option.
As a follow-up of this, NCERT has attempted to infuse work across
subject areas and also contributed in the development of the National
Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) for the country, which was
notified on 27 December 2013. It is a quality assurance framework that
organises all qualifications, according to levels of knowledge, skills and
attitude. These levels, graded from one to ten, are defined in terms of
learning outcomes, which the learner must possess regardless of whether
they are obtained through formal, non-formal or informal learning.
The NSQF sets common principles and guidelines for a nationally
recognised qualification system covering schools, vocational education
and training institutions, technical education institutions, colleges
and universities.
It is under this backdrop that Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central
Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), Bhopal, a constituent of
NCERT, has developed learning outcomes based modular curricula
for vocational subjects from Classes IX to XII. This has been developed
under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary
and Higher Secondary Education of the Ministry of Human Resource
Development.
This textbook takes care of generic skills embedded in various job roles
in a comprehensive manner and also provides more opportunities and
scope for students to engage with these common and necessary skills,
such as communication, critical thinking and decision making in different
situations pertaining to different job roles.
I acknowledge the contribution of the development team, reviewers
and all institutions and organisations, which have supported in the
development of this textbook.
NCERT would welcome suggestions from students, teachers and
parents, which would help us to further improve the quality of the material
in subsequent editions.

Hrushikesh Senapaty
Director
New Delhi National Council of Educational
June 2018 Research and Training

iv
 About the Textbook

Employability skills can be defined as soft skills, which employers look

for in a potential employee. These are the skills that equip employees
to carry out their responsibilities to the best of their abilities, ensuring
client satisfaction. For example, the ability to explain what someone
means in a clear and concise way through written and spoken means
helps in fostering better relationship with the client or customer.
Similarly, handling stress that comes with deadlines for completing
a work or target and ensuring that a person meets the deadlines can
be done through effective self-management training. It can also be
done by working cordially with other people from different disciplines,
backgrounds and expertise to accomplish a task or goal.
In today’s digital age, employers expect that employees are able to make
use of elementary functions of information and communication technology
to retrieve, access, store, produce, present and exchange information in
collaborative networks using the Internet.
Students need to develop entrepreneurial skills so that they can
develop necessary knowledge and skills to start their own businesses,
thus, becoming ‘job creators’ rather than ‘job seekers’. Potential employees
need to develop green skills, which are technical skills, knowledge, values
and attitudes needed in the workforce to develop and support sustainable
social, economic and environmental outcomes in business, industry and
community. Thus, as a student, one is expected to acquire a range of
skills so that the person can meet the skill demands of the organisation
that one would be working for or to set up and run one’s own business.
This textbook on ‘Employability Skills’ covers communication,
self-management, information and communication technology,
entrepreneurial and green skills. It has been developed as per the learning
outcome-based curriculum. The employability skills are embedded in
the Qualification Packs of the different job roles in various sectors under
the National Skill Qualification Framework. The textbook aims to provide
learning experience through a blended approach of text and video-based
interactive e-learning lessons. Running these e-learning lessons in
classrooms would require a computer with Internet connection, projector
and sound system, which the school needs to provide to teachers and
students. The teachers will guide the students to actively participate
in class. The students can ask and answer questions, and follow the
instructions to complete the exercises and activities.

Vinay Swarup Mehrotra

Professor and Head
Curriculum Development and Evaluation Centre
and National Skill Qualification Framework Cell,
PSSCIVE, Bhopal

vi
 Acknowledgements

The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

expresses its gratitude to all members of the Project Approval Board
(PAB) and officials of the Ministry of Human Resource Development
(MHRD), Government of India, for their cooperation in the development of
this textbook.
The Council thanks Rajesh P. Khambayat, Joint Director, PSSCIVE,
Bhopal, for rendering constant support and guidance in the development
of this textbook.
The Council acknowledges Saroj Yadav, Professor and Dean (Academic)
and Ranjana Arora, Professor and Head, Department of Curriculum Studies
(DCS), NCERT, for coordinating review workshops in the finalisation of
this textbook.
Review committee members from PSSCIVE, Bhopal — Abhijit Nayak,
Professor and Head, Department of Health and Paramedical; Deepak. D.
Shudhalwar, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Engineering
and Technology; Kuldeep Singh, Associate Professor, Department of
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry; Mridula Saxena, Professor, Department
of Home Science and Hospitality Management; P. Veeraiah, Professor and
Head, Department of Business and Commerce; Pinki Khanna, Professor
and Head, Department of Home Science and Hospitality Management;
Rajiv Pathak, Professor, Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry;
Saurabh Prakash, Professor, Department of Engineering and Technology;
R. K. Shukla, Professor, Department of Business and Commerce; and Vipin
K. Jain, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Humanities, Science
and Research, are also acknowledged for their valuable contributions.
The Council also acknowledges Aakash Sethi, Chief Executive Officer,
Quest Alliance; Aditi Kumar, Project Manager, Quest Alliance; Amit Singh,
Advisor, National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Development; Austin Thomas, Executive Vice President, Wadhwani
Foundation; Mekin Maheshwari, Chief Executive Officer, Udhyam
Learning Foundation; Nidhi Sahni, Curriculum Manager, Wadhwani
Foundation; Nikita Bengani, Senior Program Manager, Quest Alliance;
Poonam Sinha, Joint Director, National Institute for Entrepreneurship
and Small Business Development; Rohit Massey, Consultant, National
Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development;
Shivani Gandhi, Program Manager, Udhyam Learning Foundation; Sonal
K. Jain, Consultant, Wadhwani Foundation; Sunil Dahiya, Executive
Vice President, Wadhwani Foundation; and Vikrant Chandela, Associate
Director, Wadhwani Foundation, for providing valuable inputs and
illustrations in the development of this textbook.
Vikas Kogey, Visual Analyser, and Pinki Tiwari, Graphic Designer,
PSSCIVE, Bhopal, are appreciated for redrawing some of the illustrations
used in the textbook. The images other than these have been sourced from
Creative Commons License.
Gratitude is also due to the Publication Division (PD), NCERT, for
transforming the manuscript into an attractive textbook. Special thanks are
due to Sweta Jha, Editor (contractual), and Shilpa Mohan, Assistant Editor
(contractual), for copyediting the manuscript. Pawan Kumar Barriar, DTP
Operator (PD), and Rajshree Saini and Hari Darshan Lodhi, DTP Operators
(contractual), are appreciated for layout and design.

viii
 Contents
Foreword iii
About the Textbook v
Unit 1: Communication Skills 1
Session 1 Active Listening 2
Session 2 Parts of Speech 9
Session 3 Writing Sentences 16
Unit 2: Self-management Skills 23
Session 1 Motivation and Positive Attitude 23
Session 2 Result Orientation 28
Session 3 Self-awareness 32
Unit 3: Information and Communication Technology Skills 39
Session 1 Getting Started with Spreadsheet 39
Session 2 Performing Basic Operations in a Spreadsheet 44
Session 3 Working with Data and Formatting Text 50
Session 4 Advanced Features in Spreadsheet 57
Session 5 Presentation Software 63
Session 6 Opening, Closing, Saving and 66
Printing a Presentation
Session 7 Working with Slides and Text in a Presentation 69
Session 8 Advanced Features used in Presentation 74
Unit 4: Entrepreneurship Skills 78
Session 1 Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneur 79
Session 2 Barriers to Entrepreneurship 91
Session 3 Entrepreneurial Attitudes 96
Session 4 Entrepreneurial Competencies 98
Unit 5: Green Skills 111
Session 1 Green Jobs 112
Session 2 Importance of Green Jobs 119
Answer Key 123
Glossary 125
Unit 1
Communication
Skills

Introduction
Communication is a two-way process through which
information or message is exchanged between
individuals using language, symbols, signs or
behaviour. Speaking, listening, reading and writing
are the parts of communication, which help us to
understand others. To learn a language, one needs
to develop four key skills, namely listening, speaking,
reading and writing as shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure. 1.1: Key communication skills

Speaking more than one language can help a person

communicate well with people around the world.
Learning English can help one communicate with
people who understand English, besides the language
the person has been exposed to since birth. The ability
to communicate effectively is an essential skill in today’s
information age. Communication skills are needed to
communicate effectively with people and customers.
 This Unit on communication skills aims to help you
to understand the importance of various aspects of
communication and develop effective communication
skills. You should try to learn as many languages as
possible as it will help you to understand others’ culture.
It will also equip you with knowledge and skills, which
are necessary to take advantage of the opportunities the
twenty-first century offers. If you know many languages,
you will be able to converse with people and read signage
while travelling to different places.
Communication involves a sender, who encodes and
sends a message through a channel, and a receiver,
who decodes the message and gives feedback as shown
in Figure 1.2. Feedback is important in communication
as it helps in knowing whether the receiver has
understood the message or not.

Figure 1.2: Elements of communication

Session 1: Active Listening

Effective communication involves skills that can be
utilised to send messages that are clear, concise and
accurate. Let us now try to understand what we mean
by clear, concise and accurate.
A clear statement is one which conveys the exact
message that you are trying to convey to the other person.
Here, we have two sentences. Now, which one do you
think is a clear statement?
(i) He went to his manager and said, “Please allow me
to reach office at 11 AM on Tuesday, 11 June 2019,
as I have an appointment with a dentist.”
(ii) He went to his manager and said, “Please allow me to
reach late to the office on Tuesday, 11 June 2019,
as I have an appointment with a dentist.”

2 Employability Skills – Class XII

 In the first sentence, you must have noticed that the Notes
time is mentioned, which makes the statement clear.
A concise statement is appropriately brief or to the point.
Now, let us consider the two sentences given below.
(i) The manager replied, “Alright, you may come late.”
(ii) The manager replied, “Alright, you may come
late. But it is a matter of great concern that most
employees come late and you are also developing
the same habit.”
Now, you can see that in the second sentence, there
is no need to tell the employee about the concern that
the employer had at the moment. This could have been
shared at a different forum or separately.
An accurate statement is one that is factual, i.e., its
correctness can be verified.
Now, once again, let us learn through examples.
(i) She informed the office that 50 per cent of the
books given for binding have been completed.
(ii) She informed the office that most of the books
given for binding have been completed.
Now, you can see that in the first sentence, a
measurable information is mentioned, which makes the
sentence accurate.
It is, thus, important to ensure that our communication
is clear, concise and accurate. Effective communication
skills help us to communicate the message correctly,
precisely and completely. Lack of communication skills
can result in confusion, frustration, wasted effort and
missed opportunities.
Listening skill
Every effective conversation starts with listening.
Listening skill is one of the most important skills in
communication. It is important to learn to give undivided
attention to a person with whom a conversation is
taking place.
Given below are some reasons why listening
attentively is important.
• We listen to obtain information.
• We listen to understand.

Communication Skills 3
 Notes • We listen to enjoy.
• We listen to learn.
• We listen to build and maintain relationships.
• We listen to resolve conflicts.
Without the ability to listen attentively, messages
can be easily misunderstood. Thus, communication
breaks down and the sender of the message can easily
become frustrated or irritated.
Active listening
Active listening is an art, which comprises both a desire
to comprehend, as well as, offer support and empathy
to the speaker. It can affect your job effectiveness, the
quality of your relationship with others, and hence,
your overall well-being. Active listening allows you to
understand the problems and collaborate to develop
solutions. The various factors that affect active listening
are as follows.
• Eye contact: It is a form of body language.
It is one of the most important aspects in the
communication process. Maintaining an eye
contact with the person you are talking to sends
a signal to the speaker that “Yes, I am talking
to you or listening to you”. Avoiding eye contact
could mean that you do not want to listen to the
person speaking to you.
• Gestures: These indicate to the speaker if you
are listening or not. Keep your hand and feet still
while talking to someone.
• Avoiding distractions: You need to identify the
things that distract you. You must physically
remove the distractions in order to listen attentively.
For example, reducing the ringtone of your
mobile phone or switching it off while attending
a meeting or listening to someone will avoid
distraction. Another example is that you should
avoid glancing at the wristwatch frequently.
• Giving feedback: Feedback can be positive or
negative. But in both the cases, one needs to be
polite so that the person to whom the feedback is
being given is not hurt or offended.
4 Employability Skills – Class XII
Stages of active listening
The best kind of listening is ‘active listening’. It happens
when you hear, understand, respond and remember
what is being said. The five stages of active listening are
as follows.
1. Receiving: It involves listening attentively.
2. Understanding: It is an informed agreement
about something or someone.
3. Remembering: It refers to the retrieval or recall
of some information from the past.
4. Evaluating: It is about judging the value, quantity,
importance and amount of something or someone.
5. Responding: It is about saying or doing
something as a response to something that has
been said or done.
How to ensure active listening?
You can remember the acronym ‘RESPECT’ to ensure
active listening (Table 1.1). Now, let us see what each
letter stands for.
Table 1.1: Active listening

R Remove distractions that may hamper listening. For

example, reducing the volume of television, radio or mobile
phone while talking to a person.

E Eye contact refers to looking at the speaker while listening.

S Show that you are listening attentively to the speaker

through gestures.

P Pay attention and focus on what the speaker is saying.

Communication Skills 5
E Empathise and feel the emotions of the speaker. Empathy
is the ability to share someone’s feelings or experiences
by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s
situation.

C Clarify doubts. Ask questions to clarify doubts.

T Tune yourself to the timing of the speaker, i.e., wait for the
speaker to finish, and then, respond.

You have learned about various factors and stages

of active listening. Now, let us try to understand how to
overcome these barriers (Table 1.2).

Table 1.2: Overcoming barriers to active listening

Factors How a factor can How to overcome the barrier?

become a barrier?

Being pre‑occupied When pre-occupied, Do not let emotions take over your mind.
you may not be Keep away phones and digital devices.
listening to a person
carefully.

Noise and visual You may not be able to Create a conducive environment to avoid
distractions hear the other person misinterpretations and distractions.
clearly in a noisy
environment.

Past experiences You may have Avoid developing biases and be objective in
or mindset developed biases or your approach when interacting with others.
prejudices based on
past experiences and
interactions.

Personal factors Your personal feelings Allow the other person to finish speaking,
may affect your and then, respond.
listening, for example,
your preconceptions
about the other person.

6 Employability Skills – Class XII

 Notes
Practical Exercise
The teacher will facilitate these activities by showing you the
e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/Employability_
Skills.html. This will include videos and e-content for the above
topics, as well as, detailed instructions for some activities
given below.
Initial thinking activity
After watching the initial video in the e-learning lesson for this
topic, write the answer of the question — why is it important to
listen actively?
Activity 1
Group discussion
Factors affecting active listening
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• Form groups of three students each.
• Each group selects any one of the factors (as given in
Table 1.2), which acts as a barrier to active listening.
• Discuss how it can affect or become a barrier to active
listening in the following situations.
(i) Family gathering for a wedding ceremony
(ii) At a busy retail store
(iii) Team discussion during sports day at school
(iv) Birthday celebration of a friend
• Each group shares its experiences and ways to overcome
these barriers.
Activity 2
Poster making
Active listening
Material required
Chart paper, pencil, sketch pens, etc.
Procedure
• Make a poster on either of the below mentioned scenarios
using the acronym RESPECT, which you have studied in
this Session for practising active listening.
(i) Depicting a conversation between two friends
(ii) Parent–child conversation

Activity 3
Role-play
Negative effects of not listening actively
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
Scenario: Kapil works in an organisation. His manager Sunita
is having a discussion with him regarding a marketing plan. As

Communication Skills 7
 Notes soon as Kapil enters the meeting room, he sits in a slouched
position. He has not kept his phone on silent mode and keeps
looking at it frequently. Even though he is listening to Sunita,
his thoughts seem to be elsewhere. At the end of the session,
Sunita feels Kapil is disinterested and hands over the marketing
plan to some other employee.

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions
Read carefully the questions given below and choose the
correct option.
1. You work at the front desk of a telecom company.
A customer approaches you while you are working.
The customer has a query regarding a bill. What would
you do?
(a) Not pay attention to the customer
(b) Keep the work aside and help the customer
(c) Continue doing your work while talking
inattentively to the customer
(d) Ask the customer to talk to someone else
2. Which of the following can be a barrier to
active listening?
(a) Noisy environment
(b) Not maintaining an eye contact with the speaker
(c) Not being attentive
(d) All of the above
3. Which of the following is not a stage of active listening?
(a) Receiving
(b) Understanding
(c) Non-responding
(d) Evaluating
4. What are the characteristics of an ideal message?
(a) Clear
(b) Concise
(c) Accurate
(d) All of the above

B. Short answer question (80–100 words)

1. Write down a situation you faced at school, wherein,
you overcame a barrier and practised active listening.

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• identify the barriers to active listening.
• identify the stages of active listening.
• follow the steps towards removing barriers for
active listening.

8 Employability Skills – Class XII

Session 2: Parts of Speech
Introduction
In any language, parts of speech are the categories of
words based on their function within a sentence. These
are the ‘building blocks’ of a language.
When we speak or write, we use sentences to
express ourselves. Therefore, sentences are important.
A ‘sentence’ is a group of words that communicates
a complete meaning, thought or action. For example,
Raju goes to school.
A group of words, which does not make complete
sense, is known as a ‘phrase’, for example, Raju goes.
A sentence always begins with a capital letter, and
ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation
mark. Read aloud the examples given below.
• Did you work on your project?
• I completed it yesterday.
• That is good!

Using capitals
We know that all sentences begin with a capital letter. It
is easy to know what to capitalise if you remember the
acronym ‘MINTS’. MINTS is a set of simple rules that
help you to capitalise words correctly. Each letter in the
word MINTS refers to one capitalisation rule as shown
in Table 1.3.
Table 1.3: Capitalisation rules

Alphabet M I N T S
Months I Names Titles Starting letter of
sentences
Rule Capitalise CapitaliseCapitalise the Capitalise the Capitalise the
the first the letterfirst letter in the first letter in first letter in
letter in ‘I’ when names of people, the titles used every sentence.
the names used as a places, rivers, before people’s
of all word. seas and oceans, names.
months. mountains,
islands and days.
Example I will go to Every This Tuesday, Dr Shah and The cat ran out
college in day, I play Vidya is in Mr Patel work of the house.
June. tennis Rajasthan. together.
with him.

Communication Skills 9
 Punctuation
There are 15 basic punctuation marks or signs used
in English. These include full stop or period, comma,
question mark, exclamation mark, apostrophe, colon,
semi‑colon, dash, hyphen, parenthesis, quotation mark,
bracket, brace, ellipsis and bullet point (Table 1.4).
Table 1.4: Punctuation marks

Punctuation Sign Use Example

mark
Full stop . It shows the end of a sentence. It is This is a sentence. This is
also used to show short form of long another sentence.
words. For example, ‘Professor’ can be Sanjay is a Professor.
shortened as Prof., when used as His patients call him
a title before a name. Prof. Sanjay.
Comma , Sometimes, we use comma to indicate After the waiter gave me the
pause in a sentence. menu, I ordered food.
We can also use comma to separate I bought apples, oranges
items when we are listing more than and grapes.
two items in a row.
Question ? We use question mark at the end of What is your designation?
mark a question. How much is your work
experience?
Exclamation ! We use an exclamation mark at the What a pleasant surprise!
mark end of a word or sentence to indicate You are late!
a strong feeling, such as surprise,
shock or anger.
Apostrophe (’) We use an apostrophe followed by That is Divya’s desk.
an ‘s’ to show that something belongs Are these Abdul’s books?
to someone.
We also use an apostrophe to indicate Let’s go instead of Let us go!
the shortened form of some words in He isn’t here instead of He is
informal speech. not here.

Basic parts of speech

The different types of words we use in
sentences are called parts of speech. The
basic parts of speech are nouns, pronouns,
adjectives, verbs and adverbs (Table 1.5).

Figure 1.3: Basic parts of speech

10 Employability Skills – Class XII

 Table 1.5: Basic parts of speech

Parts of What they do Example sentence Example

speech words

Noun Nouns are words that refer to In the sentence: “Reema wrote Dog
a person, place, thing or idea. a letter.” Both Reema and India
They are ‘naming words’. letter are nouns. Sanjay

Pronoun A pronoun is a word used in In the second sentence: I

place of a noun. “Reema wrote a letter. She is They
tired.” She is used in place He
of the noun Reema. It is a You
pronoun.

Adjective Adjective is a word that In the sentence: “Reema wrote Small

describes other words. a long letter.” Long is an Blue
adjective that describes the Sharp
noun ‘letter’. Loud

Verb Verb is a word that shows In the sentence: “Reema wrote Run
action. a letter.” Wrote is a verb. It Eat
tells what action Reema did. Think
Sit

Adverb Adverb is a word that adds In the sentence: “Reema Easily

meaning to a verb, adjective, quickly wrote a letter.” Quickly Always
or other adverb. It answers is an adverb. It tells us how Inside
the questions — how? how Reema did the action (writing). Before
often? when? and where?

Sometimes, the same words can be used differently.

Will you book a movie for 3 pm? ‘Book’ is used as an adverb.
I need to find my English book. ‘Book’ is a noun.

His total cricket score was 145. ‘Total’ is an adjective.

That is totally awesome. ‘Totally’ is an adverb.

She is always watching a football match. ‘Football’ is an adjective.

She got a new football for her birthday. ‘Football’ is a noun.

The experienced sailor was able to hold up the ‘Sail’ is a noun.

sail despite heavy storm.
Satish was able to sail through despite the storm. ‘Sail’ is a verb.

Kapil promised his father that he will be a good boy. ‘Promised’ is a verb.
Kapil was unable to keep the promise given to his father. ‘Promise’ is a noun.

Communication Skills 11
 Let us now see how these words are used. Read out
aloud the sentence given below.
Wow! Reema went to the studio and met a famous actor.
We already know that Reema, studio and actor are
nouns. Famous is an adjective because it describes the
actor (noun) and the words went and met are verbs
because they describe an action.
What about the remaining words in this sentence —
wow, to, the, and? What are these words called? We use
such supporting words to join the main parts of speech
together and to add information to the sentences that
we frame. Let us now look at supporting parts of speech.

Figure 1.4: Supporting parts of speech

Supporting parts of speech

Along with the main ‘Parts of Speech’, there are some
more words we need for connecting words, phrases,
clauses or sentences. Such words are called ‘supporting
parts of speech’. (Figure 1.4 and Table 1.6).
Table 1.6: Supporting parts of speech
Supporting Use Example
parts of speech
Articles • The words ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are The car stopped suddenly because
known as articles. a cat ran in front of it.
• Articles are, generally, used A book
before nouns. An apple
• ‘An’ is used before words with a An umbrella
vowel (a, e, i, o, u) sound. The sun
• ‘A’ is used before nouns starting
with a consonant (all except
those starting with a, e, i, o and u)
sound.
• ‘The’ is used to refer to specific or
particular words.

12 Employability Skills – Class XII

Conjunctions Conjunctions are words that join Instead of – Sheela went to the
two nouns, phrases or sentences. market. I went to the market.
Some common conjunctions are Sheela and I went to the market.
‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘but’. Instead of – Do you want oranges?
Do you want apples?
Do you want oranges or apples?
Prepositions • Prepositions connect one word The cat is on the roof.
with another to show the The shop is at the end of the road.
relationship between them. They, Rahul is standing under the tree.
usually, answer the questions I live in Delhi.
‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’.
• Some common prepositions are
‘on’, ‘at’, ‘under’ and ‘in’.
Interjections These words express strong Wow!
emotions, such as happiness, Oh!
surprise, anger or pain. They have Oh no!
an exclamation mark at the end. Thanks!
Help!

Practical Exercise
The teacher will facilitate these activities by showing you the
e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/Employability_
Skills.html. This will include videos and e-content for the above
topics, as well as, detailed instructions for the following activities.
Initial thinking activity
After watching the initial video in the e-learning lesson for this
topic, write down what do you think was wrong with Seema’s letter.

Activity 1

Group practice
Identifying ‘parts of speech’
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• Form groups of four students each. Read aloud the
paragraph given below.
“on sunday, i have an appointment to meet dr. patel in delhi.
my house is near dr. patels clinic i went to a shop near the clinic
on friday to buy vegetables I bought potatoes onions carrots
and a cabbage dr. patel is a friendly man have you met him”
• This paragraph contains examples of parts of speech that
you have learnt about in this Session. Identify as many parts
of speech as you can and mark them. Discuss what was
difficult in this activity. Write the paragraph with correct
capitalisation and punctuation. A member of one group

Communication Skills 13
 Notes volunteers and presents before the class what the group
marked. The person writes the paragraph on the classroom
board with the punctuations. The other students point out
the mistakes, if any.
Activity 2
Group practice
Constructing sentences
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• Form pairs of students.
• List the five basic parts of speech that you have
learnt in this Session.
• Select one of them and form two simple sentences, which
use these parts of speech. For example, if you have chosen
adjectives, form two sentences that have adjectives. For
each part of speech, a volunteer reads out the sentences
the group has framed.
• The other students say if it is correct or not.

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions
Read carefully the questions given below and choose the
correct option.
1. What is a sentence?
(a) A group of ideas that form a complete paragraph
(b) A group of words that communicates a
complete thought
(c) A set of rules that we must follow to write correctly
(d) A set of words that contains basic
punctuation marks
2. Which of these sentences is capitalised correctly?
(a) I am Hungry.
(b) Divya and sunil are reading.
(c) The bucket is Full of water.
(d) She lives in Delhi.
3. Which of these sentences is punctuated correctly?
(a) Where are you going.
(b) I have a pen a notebook and a pencil.
(c) I am so happy to see you!
(d) This is my house.

14 Employability Skills – Class XII

 B. Fill in the blanks Notes
1. Fill in the correct nouns and verbs as given at the top of
the table to complete the following sentences.

Nouns Verbs
girl, girls, boy, milk, dog, skipping, riding,
student running, studying,
drinking, barking
(a) The ____________ is
_________________.

(b) The ____________ are

_________________.

(c) The ____________ is

_________________.

(d) Raju is ____________

_________________.

(e) The ____________ is

_________________.

(f) The ____________ is

_________________.

C. Short answer question

1. Identify conjunctions and prepositions (remember,
conjunctions join two sentences, while prepositions
help answer the words ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’) from
the list given below and write them in the following
columns.

Under, and, in, at, or, up
Conjunctions Prepositions

Communication Skills 15
 Notes What have you learnt?
After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• identify the basic parts of speech, such as nouns,
pronouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.
• use capitalisation and punctuation rules for sentences.
• explain the usage of parts of speech and identify them
in a sentence.
• identify supporting parts of speech, such as articles,
conjunctions, prepositions and interjections.

Session 3: Writing Sentences

Introduction
A sentence is a group of words, which together expresses
a complete idea that has meaning. A sentence is formed
by putting together a group of words in sequence. This
means that a sentence must be understood by others.
A sentence, typically, contains a subject and an object,
conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or
command. Writing is constructed by putting sentences
in sequence so that they are understandable.

Simple sentence
A simple sentence is one that has only one subject and
one predicate or has only one finite verb.

Complex sentence
A complex sentence is one, which consists of two or
more coordinate clauses, joined by a
coordinating conjunction.
As you have studied in English classes, almost all
sentences have a subject and a verb. Some also have
an object.
• A subject is a person or thing that does
an action.
• Verb describes the action.
• Object is the person or thing that receives the
action. For example, read aloud the simple
sentence — “Nisha sells a laptop”. Let us see the
different parts of the sentence in Figure 1.5.

16 Employability Skills – Class XII

 A subject is a An object is the
person or thing person or thing that
that performs an receives the action.
action. The question, Nisha Sells a Laptop The question, “who
“who performed the received the action?”
action?” will help you will help you find
find the subject. In Subject Verb Object the object. In this
this sentence, ‘Nisha’ sentence, ‘a laptop’ is
is the subject. the object.
Verb describes the action. The
question, “what is the action?”
will help you find the verb. In this
sentence, ‘sells’ is the verb.

Figure 1.5: Parts of a sentence

Read aloud the sentences given in Table 1.7 to
understand about subject, verb and object.
Table 1.7: Parts of a sentence

Sentence Subject Verb Object

I wrote a letter. I wrote a letter

He called the He called the

customer. customer

She packed the She packed the product

product.

Dia and Sanjay Dia and booked a cab

booked a cab. Sanjay

Types of object
The object in a sentence can be either direct or indirect.
Direct objects are the ones directly ‘acted on’ by the
action word (verb). If we ask — “What does Nisha sell?”,
the answer is ‘laptop’, which is direct object. A direct
object answers the question ‘what?’.
An indirect object answers the questions, such as
“to whom” and “for whom”.
For example, in the sentence — “Abdul gave a gift
to his mother.” The verb is ‘gave’. What did Abdul
give? A gift. To whom did Abdul give the gift? To his
mother. Here, ‘gift’ is direct object and ‘his mother’ is
indirect object.
Some sentences only have direct objects, while some
have both direct and indirect objects.
Read out aloud the examples given in Table 1.8.

Communication Skills 17
 Table 1.8: Direct and indirect objects

Sentence Verb Verb + Verb + by Direct Indirect

what? whom/to object object
whom?
Reema bought bought stationery stationery
stationery.
Fatima and Sonia played tennis tennis
played tennis.
He offered a coffee offered coffee me coffee me
to me.
The manager assigned projects us projects us
assigned us projects.

Types of sentences —
Category I

Active and passive sentences

What is the difference between
the following two sentences?
1. Sanjay broke the glass.
Figure 1.6: Types of sentences
2. The glass was broken
by Sanjay.
The action (verb) in both the
sentences is breaking of the
glass. But the ‘subject’ in both the
sentences is different. In the first
sentence, the subject (Sanjay)
does the action. In the second
sentence, the subject (the glass)
receives the action.
Read the sentences in
Figure 1.7: Active and passive sentences
Figure. 1.7 again.
Sentences, where the subject does an action, are
known to be in active voice.
Sentences, in which the subject receives an action,
are known to be in passive voice.

18 Employability Skills – Class XII

 Table 1.9: Active and passive sentences

Active voice Passive voice

She wrote an email. An email was written by her.

He opened the door for The door was opened by him
the customer. for the customer.
Mohan sold a bike. The bike was sold by Mohan.

Examples of active and passive sentences

Active Passive
I did not beat him. He was not beaten by me.
Kapil made a profit A profit was made by Kapil
yesterday. yesterday.
The tiger was chasing The deer was being chased by
the deer. the tiger.

Types of sentences — Category II

There are mainly four types of sentences, i.e.,
declarative, interrogative, exclamatory and imperative.
Each of these have been described in Table 1.10.
Table 1.10: Types of sentences — Category II

Statement or Question or Emotion, reaction or Order or

declarative sentence interrogative exclamatory sentence imperative
sentence sentence
It provides This type of An exclamatory These sentences
information or states sentence asks a sentence expresses a show an order,
a fact. It always question. It always strong emotion, such command, request
ends with a full stop ends with a question as joy, sadness, fear or or advice. It
(.). This is the most mark (?). wonder. It always ends can end with a
common type of with an exclamation full stop or an
sentence. mark (!). exclamation mark
(. or !).
Read aloud the examples given below.
I go to office. Did you go to office? I received the prize for Go to office today.
the best employee!
It is very cold. How is the weather? Oh, it’s very cold! Wear your sweater.

I completed my Did you complete I completed my project! Complete your

project. your project? project.

Communication Skills 19
 Examples of types of sentences — Category II
Sentence Type
Where is my I-card? Interrogative
My arms ache from planting Exclamatory
those saplings!
Reading mythology will make Declarative
you more aware.
Come with us right now. Imperative
No way! I don’t want a tattoo! Exclamatory

Get out of the bed immediately! Imperative

Figure 1.8: Types of sentences — Category II

You can see that each of these sentences have a
different purpose.
Paragraph
A group of sentences forms a paragraph. While writing
a paragraph, make sure the sentences have a common
idea. When you want to write about a different idea, make
a new paragraph. For example, if you are writing about
your school, the first paragraph can be of sentences
about the name, location, size and other such details. In
the next paragraph, you can use sentences to describe
what you like about your school.
I go to Government Higher Secondary School, Balachadi.
It is not a very big school but has many good teachers.
There are about 100 students in my school. My school is
on the main road, very close to the city railway station.
I love going to school and learning about new things. My
school has a small playground, where I play cricket with
my friends after the classes are over. It has a library also.
I love my school.

20 Employability Skills – Class XII

 Notes
Practical Exercise
The teacher will facilitate these activities by showing you the
e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/Employability_
Skills.html. This will include videos and e-content for the
above topics, as well as, detailed instructions for some activities
given below.
Initial thinking activity
After watching the initial video in the e-learning lesson for this
topic, write if you think Sanjay and Dia were able to frame correct
sentences.
Activity 1
Pair work
Making sentences
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• Form pairs of students.
• First, write three sentences having direct objects.
• Then, write three more sentences, containing both direct
and indirect objects.
• Use different colours to mark the different parts of each
sentence (subject, verb and object).
Activity 2
Pair work
Active and passive voice
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• With same pairs as above, write a paragraph on any topic.
The paragraph should have at least two sentences in active
voice and two in passive voice. One student reads out the
paragraph that the person has written before the class.
• The class gives the feedback.
Activity 3
Pair work
Types of sentences
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• With the same pairs as above, make a list of minimum eight
sentences. These should have at least two sentences of each
type: declarative, interrogative, exclamatory and imperative.
• For each type of sentence, different volunteers read out
their sentences before the class.
• The class, then, gives feedback on the correctness of
the sentences.

Communication Skills 21
 Notes Check Your Progress
A. Multiple choice questions
1. Identify the subject in the sentence, “The children
played football”.
(a) The children
(b) children played
(c) played
(d) football
2. Identify the object in the sentence, “The children
played football.”
(a) The children
(b) children played
(c) played
(d) football
3. Which of these sentences has/have both indirect and
direct objects?
(a) I am working on a presentation.
(b) She bought a blue pen.
(c) The girls played cricket.
(d) He wrote a letter to his sister.
4. Which of these sentences is/are in passive voice?
(a) They are watching a movie.
(b) The clock was repaired by Raju.
(c) He is sleeping in the room.
(d) My pet dog bit the postman.
B. Short answer questions
1. Write one sentence of each type — statement, question,
exclamatory and order.
2. Which job role do you wish to pursue? Write two
paragraphs (about 100–150 words) about that industry
and your career preferences. Make sure you follow
all rules about sentences and paragraphs that you
have learnt.

Practice work
• Practise speaking in complete sentences with
your classmates.
• Practise speaking with proper punctuations.
• Practise writing paragraphs on different topics.

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• identify the different parts of a sentence.
• differentiate between active and passive voice.
• compose different types of sentences.

22 Employability Skills – Class XII

Unit 2
Self-management
Skills

Introduction
Self-management, which is also referred to as
‘self-control’, is the ability to control one’s emotions,
thoughts and behaviour effectively in different situations.
This includes motivating oneself, and working towards
achieving personal and academic goals.
Students with strong self-management skills are
better at doing certain things well, such as coming to
class on time, paying attention, obeying teachers, parents
and elders, working with discipline, etc. It helps a person
to do better in studies or work. In order to do well at work
and life, in general, one must be able to manage and
improve oneself in various skills, including timeliness,
discipline, problem solving and work habits. To manage
oneself well, a person needs to develop the following.
• Positive thinking: to think that one can get things
done and be happy.
• Result orientation: to dream big and achieve the
desired or set results.
• Self-awareness: to be aware of one’s personality
traits and make the best out of one’s strengths.

Session 1: Motivation and Positive Attitude

Motivation and positive thinking can help us overcome
fears and take up new challenges. Similarly, optimism,
which is a mental attitude, reflecting a belief or hope,

2020-21
 can lead to positive and desirable outcomes. It helps
us to achieve our dreams, continue working hard
towards achieving success and live a happy life with a
positive mindset.
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing
can be done without hope and confidence.”
— Helen Keller

Motivation
Motivation is derived from the word ‘motive’. Thus,
directing behaviour towards certain motive or goal is the
essence of motivation. An individual’s motivation may
come from within (intrinsic motivation) or be inspired
by others or events (extrinsic motivation).
Intrinsic motivation
It includes activities for which there is no apparent reward
but one derives enjoyment and satisfaction in doing
them. It occurs when people are internally motivated
to do something because it brings them pleasure. They
think it is important or feel what they are learning is
significant. Incentives related to the motive or goal can
satisfy one’s needs.
Extrinsic motivation
It arises because of incentives or external rewards. Lack
of motivation or incentives may lead to frustration, for
example, employees who are kept on contractual basis for
a long time may get frustrated and leave an organisation.
Positive attitude
A positive attitude makes a person happier, and helps
build and maintain relationships. It even increases one’s
chances of success. In addition, it can help the person
make better decisions. People, who maintain a positive
or optimistic attitude in life situations and challenges,
are able to move forward than those with a negative
attitude. Positive attitude helps improve mental and
physical health.
Ways to maintain positive attitude
It can take a little time and effort to build a positive
attitude (Figure 2.1). Following are some ways that can
help one maintain a positive attitude.

24 Employability Skills – Class XII

2020-21
 • Start the day with a morning routine. Say positive
affirmations, smile often and think about the
tasks to be accomplished during for the day.
• Feed the mind with positivity, read motivating
books, listen to music with uplifting lyrics, watch
inspiring movies, etc.
• Be proactive. A proactive person decides how one
must feel regardless of what may be going around
or what the day may bring.
• Focus on constructive and positive things. Do not
approach life with ‘problems’. Approach it with
‘solutions’.
• Learn from failures. Think what could have been
better and work towards the goals.
• Learn to focus on the present. Negativity mostly
stems out from anxiety of the past and
future events.
• Move towards your goals and
dreams. Be cheerful and work
hard to achieve the dreams. Figure 2.1: Positive attitude

Here are some more techniques that can help you to

maintain a positive outlook in the long run.
• Physical exercise and fresh air: Following
a healthy lifestyle is essential for students.
Practising yoga, meditation and deep breathing
exercises help improve blood circulation and relax
the body. Taking a walk or playing in the park
helps one to get a lot of fresh air, which helps in
becoming more active.
• Healthy diet: A healthy and balanced diet is
important for a healthy body and mind. Eating a
balanced diet, such as daal, roti, green vegetables
and fruits provides the strength required to do
daily work efficiently.
• Organise academic life: By keeping class
notes organised, completing assignments on
time and keeping track of all deadlines, stress
can be reduced to a great extent. When you are
not stressed, you can channelise your mind to
achieve the goals.

Self-management Skills 25

2020-21
 • Adequate sleep: A good night sleep for at least
seven hours is important so that the mind and
body can get recharged to function better the
next day.
• Holidays with family and friends: Visiting a
relative’s place, such as grandparents’ house or a
new place during summer vacation can help one
break the the monotonous normal routine and
come back refreshed.
Positive attitude is of immense value in a student’s
life. There are various situations that the student will
encounter in life, wherein staying positive will keep
the child going. The most common example would be
during exam results. At times, a student does not get
the desired result in exams. But it is important not to
lose hope, accept the result gracefully and work harder
with a positive attitude for the next exam.
Even during an interview for a dream job, a
candidate may not get selected in the first attempt.
However, with a positive attitude and persistent
efforts, all dreams can be achieved. Thus, it becomes
imperative for a child to learn to practise positive
attitude in life at all times.

What is stress and how to manage it?

Stress is a state of feeling upset, annoyed and hopeless.
There are times when we feel nothing is working right,
we are not able to achieve our goals and feel hopeless.
During such times, if we manage and control our
emotions, it helps us to sail through. Some of the ways
to manage stress are given below.
• Stay positive and analyse what is going wrong in
a certain situation. Resolving the situation is easy
once understood.
Figure 2.2: Stress
• Maintain an accomplishment sheet and enter
even small achievements.
• Keep your thoughts in present. Pondering over
past issues makes us feel upset and helpless.
• Talk to friends and family for comfort.
• Practise meditation and yoga.
• Whenever you feel negative thoughts are taking
over, take a look at your accomplishment sheet.

26 Employability Skills – Class XII

2020-21
 By managing stress effectively and maintaining a Notes
positive attitude, one can overcome any challenge and
achieve heights in career. Managing stress effectively helps
one maintain a healthy work – life balance.

Practical Exercise
The teacher will facilitate these activities by showing you the
e-learning module for this lesson via http://www.psscive.ac.in/
Employability_Skills.html. The module will include videos and
e-content for the above topics, as well as, detailed instructions
for some activities given below.
Activity 1
Role‑play
Avoiding stressful situation
Material required
Pen or pencil, notepad or sheets of paper, etc.
Procedure
• Form groups of three Choose any one scenario from below.
Situation 1: You have missed your school bus and are
getting late. What will you do? Will you panic or call for
help or try to find a way?
Situation 2: You have to perform your best in a cricket
match so that you get a chance to play for your school
at the national level. You have been anxious (worried or
stressed). Will you lose your sleep worrying about it or go
to the field and practice?
• Prepare a skit and perform within your groups. Two
members will perform the skit and one member will
observe and share the feedback.
Activity 2
Self-reflection
Material required
Pen or pencil, etc.
Procedure
• Complete the table given below by listing situation(s) that
cause negative thinking, for example, not performing well
in an exam. List how you can manage the situations.

Situations causing How to turn around

negative thinking for positivity

Self-management Skills 27

2020-21
 Notes Check Your Progress
A. Short answer questions

1. Describe the ways you can make positive thinking a

habit in life.
2. List the importance of positive thinking. Describe how
it can help someone achieve one’s goals.

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• explain the meaning of motivation.
• describe the type of motives.
• differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
• describe the meaning of positive attitude.
• identify the steps for being positive in life.

Session 2: Result Orientation

Result orientation is a term used to describe a person’s
ability to recognise what results are important and the
steps needed to be taken to achieve them. It means to
focus on the result of an assigned task. If you know
the result you want to achieve, you can focus on the
efforts required to achieve it. Hence, result orientation
describes an individual or organisation that focusses on
outcome rather than the process that has been used to
produce a product or deliver a service.
An ideal employee needs to be proactive and result
driven. The person must always take necessary steps to
achieve the set goals or targets.
How to become result oriented?
(i) Set clear goals: Setting clear and accurate goals is
the first step one needs to take to meet the targets.
(ii) Prepare an action plan: An action plan describes
the way a person or an organisation will meet the set
objectives. It gives a detail of the steps to be taken
to achieve the target. Therefore, it consists of several
actions or steps that need to be taken, and changes
that need to be made. Each action, step or change
should include the following information.

28 Employability Skills – Class XII

2020-21
 • What changes will occur after the actions? Notes
• Who will carry out the changes?
• When will the changes take place?
• How long will the changes stay?
• What resources are needed to carry out
the changes?
• Who should know and what should be
communicated?
(iii) Use the right resources and tools: One must
evaluate the resources and tools needed to
achieve those results and whether they are
available. For example, you may want to clear the
college entrance exam with 70 per cent marks.
Do you have the books to study for the exam?
If not, from where and how can you get them?
(iv) Communicate with mentors and peers: One
must talk to teachers, seniors and mentors for
help in setting realistic goals.
(v) Make a calendar: One must make a calendar to
monitor the progress at regular intervals.
(vi) Work hard: One must work hard and believe in
one’s dreams.

Goal setting
Goal setting helps us to understand what we want,
how to achieve it and how do we measure our success.
Writing a goal requires that we should understand its
purpose and objective. Let us try to understand how to
define a goal.
• Identify what the goal is about, for example,
customer satisfaction, speeding up the delivery
process, etc.
• How the goal would make a difference? For
example, will it enhance customer satisfaction,
will it result in an increase in demand of a product
or service, speed up the delivery process and
result in better loyalty and quality of the product.
Use the acronym SMART to set goals. Let us see what
each letter in SMART implies.

Self-management Skills 29

2020-21
 Notes • S: Specific
Goals should be stated in specific terms. Vague goals
are difficult to attain. Specific goals give us a concrete
target. Hence, a goal should have a specific purpose.
• M: Measurable
Goals should always be measurable. If we do not set
our goals in measurable terms, it is difficult to assess
whether we have achieved them or not.
• A: Action-oriented
Goals do not just come true on their own. Effective goal
setting should include action-based steps that one will
follow to achieve the goal.
— Actions that I am already taking towards achieving
this goal
— Actions that I am not currently taking but will
take towards achieving this goal
— Actions that I am not currently taking and need
help to achieve the goal
— People and places from whom I can get help to
achieve the goal
• R: Realistic
There are few things more damaging to our sense of
self-efficacy than setting ourselves up for failure. Goals
must always be realistically attainable.
• T: Timely
Goals must have deadlines. However, deadlines may
change. But one must always set a deadline to get the
job done within a specified time limit.

Examples of result-oriented goals

Examples of result-oriented goals are as follows.
• A student may set a goal of scoring high marks
in an exam.
• An athlete may run five miles a day.
• A traveller may try to reach a destination city
within three hours.

30 Employability Skills – Class XII

2020-21
 Notes
Practical Exercise
The teacher will facilitate these activities by showing you the
e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/Employability_
Skills.html. This will include videos and e-content for the above
topics, as well as, detailed instructions for the activity given below.
Activity 1
Pair and Share
Aim in life
Material required
Pen or pencil, notepad, etc.
Procedure
• Form pairs of students.
• Make a list of things that you can do well.
• Write your aim in life.
• Share your notes with your partner and discuss
your personal characteristics.
• One student volunteers and reads out the notes before
the class.
Here is the format to do the activity.
– List what you believe you are as a person by starting the
sentence with ‘I am’.
– Next, list what you can do well by starting the sentence
with ‘I can’ (I can sing well).
– List what you plan to do by starting the sentence with ‘I
will’ (I will train myself in classical music).
– Finally, state your aim in life. Start the sentence with ‘My
aim is’ (My aim is to become a singer).
– Making a list will help you to become self-aware and
result oriented.

Check Your Progress

1. Fill in the table given below, which can help you to
prepare an action plan to achieve the set results.

Results I want What am I What should I do

to achieve doing for to achieve the
achieving results?
the results?
I want to score I study for I should study for
80 per cent in two hours three hours and
quarterly exam. daily. practise sample test
papers.

Self-management Skills 31

2020-21
 Notes What have you learnt?
After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• identify ways to be result oriented.
• make an action plan.

Session 3: Self-awareness
Self-awareness is about understanding one’s own
needs, desires, habits, traits, behaviours and feelings.
Let us try to understand this with a short story.
“A monk slowly walks along a road when he hears a
galloping horse. He turns around to see a man riding the
horse moving in his direction. When the man comes closer,
the monk asks, “Where are you going?” To which the man
replies, “I don’t know, ask the horse” and rides away.
When we are not aware of ourselves, then we tread
in a direction about which we are not clear. Therefore, it
is important that we must be aware of ourselves. When
one becomes self-aware, the person starts to become
aware of everything and looks at things or situations
objectively. It plays a critical role in how we understand
ourselves and relate to others and the world around us.

Steps towards self-awareness

• The first step for practising self-awareness is
gaining a greater awareness of one’s emotions
(Figure 2.3).

Figure 2.3: Various emotions a person experiences

• The second step to practising self-awareness is

making a habit of tracking one’s feelings.

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 • The third step for practising self-awareness is Notes
expanding one’s practice to areas of life beyond
the person’s feelings.
Personality and personality traits
Personality is a cluster of thoughts, feelings and
behaviours that make a person unique and different
from others.
Personality traits are defined as relatively lasting
patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that
distinguish individuals from one another. Hence,
personality development is the development of an
organised pattern of behaviours and attitudes that
makes a person distinctive. Personality development
occurs by the ongoing interaction of temperament,
character and environment. Culture also plays an
important role in shaping personalities.
One’s personality also affects the person’s
relationships with others. A positive personality can
lead to better performance, increased productivity and
cordial relationships with others.
There are five parameters that describe an
individual’s personality. These five dimensions are also
called the ‘Big Five Factors’ and the model is referred
to as the ‘Five Factor Model’, which is abbreviated
as FFM (Figure 2.4).
• Openness: Individuals with openness to
experience are, generally, creative, curious, active,
flexible and adventurous. If a person is interested
in learning new things, meeting new people and
making friends, and likes visiting new places, the
person can be called open-minded.
• Consciousness: Individuals, who listen to their
conscience, are self-disciplined, do their work on
time, take care of others before themselves and
care about others’ feelings.
• Extraversion: Extroverts are individuals, who
love interacting with people around and are,
generally, talkative. A person, who can easily
make friends and make any gathering lively, is
confident and an extrovert.

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 Notes

Figure 2.4: The ‘Big Five Factors’

or Five Factor Model

• Agreeableness: Individuals having such a trait are,

generally, kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm
and considerate. They accommodate themselves
in any situation. For example, people who help
and take care of others are, generally, agreeable.
• Neuroticism: Neuroticism is a trait, wherein,
individuals show tendency towards anxiety,
self-doubt, depression, shyness and other similar
negative feelings. People, who have difficulty in
meeting others and worry too much about things,
show signs of neuroticism.

Common personality disorders

Personality disorders involve long-term patterns
of thoughts and behaviour that are unhealthy and
rigid. A personality disorder is a way of thinking,
feeling and behaving that deviates from worldly
expectations and causes distress, which lasts
over time.
Cluster A: Suspicious
People falling under this cluster always mistrust others
and are suspicious, even when there is no need to do
so. For example, Varsha is a homemaker. A maid has
been working at her house for two years. Despite having
CCTV cameras installed at home, Varsha is always
suspicious about the maid. She follows her all the time
and keeps a tab on her movements. This causes stress
between Varsha and her maid.

34 Employability Skills – Class XII

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 • Paranoid personality disorder: Paranoid Notes
personality disorder is characterised by distrust
for others, including friends, family members
and partners. People with such a disorder mostly
hold grudges against others.
• Schizoid personality disorder: The term
‘schizoid’ refers to the natural tendency to direct
attention toward one’s inner life away from the
external world. A person with schizoid personality
disorder is detached and aloof, and prone to
introspection and fantasy. The person shows
little interest in forming personal relationships
and seems to be emotionally cold.
• Schizotypal personality disorder: People with
this type of personality disorder believe that they
can influence other people or events with their
thoughts. They often misinterpret behaviours.
This causes them to have inappropriate emotional
responses. They may consistently avoid having
intimate relationships.

Cluster B: Emotional and impulsive

This personality disorder is characterised by unstable
moods and behaviours, which lead to unhealthy and
unstable relationships, emotional instability and feeling
of worthlessness. For example, Sunny is a student
in a high school. Whenever he gets low marks, he is
depressed and fights with his friends. He, also, does not
try to learn from mistakes. His parents and teachers have
tried talking with him but he feels angry, worthless and
shouts at them.
• Antisocial personality disorder: People with
antisocial personality disorder disregard social
rules and obligations. They are irritating and
aggressive, and act impulsively. They tend to lack
guilt and fail to learn from experience. They may
lie, steal or abuse, and may also get addicted to
alcohol or drugs.
• Borderline personality disorder: People with
borderline personality disorder essentially lack a
sense of self-worth, and thus, experience feelings
of emptiness and fears of abandonment. There is a

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 Notes pattern of emotional instability, violent outbursts
and impulsive behaviour. Suicidal threats and
acts of self harm are common in people with such
a personality disorder. They may have difficulty
in dealing with stressful events.
• Histrionic personality disorder: People with
histrionic personality disorder frequently try to
gain more attention by being overly dramatic. They
are extremely sensitive to criticism or disapproval,
and can be easily influenced by others.
• Narcissistic personality disorder: People with
narcissistic personality disorder believe that
they are more important than others. They lack
empathy for other people and tend to exaggerate
their own achievements.

Cluster C: Anxious
This personality disorder is characterised by feelings of
worry, anxiety or fear, which have the potential to affect
one’s daily routine. For example, Shikha is an elderly
woman. She stays with her family. She has a habit of
washing her hands at least 20 times a day. Even after
washing her hands, she feels they are not clean, and
continues rubbing or washing them. She neither talks
to her grandchildren, nor does she participate in any
family activity.
• Avoidant personality disorder: People with this
type of disorder are socially inept, unappealing or
inferior, and constantly fear being embarrassed,
criticised or rejected. They avoid meeting others
and often experience feelings of inadequacy,
inferiority or unattractiveness.
• Dependent personality disorder: People with
such a disorder are characterised by lack
of self-confidence and an extra need to be
looked after. They need a lot of help in making
everyday decisions and surrender important
life decisions to the care of others. They are
heavily dependent on other people for their
emotional and physical needs, and thus,
usually, avoid being alone.

36 Employability Skills – Class XII

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 • Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: Notes
People with such a disorder strongly stick to
rules and regulations. They can be characterised
by a general pattern of excessive concern with
orderliness, perfectionism and attention to details.
They feel extremely uncomfortable when unable to
achieve perfection. They may even neglect personal
relationships to focus on making a project perfect.

Steps to overcome personality disorders

• Talk to someone. Most often, it helps
to share your feelings.
• Look after your physical health. A healthy body
can help you maintain a healthy mind.
• Build confidence in your ability to handle
difficult situations.
• Engage in hobbies, such as music, dance and
painting. These have a therapeutic effect.
• Stay positive by choosing words like ‘challenges’
instead of ‘problems’.

Practical Exercise
The teacher will facilitate these activities by showing you the
e-learning module for this lesson via http://www.psscive.ac.in/
Employability_Skills.html. The module will include videos and
e-content for the above topics, as well as, detailed instructions
for the activity given below.
Activity 1
Group discussion
Self-awareness
Material required
Pen or pencil, notepad, chart paper, etc.
Procedure
• Form groups of three.
• Choose any one of the following situations and write down
the personality disorders associated with these.
— Kapil studies in a school. He disregards the rules set
by the school, is irritable and does not talk much with
either friends or family.
— Jaya has been feeling fearful and empty for the last
few days. She even tried to harm herself. What kind of
personality disorder is this? How can you help her?

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 Notes Check Your Progress
A. Multiple choice questions
Read the questions carefully and put a tick mark against the
correct option.
1. Which of the following is not a parameter to describe an
individual’s personality?
(a) Self-confidence
(b) Openness
(c) Neuroticism
(d) Agreeableness
2. Which of the following is characterised by an extreme
feeling of self importance?
(a) Narcissistic personality disorder
(b) Borderline personality disorder
(c) Dependent personality disorder
(d) None of the above
3. Ravi has feelings of emptiness, abandonment and
suicide. What type of personality disorder is this?
(a) Borderline
(b) Dependent
(c) Avoidant
(d) Obsessive
4. Mona is helping her sister to overcome a personality
disorder. What should she do?
(a) Talk to her sister
(b) Engage her in hobbies
(c) Help her build confidence
(d) All of the above

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to
• explain the meaning of personality.
• describe basic personality traits.
• describe common personality disorders.

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Unit 3 Information
and Communication
Technology Skills

Introduction
Information and Communication Technology, called
ICT in short, has become an integral part of our life.
One must develop the ability to use digital technology
and communication tools to access, manage, integrate,
evaluate, create and communicate. In this Unit, you
will learn about how to use spreadsheets and make
presentations using a software.

Session 1: Getting Started with Spreadsheet

How do people generally maintain their expenses? They
write down all expenses, such as school fee of their
children; grocery, gas and electricity bills; money spent
on festivals and clothes, etc., in a diary. Then, they note
down how much was spent on each item. Finally, the
total is calculated to find out how much they have spent
in a month. But nowadays, people who know how to use
a computer can use software to maintain an account of
their expenses.
Let us now learn about spreadsheets, which are used
for doing calculations on a computer.
A spreadsheet is an electronic document, which has
rows and columns. It is used to store data in a systematic
way and do calculations. For example, a grocery shop

2020-21
 has many items. The shopkeeper keeps a track of the
total quantity of each item, quantity sold, cost and
selling price of each item, etc. All these details can be
maintained using a spreadsheet as shown in Table 3.1.
It will also help the shopkeeper do difficult calculations
easily, such as finding out profit or loss.
Table 3.1: Goods in a grocery store
Item Total Quantity Quantity Cost Selling
quantity sold (kg) left (kg) `/kg price
(kg) `/kg
Wheat atta 250 115 135 28 31
Rice 160 57 103 46 50
Arhar daal 70 45 25 60 68
Sugar 200 145 55 40 45

Having understood what spreadsheets are, let us

now understand the types of spreadsheet.

Types of spreadsheet
There are many types of spreadsheet available that have
been created by different companies. Some of the most
popular ones are given in Figure 3.1.
Microsoft Excel LibreOffice Calc Google Sheets

Figure 3.1: Popular spreadsheet software

In this Session, we will be learning how to use

LibreOffice Calc. Most functions in different spreadsheets
are same. If you know how to use one, you can easily
use any other spreadsheet.

Steps to start LibreOffice Calc

1. The first thing you need to ensure is that
LibreOffice must be installed on your computer.

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 2. Type LibreOffice Calc in the search bar
of Windows.
3. Select LibreOffice Calc from the search results as
shown in Figure 3.2. LibreOffice Calc will open a
blank sheet as shown in Figure 3.3.
4. You can start typing and entering data as soon as
you open the spreadsheet. However, to start using
the spreadsheet, first you need to understand
the components of a spreadsheet.

Components of a spreadsheet
Figure 3.2: Select LibreOffice
In the spreadsheet, you can see a worksheet with cells Calc from the search results
placed in rows and columns. Now, let us learn what
these are.
1. A row is an arrangement of cells in a horizontal
(sleeping) manner. As shown in Figure 3.4, all
marks for maths are in row number 3.
2. A column is an arrangement of cells in a vertical
(standing) manner. As shown in Figure 3.4,
Rajvir’s marks are in column B.

Figure 3.3: LibreOffice Calc blank sheet Figure 3.4: Rows and columns in a spreadsheet

3. A cell is a rectangle shaped box, where the row and

column meet. You can enter text, numbers, date,
formula, etc., in a cell. The cell that is selected
appears highlighted. In Figure 3.4, the selected
cell is B3 — the cell in column B on row 3 — and
it contains Rajvir’s marks for maths.

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 Whatever you type in, a cell
appears in the area called formula
bar as shown in Figure 3.5.
You also enter or edit data
and formula directly into the
Formula Bar.
4. The name box shows the
location of the selected cell.
The location of the cell is a
combination of column and
row. For example, A1, where
Figure 3.5: Formula bar in a spreadsheet A is the column name and 1
is the row number.
5. A worksheet is a collection of cells in the form
of a grid (a network of lines that intersect each
other, making rectangles). When you open a
spreadsheet for the first time, you see a blank
worksheet with the name ‘Sheet1’.
6. A workbook is a spreadsheet that has one or
more worksheets.

Practical Exercise
Run e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/
Employability_Skills.html. This will include videos and
e-content for the above topics. Based upon the e-learning,
do the following activity.
Initial thinking activity
How do you think a shopkeeper maintains a record of
earnings and expenses?
Practical group exercise
Run the e-learning lesson to get details on how to
run the activity.
Activity 1
Group practice
Working with LibreOffice Calc
Material required
Pen or pencil, notebook and computer with LibreOffice Calc, etc.
Procedure
• Divide the class into groups, depending on the number
of computers available. Choose a group leader, who will
direct this activity.
• The leader will start LibreOffice Calc on the computer as
per the instructions given in the Session.

42 Employability Skills – Class XII

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 • Each member of the group identifies one component of the Notes
spreadsheet. The other members should give feedback as
to what is correct and what is not. The rest of the group
members can also make notes of the components identified
and make sure that none is left out.
• Write down the answers to the questions given below
in your notebook. Then, run the e-lesson to see
these questions.

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions
1. A _____________ is an electronic document used to store
data in a systematic way and perform calculations just
like an expense sheet.
(a) spreadsheet
(b) worksheet
(c) workbook
(d) name box
2. Which of the following functions can be performed with
the help of spreadsheets?
(1) Maintaining records
(2) Creating videos
(3) Analysing data
(4) Performing financial calculations
(5) Writing letters
(a) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
(b) 1, 3, 4
(c) 1, 3, 5
(d) 3, 4, 5
3. Match the columns, and then, choose the correct answer.

1. Grid of horizontal rows and A. Row

vertical columns
2. Horizontal arrangement of cells B. Workbook
numbered 1, 2, 3, 4
3. Where rows and columns meet C. Columns
or intersect
4. Which contains one or more D. Cell
worksheets
5. Vertical arrangement of cells E. Worksheet
named A, B, C, D

(a) 1-E, 2-A, 3-B, 4-D, 5-C

(b) 1-E, 2-B, 3-C, 4-D, 5-A
(c) 1-A, 2-B, 3-C, 4-D, 5-E
(d) 1-E, 2-A, 3-D, 4-B, 5-C
4. A _______ is an arrangement of cells in a horizontal manner.
(a) column (b) row
(b) cell (c) worksheet

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 What have you learnt?
After completing this Session, you will be able to
• explain the importance and usage of spreadsheet.
• list different spreadsheet applications.
• open LibreOffice Calc and create a spreadsheet.
• identify components (parts) of a spreadsheet.

Session 2: Performing Basic

Operations in a Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet can be used to perform various functions.
Let us see how to enter, edit, delete data and use data
functions effectively.
Steps to enter data
The steps to enter data in a particular cell in a
spreadsheet are given below.
1. Click on the cell where you want to enter data
as shown in Figure 1. For example, we click
cell A1.

Figure 1: Click on a cell

2. Type text or number. As you type, you can see

the data in the Formula Bar as well. Press Enter
when you complete typing.

Figure 2: Type text or number

3. The cursor is set on the next cell, in this case A2.

You can continue entering other data.

4. Notice that data in the cell will automatically

(by default) be left aligned (near the left edge of
the cell) as you have entered text as shown in
Figure 3. If you enter numbers, they are right
aligned in the cell. Remember that text is aligned
to the left of the cell, while number is aligned to
Figure 3: Text alignment
the right.

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5. You can enter a formula in a cell by starting
with ‘=’ equal-to symbol as shown in Figure 4.
This will do the calculations as given and display
the results.

Figure 4: Use ‘=’ for formula

Type of data
There are three main type of data — text, numbers
and formula. Nowadays, it is also possible to enter
pictures, audio, video and shapes in a spreadsheet.
Let us see what they are used for. Raghu owns a
shop. He keeps a record of all items, such as wheat,
rice, daal, sugar, etc. He enters the name of the
items, date of purchase, quantity purchased, cost
price, selling price, etc. Using a spreadsheet, he can
use text to enter names, numbers to enter quantity
and date to show when an item was purchased.
Editing data in a cell
If Raghu wants to name the item ‘Basmati rice’ instead
of ‘rice’, he can edit (correct) it in the spreadsheet.
There are various ways in which one can edit a cell
as shown in Figure 3.6.
Method 1
1. Double click on the cell you want to edit.
Then, type additional text in the cell or in the Figure 3.6: Editing text in a cell
Formula Bar.
2. Press Enter.
Method 2
1. Click on the cell you want to edit.
2. Correct the text in the Formula Bar.
3. Press Enter.
Method 3
(If you want to completely change the text in the cell,
then do the following.)
1. Click on the cell.
2. Type the new text.
3. Press Enter.
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 Deleting data in a cell
You can delete the value stored in a
particular cell as shown in Figure 3.7.
The steps to delete data in a cell are
as follows.
1. Click on the cell.
Figure 3.7: Deleting value in a cell 2. Press Delete key on the keyboard.
This deletes the text entry of that
cell making it blank.
Selecting multiple cells
Now, if Raghu wants to delete the entire row related to
‘basmati rice’, he can select the entire row, and then,
press ‘Delete’. After selecting multiple cells, a function
will be performed on the cells that are selected. When
a single cell is selected it is called active cell. When a
number of cells is selected, it is called cell range. There
are several ways in which multiple cells can be selected
as shown in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2: Selecting multiple cells

To select an entire row, click the To select a full column, click the
row heading. column heading.

To select an entire worksheet, click the grey To select a range of cells, click on the
rectangle on the upper left corner of starting cell, then hold down the mouse
the worksheet. button and drag it till you have selected
all the cells you want. Release the
mouse button.

46 Employability Skills – Class XII

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To select two or more rows that are not next to each other, select one row and hold down the
Control key, and then, select the next row as shown in the figure given below.

Saving the spreadsheet in various formats

After entering data, you can save the spreadsheet in the
same way as a Notepad or any other word file. Click File,
and then, Save as shown in Figure 3.8. This will open a
Save As dialog box. Type the file name and click Save.
The default Save as type is ODF Spreadsheet (.ods)
but you can save the spreadsheet in other types, such
as Microsoft Excel 2003 (.xls) as shown in Figure 3.9.

Figure 3.8: Saving the spreadsheet Figure 3.9: Saving in other formats

Closing the spreadsheet

Once you have saved the data, you can
close the spreadsheet by clicking File, and
then, Close as shown in Figure 3.10.
Figure 3.10: Closing the spreadsheet

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 Opening a spreadsheet
Click File, and then, select Open. This will show a dialog
box with a list of existing files. Select the one you want
to open and click Open as shown in Figure 3.11.

Figure 3.11: Opening a spreadsheet

Printing the spreadsheet

To print a spreadsheet, you can click File, and
then, select Print from the drop-down or press
Ctrl+P on the keyboard as shown in
Figure 3.12.
A Print dialog box appears. Select the
printer, range of pages and number of copies
to be printed, and click OK as shown in
Figure 3.13.

Figure 3.12: Printing the spreadsheet Figure 3.13: Print dialog box

48 Employability Skills – Class XII

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 Notes
Practical Exercise
Run e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/Employability
_Skills.html. This will include videos and e-content for the above
topics. Based upon the e-learning, do the following activity.
Initial thinking activity
How do you think a shopkeeper will delete an entry in his record
book? How do you think a teacher deletes the name of a student,
who has left the school, from the register?
Practical group exercise
Run the e-learning lesson to get details on how
to run the activity.
Activity 1

Group practice
Working with data in LibreOffice Calc
Material required
Pen or paper, computer with LibreOffice Calc installed, etc.
Procedure
• Divide the class into groups, depending on the number of
computers available. Select a group leader.
• The leader opens a spreadsheet. Each member enters one’s
name, roll number and date of birth in the spreadsheet.
• Other members watch and give feedback on what is done
correctly and what could be done better.
• Your spreadsheet should look like the table given below.

Name Roll No. Date of Birth

Sushil Kumar 123 15/10/01
Meera Rao 124 26/12/03

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions
1. The correct order of steps for entering data in a
spreadsheet is:
(a) type the data, click the cell and press Enter.
(b) click the cell, type the data and press Enter.
(c) press Enter, click the cell and type the data.
(d) click the cell, press Enter and type the data.
2. What will you do to select an entire worksheet in
a spreadsheet?
(a) Click the File tab and select properties from the list
(b) Click the grey row heading
(c) Click the grey rectangle in the upper left corner
of the spreadsheet
(d) Click the grey column heading

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 What have you learnt?
After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• identify type of data.
• open a spreadsheet.
• enter, edit and delete data.
• select multiple cells.
• save and close a spreadsheet.
• print a spreadsheet.

Session 3: Working with Data

and Formatting Text
Data stored in a spreadsheet can be used in calculations,
graphical representation and display of information. Let
us learn more about working with data.

Using spreadsheet for addition

Ms Sharma is a teacher and has just started using a
computer spreadsheet instead of her manual marks
register. She has entered the marks of her students
in various subjects as shown in Figure 3.14. Now, she
wants to find out the total marks for each student. What
should she do?
To find out the total marks for each
student, she needs to add the marks
in each subject. The symbol (operator)
used for addition in a spreadsheet is
‘+’ (plus). There are various ways to
do addition in a spreadsheet. Let us
Figure 3.14: Students’ marks explore them.

Adding values directly

To do any calculation in a spreadsheet,
you need to use ‘=’ (equal‑to) symbol,
which tells the spreadsheet that a
formula has been entered. Only then
the spreadsheet will perform the
calculation and display the result.
Ms Sharma can add values directly
Figure 3.15(a): Entering formula for each student, i.e., add the numbers
directly, such as ‘=73+89+78’ as shown
in Figure 3.15(a).

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 When you type this in a cell and
press Enter, the result, i.e., 240 will be
displayed. Notice that the formula is
displayed in the Formula Bar as shown
in Figure 3.15(b).
Adding using cell address Figure 3.15(b): Formula displayed in Formula Bar

Ms Sharma realised that she had

entered the wrong marks for English.
Now, she has to re-enter the total
formula. That is a lot of work since
there are 40 children in her class.
Spreadsheet gives you a better way to
calculate the total. Instead of using
direct numbers in the formula, you Figure 3.16(a): Formula using cell address
can use cell addresses as shown in
Figure 3.16(a).
For example instead of entering
‘=73+89+78’, she can enter the cell
addresses ‘=B2+C2+D2’. This will also
give the same result. The advantage
here is that even if there is a change in
the marks, there is no need to type the
numbers again in the Total field as
Figure 3.16(b): Total of three cells
shown in Figure 3.16(b).
All Ms Sharma needs to do is
change the English marks. The total
will automatically be calculated again.
No change has to be made to
the formula.
Notice in Figure 3.16(c), the
English score for Rohit has changed
from 73 to 66. The total changes
to 233 automatically, even though
there is no change in the formula
i.e., ‘=B2+C2+D2’ as shown in
Figure 3.16(c). Figure 3.16(c): Total remains the same

Using mouse to select values in a formula

Now, to write the formula, Ms Sharma has to find out
the cell address of each cell with marks and type it.
This requires some effort. Spreadsheet makes the task

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 easier for Ms Sharma. Using a mouse,
she can simply select the cell to be used
in the formula instead of typing the cell
addresses as shown in Figure 3.17. The
steps are as follows.
1. Type ‘=’ in the cell where you
Figure 3.17: Using a mouse to select a cell want to calculate the total.
2. Click the cell, which has English marks for
Rohit. B2 will appear in the formula.
3. Type ‘+’.
4. Click the cell, which has maths marks for Rohit.
C2 will appear in the formula.
5. Type ‘+’.
6. Click the cell (D2), which has science marks
for Rohit.
7. Press Enter.
This will enter the same formula as before without
Ms Sharma having to type the cell addresses for marks
scored in each subject. This method is much easier,
especially, when there may be many subjects.

Using Sum() function

Spreadsheet also gives you some
functions that make it easier to do
calculations. To add numbers, we have
the Sum() function. This helps in adding
Figure 3.18(a): Using SUM() function the numbers in separate cells or in a cell
range. In the example given in Figure
3.18(a) and (b), marks for Rohit are in
one row, one after the other. As shown
in Figure 3.18(a) and 3.18(b), the steps
to use the SUM() function are as follows.
1. Type ‘=Sum(' in E2 where you
want the total.
2. Now, click on English marks, i.e.,
B2, hold the left mouse button
and drag till science marks, i.e.,
D2. This will select the marks for
all three subjects.
Figure 3.18(b): Steps to use SUM() Function 3. Type ‘)’ and press Enter.

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 This displays the results in cell number E2 and the
formula in the Formula Bar.
Copying and moving formula
Now, Ms Sharma has used the Sum()
function to calculate the total for
Rohit. Does she need to do the same
steps 40 times for all 40 students? No!
Spreadsheets provide a way to copy the
formula from one cell to another. The Figure 3.19: Copy formula
values are automatically adjusted in the
new cells. The steps to copy a formula are as follows.
1. Click on the cell with the formula.
2. Right-click and select Copy as shown in
Figure 3.19 or press Ctrl+c on the keyboard. If
you wish to move the formula to a new cell, i.e.,
delete it from the existing cell, select Cut or press
Ctrl+x on the keyboard.
3. Click on the first cell, where you have to copy
the formula.
4. Keeping the left mouse button down, drag till you
reach the last cell, where you want the formula.
Release the left mouse button.
5. Right-click and select Paste as
shown in Figure 3.20 or press
Ctrl+v on the keyboard.
6. The formula will be copied to all
selected cells. It will calculate the
total for each student. Figure 3.20: Paste formula
Ms Sharma is happy now. Spreadsheets have made
her work simple. Now, all she has to do is enter the
marks for all her students for each subject and the rest
will be done by the spreadsheet. And, if some of the
marks change, she does not have to do the calculations
all over again.

Need to format cells and content

Geeta makes very neat notes in her copy. She underlines
the headings and uses a black pen to write the
sub-topics. Sometimes, she writes important words in
capital letters to make them stand out. She even has a
neat rough work column on the side. Everybody wants

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 her notes as they are easy to read and understand, and
the important points are clearly highlighted.
Electronic spreadsheets have many options to make
your content look neat and and easy to read. This is
called ‘formatting’. There are many ways in which you
can format the content in a spreadsheet. Let us work
with some of them.

Change text style and font size

In case you want to give a different style
or a bigger size to the heading, you can
change the text style using the Font
drop-down as shown in Figure 3.21.
Figure 3.21: Change font You can choose the style you like
from the drop-down. The text in all
selected cells will change.
Similarly, you can change the size
of the text from from the font-size
drop-down.
As you can see in Figure 3.22, the font
Figure 3.22: New font and size and size of the heading have changed.

Align (arrange) text in a cell

Sometimes, we see that text is placed in the centre of
the cell. How does this happen? In a spreadsheet, you
can position the text in a cell to the left, right or center.
This is the alignment feature of spreadsheet.
You can use the given icons on the
Tool Bar to align the text.
In Figure 3.23, the text in cell A1,
B1 and C1 has been aligned to the
centre. You can see that only the
selected cells have been aligned to
Figure 3.23: Align text the center.

Highlight text
We make headings of our documents and tables
bigger and bolder than the rest of the text to make
them stand out. We also underline important words or
italicise them so that they, too, stand out. As shown in
Table 3.3, there are many ways in which we can highlight
the text in a spreadsheet.
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 Table 3.3: Highlighting text

Action Shortcut keys Tool Bar icon

To make text bold Ctrl+b

To underline text Ctrl+u

To make text italic Ctrl+i

or slanting

Practical Exercise
Run the e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/
Employability _Skills.html. This will include videos and e-content
for the above topics. Based upon the e-learning, do the
following activities.
Initial thinking activity
Why do you think we need to format content in a spreadsheet?
Practical group exercise
Run the e-learning lesson to get details on how to
run the activity.
Activity 1
Group practice
Formatting spreadsheets in LibreOffice Calc
Material required
Pen, computer with LibreOffice Calc installed, etc.

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 Notes Procedure
• Divide the class into groups, depending on the number of
computers. Choose a leader, who will direct the activity.
• The leader creates a table as shown in Figure 1. One
member center aligns the Roll No. and Name columns.
• Another member makes all column headings bold. Now,
some other member underlines the column headings.
Another member can increase the size of column B to
make the full name visible.

Figure 1: Activity 1 sample

Activity 2

Group practice
Basic calculations in LibreOffice Calc
Material required
Pen, paper, computer with LibreOffice Calc installed, etc.
Procedure
• Divide the class into groups, depending on the number of
computers available. Each group will select a leader.
• The leader opens a spreadsheet. As shown in Figure 1, each
member enters one’s roll number, name, marks obtained
in English, Hindi, maths and science, and calculates the
total marks in column G.
• Each member can use a different method to calculate the
total. Other members watch and give feedback on what
was done correctly and what could have been done better.
Your spreadsheet should look like the table given below.

Figure 1: Activity 2 sample

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Check Your Progress Notes
A. Multiple choice questions
1. What is the default alignment of numbers in a cell?
(a) Left aligned
(b) Right aligned
(c) Center aligned
(d) Randomly aligned
2. “By default, the text in a cell is left aligned.”
State whether this is true or false.
(a) True
(b) False
3. What is the shortcut key to underline text in
a spreadsheet?
(a) Ctrl+b
(b) Ctrl+i
(c) Ctrl+l
(d) Ctrl+u
4. Which of the following features is used to
perform addition in spreadsheets?
(a) Format option
(b) Charts
(c) Graphs
(d) Formula
5. Which of the following signs define a formula?
(a) +
(b) /
(c) =
(d) +

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• add values directly in a spreadsheet.
• add values using formulas.
• add values using Sum() function.
• align (arrange) text in a cell.
• fit text into a cell.
• highlight the text.

Session 4: Advanced Features

in Spreadsheet
Let us take an example of 500 students in a school.
Now, if the teacher wants to find the marks of a particular
student, for example ‘Seema’, she will have to look
through the entire list. It is a difficult process and may

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 take a long time as the teacher has to go through all 500
names. Now, if she arranges the names alphabetically,
i.e., putting names starting with ‘A’ first, then names
with ‘B’, and so on, finding a name will be easier. One
knows that the name ‘Seema’, starting with the letter
‘S’, will come in the middle. This sorting or arrangement
of words in order can help one find a particular word or
name easily.
Sorting data
Let us take another example.
Ms Sharma has all her students’
subject marks and their totals in a
spreadsheet as shown in Figure 3.24.
If she wants to find out three students
with the highest marks, she will have
to search the entire list. This is even
more difficult if there are 100 or more,
students, for example, in the entire
Figure 3.24: Unsorted data batch or school.
To make it easy, she can sort the data on the total
marks so that she knows the rank of the students in the
class. The steps to sort data are as follows.
1. Select all rows and columns that have to be sorted
as shown in Figure 3.25.
2. Click on Data, and then, select Sort as shown in
Figure 3.26.

Figure 3.25: Select data to be sorted Figure 3.26: Click on Data, and then, select Sort

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 3. This will give a Sort dialog box as
shown in Figure 3.27. Click on Sort
Key 1 and select total from the
drop-down. By default the order is
Ascending, which means from the
lowest to the highest. We will change
it to Descending. This will sort the
data in the total field.
Figure 3.27: Sort dialog box
4. Click on OK.
5. As shown in Figure 3.28, the data will
get rearranged in the entire list and the
name of the student with the highest
total marks will appear at the top,
and then, the student with the next
highest marks, and so on. Therefore,
the names of top three students will
appear in the beginning of the list
Figure 3.28: Sorted data
and the name of the student with the
lowest total marks will appear last.

Filtering data
Figure 3.29 has students from different
sections and Ms Sharma wants to see the
marks of students only from Class XII-A,
what will she do?
To do this, Ms Sharma can use another
feature of spreadsheet — ‘Filters’.
The steps to apply filter to a table are
as follows.
Figure 3.29: Unfiltered data
1. Click on the AutoFilter icon on
the Tool Bar.
2. This will put filters at the top of each
column as shown in Figure 3.30.
3. Click on the filter for ‘class’ column.
4. The drop-down will show a list of all
the values in that column, for example,
Class XII-A and XII-B.
5. By default, all values are checked or
selected. Figure 3.30: Filters added

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 6. If you want to see the data of students
only from Class XII-A, uncheck Class XII-B
as shown in Figure 3.31.
7. Click on OK.
8. Data of students only from Class XII-A will
be dispalyed as shown in Figure 3.32.

Figure 3.32: Filtered data

Figure 3.31: Selecting Class XII-A

Protecting spreadsheet with password

If Ms Sharma is sharing the computer with other
teachers and staff, she may want to protect her
data. She may not want anyone
else to open and make changes
to her work. She can do this
by protecting her spreadsheet
using a password. The steps
to protect a spreadsheet are
as follows.
1. Click on Tools and select
Protect Spreadsheet as
Figure 3.33: Protecting spreadsheet
shown in Figure 3.33.
2. A Protect Document dialog box
appears as shown in Figure 3.34.
3. Type in a password.
4. Type the same password in the
Confirm textbox.
5. Click on OK.
6. Now, when you close the file and open
it again, it will ask for the password.
Figure 3.34: Protect Document dialog box
Remember this password so that you can
open the file.

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 Another way of protecting a spreadsheet is
as follows.
1. Click on File, and then, Save As.
2. A Save As dialog box will appear as shown in
Figure 3.35.

Figure 3.35: Save As dialog box

3. Type the file name and click Save with password.
4. Click on Save.
5. A Set Password dialog box appears as shown in
Figure 3.36.

Figure 3.36: Set password dialog box

6. Type a password in the first

textbox, and then, type the
same password in the
Confirm textbox.
7. Click on OK.
8. Now, when you try to open
the file, it will ask for a
password as shown in
Figure 3.37.
9. Type the password and Figure 3.37: Enter password to open a file
click on OK.

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 Notes
Practical Exercise
Run the e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/
Employability _Skills.html. This will include videos and
e-content for the above topics. Based on the e-learning, do the
following activity.
Initial thinking activity
Why do you think we need to sort content in a spreadsheet?
Practical group exercise
Run the e-learning lesson to get details on how to
run the activity.
Activity 1

Group practice
Sorting data in LibreOffice Calc
Material required
Pen or pencil, computer with LibreOffice Calc, etc.
Procedure
• Divide the class into groups, depending on the number of
computers. Choose a leader, who will direct the activity.
• Open a new workbook. Enter your monthly expenses as
shown in Figure 1. Sort the data in alphabetical order.
Filter data to show expenses above `100.

Figure 1: Activity 1 sample

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions
1. Which menu option will you use to sort data?
(a) Tools
(b) Data
(c) Format
(d) View
2. Mr Gupta has a spreadsheet with a list of 500 items in
his shop. A customer comes and asks for a particular
item. How should he arrange the data so that he can
find that item fast? What would Mr Gupta do? He will:
(a) apply filter.
(b) sort the data.
(c) use password.
(d) format data.

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 3. Mr Verma shares the computer in his office with other Notes
colleagues. He wants to make sure no one sees the
financial data he saves on the computer. What should
he do?
(a) Lock the computer in a cupboard
(b) Change the password of his computer so
that no one can use it
(c) Apply password to the financial data sheet
(d) Leave it as it is and hope that no one will open it

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• sort data.
• add filters.
• protect spreadsheet with a password.

Session 5: Presentation Software

Ms Sharma wants to explain water cycle to her
students. Mr Chaudhary wants to explain the
working of a product to his clients and Dr Suman
wants to give a lecture on her new research. All these
people need to make an impact on their audience.
They can use handmade charts or printed slides or
make a digital presentation using a computer and
presentation software.
Presentation software is being widely used to make
digital presentations. It has many advantages, which
are as follows.
1. They are interesting as they have features like
images, videos, animation and music.
2. Making changes in digital presentations is easy.
3. A digital presentation can be shown to a much
larger audience by projecting on a screen.
4. The presentation can be printed and distributed
to the audience.
Presentation software available
There are a number of presentation software available,
such as
1. LibreOffice Impress
2. Microsoft Office – PowerPoint

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 3. OpenOffice Impress
4. Google Slides
5. Apple Keynote
Most features in all these software are same. We
will be discussing and using LibreOffice Impress to
create presentations in this Session as it is a free and
open software.

Steps to start LibreOffice Impress

1. First, you must ensure that LibreOffice Impress
is installed on your computer.
2. Type ‘LibreOffice Impress’ in the search bar
of Windows.
3. Select LibreOffice Impress from the search
results as shown in Figure 3.38(a).
4. LibreOffice Impress will open. Cancel the
‘Select a template’ dialog box.
5. A blank presentation will open [Figure 3.38(b)].

Figure 3.38(a): Select LibreOffice Figure 3.38(b): Open LibreOffice Impress

Impress from the search results

Adding text to a presentation

By default, there are two textboxes in the first slide.
The top one is for the title and the lower (bigger) one for
other details. We can click on the title box and type in
a title. Similarly, we can click on the lower box and type
in some details as given in Figure 3.39.

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 Notes

There are three main steps in water cycle.

Figure 3.39: Adding text to a slide

In this way, we can start using LibreOffice Impress
to make a presentation.

Practical Exercise
Run the e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/
Employability_Skills.html. This will include videos and
e-content for the above topics. Based upon the e-learning,
do the following activity.
Initial thinking activity
How do you make your projects?
Practical group exercise
Run the e-learning lesson to get details on how to run
the activity.
Activity 1

Group practice
Creating presentation in LibreOffice Impress
Material required
Pen, notebook, computer with LibreOffice Impress, etc.
Procedure
• Divide the class into groups, depending on the number
of computers.
• Choose a leader, who will direct the activity.
• Start LibreOffice Impress and create a new presentation
with the title ‘Advantages of using the Internet’.

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions
1. You have a summer vacation project on how to make
biogas. You have done a lot of research, clicked pictures
of biogas plants and taken videos of people, who use
biogas. Now, you have to make a presentation before
the class. What would you use?
(a) Chart paper
(b) Word document
(c) Presentation software
(d) Spreadsheet

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 2. What do you need to install on your computer to be able
to run Impress?
(a) Google
(b) Microsoft Office
(c) LibreOffice
(d) Apple iOS
3. How many textboxes does the first slide of LibreOffice
Impress have by default?
(a) 1
(b) 2
(c) 3
(d) 4

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• describe the advantages of digital presentation.
• list various presentation software.
• list features of a presentation.
• create a new presentation.

Session 6: Opening, Closing, Saving

and Printing a Presentation
In this Session, we will learn about opening, closing,
saving and printing a presentation.

Steps to save a presentation

A digital presentation can be saved as a file on the
computer. This can be opened later, viewed, edited,
shared with friends and colleagues, and printed. It
is important to save the presentation several times
while working so that you do not lose data in case the
computer shuts down or there is a power cut.
The steps to save a presentation for
the first time are as follows.
1. Click on File.
2. Select Save As or Save from
the drop-down. This displays a
Save As dialog box as shown in
Figure 3.40.
3. You can select a folder where
you want to save the file, for
Figure 3.40: ‘Save As’ dialog box example Desktop.

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 4. By default, the File name is ‘Untitled#’ (# is
a number). You can change it to the name of
your choice.
5. The default Save As type is .ods. You can select
other file types from the Save As type drop-down.
You can save the file as MS Excel or HTML or
text file.
6. Click on Save.
This will save the presentation on the computer.
Later while working, you can simply click File>Save or
press Ctrl+s on the keyboard to save the presentation.

Steps to close a presentation

The steps to close a presentation are as follows.
1. Click on File.
2. Select Close from the drop-down.
3. If you have not saved the
changes before closing the file,
it will prompt you with a ‘Save
Document?’ dialog box as
shown in Figure 3.41. You can
decide whether you want to save Figure 3.41: Save Document dialog box
or not or cancel.

Steps to open a presentation

The steps to open a presentation are
as follows.
1. Open LibreOffice Impress.
2. Click on File.
3. Then, select Open from the
drop-down.
4. This will display the Open dialog
box as shown in Figure 3.42.
5. Browse and select the folder
where your file is saved, for Figure 3.42: Open dialog box
example Desktop.
6. Then, select the file, for example Water Cycle.

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 Notes 7. Click on Open.
8. This will open the ‘Water Cycle.ods’ in
LibreOffice Impress.
Steps to print a presentation
Before you try to print a file, please make sure that a
printer is connected to the computer. The steps to print
a presentation are as follows.
1. Click on File.
2. Select Print from the drop-down or you can press
Ctrl+p on the keyboard.
3. A Print dialog box is displayed.
4. A printer attached to the computer is displayed
in the dialog box.
5. Select the number of copies you want to print.
6. Select All, if you want to print all slides.
7. Select Slides, if you want to print few of them and
provide the slide numbers.
8. Click on OK.

Practical Exercise
Run the e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/
Employability_Skills.html. This will include videos and
e-content for the above topics. Based on the e-learning, do the
following activity.
Practical group exercise
Run the e-learning lesson to get details on how to run the activity.
Activity 1

Group practice
Working on a presentation in LibreOffice impress.
Material required
Computer with LibreOffice Impress, pen, notebook, etc.
Procedure
• Divide the class into groups, depending on the number of
computers. Each group will perform the following activities.
– Save a presentation file by the name ‘Water Cycle Project’
– Close the file
– Open the file again
– Print the presentation
• Make sure that each student in the group gets a chance
to perform at least one activity. Other members can watch
and give feedback on what was done correctly and what
could be improved upon.

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Check Your Progress Notes
A. Multiple choice questions

1. Which is the correct step to save a presentation?

(a) File>Save As>Type file name>Save
(b) File>Open>File name>Open
(c) File>Template>Save as Template
(d) File>Close>Save>OK
2. Which is the correct step to close a presentation?
(a) File>Save As>Type file name>Save
(b) File>Exit
(c) File>Close
(d) File>Export
3. Which is the correct step for printing a presentation?
(a) File>Print
(b) File>Print>Handout
(c) File>Print>Handout>OK
(d) File>OK

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• save a presentation.
• close a presentation.
• open a presentation.
• print presentation slides.

Session 7: Working with Slides

and Text in a Presentation
Let us assume you have to make a presentation about
a product in your office. The time assigned for the same
is five minutes. If you highlight the important points
in the presentation, you can easily depict important
information in a short span. Let us look at how we can
make our presentation more effective.
Adding slide to a presentation
Ms Sharma listed all three steps of Water Cycle in the
first slide. Now, she wants to explain each step. But
it is not a good idea to put more information on one
page. This will make the text jumbled, and difficult
to read and understand.
Ms Sharma can add a new slide. Slides are like new
pages, which are added to separate different topics in
a presentation. Ms Sharma can add one slide each for
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 evaporation, condensation and precipitation, and give
more details related to each topic in three different
slides. To add a new slide, do the following.
1. Click on Slide.
2. Select New Slide from the
drop-down as shown in Figure 3.43.
3. You can also press Ctrl+M on
the keyboard.
4. This will add a blank New Slide to
Figure 3.43: Adding a New Slide the presentation.
5. The layout or arrangement of
textboxes, etc., will be similar to
the previous one.

Deleting slides
The steps to delete a slide are as follows.
1. Select the slide that you want
to delete.
2. Click on Slide.
3. Select Delete Slide from the
Figure 3.44: Delete Slide
drop-down as shown in Figure 3.44.
4. The selected slide will be deleted.
5. You can press ‘Del’ key on the keyboard to delete
the selected slide.

Adding and formatting text

The default layout of a LibreOffice Impress slide has two
textboxes — one for the title and other for text. You can
add text by simply typing on the keyboard.
If you have a blank slide with no textbox, you can
insert a textbox using the option Insert>Textbox as
shown in Figure 3.45. You can make this textbox of any
size, and then, enter the text.

Figure 3.45: Formatting text

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 You can format the text in a presentation to make it Notes
look better or attractive.
There are many font styles available to change the
way a text appears. Click on the Font Style drop-down
to select a different style. This will change the way the
text is written (Figure 3.45).
You can also change the size of the text by clicking
on the Font Size drop-down and select the size
(for example, 8, 12, 14, 22, etc.). The font size of the title
is increased to make it stand out.

Highlighting text — bold, underline, italic

To highlight a text in LibreOffice, you can make it bold,
underlined or italic, depending on the requirement.
First, select the text that has to be highlighted.
Then, hover over the given icons in the Properties tab
as shown in Figure 3.46. Select the icon required to
perform the desired function, i.e., making it bold, italic,
underlined or strikethrough.

Figure 3.46: Highlighting text

Aligning text — left, right, center, justified

The text can be aligned either left, right, center or
justified. Using the Paragraph option in the Properties
tab as shown in Figure 3.47, the text can be aligned.

Figure 3.47: Aligning text

‘Left or right aligned’ means that text will be aligned

to the left or right margin, respectively. ‘Center’ aligns

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 Notes the text to the center of the page. ‘Justify’ aligns the text
to the right and left margins.

Changing text colour

You can make the presentation even more interesting
by giving different colours to the text.
The Font Color drop-down gives various colours from
which you can choose and change the colour of the text
as shown in Figure 3.48. Besides the Font Color
drop-down, there is a Highlight Color drop-down. If you
select a colour from the Highlight Color drop-down, it will
change the background colour of the text.

Figure 3.48: Changing text colour

In this way, you can make the presentation
interesting and meaningful.

Practical Exercise
Run the e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/
Employability_Skills.html. This will include videos and
e-content for the above topics. Based on the e-learning, do the
following activity.
Practical group exercise
Run the e-learning lesson to get details on how to run the activity.

Activity 1
Group practice
Working with font styles, types in LibreOffice Impress
Material required
Computer with LibreOffice Impress, notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• Divide the class into groups, depending on the number of
computers. Each group will perform the following activities.
1. Insert a new slide.
2. Type ‘LibreOffice Impress’.
3. Change the font to ‘Open Sans’.
4. Colour the text white.
5. Colour the background green.

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 6. The text should appear as given in Figure 1. Notes
7. Now, type ‘Google’.

Figure 1: Activity 1 sample 1

8. Change the font to ‘Bookman Old Style’.
9. Change the size to 54.
10. Colour the letters as given in the Figure 2.

Figure 2: Activity 1 sample 2

Make sure each student in the group gets a chance to perform

this activity. Other members can watch and give feedback on
what was done correctly and what could be improved upon.

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions

1. Which menu option do you use to insert a slide?

(a) Edit
(b) Insert
(c) Slide
(d) Tools
2. How will you, usually, align the title of a slide?
(a) Left
(b) Right
(c) Center
(d) Justify
3. Which option will you use to change the colour
of the text?
(a) Font Color
(b) Font
(c) Highlight Color
(d) Format

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 What have you learnt?
After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• add a slide to a presentation.
• delete a slide in a presentation.
• enter and edit text in a presentation.
• format text in a presentation.

Session 8: Advanced Features

used in Presentation
There are various advanced features used in a digital
presentation. The use of graphics, charts and images
can make the presentation more meaningful.

Inserting shapes in
presentation
You may want to use
arrows to show the
flow of a process in
a presentation. For
example, if you want to
show how Water Cycle
works — you can use
arrows. LibreOffice
provides numerous
Figure 3.49: Inserting shape in a slide shapes, such as lines,
square, circle, arrows,
symbols, etc., that can be
inserted into slides.
As shown in Figure 3.49, to insert an arrow, you
must click on Insert, and then, select Shape. This
has several options. Choose Arrow to see different
types of arrow. Select the one required for the
presentation, for example, ‘Circular Arrow’. In this
way, you can select any shape you want.
Once a shape is inserted in a slide, you can use
the Properties tab to make changes to the properties
of the shape, such as colour, size, position,
Figure 3.50: Using Properties tab direction, etc.

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Inserting clipart and images in presentation
A picture speaks a thousand words. We use a lot of images
in a presentation to make it simple and interesting. The
steps to insert a clipart or an image are as follows.
1. Click on Insert from the menu.
2. Select Image as shown in
Figure 3.51.
3. An Insert Image dialog box
appears as shown in
Figure 3.52.
4. Browse through folders and
select the image you want to use. Figure 3.51: Select Image

Figure 3.52: Insert Image dialog box

5. Click on Open.
In this way, you can insert images in your presentation
slides and make it more interesting.

Figure 3.53: Images inserted in a slide

Information and Communication Technology Skills 75

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 Changing slide layout
The default layout of a LibreOffice Impress slide contains
one textbox for the title and one for content. Layout
helps to arrange the slide content in an
organised way. However, you can change
the slide layout as per the requirement.
In case, you want to insert an image of
water cycle on one side and give the steps
on the other, you can select a layout with
one title and two boxes. You can do this
by simply selecting the slide, and then,
selecting the desired layout from the
Layouts tab as shown in Figure 3.54.
Figure 3.54: Selecting the desired layout Having a layout helps to align the content
from the Layouts tab in the desired way.

Practical Exercise
Run the e-learning lesson at http://www.psscive.ac.in/
Employability_Skills.html. This will include videos and
e-content for the above topics. Based upon the e-learning, do the
following activity.
Practical group exercise
Run the e-learning lesson to get details on how to run the activity.
Activity 1
Group practice
Working with slides in LibreOffice Impress
Time: 20 minutes
Material required
Computer with LibreOffice Impress, notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• Divide the class into groups, depending on the number of
computers. Each group will perform the following tasks.
– Set the layout of the slide to Title
and four content.
– Insert two different shapes on
the left, for example, star
and diamond
– Insert an image of star and
diamond on the right.
– Your slide should appear similar Figure 1: Activity 1
to the one given in Figure 1. sample
Make sure that each student in the group
gets a chance to perform at least one task. Other members can
watch and give feedback on what was done correctly and what
could be improved upon.

76 Employability Skills – Class XII

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Check Your Progress Notes
A. Multiple choice questions

1. Which menu option will you click on to insert shapes

and images?
(a) Format
(b) Tools
(c) Edit
(d) Insert
2. What are the steps to insert a square shape in
a presentation?
(a) Insert > Shape> Line> Square
(b) Tools > Shape> Line> Square
(c) Insert > Shape> Basic > Square
(d) Format > Text > Basic> Square
3. What happens when you change the layout of a slide?
(a) The format of the text changes
(b) New slide is inserted
(c) The arrangement of content (text, images, shapes)
changes
(d) The title gets aligned to the center of the slide

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• insert shapes.
• insert clipart and images.
• change slide layout.

Further Readings
• https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/powerpoint2016/inserting-
pictures/1/
• https://www.gcflearnfree.org/excel2016/getting-started-
with-excel/1/
• https://www.webucator.com/tutorial/learn-microsoft-
excel/entering-data-microsoft-excel-worksheets.cfm
• https://www.gcflearnfree.org/excel2013/formatting-
cells/1/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqfvgD_qMI
• https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/excel2013/filtering-data/1/
• https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/powerpoint2016/creating-
and-opening-presentations/1/
• https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/powerpoint2007/viewing-
and-printing-slides/1/
• https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/powerpointxp/formatting-
text/1/

Information and Communication Technology Skills 77

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Unit 4
Entrepreneurship
Skills

Introduction
Entrepreneurs identify an innovation to seize an
opportunity, mobilise funds, raise capitals and take
calculated risks to open market or new business for
products, processes and services.
Entrepreneurship development refers to the process
of enhancing entrepreneurial skills and knowledge
through structured training and institution building
programmes. It focusses on an individual, who wishes
to start or expand a business. Promising entrepreneurs
need to be nurtured and helped to serve as role models
and mentors for their communities. An entrepreneurship
development programme must be designed in a way so
as to help aspiring entrepreneurs recognise and design
unique and innovative business opportunities based on
an analysis of local conditions and their own skills.
Business opportunity surveys may provide advice
to entrepreneurs but they must be analysed in the
context of specific market situation in each case. To
determine the market potential, it is useful to conduct
need assessment or demand survey before programme
formulation. Motivational intervention may be needed
for initiating growth and development of an enterprise.
Training in entrepreneurship development needs to
include support for — (a) entrepreneurship orientation
and awareness, (b) development of competencies
(knowledge, skills and attitudes) necessary to recognise Notes
a market opportunity and organise resources to meet it,
and (c) improvement of business performance for growth
and competitiveness. Motivation, besides increasing
need for achievement of potential entrepreneurs, also
helps them develop coping ability, tolerance to ambiguity
and influencing capability.
The National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small
Business Development is a premier organisation of the
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship,
Government of India, engaged in training, consultancy
and research to promote entrepreneurship and skill
development. The major activities of the Institute
include training of trainers, management development
programmes, entrepreneurship-cum-skill development
programmes, entrepreneurship development programmes
and cluster intervention.
Session 1: Entrepreneurship
and Entrepreneur
The word ‘entrepreneur’ is derived from the French word
entreprendre, which means ‘to undertake’. Cole defines
entrepreneurship as, “A purposeful activity to initiate,
maintain and aggrandise profit-oriented business.”
Stevenson and Jarillo define entrepreneurship as:
“The process by which individuals pursue opportunities
without regard to the resources they currently control.”
Entrepreneurship can, thus, be defined, as “an economic
process, where an idea is generated or an opportunity
is created, refined, developed and implemented, while
being exposed to uncertainty to realise a profit by
effective utilisation of resources”.
Economists define an entrepreneur as someone, who
brings in resources, labour, material and other assets
into profit making combinations.
Psychologists define an entrepreneur as a person,
who is, typically, driven by a psychological force, which
creates a desire to obtain or attain something.
Sociologists define an entrepreneur as a person,
whose actions would determine social status and
contribute to societal development.

Entrepreneurship Skills 79
 Notes Management gurus define an entrepreneur as a
person, who has a vision and generates an action plan to
achieve it.
Characteristics of entrepreneurship
On the basis of the above mentioned definitions,
the following are some of the characteristics of
entrepreneurship.
• It is an economic activity done to create, develop
and maintain a profit-oriented organisation.
• It begins with identifying an opportunity as a
potential to sell and make profit in the market.
• It deals with optimisation in utilisation
of resources.
• It is the ability of an enterprise and an
entrepreneur to take risks.

Entrepreneurship — art and science

Entrepreneurship is considered to be both an art and
a science. For a subject to be considered as science, it
needs to have a stepwise progression substantiated by
valid proof like chemistry or physics. There are steps
that need to be followed to attain a specific result. On
the other hand, some subjects are categorised as art,
where no specific way to attain a result is required
and the skill of using the subject matter is of prime
importance. An example of art is music. A musician can
play music notes in any combination to create soothing
and soulful music. Entrepreneurship is the perfect
combination of art and science as it requires specific
progression and procedures to be followed and also the
skill to digress when required, and yet make the entire
activity profitable and growth oriented.
An entrepreneur is someone, who has the capability
to start an organisation by organising various
resources required to make an opportunity purposeful.
Entrepreneurs are not necessarily motivated by
profit but may regard it as a standard for measuring
achievement or success.

80 Employability Skills – Class XII

Qualities of a successful entrepreneur Notes
Let us now consider the qualities that make an
entrepreneur successful. There may be many qualities
needed to successfully run an enterprise. However, the
following qualities are considered important.
(a) Initiative: In the world of business, opportunities
come and go. An entrepreneur must be able to
initiate action and take advantage of an opportunity.
Once a person misses out on an opportunity, it
may not come again. Therefore, taking initiative
on the part of the entrepreneur is a must.
(b) Willingness to take risks: In any business,
there is an element of risk involved. It implies
that it is not necessary that every business
shall earn a profit. This deters individuals to
take up risks and start a business. However, an
entrepreneur always volunteers to take risks to
run a business and be successful.
(c) Ability to learn from experience: An entrepreneur
may make mistakes. However, once an error
is committed, it must be tried that it is not
repeated as it may lead to heavy losses. Therefore,
the person must have the ability to learn
from experience.
(d) Motivation: It is necessary for success in
every walk of life. Once you get motivated to do
something, you will not rest until you complete
it. For example, sometimes, you become
so intrested in reading a story or magazine
that you do not sleep until you complete it.
This kind of interest in work comes through
motivation. It is an essential quality to become a
successful entrepreneur.
(e) Self-confidence: For achieving success in
life, a person needs to have confidence in
oneself. Someone, who lacks confidence, may
not be able to achieve much in life or inspire
others to work. Self-confidence is reflected
in courage, enthusiasm and ability to lead.
Therefore, a successful entrepreneur must have
self-confidence.

Entrepreneurship Skills 81
 Notes (f) Hard work: There is no substitute for hard
work in life. While running a business, one
problem or the other may arise every day. The
entrepreneur has to be vigilant so as to identify
the problems and solve them as early as
possible. This requires hard work on the part
of the entrepreneur. The person cannot afford
to say: “The office hours are over now and I will
not work any longer.” In some situations, the
person may even have to work for the whole
night. Thus, hard work is the secret of success
for an entrepreneur.
(g) Decision making ability: In running an
enterprise, an entrepreneur has to take a number
of decisions. Therefore, the person must be
capable of making suitable and timely decisions.
In the present world, things move very fast. If an
entrepreneur does not have the ability to make
suitable and timely decisions, the person may
miss out on an opportunity and incur losses.

Type of entrepreneurs
There are many type of entrepreneurs, which include
the following.
Service entrepreneurs
These entrepreneurs either create a new market for
their services or provide a service in an existing market.
They spot an idea and convert it into a service, which
is unprecedented or not available in the market. It is
irrespective of the nature and size of operations but is
essentially a service.
Business entrepreneurs
These are entrepreneurs, who undertake business
and trading activities and are not concerned with the
manufacturing work. A business entrepreneur identifies
the potential of a product in a market. From that point
onwards, the business and trading entrepreneur is
responsible for stimulating demand for the product.
The product may be existent in a foreign market but
the person is able to stimulate demand for the same in
local market.

82 Employability Skills – Class XII

Industrial entrepreneurs Notes
An industrial entrepreneur is, essentially, a manufacturer,
who identifies the needs of customers and creates products
or services to serve them. Such an entrepreneur is product
oriented, who starts through an industrial unit to create a
product like electronic industry, textile unit, machine tools,
manufacturing unit, etc.

Agricultural entrepreneurs
Agriculture has always been considered as a low‑yielding
entrepreneurship. Agriculturists have now introduced
new and innovative technology to maximise the yield,
giving birth to agriculture entrepreneurship.

Technical entrepreneurs
The Industrial Revolution gave birth to technical
entrepreneurs, who use their technical expertise to
create and offer machines, tools and methods. They
constantly innovate to make industrial processes
seamless and efficient. Technical entrepreneurs use
their technical knowledge and skills to innovate.

Non-technical entrepreneurs
These entrepreneurs use their expertise in providing
services to create a market for technical entrepreneurs.
Their expertise is in non-technical aspects of a product
or service, i.e., they are not concerned with the
manufacturing process but have more to do with before
and after the manufacturing process.

Professional entrepreneurs
Such an entrepreneur starts a business, nurtures it
and makes it reach a point of self-sustenance. Once the
project reaches that point, the entrepreneur sells the
business and starts a new one, and then, follows the
same cycle.

IT entrepreneurs
People who take up entrepreneurship in the field of
Information Technology (IT) are called IT entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship Skills 83
 The difference between IT entrepreneurs and technical
entrepreneurs is that the latter work in the field
of electronics, mechanical devices or even civil
works, while IT entrepreneurs are confined to innovation
in the field of Information Technology.
Women entrepreneurs
As the name suggests, when women take up
entrepreneurship, they are called women entrepreneurs.
A number of women entrepreneurs are taking initiatives
in starting entrepreneurial activities and many of them
have even made it to the top.
Social entrepreneurs
Individuals, who focus on developing solutions that
benefit the society, are called social entrepreneurs.
They develop, fund and implement solutions that are
directed towards society, culture and environment. The
term ‘social innovator’ is used interchangeably with
social entrepreneurs.
Family business entrepreneurs
When a family or an individual runs a business
successfully and passes it on to the next generation,
then such an entrepreneur is, generally, termed as
family business entrepreneur. The person, who is
handed over the business or the functioning of an
enterprise, is not the first generation entrepreneur. The
person carries out all entrepreneurial activities as
inherited in the same manner or introduces certain
technological advancements to the existing way and
method of the family business.

First generation entrepreneurs

First generation entrepreneurs are
those who do not have any
entrepreneurship background. They
can be of different age groups and
backgrounds. An individual, who
starts at the age of 50 years without
any entrepreneurship background, is
also a first generation entrepreneur

84 Employability Skills – Class XII

and someone else, who starts at the age of 17 years, is Notes
also a first generation entrepreneur.
Roles and functions of an entrepreneur
Some of the major functions performed by an
entrepreneur are as follows.
(a) Identifying entrepreneurial opportunity: There
are many opportunities in the world of business.
These are based on human needs like food,
fashion, education, etc., which are constantly
changing. These opportunities are not realised
by the general public. But an entrepreneur
senses the opportunities faster than others. The
entrepreneur, therefore, has to keep one’s eyes
and ears open at all times. A person, who wants
to become an entrepreneur, requires imagination,
creativity and innovativeness.
(b) Turning ideas into action: Entrepreneurs must
be capable of turning ideas into reality. They
should be able to collect information regarding
ideas, products and practices to meet the
market demand.
(c) Feasibility study: Entrepreneurs conduct studies
to assess the market feasibility of a proposed
product or service. They anticipate problems
and assess quantity, quality, cost and sources
of inputs required to run the enterprise. Such a
blueprint of all activities is termed as a ‘business
plan’ or ‘project report’.
(d) Resourcing: An entrepreneur needs various
resources in terms of money, machine, raw
material and workforce to run an enterprise
successfully. An essential function of an
entrepreneur is to ensure the timely availability
of all these resources.
(e) Setting up an enterprise: For setting up an
enterprise, the entrepreneur may need to fulfil
some legal formalities. The person must also try to
find a suitable location, design the premises, install
machinery and do many other works.

Entrepreneurship Skills 85
 (f) Managing the enterprise: One of the important
functions of an entrepreneur is to run the
enterprise. The person has to manage the
workforce, material, finance and organise the
production of goods and services. The person
has to market each product and service, after
ensuring appropriate returns (profits) of the
investment. Only a well‑managed organisation
yields the desired results.
(g) Growth and development: Once the enterprise
achieves the desired results, the entrepreneur
has to explore another higher goal for its growth
and development. The person is not satisfied only
with achieving a set goal but constantly strives
for achieving excellence.

What motivates an entrepreneur?

Every human has a nature to create and pro-create,
and to dream and work to fulfill those dreams. But not
every human is able to handle failures. An entrepreneur,
on the other hand, has the potential and willingness
to overcome every hurdle that comes in way of the
person’s entrepreneurial endeavours. The person finds
out ways and means to pursue one’s dreams and fulfil
the goals.
Following are some of the qualities that motivate
an entrepreneur.
Standard of excellence
An entrepreneur constantly sets
high standards and strives to
attain the standard of excellence
by working hard and showing
innovativeness.
Uniqueness
For an entrepreneur, one of the
most important qualities is to
remain unique in everything the
person does and the way it is done.

86 Employability Skills – Class XII

Focus on long-term goals
Long-term goals are those that are distant in terms of
time period. An entrepreneur focusses more on what
is to be achieved in distant future rather than in near
future. The person will plan and work patiently to
achieve the long-term goals.
Need to influence
The entrepreneur perceives one’s ideas as revolutionary
and expects them to influence the world in a substantial
way. For most entrepreneurs, their ideas have impacted
the world and some have completely changed the look
of the world.
A wage employed person is someone, who works
for an individual or organisation and gets paid for the
same. An entrepreneur is a self-employed person, who
strives to make the business better by taking risks and
trying new ideas.
Entrepreneurship is the act of setting up and running
a business, and taking risks in order to earn profits.
Nutan always had a passion for cooking. As a child,
she had an accident and became wheelchair bound. It
was a difficult situation. But it did not stop her from
pursuing her dreams. Nutan got an internship in
her neighbour’s restaurant and learnt to work in the
kitchen. Two years after working there, she decided to
start a dabba (tiffin) service. She would prepare and
send lunch to 100 people in an office building nearby.
Eventually, she introduced a menu from where people
could choose what food they wanted to have instead of
everyone getting the same food. Here are some things
you would have learnt from Nutan’s story.
1. When she was working in her neighbour’s
restaurant, she was a wage employed person
because she was working for someone.
2. She set up her food business. She was an
entrepreneur as she was taking a risk by trying
new ideas and introducing a menu.
3. Where there is a will, there is a way! We can do
anything, if we decide.

Entrepreneurship Skills 87
 Identifying opportunities and risk taking
A key question faced by budding entrepreneurs is finding
the business opportunity that is right for them. Should
the new venture focus on a new product or service?
Should the venture select an existing product or service
from one market and offer it in another, where it may
not be available?
Some ways by which aspiring entrepreneurs can
identify new business opportunities and evaluate their
potential and risks are as follows.
• Community concerns: Look for issues that
concern your community. Sometimes, starting
locally can reap huge benefits. Identify the
inefficiencies, analyse how an idea can help and
evaluate the risks involved.
• Personal experiences: Many powerful world
changing ideas come from the experiences and
challenges an entrepreneur faces in life. If you
aspire to become an entrepreneur, you must
listen to the personal stories of successful
entrepreneurs and draw inspiration. Their
experiences may teach you powerful lessons
in entrepreneurship and give an insight into
some business strategies that you may adopt to
become successful.
• Research with others: Speak to like-minded
people, get involved through social groups and
join local startup groups. Many a time, discussion
with others opens various doors of opportunities.
It also helps to learn the nuances of business.
For an entrepreneur, it is all about spotting the
right opportunity and taking the leap of faith. Mark
Zuckerberg thought about a simple idea of connecting
with his college friends through Internet. His simple
idea sparked the ‘social movement’, and today, almost
all of us are connected through ‘Facebook’.

Startups
A startup is a company that is in the first stage of
its operations. A startup and a traditional business

88 Employability Skills – Class XII

venture are different, most notably for the way they Activity
think about growth. A startup is often financed by the Can you think of any
founders until the business gets off the ground, and it startup around you?
gets outside finance or investments. Have you read about any
startup in newspapers?
We hear a lot about startups being founded these Discuss and list the
days. It can be in the field of technology, health care, names of three startups.
food, virtual reality, etc. Let us understand more
about startups.
• Startups can be started with
minimum investment. Most
startups thrive on an idea that
involve technology or offer
technology‑driven solutions.
For example, a lot of startups
have started online food delivery. With the help
of a robust app, they partner with food service
providers or restaurants, and help in the home
delivery of food.
• Startups seek financial investment differently
than most small businesses. They rely on
capital that comes via angel investors or
venture capital firms, while small business
operations rely on loans and grants. A lot of
Indian startups, too, have received funding
from global investors.
• Startups come up with an innovative idea. At
the same time, they like to get guidance and
mentoring from an expert. Most people, who create
startups, join various groups at local and global
level for continued support by expert mentors and
investors. ‘Startup India’, a flagship initiative of
the Government of India, is intended to build an
ecosystem for the growth of startup business.
Startup policies have been formulated by the
States. Under this scheme, new startups in
India can avail regulatory and tax benefits,
capital gain exemption, as well as, access to
government funding, if they fulfil the criteria.
(Website: http://startupindia.in).

Entrepreneurship Skills 89
 Notes Practical Exercise
Activity 1

Group discussion
The topic for discussion is — ‘An entrepreneur is not born
but created’.
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• Divide the class into two groups.
• Each group brainstorms and states points — one for ‘an
entrepreneur is born’ and the other for ‘an entrepreneur
is created’.

Activity 2

Group practice
Entrepreneurship quiz
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
In this activity, we will identify and differentiate between
entrepreneurs and wage employed people.
Instructions
1. Each row in the class shall be a group. Thus, we shall
have four groups in the class.
2. Each group shall assign one person to be the ‘buzzer’
person. You must have seen game shows, where the
person who wants to give an answer presses a button,
and a loud beep sound is produced. That is a buzzer. We
do not have a buzzer but we have benches! So, the ‘buzzer’
person from a group shall tap the bench if the person’s
group knows the answer.
3. The teacher will speak out aloud various professions.
Each group must guess if that person is an entrepreneur
or a wage employed person.
4. Discuss the difference between an entrepreneur and a
wage employed person with the group.
5. Here are the situations.
(a) Rama is a vegetable seller, who sells only organic
vegetables.
(b) Suresh runs a food delivery business that delivers
food between 12 noon and 5 am.
(c) Sahida is a manager in a software company.
(d) John is a school teacher in a village.
(e) Gurdeep has a yoga centre that conducts classes for
senior citizens.

90 Employability Skills – Class XII

Check Your Progress
A. Multiple choice questions
1. Salman tries new ideas as a tailor in a garment factory.
Salman is a/an ______________.
(a) entrepreneur
(b) wage employed person
(c) labourer
(d) unskilled worker
2. Prashant works for Surabhi, who is a businesswoman.
Prashant is an ___________________.
(a) entrepreneur
(b) wage employed person
(c) skilled worker
(d) businessman
3. Ridhi owns a construction company and takes risky
decisions in her work everyday. Ridhi is an ___________ .
(a) entrepreneur
(b) wage employed person
B. Short answer question
1. Name an entrepreneur you admire and what do you
admire about the person.

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• explain the qualities of an entrepreneur.
• what is entrepreneurship.

Session 2: Barriers to Entrepreneurship

You must have watched a 100m hurdle race for women
or 110m hurdle race for men in school or stadium.
Some of them were obstacle races, in which there
would be hurdles — you would need to jump over to
get to the end line and if you ran fast enough, you
would win.
A business venture is a lot like hurdle race.
It, usually, involves risks. A risk is any situation,
which involves danger.
So, while running the race as an
entrepreneur, many hurdles, such as financial
constraints may come in way. These things
can stop the person from achieving success.
These are called ‘barriers’. One day while
going to school, a tree falls on road. It stops

Entrepreneurship Skills 91
 all vehicles. It is a barrier that is stopping you from
reaching school on time.
What do you think can be the barriers that
entrepreneurs may face while running their ventures?
Talk to some entrepreneurs in your area and find out.
After having spoken with the entrepreneurs, you would
have realised that they face a lot of barriers on their
path to success. Whether it is lack of knowledge or lack
of funding, there are various barriers that can prevent
one from pursuing one’s passion for entrepreneurship.
Here are some of the most common barriers.

Environmental barriers
One of the biggest barriers that entrepreneurs face is
environmental factors. Environmental factors can be
many. But the most common ones include the following.
• Lack of adequate resources or raw material
• Non‑availability of skilled labour
• Lack of requisite machinery and other
infrastructure
• Unavailability of monetary resources on time
These barriers can be easily overcome by studying
the market well enough before taking a decision about
the venture. Research, market surveys and mentor
guidance can help overcome such barriers.
The Indian Government has come up with various
schemes to help small‑scale entrepreneurs gain capital.
Some of these are:
• Government Mudra Yojana — https://
mudralsans.in/
• Credit Guarantee Scheme — https://www.cgtmse.in/
• Stand‑Up India Scheme — https://www.
standupmitra.in/

No or faulty business plan

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

Every entrepreneur wants a successful business. But
if a person does not make an action plan, it may lead

92 Employability Skills – Class XII

to a chaotic situation. Having a plan to reach the goal
helps the person in knowing one’s role in running a
successful business and pushes everyone associated
with it to work harder.
Personal barriers
How long will the business last? How much profit will
it make? Will my customers like my product? Will I
have enough money to support my family? These are
the questions that might go through an entrepreneur’s
mind before the person actually starts a business
venture. Establishing any new venture is a risk because
there is always a fear of what may go wrong. Secondly,
finding a suitable team is also a tedious job. A team of
careless and non-suitable workers may cause damage
to a business.
Self-doubt
It is easy to get discouraged when something goes
wrong in a business. One starts doubting oneself and
may even feel like giving up. Self-doubt comes when we
do not have confidence in ourselves and our abilities.
One of the best ways to deal with self-doubt is to
work towards one’s goals. When we lack motivation,
just looking at our goals and knowing that the tasks
we are doing today are contributing to our long‑term
goals help us feel better. Having family and friends, who
know our goals and support us when we are doubting
ourselves, also help.
We are all scared of failing. We put in a lot of effort
into our idea and give it our best to make it happen.
Believing in ourselves is the first step towards crushing
the fear of failure.
Forming a team and teamwork
Finding suitable people and training them to put in
their best for the business is a tedious and dificult
exercise. As an entrepreneur, one must find people,
who think and feel like the rest of the team. When new
people fit into the culture of the team, work can happen
better and faster.

Entrepreneurship Skills 93
 Notes
Practical Exercise
Activity 1

Entrepreneur interview
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
In this activity, we will speak to an entrepreneur about the
problems the person faces in business.
Instructions
1. Find an entrepreneur in your area.
2. Ask questions, such as how the person got the idea of
starting the business and “what were the major difficulties
that the person faced.
3. Note down the answers in your notebook.

Activity 2

Fishbowl of fears
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
In this activity, we will talk about what we fear about
entrepreneurship.
Instructions
1. We have learnt about the barriers that entrepreneurs
face. Now, each one of us shall think about what we fear
might be the biggest barrier for us when we start our
business venture.
2. Sit in a circle.
3. Take a chit of paper and write down what barrier might
stop you when you start a venture. Do not write your
name on the chit.
4. Put all chits in the centre of the circle.
5. Each person will pick up a chit and read someone’s fear.
Then, the class will spend two minutes, and try to find
out solutions for that person’s fear. If the person wants to
reveal one’s name at this point, one can do so.
6. It is difficult to talk about one’s fears in front of everyone.
So, all students must listen to each other and extend
support. They must not laugh when someone is sharing
one’s story.

94 Employability Skills – Class XII

Check Your Progress Notes
A. Match the situations in the columns to the
meaning of the word.

Situations Word

(a) Gauri has started a fashion designing (i) Barrier

store, where she sells clothes.

(b) Akshay wants to start more classes in (ii) Risk

his school but is finding it difficult to
hire teachers.

(c) Shubham has a business of selling (iii) Venture

groceries. He wants to open a store that
sells everything from clothes to shoes to
bags, along with groceries.

B. Multiple choice questions

Identify and put a tick mark () against the type of barrier in
each situation.
1. Mary believes that she will not have the ability to work
with a team when she starts her business. The barrier
she is facing is _____________________.
(a) getting capital
(b) self-doubt
(c) risk taking
2. Sayed knows what business he wants to do but does
not know what steps he has to take to get it running.
The barrier stopping him is _____________________.
(a) building the right team
(b) lack of plan
(c) risk taking
3. Harish has a rug business in India. He wants to start
exporting rugs to Canada but does not know if they
would sell there. The barrier he is facing is _____________.
(a) self‑doubt
(b) lack of plan
(c) selecting the right business idea

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• identify barriers and fears related to becoming
an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship Skills 95
 Notes Session 3: Entrepreneurial Attitudes
Entrepreneurs think and act differently from people
who are wage employed. But how are they different?
Let’s read Bitti’s story and understand.
Bitti is from the city of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.
She attends her cousin’s wedding but finds it very
boring because nobody is dancing. She starts talking
to people to find out the problem. Older uncles and
aunties tell her that other people would judge them
if they dance. Young people tell her that the DJ is
not playing the latest music. After attending five more
weddings, she realises that this is a problem that a
lot of people face at weddings. She sees a business
opportunity here.
Bitti, then, starts her wedding entertainment company.
The company has two parts — a dance academy and a
music business. The dance academy holds dance classes
for children in the morning and for people above the
age of 50 years in the evening. For the music business,
she hires young people in the age group of 16–30 years
to research on the latest popular music. At first, she
finds it hard because she has no prior experience of
running a business or working with a group of people
so different from each other. But that does not stop her
from putting in efforts into the business.
What did Bitti do or think differently from someone
else? Discuss with your partner and write it in
your notebook.
An attitude is a way of thinking or feeling about
something. It can be positive or negative, good
or bad. We shall learn about positive attitudes
of entrepreneurs.
The attitude an entrepreneur has is different from
that of a wage employed person. A wage employed person
has to do one’s job and not worry about the company.
But the entrepreneur thinks and acts differently. The
person not only thinks about one’s work but also about
the work of one’s employees and the work required for
the growth of the company.

96 Employability Skills – Class XII

 After reading Bitti’s story, the attitudes that make a
successful entrepreneur are given in Figure 4.1.

DECISIVENESS
Ability to make quick and
profitable decisions

ORGANISATIONAL
TAKING INITIATIVE What it takes SKILLS
Ability to take charge
and act in a situation to become an Ability to make the optimum use
of time, energy and resources to
before others entrepreneur? achieve the desired goals

INTERPERSONAL PERSEVERANCE
SKILLS Ability to continue to do
Ability to work something, even when it
with others is difficult

Figure 4.1: Attitudes of an entrepreneur

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions

1. The ability to continue to do something, even when it is

difficult is called _________________.
(a) initiative
(b) organisational skills
(c) perseverance
2. The ability to act in a situation before others do is
______________.
(a) interpersonal skills
(b) initiative
(c) perseverance
3. The ability to work with others is ______________.
(a) organisational skills
(b) interpersonal skills
(c) initiative

B. Short answer questions

1. What do you understand by attitude?

2. What do you understand by interpersonal skills? Share
an example where you displayed interpersonal skills.

Entrepreneurship Skills 97
 C. Match Bitti’s actions from the attitudes we have learnt
that an entrepreneur need to possess. Write them in the
table given below.

Attitudes an Bitti’s actions

entrepreneur need
to possess
Decisiveness She decides to start a dance
academy after seeing a need and
talking to people about it.
Initiative
Interpersonal skills
Perseverance
Organisational skills

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• identify the attitudes that make an entrepreneur
successful.

Session 4: Entrepreneurial Competencies

In the previous Session, we learnt about the attitudes
that an entrepreneur need to possess to become
successful. Here, we shall learn about the competencies
required by a person to build entrepreneurial attitude.
Competency is the ability to do something well. Figure 4.2
shows the attitudes and competencies required to
become a successful entrepreneur.
Attitudes and competencies

INTERPERSONAL ORGANISATIONAL
DECISIVENESS INITIATIVE SKILLS PERSEVERANCE SKILLS

Know yourself Realise that you Listening Not giving up Time

can take action management
Identify Believe you can Positive body Working hard Goal setting
opportunities take action language

Analyse the Take action! Positive attitude Learning from Efficiency

opportunity failures
Problem solving Stress Managing quality
management

Figure 4.2: Attitudes and competencies to become a successful entrepreneur

The journey to understand our competencies first starts
with understanding who we are. We grow and change
every single day. We understand what we like and what

98 Employability Skills – Class XII

we do not. We make mistakes and learn from them. It is
important to stop and think about how we have changed
as people over the years.
Sometimes while thinking about our life, we might
judge ourselves too much. We do not like it when we
make mistakes and think that we cannot do something
because we have made a mistake. At those times, it is
important to remember to see ourselves from the point
of view of people around us. They may have positive
things to say about us.
Let us learn about the entrepreneurial attitudes
through different exercises.
Decisiveness
Decisiveness is the ability to make profitable and
quick decisions. How does a person become decisive as
an entrepreneur?
Decisiveness becomes the most important attribute
while setting up a business venture. It is about identifying
an opportunity and acting on it. An opportunity is a
chance to do something, generally, the right time or
moment to do something.
Decisiveness can be developed through the following
process as shown in Figure 4.3.

DECISIVENESS

Knowing yourself Identify opportunities

You must know what is important for you — Figuring out the right moment and place where a
What kind of problems do you want to solve? business will work is important.
What do you see around that bothers you? Who are the people you want to help?
What are you good at that can help you solve these problems? What problems do they have?
What ideas do you have to solve them?

Analyse the opportunity Problem solving

The next step is to study your idea. After studying the customers and market, you
If it works, why would it work? What problems may make changes to your idea.
could stop the idea from becomming successful? What would be the final idea? What makes it
What do the customers think about the idea? different from other ideas in the market?
What is the competition for that idea? How will you use your strengths to make the idea successful?

Figure 4.3: Solving the decisiveness dilemma

Entrepreneurship Skills 99
 Notes Let us look at Ankur’s entrepreneurial venture and
try to understand his decisiveness.
Ankur manufactures and sells towels in his village at
Dharamkot, Himachal Pradesh. For almost a year, his
towels would not get sold in his village. Disappointed,
he was about to shut down the business. That is when
someone suggested that he sell the towels in a city. He
showed some samples to people in Delhi. He realised
that the quality of towels and the price at which he was
producing was better suited for a city. The people in
his village found his products expensive. So, he started
producing softer towels for the city and cheaper ones for
his village. His customers in both the places were happy.
Can you analyse Ankur’s actions on four aspects of
decisiveness? Give an explanation for each aspect.
Example: Identifying opportunity — Ankur realised that
he could sell the towels in the city, as well as, his village.
Initiative
Initiative is the ability to take charge and act in a
situation before others. Once you have decided what
you want to do, the next step is taking action. There are
times when we recognise what action we have to take
but do not take it because we think we cannot do it. In
such times, it is important to reach out to people we are
working with to help us think about ideas and motivate
us to believe in our abilities.

TAKING
INITIATIVE

Realise that things are

in control and you can
take action in a given
situation.
Believe that you have
the ability to take
action in a situation.

Take action in
that situation!

Figure 4.4: Taking initiative

100 Employability Skills – Class XII

 Let us read story about Elton, who liked cutting and
styling people’s hair.
Elton was always interested in hairstyling. He knew
the latest international styles and would keep trying
them on his friends. But his family wanted him to work in
a software company. After years of struggling with what
to do, Elton spoke to his friends. They encouraged him
and made him realise that he should take charge as it
was his life. He gathered courage and spoke to his family.
He explained that he had the talent to style hair and the
skills to run an entrepreneurial venture because of what
he had learnt in school and at home about business.
His family was finally convinced and helped him set
up a salon. He is now well-known for his skills in and
around his town.
Discuss with your partner how Elton took the
initiative to start his venture. List the steps he had to
take to set it up.

Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal means dealing with relationships. It
is between two or more persons. Interpersonal skills,
thus, mean the competencies required to work with
other people.
In our everyday life, we are always talking to people
and working with them. Whether it is riding a bus or
sharing lunch in class, we are constantly interacting
with others. This is true for an entrepreneur as well.
Entrepreneurs work with people from different walks
of life. They might work with them because of their
talent and hard work. In such a case, the kind of people
who work in a team might be different. They might look
different, talk different and believe in different things. In
such a case, it becomes important for an entrepreneur,
as well as, every individual of the team to respect each
other and their differences.
Therefore, if the entrepreneur wants one’s business
venture to grow and do better, the person has to work
with a number of people. Thus, it becomes important
that we learn how to interact with people. Some ways to
do that are as follows.

Entrepreneurship Skills 101

 Listening
It is important to listen when someone talks. When
someone shares something, it is, generally, because the
person might have thought about it or it is how one
feels. Listening with interest to what someone is saying
helps build trust with the person.

Body language
How would you feel if someone had a frown on the face,
hands crossed and leaning back in the chair while
talking? If you cannot picturise it, tell someone in your
class to act it out and you shall know.
Our facial expressions, gestures and postures are
important while working with people. While listening,
if you show that you are interested in talking to the
person with a smile and leaning forward in the chair,
the person is likely to feel comfortable and talk more.

Positive attitude
Having a positive attitude, generally, implies being
optimistic about situations, interactions and oneself.
People with a positive attitude are hopeful and see the
best even in difficult situations. However, if you have
negative feelings, it is good to talk about it with someone
you trust and find out why you are feeling like that.
Having a positive attitude is important while
receiving and giving feedback. Feedback is giving
information or criticism to someone to say what can
be done to improve something. Feedback is important
in the communication process. Without feedback
no communication is complete. Therefore, during a
feedback conversation, it is important to speak in a
positive manner. One could start by talking about what
the person is doing well, and then, mention what one
can do better. In such a case, there are chances that
the other person will listen with interest. This applies
to you as well. It is important to stay open‑minded in a
feedback conversation

102 Employability Skills – Class XII

Stress management Notes
Have you ever been unable to sleep the night
before an exam because you were anxious
about how you would perform? That state of
mental pressure or tension is called ‘stress’.
Sometimes, one experiences stress while working
with other people. Because there are people with
different personalities working in a team, it can lead
to stress for all. In such cases, managing stress
becomes important for the health and well-being of
everyone. Stress management refers to the different
ways to deal with stress, so as to feel healthy, positive
and refreshed.
There are many ways people deal with stress. Some
of them are as follows.
1. Taking a walk in nature
2. Doing a physical activity like running
swimming, etc.
3. Practising deep breathing exercises
4. Practising meditation or yoga
Perseverance
Perseverance is the ability to continue to do something,
even when it is difficult. Let us read about it through
Ravi’s story.
After 20 years of being a successful entrepreneur in
Lucknow, Ravi decided to move back to his village in
Jaunpur. In his village, he decided to open a clothing
store. He thought that because he had gained so much
success in the city, he would open the shop with the
same clothing style in the village as well.
Initially, some people came to try out his store’s
clothes but they said that the style did not match
what they wanted. They wanted more variety and
brighter colours.
Ravi was not disappointed. He decided to learn from
the failure. He sold off the old clothes to his friend in a
city and bought good quality clothes from a local seller.
He also put posters outside his shop, so that people
would feel welcome.

Entrepreneurship Skills 103

 After reading Ravi’s story, you can understand that
perseverance can be built in the following ways.

Perseverance

Not giving up when there is a

difficult situation

Working hard to achieve the goal

Analysing failures and learning from them

Figure 4.5: Building perseverance

Organisational skills
Organisational skills refer to the ability of making
optimal use of one’s time, energy and resources to achieve
one’s goals. Becoming better at these organisational skills
would help an entrepreneur become successful. So, let
us test these skills for ourselves. Organisational skills
include the following.

Time management
Time management is the process of planning and
following a conscious control of time spent on specific
activities. It is the ability to use one’s time well. Time
management includes the following.
1. Planning well
2. Setting goals
3. Setting deadlines
4. Giving important work responsibilities to
other people in a team
5. Conducting the most important tasks first

104 Employability Skills – Class XII

Goal setting
A goal is somewhere we want to reach. It is the aim or
result that we want from an activity. Goal makes us
work harder, motivates us to complete what we start
and achieve the target. It gives us direction, and usually,
makes us put in more effort. The biggest difference
between the first and second round of a game you
played was that you had a goal for a second round. It is
that goal, which would have made you work harder and
smarter in the second round.
Efficiency
Efficiency is the ability to do things well, successfully,
without wasting time. In the second round of the game,
you would have utilised the abilities of your team
members better. You would have divided work among
your team members to be able to achieve the goal.
Efficiency can be achieved by using material, i.e., the
team’s efforts, money and time well.
For example, Sama runs a manufacturing business.
When she started, she would do everything —
manufacturing, transportation and selling the material
door-to-door. Now that her business has expanded, she
takes care of the manufacturing section only to ensure
that the quality of the material being used is maintained.
Her team members take care of the transportation and
sale of the manufactured products.
Managing quality
Managing quality in a business means setting and
maintaining a standard of excellence for products or
services being provided to customers. When the business
venture starts growing, maintaining quality becomes the
most important part because of the number of products
being produced every day. In Ravi’s story, even when
he bought clothes from a local seller, he did not buy
cheap ones. He bought good quality clothes because his
customers were important to him.

Entrepreneurship Skills 105

 Notes
Practical Exercise
Activity 1

Who am I?

Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• In this activity, we talk about ourselves with
the rest of the class.
Pre-work
On the day before the exercise is conducted, each student has
to think about and select one person whom the student thinks
knows one well. Once the student has that person in mind, get
an object that represents the personality of the person to class.
It can be the person’s scarf, spectacles, bag, etc.
Instructions
1. Place a chair in the centre of the class.
2. Each person comes in front of the class with the object
one has brought.
3. Each person shall use that object and stand behind
the chair. They have to act like the other person and
introduce themselves to the class. For example, if
Reshma chooses her mother as the person who knows
her best, she shall wear her dupatta, stand behind the
chair and introduce Reshma to the class. She shall
use these sentences like: “Reshma is my daughter.
She is 17 years old. She is a happy child”, etc. Every
person has two minutes to introduce oneself.
Tip: You are all going on a journey to know each other. So, it
becomes important to listen to each other with interest.

Activity 2
Group practice
Business ideas
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• In this activity, we shall come up with business ideas to
solve the problems of different people.
Instructions
1. Form groups of four.
2. Write about a person or people that you care about
and the problems they have.
3. Come up with solutions for those problems and write
them in the following table.

106 Employability Skills – Class XII

 Notes
Person
Problem
Ideas to solve
the problem

4. Now, it is time to talk to your customers. Speak to the

people for whom you come up with solutions. Fill in
the table given below while speaking to them.

Name of the person

Do you have this
problem?
Does my idea solve your
problem? Do you have
suggestions to make my
idea better?
Is there anyone else who
is solving your problem?
What are they doing?

5.
Compare the ideas you have got from your customer
with the original idea. Come up with a new idea that
will be helpful to your customer.
6. Write down the strengths you have that will help
you to successfully execute this new idea. Write
them here.
My strengths .............................................

Activity 3
Group practice
Best out of waste
Material required
Notebook, pen, waste items for the activity, etc.
Procedure
• In this activity, let us make useful objects out of
waste material.
Pre-work
The students shall work in groups of five. Each group has to
bring any five items that have been lying as waste in their homes.
These five items should be such that an object can be made
out of them.
Instructions
1. Divide yourselves into your groups of five. Place the
items you have brought on the bench.
2. Surprise time! You have to give your items to the team
next to you.
3. You, now, have 15 minutes to make a useful object
out of the material your team has.
Entrepreneurship Skills 107
 Notes 4. After completion, each team shall get two minutes
to present one’s object before the class based on the
questions given below. Now, share your feelings on
successfully making an object.
• What was your original plan?
• How did you feel when your items were taken away
and a new set of items were given to you?
• How did you successfully complete the task and make
the object?

Activity 4
Pair and share
Let’s grow together!
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
In this activity, we will talk and help each other become
better people.
Instructions
1. Find someone in class who knows you well.
2. Now, write down one thing that you see them do well.
Then, write down one thing that you feel they can
do better.
3. Now, share your opinion with each other, one‑by‑one.
4. You have five minutes to complete the activity.

Activity 5
Group practice
Snowball fight!
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• In this activity, we talk about a stress we have and
learn one method to deal with it.
Instructions
1. Close your eyes and spend two minutes just listening
to your breath.
2. After opening your eyes, write down a stressful feeling
you are having on a piece of paper. It can be about
your class, friends, home or anything else.
3. Crumple the sheet into a ball.
4. Now, gather in a circle and throw the paper balls at
each other. Laugh loudly — have fun!
5. Now, each person will pick up someone else’s ball and
read it out to the class.
Let’s exercise our interpersonal skills in this activity!

108 Employability Skills – Class XII

 Activity 6 Notes
Group practice
JAM — Just a Minute
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
In this activity, let us see how much can we accomplish
in ‘Just a minute!’
Instructions
1. For the first round, take a pen and paper, and form
groups of five.
2. Prepare a list of things, which are either red or blue
in colour. You have one minute for this team activity.
3. Count the number of items you came up with in the
first round.
4. For the second round, write a goal on the top of your
team’s paper. Ensure this number is greater than
that of the first round. Example, if you had written
10 items as a team in round 1, try to set a goal of 15
items for round 2.
5. Now, write things, which are yellow or pink, in a
minute. Start!
6. What was the difference between round 1 and
round 2?
7. Were you able to achieve more in the second round?
If yes, why?

Activity 7
My entrepreneurial attitude
Material required
Notebook, pen, etc.
Procedure
• Here, the student and the person’s friend shall do an
activity on rating themselves for entrepreneurial qualities.
Instructions
1. Rate yourself on the following parameters (1 – lowest,
5 – highest).
• Interpersonal skills
• Taking initiative
• Decision making
• Hard work
• Time management
2. Now, with your friend, who knows you well, do the
activity. Ask your friend to rate you on each of the
above parameters.

Entrepreneurship Skills 109

 Notes 3. Find your score.
• 5–11: you have some entrepreneurial attitude. You
need to work on your skills.
• 12–18: you are halfway there! There are some
qualities you are very good at but there are also some
you have to work on.
• 19–25: you are entrepreneurial already! Keep working
on your qualities.
4. After reading your rating and your friend’s rating,
discuss it with your teacher.

Check Your Progress

A. Match the situations to the type of attitude that an
entrepreneur is showing.

Situation Attitude
(a) Aamir has been an entrepreneur (i) Decisiveness
for 15 years. His business has a
culture, where people working with
him are free to give feedback on
his work and share new ideas for
the business.
(b) Shanaya wants to start a sweet shop. (ii) Taking
After speaking to some people in her initiative
area, she finds out that nobody sells
healthy sweets. She decides to make
non-fried sweets.
(c) Malvika has a book selling business. (iii) Interpersonal
One day, a shipment of her books skills
gets lost. This creates a lot of
problems for her customers. She
apologises to them and works hard
for two days to get a new shipment
by the next day.
(d) Archana wants to start a 24×7 (iv) Perseverance
medical shop in her village.
However, she does not know
anything about medicines and has
doubts about her selling skills.
After talking to some people, she
realises how important it is. Finally,
she works with a pharmacist to set
up a medical store.

B. Short answer question

1. After taking your entrepreneurial report, you know
what you are good at and what can be improved upon.
How do you think you can improve? Write down three
steps that you shall take.

110 Employability Skills – Class XII

Unit 5
Green Skills

Introduction
Today, we are experiencing unpredictable weather
conditions due to climatic changes and environmental
deterioration. Deterioration of the environment through
depletion of resources, such as air, water and soil is
taking place globally. Whether we work in a factory or
in field, we need to be aware of the factors and systems
that can be harmful to the environment. We must
adopt practices that are environment friendly and avoid
using processes that will harm our surroundings. For
example, pollution is a major problem in most cities.
We can check the rising pollution levels only if we are
aware of the various ways of controlling and minimising
it. We can plant trees near our houses, and use an
eco-friendly mode of transport, such as bicycle, electric
car, etc. We can take care of our environment in many
ways. For example, we must not leave the tap running
while brushing our teeth, use the leftover water in our
bottles for watering plants, use cloth bags instead of
plastic bags, buy eco-friendly products and reduce the
usage of paper.
Using non-toxic and natural products
for cleaning and washing
Cleaning products with sustainably sourced ingredients
and natural oils that are biodegradable and
available in eco-friendly packaging are conducive for
the environment.

2020-21
 Using plants inside home and other
places for air purification
Plants, such as Areca palm and rubber absorb harmful
pollutants from the air.

Session 1: Green Jobs

A way we can contribute to the environment is by
encouraging green jobs. Green jobs help protect and
restore the environment. Green jobs could be in any
sector or industry — traditional sectors, such as
manufacturing and construction, and new sectors,
such as renewable energy.
A green job is defined as one that helps bring about
and maintain transition to environmentally sustainable
forms of production and consumption. It
cuts across all sectors — energy, material,
water conservation, waste management and
pollution control.
According to the United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP), green jobs or
green collar jobs are works in agricultural,
administrative, research and development,
manufacturing and service activities that
contribute substantially to preserving or restoring
environmental quality. ‘Environmental quality’ is a set
of properties and characteristics of the environment,
either generalised or local, as they impinge on human
beings and other organisms.
A green collar worker is one who is employed in
the environmental sectors of the economy. Green
collar workers include professionals, such as green
building architects, environmental consultants, waste
management or recycling managers, environmental
or biological systems engineers, landscape architects,
solar and wind energy engineers and installers, green
vehicle engineers, organic farmers, environmental
lawyers and business personnel dealing with
green services or products. Green workers include
electricians who install solar panels, plumbers who
install solar water heaters, construction workers who
build energy-efficient green buildings, technicians

112 Employability Skills – Class XII

2020-21
and workers involved in establishing wind power Notes
farms, and those working for clean and renewable
energy development.
At the enterprise level, green jobs can produce
goods or provide services that benefit the environment,
for example, green buildings or clean transportation.
However, these green outputs (products and services)
are not always based on green production processes
and technologies. Therefore, green jobs can also be
distinguished by their contribution to more environment
friendly processes. For example, green jobs can reduce
water consumption or improve recycling systems.
India has adopted several measures for ensuring
sustainability, renewable energy and energy efficiency
in various sectors, for example, efforts are being
made to reduce Carbon dioxide emission rates from
vehicles in automotive sector, promoting use of non-
fossil fuel (solar, hydro and wind) as energy sources
for power generation in the power sector and enabling
energy efficient technologies through the concept of
green buildings in the construction sector.
The government, in association with private
players, is also raising energy awareness, changing
consumer behaviour, setting energy codes, and
evolving energy efficiency design and technologies.
To address the skilled workforce issues associated
with sustainable development, the Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship has set up the
‘Skill Council for Green Jobs’. It is working towards
developing competencies of people in the domain
of renewable energy, sustainable development and
waste management.
Green jobs that exist over an array of occupational
profiles of skills and educational backgrounds
constitute entirely new type of jobs, but most build
on traditional professions and occupations.
With the aim of providing a greener economy
and creating environment friendly employment
opportunities, the government is also providing
impetus for green jobs as part of restructured growth
strategies under its ‘Make in India’ campaign. ‘Make
in India’ is designed to facilitate investment, ensure

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 India’s first modern faster innovation, enhance skill development,
metropolitan rail transport protect intellectual property and build best in
system, Delhi Metro, not only class manufacturing structures.
has helped commuters in Delhi
save on commuting time per Benefits of green jobs
day but has also become the The greening of economy presents a major
first rail‑based methodology opportunity to start new businesses, develop
to garner 90,000 voluntary new markets and lower energy costs. Green jobs
carbon credits for improving
that contribute to protecting the environment
energy efficiency. It has not
only created jobs for engineers, and reducing carbon footprint are becoming a
drivers, station attendants, key economic driver of the twenty-first century.
signal staff, ticketing, Green jobs help:
construction and maintenance • increase the efficiency of energy and
workers but also resulted in raw material.
greening existing occupations • reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
and creating new occupations.
• control waste and pollution.
• protect and restore ecosystems.
• support adaptation to the effects of
climate change.

Green jobs in agriculture

Organic gardening and farming is the process by which
we can grow plants and crops in an environment
friendly way. It prevents toxic runoff as no synthetic
pesticides are used. It prevents water pollution and soil
contamination as no chemical is added
to the soil. By using organic methods
of gardening, one can prevent death of
insects, birds, critters and other beneficial
soil organisms. Organic fruits and
vegetables are free from chemical residues
of synthetic fertilisers, and hence, are good
for our health.
Farmers’ cooperatives are one of the
most effective means of reducing the
risk in agriculture and strengthening the
livelihoods of small and marginal farmers. The process
involves mobilising farmers into groups of 15–20
members at the village level (called Farmer Interest
Groups or FIGs) and building their associations to an
appropriate federating point, i.e., Farmer Producer
Organisations (FPOs). FPOs are farmers’ collectives

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with membership consisting mainly of small or
marginal farmers.
Some green jobs in the agriculture sector are in
organic farming, integrated pest management, farm
mechanisation and agriculture tourism. The Krishi
Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) set up by the government,
can be utilised to provide support activities like
technology dissemination, training awareness to
the local youth and farmers for collection, storage
and reuse of agro-waste.
Green jobs in transportation
Use of energy-efficient vehicles and alternate fuels like
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) can help minimise
greenhouse gas emissions. The new biofuel Policy
announced by the Government of India on 10 August 2018
focusses on initiatives for enhanced use of biomass so as
to improve the availability of ethanol through starch and
sugar‑based feedstock, develop ethanol technologies
and increase the production of biodiesel for blending.
Biofuels produced directly or indirectly from organic
material, including BioCNG, Bio-methanol, etc., can
generate green jobs.
The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL),
under the Ministry of Power, has launched an ‘electric
vehicle programme’, which aims towards offering a
comprehensive solution to facilitate the adoption of
disruptive technology in India. The EESL seeks to
create market for electric vehicle, a technology poised
to boost e-mobility in the country. These encompass
road, rail, sea and air based vehicles that use electric
drive and take electric charge from an external source,
or hydrogen in case of fuel cell electric vehicle. Some
electric vehicle technologies are hybridised with fossil
fuel engines (for example, plug-in hybrid electric
vehicles, or PHEVs), while others use only electric power
via a battery (battery electric vehicles). The emergence
of electric drives as an alternate to internal combustion
engines has opened opportunities for new entrants in
the automotive market. Skill training of entrepreneurs
in handling and maintenance of e-rickshaws can create
more green jobs in the transportation sector.

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 Green jobs in water conservation
There are green jobs in water harvesting and
conservation. Rooftop rainwater harvesting refers to the
process where rainwater is collected in tanks to be used
later. It can be installed in all houses and buildings. It
can also help increase the water table. Cycle‑run water
pumps are being used instead of electricity‑run pumps.
These do not consume electricity and provide a way for
people to exercise.
Some common green jobs in the agriculture sector
are related to water quality testing, water conservation,
water management, etc.
Using bamboo channels for drip irrigation is an
eco-friendly way to irrigate the land. It uses water
efficiently without any wastage. It is cheaper to build,
and after 2–3 years when the bamboo rots, it can be
added to the soil as manure.
Green jobs in solar and wind energy
Solar and wind power plants
provide clean energy. A Solar
Photovoltaic Installer installs
and maintains solar panels
in homes, businesses or land.
A solar lighting technician
assembles, tests and repairs
different types of solar
photovoltaic home lighting
system and streetlights. Some
common jobs in this sector are roofer, solar panel
installation technician and field technician.
Green news Green jobs in eco-tourism
India is one of the
few countries where Eco-tourism is intended to provide an experience to
forest and tree cover visitors to understand the importance of conserving
has increased in resources, reducing waste, enhancing the natural
recent years. The environment and reducing pollution. This helps improve
total forest and tree
cover is 24 per cent
public image as the visitors feel good about being in an
of the country’s environment friendly place. Green jobs in eco‑tourism
geographical area. include eco‑tour guides and eco‑tourism operators.

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 Green news
Green jobs in building and construction The Indian Green
Houses and buildings are becoming environment friendly. Building Council
(IGBC), part of the
They use sustainable building material, and follow eco-
Confederation of
friendly construction processes and green operations. Indian Industry (CII),
Green building design provides an integrated approach was founded in the
to utilisation of renewable and non-renewable resources. year 2001. The IGBC
It is important that future green building programmes offers services, which
and projects are established with strategies to address include developing
new green building
skill issues, including appropriate training. Skill
rating programmes,
development has a strategic role to play in promoting the certification services
development of green buildings. It is essential that there and green building
are enough workers equipped with appropriate skills so training programmes.
as to ensure that green buildings are developed on a
large scale. Areas for green jobs in this sector include
construction, landscape, gardening, maintenance of
green components, water management, etc.
Green jobs in solid waste management
Solid waste is defined as any discarded solid fraction,
generated from domestic units, trade centres,
commercial establishments, industries, agriculture,
institutions, public services and mining activities.
The Ministry of Urban Development, Government of
India, has classified solid waste in 14 categories based
on the source of origin and type of waste, i.e., domestic,
municipal, commercial, industrial, institutional,
garbage, ash, street sweepings, dead animals,
construction and demolition waste, bulky, hazardous
and sewage waste.
Solid waste management system includes collection,
segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of
waste. Green jobs related to waste management are in
areas like e-waste recycling, solid waste management,
waste reduction, waste auditing, waste control, etc.
Green jobs in appropriate technology
Appropriate technology is small-scale technology
that is environment friendly and suited to local
needs. Examples of appropriate technology are
bike-powered or hand-powered water pumps, solar lamps
in streetlights, solar buildings, etc. It is the simplest
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 Notes technology that can get a job done in an environment
friendly manner with locally available resources. The
green jobs in appropriate technology may include areas,
such as biogas production, water treatment filtration,
farm mechanisation, rainwater harvesting, sanitation,
lighting, food production, refrigeration, etc.

Practical Exercise
Activity
Group discussion
Green jobs
Material required
Pen, paper, etc.
Procedure
• Form groups, depending on the number of students
present in a class.
• Every student will describe one green job that one would
like to do. Each one of them will make a list and share it
with the rest of the class.

Check Your Progress

A. Multiple choice questions
Read carefully all questions given below and choose the
correct option.
1. Rita’s children fall sick very often. They have cold and
cough every month. What should Rita do?
(a) Grow organic food in kitchen garden
(b) Use air purifiers with HEPA filters
(c) Keep them inside the house all the time
(d) Paint her house with non-VOC paint
2. Jaanvi’s children have grown up. They have a lot of
clothes that are too small for them now. What should
Jaanvi do with these old clothes?
(a) Throw them in the trash can
(b) Burn them
(c) Keep using them even though they are too small
(d) Donate them or make bags out of them
B. Short answer question
1. Name any two green jobs in the following sectors.
(i) Construction
(ii) Renewable energy

What Have You Learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• identify green jobs in various industries and sectors.

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Session 2: Importance of Green Jobs Notes
You have learnt that jobs are understood as green when
people working in these areas help reduce adverse
environmental impacts, and help build environmentally,
economically and socially sustainable enterprises
and economies.
Limiting greenhouse gas emissions
Some of the greenhouse gases are Carbon dioxide,
methane, Nitrous oxide, ozone and chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs). These are emitted due to burning of fossil
fuels, using vehicles and refrigerants, and carrying out
agricultural activities, etc. These gases can trap heat
from the earth and prevent it from escaping into outer
space. This causes the earth to heat, leading to ‘global
warming’. To reduce the emission of greenhouse gases,
people are working towards reducing the use of fossil
fuels by finding less polluting energy sources, such as
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
Minimising waste and pollution
Instead of only thinking about how to recycle or reuse
waste, we must work towards finding solutions on how
to reduce the amount of waste produced. This will help
in waste management.
In manufacturing plants and factories, managers try
to find various ways to reduce the amount of waste
produced at every step of the process. Here are some of
the ways.
• Reusing scrap material
For example, in paper mills, damaged rolls are
sent back to the beginning of the production
line, i.e., they are added as raw material. In
manufacture of plastic items, off-cuts and scrap
are re-incorporated into new products.
• Ensuring quality control
If the quality of products is maintained, there will
be a decrease in rejected products, thus, reducing
waste. Automated monitoring equipment are now
being used, which can help identify production
problems at an early stage.
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 Notes • Waste exchange
This is where the waste product of one process
becomes the raw material for another. It
represents the way of reducing waste disposal
through re‑use.
• Managing e-waste
With advanced technology, we have also
encountered problems in managing e-waste like
old mobile phones, laptops and television sets.
It is important to have sustainable development
and plan judiciously for recycling e-waste.
• Use of eco-friendly material
Scientists have discovered various material,
which are eco-friendly, for example, banana leaf
and paper plates that are easily disposable, etc.
These must be made easily available and their
use needs to be encouraged.

Protecting and restoring ecosystems

Ecosystem is the community of living and non-living
beings existing together, and interacting with and
supporting each other. It is the perfect balance where
every species can survive. Human activities, such
as excess felling of trees can lead to destruction of
the ecosystem, causing climate change and natural
disasters, making it difficult for living beings to survive.
People are working now to help conserve the
existing ecosystems and restore the degraded ones,
using natural solutions. Forests and vegetation help
stabilise slopes, and therefore, reduce the risk of
landslides. Wetlands can help control floods. Avoiding
cutting of forests, planting more trees, investing in
soil health and restoration can control the emission of
greenhouse gases.
Adapting to the effects of climate change
Climate will change based on the damage already done.
Even though people are trying to control the emission
of greenhouse gases, global warming will be there due

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to the damage already done in terms of felling of trees Notes
and using land for agriculture, etc. So, we have to adapt
to those changes. This means, we must find ways to
survive in the new climatic conditions. For example, if
there is weather forecast of less rain, farmers will need
to grow crops that can survive in drought conditions.
The Government of India launched the National
Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in June 2008
to deal with climate change and related issues. The
NAPCC comprises eight missions in specific areas of
solar energy, enhanced energy efficiency, habitat, water,
sustaining Himalayan ecosystems, forestry, agriculture
and strategic knowledge for climate change, which
address issues relating to mitigation of greenhouse
gases and adaptation to the adverse impacts of climate
change on environment, forests, habitat, water resources
and agriculture.

Practical Exercise
Activity 1

Poster making
Material required
Chart paper, colour pencils, pictures, etc.
Procedure
• Form groups depending on the number of children present
in a class.
• Collect pictures of green jobs and make a poster. Organise
an exhibition in the front gate of your school.

Activity 2

Tree plantation
Material required
Seeds, soil, water, gloves, etc.
Procedure
• Identify an area where you can plant a sapling.
Coordinate with your teacher for the kind of plant that
can thrive at the selected location. For example, there
are various plants that require less water. Now, plant a
suitable seed or sapling. Name it if you want. Make sure
that you water the plant regularly and take care of it.

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 Notes Check Your Progress
A. Multiple choice questions
Read carefully the questions given below and choose the
correct option(s).
1. There is a garbage bin in your canteen and it, generally,
gets filled beyond capacity every day. What should
you do?
(i) Ask the canteen management to get a bigger bin
(ii) Suggest ways to reduce the amount of
garbage collected
(iii) Throw garbage on the floor and walk away
(iv) Talk to your friends about the problem
(a) (i), (ii), (iii)
(b) (i), (ii)
(c) (i), (iii), (iv)
(d) (i), (iv)
2. In a steel factory, a lot of utensils are being made. The
manager finds a number of defective pieces, which have
to be discarded. How can the person minimise the waste?
(a) Give it to kabaadiwala or scrapdealer
(b) Dump it in a landfill site
(c) Send it back to the production line — to be melted
(d) Sell it in market
B. Short answer questions
1. List some ways by which we can reduce the amount of
waste generated.
2. Explain the importance of green jobs in reducing the
emission of greenhouse gases.

What have you learnt?

After completing this Session, you will be able to:
• explain the role and importance of green jobs.

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 Answer Key
Unit 1: Communication Skills
Session 1: Active Listening
A. Multiple choice questions
1. (b) 2. (a), 3. (c) 4. (d)

Session 2: Parts of Speech

A. Multiple choice questions
1. (b) 2. (d) 3. (d)
B. Fill in the blanks
(a) The boy is running.
(b) The girls are skipping.
(c) The girl is riding.
(d) Raju is drinking milk.
(e) The boy is studying.
(f) The dog is barking.
Session 3: Writing Sentences
A. Multiple choice questions
1. (a) 2. (d) 3. (d) 4. (b)
Unit 2: Self-management Skills

Session 3: Self-awareness

A. Multiple choice questions

1. (a) 2. (a) 3. (a) 4. (d)
Unit 3: Information and Communication Technology Skills

Session 1: Getting Started with Spreadsheet

A. Multiple choice questions

1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (d) 4. (c)
Session 2: Performing Basic Operations in a Spreadsheet
A. Multiple choice questions
1. (b) 2. (c)

Session 3: Working with Data and Formatting Text

A. Multiple choice questions
1. (b) 2. (a) 3. (d) 4. (d) 5. (c)
Session 4: Advanced Features in Spreadsheet
A. Multiple choice questions
1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (c)

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 Session 5: Presentation Software
A. Multiple choice questions
1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (b)

Session 6: Opening, Closing, Saving and Printing a Presentation

A. Multiple choice questions
1. (a) 2. (c) 3. (c)

Session 7: Working with Slides and Text in a Presentation

A. Multiple choice questions
1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (a)

Session 8: Advanced Features used in Presentation

A. Multiple choice questions
1. (d) 2. (c) 3. (c)
Unit 4: Entrepreneurship Skills
Session 1: Entrepreneurship and Entreprenur

A. Multiple choice questions

1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (a)

Session 2: Barriers to Entrepreneurship

A. Match the situations in the columns to the
meaning of the word
a. (iii) b. (i) c. (ii)
B. Multiple choice questions
1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (a)

Session 3: Entrepreneurial Attitudes

A. Multiple choice questions
1. (c) 2. (b) 3. (b)

Session 4: Entrepreneurial Competencies

A. Match the situations to the type of attitude
that the entrepreneur is showing
a. (iii) b. (i) c. (iv) d. (ii)
Unit 5: Green Skills
Session 1: Green Jobs
A. Multiple choice questions
1. (b) 2. (d)

Session 2: Importance of Green Jobs

A. Multiple choice questions
1. (b) 2. (c)

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 Glossary
Ability: is the physical and mental skill to do something.
Active cell: is the one that is selected.
Alignment: refers to the arrangement of text (left, right or
center aligned).
Attitude: is a way of thinking or feeling about something.
Barrier: refers to a problem, rule or situation that prevents
somebody from doing something, or makes something impossible.
Bold text: means making a text darker and thicker.
Capital: refers to the money available for starting a
business venture.
Cell: is the place where a row and column intersect.
Cell range: is a range of cells that are selected.
Column: refers to the vertical arrangement of cells.
Competence: refers to the ability to do something well.
Decisiveness: refers to the ability to make the right decisions at the
right time.
Digital presentation: is a presentation made on a computer using
a software, which has text, images, video and audio, and various
other features to make it attractive.
Efficiency: is the ability to do things accurately, successfully and
without wasting the available resources.
Feedback: is an advice, criticism or information about how good or
useful something or somebody’s work is. It aims to help someone
improve one’s work.
Filter: refers to filtering data, which means selecting and displaying
few records out of the total list.
Formatting text: refers to changing the look, size, colour, etc., of
the text.
Formula Bar: is the place, where data or formula can be entered in
the selected cell.
Goal: is the aim or target one wants to achieve.
Initiative: is the ability to take charge and act in a situation
before others.
Interpersonal: is connected with relationships between
two people.
Interpersonal skills: are the competencies required to work with
two and more people.
Italicise text: means making the text appear slanting to
the right.
Layout: is the arrangement of text, images, shapes, etc.,
on a slide.

2020-21
 Operator: is the symbol used in a computer to perform
mathematical functions, such as addition(+), subtraction(-),
multiplication(×) and division(÷)
Opportunity: is a chance to do something, generally, the right time
or moment to do something.
Organisational skills: are the ability to use one’s time, energy and
resources well to be able to achieve one’s goals.
Perseverance: is the ability to continue to do something, even when
it is difficult.
Risk: is a situation, which has a chance of failure.
Row: is a horizontal arrangement of cells.
Sorting data: means arranging data in a particular order, for
example in alphabetical order.
Stress: refers to the state of mental pressure, tension or anxiety.
Stress management: includes techniques aimed at controlling
a person’s stress level so that the person feels healthy and
positive again.
Underline text: means drawing a line under the text.
Venture: is a new business activity that, usually, involves risks.
Wrap text: means adjusting the text within a cell so that it is fully
visible without changing the column size.

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Class XII Communication Skills

1. What is Communication?
Communication is the act of conveying meanings from one entity or group to another through the
use of mutually understood signs, symbols, and semiotic rules.

*The following figure represents types of communication

(Fig 1)

Learning objectives of Effective communication

1. Development of Interpersonal Skills

2. To express effectively & with maximum efficiency

Communication skills are beneficial in and out of the workplace. Having the ability to clearly
communicate instructions, ideas and concepts can help you find success in any career. With practice,
anyone can develop their communication skills.

2. Active Listening

One of the most critical skills in effective

communication is Active listening.
Developing this soft skill will help build and
maintain relationships, solve problems,
improve processes and retain information
such as instructions, procedures and
expectations.

1
 2.1 Why is active listening
important in the workplace?
Whether we are seeking a new job
opportunity, striving to earn a
promotion or working to improve in
our current role, improving our active
listening skills will help us succeed.
Much like critical thinking and conflict
resolution, this soft skill will help
increase our value.

Here are several benefits of being an

active listener:

• It helps us build connections.

Active listening helps others feel comfortable sharing information with us. When we demonstrate our
ability to sincerely listen to what others have to say, people will be more interested in communicating
with us on a regular basis. This can help open up opportunities to collaborate with others, get work
done quickly or start new projects. All of these things can help lead us to success in our career.

• It helps you build trust.

When people know they can speak freely with us without interruptions, judgment or unwelcome
interjections, they’ll be more likely to confide in us. This is especially helpful when meeting a new
customer or business contact with whom we want to develop a long-term working relationship.

• It helps you identify and solve problems.

Actively listening to others will help you detect challenges and difficulties others are facing, or
problems within projects. The more quickly you’re able to spot these issues, you sooner you can find
a solution or create a plan to address it.

2.2 Four Steps to Active Listening

Active listening requires four discrete steps.

CONTACT—connect with the participant who is contributing; eye contact, open posture, and
nonverbal responses.

ABSORB—take in all aspects of the spoken message, implicit and explicit and nonverbal clues. Do
not judge or evaluate.

REFLECTIVE FEEDBACK—mirror, reflect, or feedback what you have heard and why the contributor
claims to be valid.

CONFIRM—receive confirmation from the speaker that you heard the participant’s message
accurately. If not, start the method over again at the beginning by having the speaker restate their
view.

2
 2.3 Demonstrating Active Listening skills

The Story teller

In this game, the teacher starts a story with a beginning phrase, and then each child in the classroom adds one word
to the story in turn. Students must be active participants and follow the story closely so that when their time comes
to add a sentence, the story will make sense. Another way to practice this is by playing a traditional game of
Telephone where a message is passed around the room to see if it stays the same.

Active Listening Skills(game)

Directions: Read and listen to the statements below. After reading and listening to the teacher read the statements,
write a response for each statement demonstrating reflective listening on the part of you the listener. Your answer
should demonstrate the response. Remember a dialogue is a conversation between two people. One person sends
a message (the statement. The person who receives the message then responds (your written response). Make sure
to include all of the points each speaker makes. Do not assume (Note: offering reasons, solutions or excuses for
behaviour is not part of the reflective listening response and must be avoided.).
In each of your responses, underline all words that show you will restate the points made by the original speaker.
Look at the example below. Note each part of the sender’s statement is also mentioned in the reflective listening
statement.

• (Statement) I get furious with him when he says things that suggest that I don’t take good care of the kids.
• (Active Listening Response) What I think I hear you saying is that you feel furious when he implies that you’re not
a good care giver for your kids.

From the statements listed below, select a different phrase to use for each one of the dialogues you need to
complete.

• “What I think I hear you saying is…”

• “In other words, you think that…”
• “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you saying…”
• “Let me review what I’ve heard you say. Please correct me if I leave anything out.”
• “I hear you saying…Is that right?”

1. Father to Son/Daughter: “I am sick and tired of you asking to borrow the car/bike when you haven’t completed
your homework or your chores, you leave your room in a total wreck and you have been disrespectful to your family.
You need to grow up and learn to show some respect.

Response:

2.Teacher to Student: “I am very concerned about your lack of progress in this course. You haven’t been keeping up
with your work and the work that you have been submitting is of poor quality. You are a senior and this course is a
graduation requirement. If you don’t start turning in your work you are going to fail this course and possibly miss
graduation.”

Response:

3. Friend to Friend: I just don’t know what to do about my parents. It seems like they just don’t understand me.
Everything I like seems to go against their values, and they just won’t accept my feelings as being right for me. It’s
not that they don’t love me, they do,But they just don’t accept me.

Response:

3
2.4 Designing poster on steps of Active Listening

3. Interview Skills

Interviewing is a skill in and of

itself, one in which our ability
to interact with the
interviewer and to articulate
our thoughts are factors that
are just as important in getting
the job as are the
qualifications listed on our
resume.

4
3.1 Interview Do’s and Don’ts
3.1.1 DO’s

a) What to do before an interview

• Get a good night's sleep the night before.

• Do research.
• Eat a good breakfast.
• Prepare questions beforehand.
• Know who will be interviewing and learn a bit about their background.
• Know your strengths and put together a list of them.
• Turn off your cell phone
• Prepare a solid list of references
b) What to do during beginning of an interview

• Do try to sparkle! Use gestures in your conversation. Make sure they are smooth and
emphatic.
• Do smile.
• Do make sure you get the interview’s name right and use it a few times in the interview
• Do go to the rest room before you visit the employment lobby. It is
• embarrassing to interrupt an interview, and you want to be as comfortable as possible
c) What to do during an interview

• Do look the interviewer in the eye. Recruiters place a lot of emphasis on eye contact.
• Do take notes
• Let your achievements speak for you.
• Take a second before answering a question.
• Sit up straight.
• Ask questions.
d) What to do after an interview

• Do let the interviewer decide when the interview is over.

• Do ask the interviewer when you will hear from him or her again if he or she does not offer
the information.
• Drop off a thank you note. Always thank interviewer after you have left.
• Follow up appropriately.
• Create a list of items that you did well and you like to improve on.
3.1.2 Don’ts
• Don’t be late. In fact, plan to be early for any scheduled interview. If you are late or arrive
just in the nick of time, the interviewer will start to wonder
• Don’t sit down until you are asked.
• Don’t lean on or put your elbows on the interviewer’s desk. Sit back in your chair, so the
interviewer can see more of you. Sit erect.
• Don’t show your nervousness by drumming your fingers, swing your leg, or cracking your
knuckles.
• Don’t talk too quickly
• Don’t digress from your points. Answer questions directly.

5
 • Don’t use words you do not know meaning of
• Do not use slang.
3.1.3 To teach interview skills in high school, we should follow these four steps:
• Introduce interview skills
• Talk about why good interview skills matter
• Explore what good job interview skills look like
• Group project
A practical, and interactive activity for participants to learn how to prepare for a job interview. This
activity will help them avoid some common mistakes before or during a job interview.

Warm- up Activity:

Words “ Interview” will be written on the Whiteboard/blackboard which be followed by

discussion..The participants will be put be questions like:

a. When was the last time you had an interview?

b. Did you have good or bad experiences?
c. Do you have any interview- related stories?
d. d. Brainstorm some common mistakes before or during an interview and write them down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3l7COBI77U
A small video clip will be played will played for a few times and then the

Students will prepare five questions of their own on what they should andshould not do during an
interview . For example,

“What should you prepare for your interview?”

“What should you do at the interview?”
“What shouldn’t you do at the interview?”

(3) On the whiteboard, write the following questions and ask the students to repeat with you a few
times, and then pair the students to do the
questions and answers. (Optional: The teacher can write down the participants answers on the
white board.)

A. What should you do before the interview?

B. What should you do at the beginning of the interview?
C. What should you do during the interview?
D. What shouldn’t you do at the interview? …
E. What should you do after the interview?

6
 Actvity ( Group Project)

All about me

One of the first steps in an application process is telling the school /college/company a little bit about
yourself.The students write a paragraph about themselves giving whatever information they think a
potential school or employer would want to know including their education. Then, they will write a second
version of their paragraph that leaves out some of the information in the first and also includes other
information not in the first version. Collect students’ papers and choose some of the best pairs to share
with the class.)Have students work in pairs to look at the two versions of the about me paragraph with
each person in possession of one version. Without reading each other’s copies, the students will talk until
they can point out which information each version has that is different from their partner’s and what
information each version is lacking.

Summary
A classroom environment relies heavily towards your classroom climate. Students with effective
communication skills will be more likely to contribute to class discussions, will be more productive
members in group projects, and will ultimately gain more from their experience in the class. Learning
and practicing writing skills help students to handle professional and social tensions.

References

: Google
: You tube
: British council Library

7
8
Class XII Self-Management Skills

1. Self Motivation

Motivation is defined as the drive required to engage in goal-oriented behaviour. Motivation is inner
urge to do something and self-motivation is ability to do what needs to be done without the influence
or thrust from other people or situations. Self-motivated individuals are asset to the world, their
country, their families and to themselves. Self-motivated individuals practice righteousness. They do
what is required to accomplish their goals.Self-motivated people have elevated spirit and are full of
positivity. For them nothing is impossible. They are focused on their goals and objectives and diligently
achieve their aims.

Self-motivation is important because

• It increases individual’s energy and activity.

• It directs an individual towards specific goals.
• It results in initiation and persistence of specific activities
• It affects cognitive processes and learning strategies used for completing similar tasks.
1.1 Finding and listing motives
Motivation is classified in different types by different
authors such as motivation based on physiological and
psychological needs. Physiological motivation is based
on the physical needs to satisfy hunger or thirst.
Physiological motivation directs the behaviour towards
satisfying specific bodily needs. Psychological
motivations can be guided by need for achievement and
need for affiliation. The need for achievement is a social
form of motivation involving a competitive drive to meet
the standards of excellence. The need for affiliation
involves the need to seek and enjoy close and
cooperative relationships with others and be loyal to a
friend. Motivation is also classified as internal or external
motivation. In case of internal motivation, an individual
demonstrates a desire to do his/her work without any external reward. External motivation occurs
when we feel driven by outside forces, performing an activity either to obtain a reward or to avoid
punishment. For example, a student who is internally motivated will learn, complete the assignments
on his/her own, whereas a student who is externally driven will be completing lessons to avoid
punishment or to gain reward. Motivation, basically answers “why”, the reason behind doing a task.
A person, may be internally or externally motivated. in different situations or may be driven by
physiological and psychological needs. One should identify the motivation in every occasion to handle
oneself better.

9
1.2 Finding sources of motivation and inspiration
Following are the sources of motivation and inspiration.

• Music
Music is the language of the soul. A good inspiring piece touches every heart and can help create
miracles.

• Books
Books are said to be best friends. They expand our horizon of thinking. They help us visualize the
unknown and unchartered territories beyond our capacities. Books about heroic acts, inspiring lives
and stimulating creativity help readers move beyond their routine lives.

• Activities :
Engaging in positive and skill enhancing activities keep our spirits high. Competitions, games,
simulations, interviews for various committee positions are found to encourage, motivate and inspire
students.
• Expansive thoughts:
Thinking and discussing big and positive ideas motivate us to reach our highest potential.
• Living in the present :
Being present where we are rather than where we are not, brings in peace and calmness in our life. A
calm and peaceful mind can help us achieve wonders. This quality of being aware and conscious of
one’s self in present moment is also called mindfulness. Mindfulness helps students to pay attention,
reduce stress and helps promote thoughtful approach towards life.
• Dreaming big :
Dreaming big is a journey not a destination. Dreaming big helps us to be mentally prepared to take
that big leap forward. Only when we aim high, we get motivated to work hard and achieve big things
in life.

2. Personality Types, Traits and Disorders

2.1 Meaning of personality

Personality is relatively enduring
set of traits. These traits are made
up of emotional, behavioral and
mental set of characteristics.
Heredity has been found to be
determining personality apart
from environmental forces.
Personality is shaped through
family, culture, society, education
and other environmental factors.

2.2 Influence of personality

Personality affects all aspects of an individual’s performance, even how he/she reacts to situations in
life. Individuals shall set clear goals for themselves and diligently pursue them. Behavioral tendencies
like anxiety, stress, perseverance and conscientiousness reflected in personality traits can influence
academic performance.

10
2.3 Basic personality traits
According to trait theory, combining a set of observable traits into a group forms an individual’s
personality. One popular personality classification is big five. The Big Five, global traits associated with
work . are listed below:

• Extraversion: Gregarious, assertive and sociable.(Opposite reserved, timid, quiet.)

• Agreeableness : Cooperative, warm and agreeable.(Opposite cold, disagreeable and
antagonistic)
• Conscientiousness : Hardworking, organized and dependable(lazy, disorganized and
unreliable)
• Emotional stability : Calm, self-confident and cool(insecure, anxious and depressed)
• Openness to experience : Creative, curious and cultured(narrow interests)

2.4 Common personality disorders

Following are the common personality disorders. If anyone is identified with these disorders,
counselling shall be provided by family members, teachers and counsellors.

• Paranoid
Feeling extremely nervous and worried because you believe that other people do not like you or are
trying to harm you.

• Antisocial
Is characterized by a pattern of persistent disregard for and violation of the rights of others.

• Schizoid
Is characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships and people tend to be distant, detached
and indifferent.

• Borderline
Is marked by an ongoing pattern of varying moods, self-image and behaviour. These symptoms result
in impulsive actions and problems in relationships.

• Narcissistic
Is a condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for
excessive attention and admiration and lack of empathy.

• Avoidant
Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by feelings of extreme social inhibition, inadequacy, and
sensitivity to negative criticism and rejection.

• Dependent
Dependent personality disorder is a condition marked by an overreliance on other people to meet
one's emotional and physical needs.

• Obsessive
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a personality disorder that's characterized by
extreme perfectionism, order, and neatness.

11
 A 1, A2, A3, A4

Lets’ Do It !!

Activities

Session A. Group Discussion on identifying needs and desires in general

Session B. Discussion on sources of motivation and inspiration, finding their own sources

Session C. Demonstrate the knowledge of different personality types. Try to identify your own
personality

Session D. Essay on reflections on self-personality type

12
13
Class XII ICT Skills

Unit 1. Performing Tabulation Using Spreadsheet Application

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO SPREADSHEET APPLICATION

OpenOffice Calc is a spreadsheet program, a part of the free OpenOffice suite. The program is easy to
use and contains most of the commonly used features found in commercial spreadsheet programs.
OpenOfficeCalcis a software that helps in
performing calculations using formulae and in
analysing the data.

Do you remember your Mathematics notebook

of your primary class?
It has small boxes to practice mathematics.
These boxes are intersection
of horizontal rows and columns.

A spreadsheet or electronic Spreadsheet is also

a long sheet of rows and columns on the
computer screen. This helps to manage and
organize data in rows and columns.
Spreadsheets can be used to do calculations on data, create data reports, manage accounting
documents, do data analysis, etc. You can also create graphical representation of data.

Another term that is used in a spreadsheet software is Workbook. A Workbook is another name for
OpenOffice Calc file. A Workbook is a collection of one or more worksheets in a single file. Each sheet
can have many cells arranged in rows and columns. In this chapter we will be discussing about Apache
OpenOffice Calc 4.1.5. You regularly get updates of these softwares.

1.2 SPREADSHEET APPLICATIONS

Spreadsheet programs have become very popular because of the following features:
• Built-in functions make calculations easier, faster, and more accurate.
• Large volumes of data can be easily handled and manipulated.
• Data can be exported to or imported from other software.
• Data can be easily represented in pictorial form like graphs or charts.
• Formulae are automatically recalculated whenever underlying data values are changed.

1.3 CREATING A NEW WORKSHEET

In this section, we will discuss how to start OpenOfficeCalc, components of Calc screen. Also we will
learn how to create a new workbook and save it.

1.3.1 Starting OpenOffice Calc

To start OpenOffice Calc:

1. Click Start ➢All Programs ➢OpenOffice 4.1.5 ➢OpenOffice Calc.

14
 2. A spreadsheet workbook named Untitled1 opens up in an OpenOffice Calc application
window (Fig. 1).

Columns Menu bar Standard Formatting

Title bar
bar bar
Name
box
Active
Formula
cell
bar

Rows

Side bar

Sheet tabs

Status bar

Fig. 1 OpenOffice Calc worksheet

1.3.2 Components of a Calc Screen

Title bar The Title bar is located at the top of the Calc window. It displays the name of the workbook
on which you are currently working. When you create a new worksheet, is named as Untitled 1,
Untitled 2, and so on. A workbook is a collection of one or more worksheets. The right side of the title
bar contains the Minimize, Restore Down or Maximize, and Close buttons.

Menu bar The menu bar is located below the Title bar. It has commands like File , Edit, etc.
Clicking on each menu option displays a list of commands.

Standard bar This bar contains icons (buttons) to provide quick access to commands such as New,
Open, Print, Copy, and Paste etc.

Formatting bar It has buttons and drop-down menus that allow you to select a formatting option like,
font, font color, alignment, number format, border, and background color.

Formula bar It contains the Name Box and a long white box, known as the Input line.

Name Box It is present to the left of the Formula bar and displays the address of the selected cell.

The rest of the window contains the spreadsheet. It is divided into rows that have a number at the left
of each row, and columns with a letter at the top of each column.

15
 Worksheet tabs A workbook, by default, opens three worksheets named as Sheet1, Sheet2, and
Sheet3. You can click any sheet tab to open that worksheet.
To insert a new worksheet, the steps are:
1. Clicking the empty area after the sheet tab.
2. The Insert Sheet dialog box appears. (Fig 2)
3. Select the required option and click OK

Fig 2 Inserting a new sheet

Click blank
area to add
more sheet

You can also rename the sheet. Simply, double-click the Sheet name and type the new name.
Rows and columns A worksheet in OpenOffice 4.1.5 Calc has 1,048,576 rows and 1,024 columns. The
rows are numbered from top to bottom along the left edge of the worksheet as 1, 2, and so on.
Columns are labelled from left to right with letters A…Z, AA…AZ, A…BZ…AAA…AAZ,
ABA…ABZ…AMA…AMJ.

Cell and Cell Address A cell is formed by the intersection of a row and a column. Each cell has a unique
address which is formed by the intersection of row number and column letter. For example, a cell
formed by intersection of column F and row 5 will have address F5.

Active Cell: Data is entered in a cell. To enter data in a cell, we have to first select it. The selected cell
is called the active cell and is highlighted with a thick border. Also, the address of the active cell is
displayed in the Name box.

Range of cells: A block of adjacent cells which are selected is called range of cells. For example, if the
cells from A1 to B5 are selected, then the range of selected cells is referred as A1:B5. The cells in this
range are – A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, B1, B2, B3, B4, and B5.

16
1.3.3 Creating a New Workbook

The steps to create a new Calc workbook are:

1. Select File ➢New➢Spreadsheet.
Or
Click the New Document drop-down menu
arrow on the
Standard bar and selectSpreadsheet. (Fig 3)
Or
Press CTRL + N.

1.3.4 Saving a workbook Fig 3 New button on Standard

bar
The steps to save a workbook are:

1. Select Save option from the File menu.

Or
Click the Save icon on the Standard bar Or Press Ctrl + S
If you are saving a workbook for the first time, a Save As dialog box will appear.

2. Type the file name and choose a location to save the file. Notice that the file extension is
.ods.

1.4 OPENING WORKBOOK AND ENTERING TEXT

In this section, we will learn how to open an already saved workbook. Also, how to enter data in a
cell.

1.4.1 Opening a Workbook

The steps to open an already saved workbook are:

1. Select Open option from the File menu.

Or
Click Open icon on the Standard bar.
Or
Press Ctrl + O
2. The Open dialog box appears.
3. Select the drive and the folder from where you want to open the file.
4. Select the file and click Open button.

1.4.2 Entering text

To enter data in a cell,
1. Select the cell.
2. Type the content.
3. Press ENTER key.

You can enter numbers, text, and formulas in a cell. By default, the text is left-aligned in a cell and
numbers are right-aligned.

17
 Left-aligned
right-aligned

To cancel the data you have entered before pressing the ENTER key, press the ESC key.

1.5 RESIZE FONTS AND STYLES

We can always change the font, style and size of the text or data entered in a worksheet. This can be
done before typing or after typing the content.

The options for formatting data/text are available on the Formatting bar (Fig 4). The use of each of
the options is shown in the figure.

Fig. 4 Formatting bar

1.6 COPYING AND MOVING

In this section, we will learn how to select cells, rows, and columns. We will also discuss how to insert
and delete cells, rows, and columns. How to change the row height and column width is also discussed
here.

Before performing any operation, like, making text bold, changing text color, etc, on a range of cells,
you need to select the range.
A range is a rectangular block of contiguous cells, i.e.,

cells that touch each other, especially along a line.

1.6.1 Selecting Cells

You can select range of cells in any one of the following ways:

• Using the mouse

• Using the keyboard

18
Using the mouse

To select a range of cells using the mouse, the steps are:

1. Click the cell you wish to start your selection from.
2.Click and hold the left mouse button down, drag the
mouse
pointer to the diagonally opposite corner cell.
For example, if the range A1 to D3 is to be selected,
place the
mouse pointer at cell A1. Hold the left mouse button
down and
drag it to the cell D3. The range A1 to D3 is represented
as A1:D3.
When you select the range, all the cells appear
highlighted (Fig. 5).
Fig 5 Selecting range using mouse

Using the Keyboard

To select a range of cells using the keyboard, the steps are:
1. Place the cell pointer at one of the corner cells of the range to
be selected.
2. Press the SHIFT key and move to the diagonally opposite corner
cell using the arrow keys.
3. Release the SHIFT key when the required range has been
selected.

Selecting Multiple Ranges Simultaneously

To select multiple ranges, do the following:
1. Select the first range of cells.
2. Hold the CTRL key and select another range of cells.
3. Repeat step 2 to select more ranges if required (Fig. 6). Fig 6 Selecting multiple range of cells

Selecting the entire row

To select the entire row in which the cell pointer is positioned, click
the row heading.

Selecting the entire column

To select the entire column in which the cell pointer is positioned,
click the column heading.

Selecting the entire worksheet

To select the entire worksheet:

Press CTRL + A Fig 7 Select All button

Or
Click the blank button (called the Select Allbutton) at the junction
of the row and column headers.(Fig 7)

19
 Let’s Try

Start OpenOfficeCalc and create a new worksheet. Now, try the following:

1. Select cell B3.

2. Select the range of cells from A1 to D3.
3. Select the range of cells from C5 to F5.
4. Select multiple range of cells B4:D7 and C4:F8.
5. Select row 5.
6. Select row 3 and 8.
7. Select column D.
8. Select column B and G.

Worksheet

1. By default, how many worksheets are there in a Calc workbook? ____________

2. How are rows numbered in Calc? ________________
3. Name the column after column Z. ________________
4. What is the address of the cell formed by the intersection of 3rd column 5th row?
____
5. Name the cells in the range A2:B5. ________________________________
6. How can you select entire worksheet using keyboard? _________________
7. How can you select entire column number B? _______________________________
8. Which key will you press if you want to select multiple ranges of cells? __________
9. Name the column after BZ? ___________
10. What is the extension of a file saved in Calc? _____________

1.6.2 Copying Cell Contents

You can copy content of cell(s) to another cell(s). To copy cell contents in Calc, the steps are:

1. Select the cell(s) that contain(s) the data you want to copy.
2. Select Copy option from the Edit menu.
Or
Click the Copy button on the Standard bar. (Fig 8)
Or
Press CTRL + C to copy the data.
3. Click on the cell(s) where you want to paste the data.
4. Select Paste option from the Edit menu.
Or
Fig 8 Standard bar
Click the Paste button on the Standard bar.
Or
Press CTRL + V.

1.6.3 Moving Cell Contents

To move cell contents from one cell to another in Calc, the steps are:
1. Select the cell that contains the data you want to cut.
2. Select Cut option from the Edit menu.
Or
Click the Cut button on the Standard bar.
Or
Press CTRL + X to cut the data.

20
3. Click on the cell where you want to paste the data.
4. Select Paste option from the Edit menu.
Or
Click the Paste button on the Standard bar.
Or
Press CTRL + V.

1.6.4 Inserting and Deleting Cells

To insert cells, the steps are:

1. Select the range of cells where you want to insert a block of cells.
2. Select Cells option from the Insert menu.
3. The Insert Cells dialog box appears.
4. Select the appropriate option and click OK.

To delete cells, the steps are:

1. Select the range of cells where you want to delete a block of cells.
2. Select Delete Cells option from the Edit menu.
3. The Delete Cells dialog box appears.
4. Select the appropriate option and click OK.

1.6.5 Inserting Rows and Columns

The steps to insert rows are:

1. Select the row where you want to insert a new row.
2. Select Rows option from the Insert menu.
Or
Right-click the row header and select Insert Rows in the shortcut menu.

A new row is inserted above the selected/highlighted row.

Cells in the new row are formatted similar to the corresponding cells in the row before which the new
row is inserted.
Multiple rows can be inserted at once by selecting multiple rows using theCTRL key or by dragging the
mouse while holding down the left mouse button.

To insert columns, the steps are:

1. Select the column where you want to insert a new column.
2. Select Columns option from the Insert menu.
Or
Right-click the column header and select Insert Columns in the shortcutmenu.

When you insert a new column, it is inserted to the left of the selected/highlighted column. Cells in
the new column are formatted similar to the corresponding cells in the column to the left of which the
new column or row is inserted.
Multiple columns can be inserted at once by selecting multiple columns using theCTRL key or by
dragging the mouse while holding down the left mouse button.
1.6.6 Deleting Rows and Columns

To delete rows, the steps are:

21
1. Select the row to be deleted.
2. Right-click on the selected row header.
3. Select Delete Rows option in the shortcut menu.
To delete multiple rows, select them using the CTRL key, or by dragging the mouse while holding the
left mouse button.

To delete columns, the steps are:

1. Select the column to be deleted.
2. Right-click on the selected column header.
3. Select Delete Columns in the shortcut menu.
To delete multiple columns, select them using the CTRL key, or by dragging the mouse while holding
the left mouse button.

Deleting Content
Instead of deleting a row or column, you may want to delete the contents of the cells but keep the
empty row or column. This can be done in the following manner:
1. Select the cell(s), the contents of which you want to delete.
2. Press the DELETE key.
Or
Select Delete Contents option of Edit menu.
3. The Delete Contents dialog box appears.
3. Check the boxes of the kind of data you want to delete (e.g., checking Formats will remove the
formatting changes such as bold, italics, font colors, and borders).
4. Click OK.

1.6.7 Changing Row Height and Column Width

You can change the row height in a Calc worksheet in any of the following ways:

• Drag the divider below the row (Fig 9).

• To fit the row height to the cell contents, double-click the divider.
• Select Format ➢Row ➢Height. The Row Height dialog box appears (Fig. 10). Enter the value for row
height in the Height spinbox. Click Ok button.

Fig. 10 Row Height dialog box

Fig 9 Changing row height

22
Changing Column Width

You can change the column width in a Calc worksheet in any of the
following ways:
• Drag the divider to the right of the column header (Fig 11).

2• To fit the column width to the cell contents, double-click the

divider.
• To change the column width, select Format ➢Column ➢Width.
The Column Width dialog box appears. Enter the value for column
width in the Width spinbox. Click Ok button.

Fig 11 Changing column width

Let’s Try

1. Create the following worksheet.

2. Insert a column after column D.

3. Move the marks of Maths in the newly inserted column.
4. Insert a new row after row 5.
5. Insert the following details in the new row
1105 Tiya 69 64 59 54
6. Change the row height of all the rows.
7. Change the column width of columns A to F.

1.7 FILTER AND SORTING

1.7.1 Filtering Data

Filtering is a quick and easy way to find and work with selected data based on the criteria you specify.
The filter feature selectively blocks out the data you do not want to see and displays only the rows or
columns that meet the conditions or criteria you specify. Sorting rearranges the range of cells but
filtering only hides temporarily the rows/columns you do not want.

Different ways in which filtering can be done in Calc are:

• AutoFilter
• Standard Filter

23
AutoFilter

To apply AutoFilter in a worksheet, the steps are:

1. Select cell, say, A1.
2. Select Data ➢ Filter ➢ AutoFilter.
3. A drop-down menu arrows appear in each column heading (Fig 12).
4. Click the drop-down menu arrow for Total Sales and select an item (Fig 13).
5. Only those rows whose contents meet the filter criteria are displayed.
a. To display all the records again, select the All option in the filter drop-down menu.
b. Select Top 10 to display the highest 10 values.

Fig. 12 Drop-down menu arrows Fig. 13 Drop-down menu for Total

in column Headings

Standard Filter

To apply standard filter in your worksheet, the steps are:

1. Select Data➢ Filter ➢ Standard Filter..
2. The Standard Filter dialog box appears (Fig. 14).
a. You can use the dialog box to connect multiple conditions with either a logical AND or a logical OR
operator.
3. Select the options in the Standard Filter dialog box. The records with Total Sales greater than
4000 will be displayed (Fig. 15).

Fig. 14 Standard Filter dialog box Fig. 15 Rows after applying

Standard Filter
To remove the filter,
1. Select Data ➢Filter ➢Remove Filter.

24
 To hide the filter,
1. Select Data ➢Filter ➢Hide AutoFilter.

To remove the filter from column headings,

1. Select Data ➢Filter ➢AutoFilter.

1.7.2 Sorting Data

Once you have entered data and applied relevant formulas in a worksheet, you can arrange the data
in ascending or descending order. This is called sorting of data.

Sorting on numerical and textual values is a one of the main features of any spreadsheet software. In
Calc, sorting can be done in the following manner.

Sorting on One Column

1. Enter data in a worksheet (Fig. 16).
2. Select any cell, say C1.
3. Click the Sort option from the Data menu (Fig. 17)

Fig. 16 Data in worksheet Fig. 17 Sort option in the Data menu

3. The Sort dialog box appears (Fig. 18). Notice that column Marks appears
under Sort by section.
4. Select the Descending option under Sort by and click OK.
5. The data in column Marks is sorted in descending order.(Fig 19)

Fig 19 Data arranges in

descending order of Marks
box

You can also sort the data on one column is by using the sorting icons on the Standard bar.
On the Standard bar, click (Fig 20)

25
• The Sort Ascending button to sort the data in ascending order.
• The Sort Descending button to sort the data in descending order.
Sort
Sort Descending
Ascending

Fig 20 Sort buttons on Standard bar

Sorting on Multiple Columns

You can sort the data on multiple columns.
1. Consider the following worksheet. (Fig 21)
2. Select cell, say C1.
3. Select Sort option from Data menu.
4. The Sort dialog box appears.
5. The Sort Criteria tab on the Sort dialog box
has options to sort the data on multiple columns.
6. Select the options as shown in Figure 22.
7. The data is sorted in descending order of column
Total Sale, and where total sale is same, sorting
is done in ascending order of column
Salesman Name. (Fig 23) Fig 21 Worksheet

Fig 23 Data sorted on multiple

Fig. 22 Multiple columns selected in the Sort columns
dialog box

26
 Lets Try!

1. Create the following worksheet and perform the following operations:

a. Sort the table in ascending order of height.

b. Filter the data to view only those rows where height is more than 8500 m.

1.8 FORMULAS AND FUNCTIONS

The most important feature of Spreadsheet software is that you can perform arithmetic operations
on the data in a worksheet.

1.8.1 Formulas

Formulae are used to calculate results through arithmetic operations.

A formula in Calc always starts with an equal to (=) sign. If you forget to put = sign before the formula,
it will be treated as text and no calculation will be performed. Also, you should not write anything
before the = sign. Again it will be treated as text and no calculation will be performed.

The data in a formula consists of one or a combination of the following:

Value Numeric (e.g., 45) or string (e.g., “Smiling”)

Cell Address B4, A2:C6
Function SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, etc.
Operator +, -, *, /, >, =, etc.
Parenthesis To control the left to right order of precedence in a formula (e.g., = (B2*B3)*2)

<A>Numeric Formulae
In numeric formulae, you have to make use of operators. The results are calculated based on the
order of precedence of the operators.

<B>Mathematical Operators Used in Formulae

The mathematical operators used in Calc and their order of evaluation in formulae is given below:

Operation Operator Order of evaluation Formula Result

Exponent ^ 1 =2^3 8
Multiplication * 2 =3*5 15
Division / 2 = 9/ 3 3
Addition + 3 = 12 + 15 27
Subtraction - 3 = 18 - 15 3

Order of evaluation
1. Any operation contained within brackets will be carried out first

27
 2. Then any exponent.
3. Then follow division and multiplication operations. Multiplication and division are given
equal importance. They are carried out in the order they occur in the formula, from left to
right. Whichever appears first in the formula is carried out first.
4. After that, addition and subtraction operations are given equal importance. They are also
carried out in the order they occur in the formula, from left to right.
Following are some examples of how Calc evaluates formulae.
Formula Output
= (3 + 7) * 2 20
=4*3+5 17
=3+3^2 12
=5+3*4–2 15
= 6 + 14/2 * 3 - 4 23

<C>Error Results
Sometimes a formula displays an error result rather than a proper value. This happens when the
formula or data has a problem and Calc cannot evaluate it.

Some common errors are shown below:

Error Reason
##### The column is not wide enough to display the value.
#DIV/0! The formula contains an invalid operation, i.e., division by zero.
#VALUE! The formula has invalid argument, e.g., text in a cell where numeric value is
required.

<D>Text Formulae
A text string or a text value is a sequence of characters. You can join two strings together. This is
called concatenation. We use the ampersand (&) character to concatenate strings.
For example, if you type = “Keep” &“ “& “Smiling” in a cell and press ENTER, you will see the result
as Keep Smiling.

You cannot do operations such as subtraction, multiplication, and division on strings.

<E>Cell and Range References

A cell reference identifies a cell or a range of cells. Each cell in the worksheet has a unique address
formed by the combination of its intersecting row and column. When a cell address is referred to in
a formula, it is called cell referencing.
Consider the following examples:

Cell or a Range of Cells Reference

The cell in column B and row 4 B4
All cells in row 5 5:5
All cells in rows 5 through 9 5:9
All cells in column B B:B
The range of cells in column F and rows 1 through 7 F1:F7
The range of cells in row 5 and columns C through E C5:E5
All cells in columns C through G C:G
The range of cells in columns B through G and rows 4 through 8 B4:G8

28
<F>Entering A Formula
All formulae in OpenOfficeCalc begin with an equal to (=) sign. A formula can contain number, text,
arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /), or functions. The order of precedence is already discussed.

To enter a formula:
1. Select the cell and enter the formula directly in the cell or in the Formula Bar.
2. Press the Enter key.
3. The cell will show the result of the formula and the formula itself. You can see the formula in
the Formula bar when the cell is selected.

Consider the following worksheet.(Fig 24)

Fig 24 Worksheet

To find the total marks:

1. Select cell D3.
2. Type the formula =B3+C3.
3. To copy this formula in
other cells:
a. Select cell D3.
b. Click the AutoFill handle
and drag till
cell D6. (Fig 25)
c. The formula copied in cell
D4 will be =B4+C4.
d. The formula copied in cell
D5 will be =B5+C5.
e. The formula copied in cell
D6 will be =B6+C6.
Fig 25 Copying formula

29
 Let’s Try

1. Create the following worksheet.

2. Now, type the formula =45+67+77 in cell D2. Press Enter key.
3. Now change the value 88 in cell C2.
4. Did you notice any change in the cell D2?
5. Now, type the formula =A2+B2+C2 in cell D2 and press Enter key.
6. Notice the result in cell D2.
7. Now, change the value in cell A2 to 89.
8. Notice the change in cell D2.
9. Notice the benefit of giving cell address in a formulae.

Let’s Try

Create the following worksheet in Calc.

1. Write the formula to calculate area of a rectangle in cell C3 (=A3*B3). Then press Enter key.
2. To copy the formula to cells C4 and C5:
a. Select cell C3.
b. Click and drag the AutoFill handle to cells C4 and C5.
3. Write the formula to calculate perimeter of rectangle in cells D3 (=2*(A3+B3)). Then press
the Enter key.
4. Now, copy the formula in cell D3 to D4 and D5.
5. Save the worksheet as ‘rectangle’.

Let’s Try

1. Open the file ‘rectangle’.

2. Change the values of length and breadth in cells A3, A4,B3 and B4.
3. Observe the change in the results in cells C3, C4, D3 and D4.
30
 Let’s Try

Create the following worksheet and perform the following operations

a. Filter the records according to the following condition:

b. Add another column at the end with heading ‘Total marks’
c. Calculate total marks for each student.
d. Now, arrange the data in descending order of Total marks.

1.8.2 Using Functions to do calculations

Functions are predefined formulae that perform calculations using specific values called arguments.

The format of writing any function in Calc is:

=function_name(Argument1;Argument2; Argument3;…..)

Arguments These are the values passed to a function so that the function carries out the intended
calculation or manipulation to give results. Arguments can be constants, formulae, or function.

<A>SUM
You have already learnt how to find total using the formula. You can also obtain the sum of the values
in a range of cells by:
• Clicking the Sum button on the Formula bar (Fig 26)
SUM button
• Using the SUM() function

SUM function is used to find total of numbers in a range of cells.

For example:
Fig 26 Formula bar
Formula Result
=SUM(5;6;12) 23
=SUM(A1;B1;C1) where A1, B1 49
and C1 contain the values 12, 23
and 14 respectively

31
Let us consider an example.
1. Consider the worksheet shown in Figure 27.

Fig 27 Creating a worksheet Fig 28

2. Select the cell D2.

3. Click the Sum button on the Formula bar. Notice it will select the range A2:C2. (Fig 28).
4. Select the correct range B2:D2 or type the correct range (Fig 29).

Fig 29 Fig 30

5. Press ENTER (Fig. 30) to perform the operation.

The sum of the range B2:C2 will appear in
cell D2.
6. Select cell D2 and using the AutoFill handle,
drag the formula through D7. The
respective sums will appear in the respective
cells.(Fig 31)

<B>AVERAGE Function
Average function is used to find the average of numbers in a range of cell. Fig 31
For example:
Formula Result
=AVERAGE(3;6;9) 6
=AVERAGE(A1;B1;C1) 5
where A1, B1 and C1 contain the
values 4, 5 and 6 respectively

32
<C>COUNT Function
The COUNT function is used to count the number of numeric values in a range of cells.
For example:

Formula Result
=COUNT(5;8;14;19) 4
=COUNT(A1:A10)

<D>MAX Function
The MAX function is used to find the maximum of numbers in a given range of cells.
For example,

Formula Result

=MAX(74;102;134) 134
=MAX(A1;B1;C1)
Or
=MAX (A1:C1) 6
where A1, B1 and C1 contain the
values 4, 5 and 6 respectively

<E>MIN Function
The MIN function is used to find the minimum of values in the given range of cells.
For example;
Formula Result

=MIN(74;102;134) 74
=MIN(A1;B1;C1)
Or
=MIN (A1:C1) 4
where A1, B1 and C1 contain the
values 4, 5 and 6 respectively

Worksheet

1. Every formula in Calc starts with which symbol? _____________

2. The formula in cell B6 is ‘=MIN(B1:B5)’. When copied to C6, the formula changes to
________________.
2. If A1:A4 contains the numbers 11, 13, 15, 17, the formula =AVERAGE(A1:A4) in cell
A5 will display ______________.
3. Cell B1 contains 12 and C1 contains 8. What will be the content of cell D1, if the
formula =B1*C1/2 is entered in cell C1? ___________________
4. The contents of cell B2, C2, D2, and E2 are 13, 15, 17, 19 respectively. What will be
the value in cell E2, if the formula =MAX(B2:E2) is entered in cell E2? ___________
5. What is the difference between MAX and MIN functions in Calc?
____________________________________________
____________________________________________

33
 1.9 PASSWORD PROTECTION
In OpenOffice Calc, you can protect your spreadsheet with a password. To protect your data, you can
either assign a password to a sheet or Calc document. This can be done using Tools menu and aslo
while saving the document.

1.9.1 Using Tools menu

The steps to protect worksheet or Calc document using option of Tools menu are:

1. Select Tools menu ➢ Protect document Choose whether to protect Sheet or Document.
(Fig 32 ).
2. If you select Sheet, the Protect Sheet dialog box appears. (Fig 33).

Fig 33 Protect Sheet dialog box

Fig 32 Tools menu

If you select Document, the protect Document dialog box appears.

3. Type the password in Password text box. Again type the password in Confirm text box. Note
that the password is case sensitive.
4. Click OK button.
Tip
Undoing Password Protection
Rules to select a password:
To remove a password, open the
document, then save without • Length of 8 or more characters
password • Mix of lowercase and uppercase letters,
numbers and special characters

1.9.2 Protecting Calc doument while Saving

You can also protect your spreadsheet with a password while saving the document. The steps are:

1. Select Save As option from File menu.

2. The Save As dialog box appears. Select the drive and the folder where you want to save the
file.

34
 3. Select Save with password check box. (Fig 34)

Fig 34 Set Password dialog box

box

4. Click Save button.

5. The Set Password dialog box appears. (Fig 35)
6. Enter the password to open. Again type the Fig 35 Set Password dialog box
password in
Confirm password text box.
7. Next, click on More options. The dialog box expands
as shown below in figure 36.

8. Here, you can give file sharing password. You can

select
the check box of Open file read-only option, if you want
the recipient to only read the file and make no changes.
You can also enter password to allow editing.
9. Click OK button. Fig 36

1.10 PRINTING A SPREADSHEET

Select File➢ Page Preview to view a worksheet so as to
get an idea of how it will look when printed.

or

Click the Page Preview button on the Standard bar (Fig 37).

Print button Page Preview

Fig 37

35
To print a worksheet, the steps are:
1. Click File ➢Print.
2. The Print dialog box will appear (Fig. 38).
3. Select the printer, the range to be printed, and the number of copies.
4. Click the Print button.

To quickly print without getting the Print dialog box, click the Print button on the Standard bar. (Fig
37)

Fig. 38 Print dialog box

Lets Try it

4. Create the following worksheet and perform calculations using functions in Calc.

36
 Lets Try it

1. Create the following worksheet and calculate total and percentage

for each student.

2. Create the following worksheet. Calculate area and perimeter of

square.

3. Create the following worksheet. Calculate area and perimeter of

rectangle.

37
 Worksheet

1. How will you refer to a cell in column B and row 3?

2. How will you refer to range of cells in row 5?
3. How will you refer to range of cells in column D through F and rows 3 through 8?
4. Write mathematical operator for the following operation:
a. Multiplication
b. Division
5. If formula in cell C3 is =A3+B3, what formula will be copied in cell D3?
6. How will you write a function to find average of numbers 5, 12, and 17?
7. Name the function used to find total of numbers in the range of cells A1 to A10.
8. Name the menu used to print the document.
9. What error will you get if the column is not wide enough to display the value?
10. What happens if you write the formula =45/0 in cell A1?

1.11 SAVING A SPREADSHEET IN VARIOUS FORMATS

We have already learnt how to save a document in OpenOffice Calc. The default extension of a Calc
file is .ods.

1.11.1 Saving in Microsoft Excel Format

If you want to save the file in the Microsoft Excel file format, then do the following while saving:

1. Select Save As option from the File emnu.

2. The Save As dialog box appears. (Fig 39)
3. Change the Save as type to Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP(.xls).
4. Delect the drive and the folder where you want to save the file.
5. Type the filename and clcik Save button.

Fig 39 Save AS dialog box

38
1.11.2 Saving in PDF format
Sometimes, when saving a document, you do not want the recipient to modify it. The safest way is
to save the document in PDF (Portable Document Format) format and then share it. The simplest
way to do this is:

1. Click on the Export Directly as PDF icon on the Standard bar. This will export the
entire document using the default PDF settings.
2. The Export dialog box appears.
3. Select the drive and the folder where you want to save the file.
4. Type the file name and clik OK button.

39
40
41
Class XII Entrepreneurial Skills

1. Introduction
All entrepreneurs are different but there are some characteristics and qualities that have been
observed to be common among successful entrepreneurs over the years. Along with the qualities and
traits, the motivation to choose the path of entrepreneurship as well as the journey to success is also
different for each entrepreneur. However, one thing that drives all entrepreneurs is the sense of
purpose behind their venture as well as willingness to take the leap and implement their ideas. More
than anything, most entrepreneurs follow a basic process of entrepreneurship to kick start their
ventures.

2. Barriers to Becoming an Entrepreneur

To launch a new venture, just recognizing a need or having an idea of how to fill the gap or need, are
not strong enough basis. Entrepreneurs must be aware of the barriers to entry of the industry before
they create a business plan, borrow capital or create the product. In depth market and industry
analysis can make an entrepreneur aware of barriers to entry.

2.1 Unsupportive business environment: Business environment and ecosystem can be

unsupportive due to cartelization, government regulations, corruption, bribery, bureaucracy etc. This
can serve as a barrier to entrepreneurship as a supportive business environment is needed for the
business to thrive. For example, Russia lacks rule of law, allows rampant corruption and bribing,
enforces regulations inconsistently, allows regulatory authorities and inspectors to act in a predatory
nature. All these factors make the business environment in Russia highly unsupportive.

2.2 Market entry regulations: Taxation,

governmental rules, licensing mandates,
environmental regulations, lending needs
can all be barriers towards venture creation.
In many industries, licensing is required for
creating a new firm and entering the market.
Tax disadvantages, lack of property rights
and predatory tax behaviour also serve as
barriers for market entry.

2.3 Shortage of capital: Capital or funding

is required for any business to develop
products/services, organize factors of production, train employees, market and sell etc. In many cases,
especially in developing countries, shortage of funds or difficulty in finding the right investor or lender
to start and run an enterprise, serves as a huge barrier to entrepreneurship.

2.4 Skilled workforce challenges: Employees form the heart of the business. One of the most
crucial but overlooked tasks in a business is to build a skilled employee asset base. Lack of appropriate

42
practical and technical skills, lack of qualified employees, employee turnover, changes in labour laws,
increase in employee’s financial expectation etc. create barriers towards entrepreneurship and
smooth functioning of the business.

2.5 Lack of Entrepreneurial Mindset & Training: Entrepreneurial mindset about having
entrepreneurial skills, willingness to initiate new ventures, motivation to persist in challenging times
and adapting to change. If this mindset is discouraged in any manner in any culture, then that itself is
a barrier to entrepreneurship. Similarly, lack of entrepreneurship or related training and education
can be a barrier in success of entrepreneurial activity. Training in managerial, technical and
entrepreneurial skills is beneficial and important for budding entrepreneurs and early employees.

2.6 Risk Aversion: Entrepreneurs have to decide whether to take action so they don’t miss the boat,
while knowing that hasty action may cause them to sink the boat. Risk is a part of every business and
if people from a country/region/culture are risk averse, then that can be a barrier to entrepreneurship.
As entrepreneurs, it is important to take the plunge, accept failure, take risks etc.

2.7 Fear as a barrier

Fear is defined as an unpleasant feeling triggered

by the perception of danger, real or imagined. In
human psychology, fear is seen as an emotion as
feeling fear helps to avoid calamity but at the
same time it can also hold one back. In the
process of entrepreneurship, fears are like
obstacles. It is important for an entrepreneur to
acknowledge his/her fears, confront them and
find ways to move beyond them. Some common
fears seen in entrepreneurs are as follows:

2.7.1 Fear of failure: The fear of failure works

on the presumption that everything could go
wrong in the business. The best way to overcome
this fear is to accept that failure is possible, look
on the positive side and consider added value
that comes with every failure, in the form of
strength, courage, wisdom and knowledge.

2.7.2 Fear of the unknown: Entrepreneurial journey is full of ambiguities and uncertainties. It is
common to avoid uncertainties and unknown because we fear change. Many people are afraid of
losing control and being unable to manage potential outcomes. The best way to overcome this fear is
to recognize that life is full of uncertainties and that there is no guarantee that plans will work. Hence,
change must be accepted.

2.7.3 Fear of not being an expert: This fear can become a barrier for many budding entrepreneurs.
It is the feeling of not knowing enough about your industry or business or product. Many
entrepreneurs are not considered experts in their line of business, but still they make important
decisions and solve issues everyday within their industry. The best way to overcome this fear is to
constantly and continuously learn about what one does not know.

43
2.7.4 Fear of being pushed into uncomfortable situations: Uncomfortable situations are those
that arouse a feeling of fear in you. For example, many people are scared of public speaking and
consider that to be a highly uncomfortable situation. However, by trying and practicing, one can
become comfortable by pushing themselves outside their comfort zone. By preparing oneself to take
on to the challenge and by taking smaller steps to work towards it, fearful situations can also start to
feel comfortable.

2.7.5 Fear of risk taking: Risk can be dangerous and unmitigated or thoughtful and calculated risk.
Dangerous risk is more like gambling while calculated risk is more like strategy. The best way to
overcome this fear is to move incrementally towards the goal, carefully assess the level of investment
and then take the risk.

3. Entrepreneurial Competencies
Entrepreneurial behavior requires certain knowledge, skills or personality profile. Generally, it is called
entrepreneurial competence or traits. A competence may be defined as underlying characteristics of
a person which results in effective and/or superior performance in a job. Entrepreneurial
competencies play a key role in the success of an entrepreneur and in achievement of entrepreneurial
goals.

3.1 Common Entrepreneurial Competencies

In a study conducted by David C. McClelland, a reputed behavioural scientist, and Entrepreneurship

Development Institute of India (EDII), certain competencies were identified that were found in
successful entrepreneurs who exhibited superior performance. These competencies can be developed
through training, experience and guidance in a budding entrepreneur. Some of these competencies
include:

3.1.1. Taking
Initiative: It is about
making the first move
towards setting up of an
enterprise and taking
action.

3.1.2. Seeking and

Acting on
Opportunity: An
entrepreneur is always on
the look-out or searching
for opportunity and is
ready to exploit it in the
best interests of the
enterprise.

3.1.3. Persistence: An entrepreneur is never disheartened by failures and keeps trying, adapting and
iterating to overcome obstacles that come in the way of achieving goals.

44
3.1.4. Information Seeking: A successful entrepreneur always keeps his/her eyes and ears open and
is receptive to new ideas which can help in realizing his goals. He/she is always open to consult with
experts and mentors to get the right guidance and advice.

3. 1.5. Concern for High Quality: Successful entrepreneurs are seen to be not satisfied with
moderate or average performance. They set high quality standards for themselves and then put in
their best for achieving these standards. They believe in excellence, which is reflected in everything
they do.

3.1.6. Commitment: Entrepreneurs exhibit high level of commitment towards their work and
decisions. For an entrepreneur to succeed, they have to stay committed to their venture and their
goal.

3.1.7. Concern for Efficiency: Many entrepreneurs are always keen to devise new methods aimed
at promoting efficiency. They try and create new methods that aim at making working easier, simpler,
better, and economical.

3.1.8. Systematic Planning: Successful entrepreneurs decide future course of action keeping in
mind the goals to be achieved. They believe in developing relevant and realistic plans and ensure
proper execution of the same in pursuit of running a successful enterprise.

3.1.9. Problem Solving: An entrepreneur takes each problem as a challenge and put in best for
finding out the most appropriate solution for the same. He/she will first of all understand the problem
and then evolve appropriate strategy dealing with the same.

3.1.10. Self-confidence: Entrepreneurs are not cowed down by difficulties as they believe in their
own abilities and strengths. They have full faith in their knowledge, skill and competence and have the
confidence to handle future uncertainties.

3.1.11. Assertiveness: An assertive person knows what to say, when to say, how to say and whom
to say. Entrepreneurs exhibit assertiveness in situations around decision making to ensure that
interests of the organization are aligned with decisions and actions of the entrepreneur and its team.

3.1.12. Persuasiveness and Influencing Others: Entrepreneurs have to persuade different cohorts
of people at different stages, such as employees, customers, clients, suppliers etc. Through sound
opinions and logical reasoning, an entrepreneur manages to convince others about what he/she
wants.

3.1.13. Effective Strategist: A successful entrepreneur possesses the ability to formulate relevant
strategies, aimed at safeguarding or promoting the organization’s interests and goals. Strategy may
be with respect to facing future uncertainties or challenges posed by competitors etc.

3.1.14. Effective Monitoring: Entrepreneurs monitor that everything is carried out in their
organizations as per their decisions but at the same time give some flexibility to the employees. They
ensure regular monitoring of the working so that the goals of the organization are achieved in best
possible manner.

3.1.15. Concern for Employees Welfare: Dedicated, committed and loyal employees directly
influence the performance of the organization. A successful entrepreneur tries to promotes interests

45
of employees, helps in solving problems confronting employees and generates the feeling that there
is interdependence of the interest of employees and the management.

3.1.16. Adaptability: Adaptability refers to the capacity to adjust one’s thoughts and behaviours in
order to effectively respond to uncertainty, new information, or changed circumstances. In business,
adaptability becomes a survival skill as the nature of businesses is dynamic. Uncertainty around
globalization, new technologies, market trends, etc., poses a tremendous challenge for applying the
right business strategy. Entrepreneurs learn to disrupt, pay the price and bring change. It is impossible
to accomplish this without developing the skill of adaptability.

3.1.17. Decision Making: One of the most important traits of being an entrepreneur is being able
to take decisions that more often than not, decide the fate of the company. At the helm of the
company, entrepreneurs often have to take that one decision at the right time which can define the
future of their company. And then they also have to quickly act upon their decisions.

3.1.18. Goal Setting: Goal setting refers to establishing short or long-term objectives, usually along
with incorporating deadlines and quantifiable measures to indicate if they have been achieved. For a
business, the ultimate goal is to make profit. For a social enterprise, the ultimate goal might be to
sustain itself and create the impact that it aims to. Entrepreneurs set various goals with different
timelines. Each action and decision is taken to achieve a certain goal.

3.1.19. Team Building: Team building is any action or method that brings a group of individuals
together and motivates them to work cooperatively as a team. It refers to the various activities
undertaken to motivate the team members and increase the overall performance of the team. Teams
are formed when individuals with a common interest come together on a common platform to achieve
a predefined target. The main goals of team-building are to improve productivity and motivation.

3.1.20. Interpersonal Skills: For smooth functioning of a team, each member must be consistent
and clear in their communications and interpersonal skills. Clear communication helps everyone in the
team to understand what’s expected and how it’s measured. It must also be ensured that no member
offends the other.

3.1.21. Creativity: Creativity is a process of continually improving ideas and solutions by making
gradual alterations and refinements. Entrepreneurs exhibit creativity by applying the process of design
thinking, thinking of alternatives, trying unconventional ways to do things and continuously improvise
and iterate.

3.1.22. Risk Taking: Entrepreneurs take enough risk but it is a calculated risk. They use risk
management principles to assess the loss and return of the risk.

3.1.23. Perseverance: It is important to be perseverant and patient and ready to continue even if
the first battle is lost. Entrepreneurs need to stay put, be patient and believe in their vision. It is only
by trying different things and ways to do them, that a solution can be found.

3.1.24. Negotiation skills: Negotiation skills for entrepreneurs are critically important to business
success. There a number of scenarios where an entrepreneur's negotiation skills come into play such
as supplier relations, customer sales, employee hiring, securing investors etc.

46
3.1.25. Organizational skills: Organizational skills for entrepreneurs are not just about structuring
and prioritizing their daily work, but mainly about managing teams, delegating, setting targets,
continually reviewing and leading and motivating the people around them.

3.1.26. Stress management: Entrepreneurs have a hectic work life and thus, it is important for them
to manage and handle stress. This refers to taking systematic brakes, maintaining work-life balance,
setting achievable goals, connecting with other like-minded entrepreneurs etc.

3.1.27. Valuing service and diversity: Diversity is about how an organization treats its people
authentically down to the roots of its business model. It is key for an entrepreneur to remember that
a person working for him/her is actually providing their service. At the same time, people of all
cultures, race, religion, gender etc. have to be treated equally and with respect, such that they
mutually flourish and grow together.

3.2 Benefits of Entrepreneurial Competencies

• Taking actions to implement your ideas.

• Understanding the need or the problem your offering is fulfilling or solving.
• Strategizing and planning the steps that need to be taken.
• Preparing an action plan and timeline.
• Networking with stakeholders.
• Interacting with customers.
• Gaining and analyzing insights.
• Looking for alternatives and adjusting plans according to analysis and feedback.
• Evaluating and calculating the risk involved.
• Building and motivating a team.
• Being patient and staying motivated to overcome and work around various obstacles.
• Showing the value that the business is creating for stakeholders and customers.
• Gaining the know-how of creating, building, launching, sustaining, managing and growing a
business.

Activity I – Self Reflection

Self-reflect and check if you relate to the statements given below:

I like to give myself challenges when I take on a new project.

Where others see problems, I see possibilities.
I do not worry about what others will think before doing something important.
I am fairly curious and I am continually in search of discovery.
I want to build something that will be recognized publicly.
When I take on a project I have confidence that I will carry it out successfully.
I feel that am capable of seeing many solutions to a problem.
I always try to learn lessons from my failures.
I am not afraid to take on initiatives.
I manage my stress well in ambiguous and uncertain situations.

After some self-reflection, consider the competencies of entrepreneurs given above. Self-evaluate
yourself on these competencies by giving a rank number to each.

47
For example:

Self-confidence – 1
Commitment – 4
Problem Solving – 6

According to the above ranking, one thinks that self-confidence is their strongest competency.
Commitment comes at the 4th rank and problem solving at the 6th. Thus, problem solving as a
competency is weaker than commitment for the person in the example given above.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Activity II - Taking Initiative

Have you taken initiative towards anything? Consider the following statements to think about it:

- Think about a time you went above and beyond what was expected of you.
- Think about a situation when you were creative. What did you do?
- Can you remember a situation when you took responsibility for something and had negative
consequences? What did you learn from it?
- Have you ever noticed and raised issues in a project/activity/discussion?
- Think about a time when you worked on a group project and made improvisations in it.

Write a situation when you took initiative. Mention what you liked/disliked about it. Share your
learnings (if any) from the experience.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

48
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Activity III - Taking Initiative

Are there any activities/ideas/events/projects etc. that you want to try and have not got the chance
to?

In the space given below, make a list of things you want to take an initiative for, in the next 1 to 5
years.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

49
 Activity IV – Information Seeking

Read the situations below and write answers to the questions given below:

- Who should the entrepreneur seek information from?

- What information should the entrepreneur acquire?

Simaya has started a company which makes bags and wallets using fish leather. Fish leather is made
by using the waste material from the fishing industry. Simaya is trying to understand who her
customers are. She is not sure if she should start selling the products online or supply to offline stores
or do both. She does not know what will be the touch points where people could buy the products
she is planning to design. She wonders what preferences and choices people would have.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Dhruv has started a brand that customizes kid’s shoes. While he has made sales on some online
websites selling kids products, he is unable to make a sustainable profit. He is also looking for ways to
raise some capital to start selling from his own website and retail store.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Janvi is thinking about starting a business that conducts training workshops for working professionals.
She plans to teach business-related topics and develop employability skills through the workshops.
However, Janvi does not know what kind of competition will be there. She wonders if she will be able
to get enough customers to beat the competition in such a crowded space.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

50
 Activity V – Goal Setting

SMART Goals

S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for the 5 steps of specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals.
It’s a simple tool used by businesses to go beyond the realm of fuzzy goal- setting into an actionable
plan for results.

Specific: Great goals are well-defined and focused. The moment one focuses on a goal, the goal
becomes a magnet, pulling resources towards it. The more focused one’s energies, the more power
one generates.

Measurable: A goal without a measurable outcome is like a sports competition without a scoreboard
or scorekeeper. Numbers are an essential part of business. Concrete numbers should be put in the
goals to know if one is on track.

Attainable: A goal must be achievable. Far too often, small businesses can set goals beyond reach. No
one has ever built a multi–crore business overnight. Venture capitalists and angel investors discard
countless business plans of companies with outlandish goals.

Realistic: Achievable business goals are based on the current conditions and realities of the business
climate. One may desire to have the best year in business or increase revenue by 50%, but if a
recession is looming and three new competitors open in the market, then the goals are not as per the
realities of the market.

Timely: Business goals and objectives just don’t get done when there's no time frame tied to the goal-
setting process. Every plan or project must follow a timeline. Whether the business goal is to increase
revenue by 20% or find 5 new clients, a time-frame or deadline to accomplish the goal must be set.

Let us do small exercises to understand SMART goals better.

Specific:
Look at the examples below. Underline the goals that are specific.

Get in shape.
I will go to the recreational centre Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6:00 a.m. and walk around the
track for 30 minutes.
Get good grades.
I will sit at the table every day at 3:30 p.m. and work on assignments given that day in school until
4:30. Upon completion, I will place the assignments in the correct folder, take to school and turn in
before class starts.
Get rich.
I will save 25% of my paycheck every month and invest in mutual funds until I am 55 years old.

Measurable:

51
The above examples give good indications. Write in the measurable outcomes from the above
examples of #2, #4, #6.

#2. ______________________________________________________________
#4. ______________________________________________________________
#6. ______________________________________________________________

Attainable:
Which of these goals seem attainable?
Earn 10 times the money I make compared to this month.
Exercise daily for one hour.
Eat an apple a day.
Watch television for all night but wake up early every morning.
Live in Antarctica for a year, after I have lived in Mumbai all my life.

Realistic:
If I wanted to run a marathon and I haven’t done any training, which goal would better represent my
reality?

I will walk every day for 30 minutes for one week, jog for 30 minutes for two weeks, add five minutes
to my work out every week until I reach 60 minutes and continue training for three months.
I will run the marathon on Saturday.

Timely:
Give yourself a deadline. When you have an end date, you will finish your goal. Look at the above
examples (all of them). Write the goals that have a time frame.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________

Activity VI – Goal Setting

Write an academic or personal goal below in the SMART manner:

S – My SPECIFIC Goal
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

M – How will I MEASURE my progress?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

A – What ACTIONS must I take to accomplish this goal?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

52
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

R – Is my goal REALISTIC and attainable? ____ Yes ____ No

T – Is my goal TIMELY? When will this goal be accomplished?

______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Activity VII– Decision Making

Decision Making…….. The Lunar Disaster

On April 11, 1970 astronauts James Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise blasted off from
Cape Kennedy aboard Apollo 13. At 54 hours and 54 minutes into the mission a large explosion
crippled the spacecraft. Four days the attention of the world was riveted on the disabled spacecraft.
Because of quick thinking and the use of computers, mission control was able to get the crippled
spacecraft safely back to Earth.

In this activity, you are a member of the crew of a spaceship scheduled to rendezvous with
the mother ship, located on the lighted surface of the moon. Due to mechanical difficulties, your ship
is forced to land on the dark side of the moon, 200 miles (~ 322 km) from the mother ship. During the
emergency landing much of the equipment aboard was damaged and since survival depends on
reaching the mother ship, only the most critical items must be chosen for the 200 mile trip. Below is
a list of 15 items left undamaged by the crash. Rank each of these items in order of importance from
1 the most important to 15 the least important.

Here is some background information, which may be useful. There is no atmosphere or water
on the moon, and the moon has almost no magnetic field. A FM transmitter uses straight-line
communication and has a range of less than 100 miles on the Earth, so on the moon the range would
be considerably less. The gravity on the moon is 1/6th that of the Earth. The items below are in no
particular order.

My Ranking | (Individual score) Group ranking | (group score)

Item
| |
Box of matches
Food concentrate | |
Nylon rope, 50 feet | |
Parachute silk | |
Portable heater | |
Two 0.45 caliber pistols | |
Dehydrated pet milk, One case | |
Two 100-Pound oxygen tanks | |
Star Map-Moon Constellations | |

53
Life raft | |
Magnetic compass | |
5 gallons of water | |
Signal flares | |
First-aid kits, injection needles | |
Solar powered FM transmitter | |

After ranking each item 1-15, get together with another student and re-rank the items remember 1 is
the most important and 15 is the least important. With your partner(s) AGREE on a ranking (Do not
change your individual score) and place the number under group rank (each person in the group
should have the same GROUP rank). After completing both individual and group ranking your teacher
will give you the actual ranking determined by NASA.

To score subtract the difference between the number written with the actual number given by your
teacher. Place the difference in the column labeled score (Individual and group)

After completing the scoring add up the numbers in each score column and place the total in the
spaces below.

Individual score _______________ Group score _________________

Reflect on the decision-making process you followed.

Discuss why the scores increased or decreased after working together.
Discuss ways of thinking critically in the future.

Note: The answer key of actual ranking/score is given at the end of the chapter.

Activity VIII – Team Building

For this activity, you have to work on the following problem:

How can the problem of waste generation be solved? This could include e-waste, plastic waste,
greenery/kitchen waste, hazardous waste etc.

Get into groups of 7.

Take a piece of paper.
Any one member has to start with writing an idea to solve the problem on the paper.
Then, pass the paper to the next person in the group.
The next person has to build on the idea written by the first person and then pass it to the third person.
The third person will then build on the idea written by the second person and so on.
This will continue once all people in the group have built on the idea of the previous person.
The final idea will then be discussed and refined by the group and shared with the class.

Activity IX - Adaptability

In this activity, we will make a story using other classmates’ inputs. To do this, please follow the steps
given below:

54
Get in groups of 10.
Any one person in the group has to start a story from “Once upon a time…..” and stop after speaking
for around 1 minute.
As the first person stops, the second person has to continue the story started by the first person.
Similarly, after the second person speaks for 1 minute, the third person has to continue the story from
where the second person stopped and so on.
This goes on until the story is completed by the tenth person.

After doing this exercise, reflect on the following questions:

Did you find challenging to adapt to someone else’s story? Why?

What did you learn about yourself from this exercise?
One a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your skill of adaptability?

Activity X – Problem Solving

Read the statements below about different startups of India and how they define themselves. Based
on that, and your own research, enlist the problems that these startups are trying to solve:

1. Interview Bit is an interview preparation platform, especially designed for software engineers. It
provides support to job candidates via a range of practice questions and on-demand mentors.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

2. Cure.Fit is a startup in the fitness and healthcare industry. It has a chain of fitness centres which
offer different types of fitness activities and classes everyday. It also has an part of called Eat.fit, where
a customer can order healthy meals everyday.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

3. 1mg is India’s leading consumer health platform by offering an online pharmacy network and
generic medicine engine. It aspires to be the trusted health partner for all Indians and its mission is to
make healthcare accessible, understandable and affordable for all Indians. Users can find information
about medicines based on ailments, class, companies, and brands, and buy them.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

4. EduKart is an online marketplace for education that aims to democratize education and bring more
flexibility into the system. It offers both short certification courses and degree programmes for which
it has partnered with renowned institutions.

55
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

5. Recyclebank is encouraging people to recycle household waste by using gamification. The methods
around gamification include rewards in the form of discount coupons on daily goods and services,
points for making progress and a competitive element to encourage people to recycle household
waste. Currently, Recyclebank has improved the process of recycling in more than three hundred
communities and has more than four million members.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Activity XI – Problem Solving

Read any daily newspaper of the last three days and make a list of problems that you think can be
solved by starting a business or through an entrepreneurial project. Which problems did you come up
with?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Activity XII - Creativity

Scamper is a technique that guides you to think creatively about any existing product or service. It was
created by Bob Eberle, an author of books about creativity for children. Scamper is a set of seven
thinking techniques mean to assist those who utilize them in discovering atypical solutions to
problems. SCAMPER is an acronym, with each letter representing a different technique that can used
to trigger creative ideas:

Substitute: Take one thing or part away and add something else.

Combine: Put one or two things together to create something completely new.

Adapt: Change something so that it can be used in a specific situation.

56
Modify/Minify/Magnify: Change size, shape or colour or any specific trait and reimagine it.

Purpose/Put to Other Use: Use it in a way that it wasn’t meant to be used. Change the purpose it is
used for.

Eliminate: Remove any unnecessary element that might create an issue or a problem.

Reverse/Rearrange: Change the direction or orientation. Look at it differently. May be move it upside
down or use it backwards.

Example:

Use S.C.A.M.P.E.R. to build a better school desk/table or chair. Feel free to draw or write your ideas!

1. What will you substitute? Can you change any parts? Can you change its shape, color or thickness?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

2. What will you combine? Can you combine any materials, parts or ideas?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

57
___________________________________________________________________

3. What will you adapt? What else is like this? What other ideas does it suggest? Can you
incorporate something?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

4. Will you modify, minimize or maximize? Can you make something higher, bigger or stronger? Can
you simplify something or make it smaller?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

5. What else could I use it for? Can it be used in an unconventional way?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

6. What will you eliminate? Can you think of something unnecessary that can be removed or
omitted?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

7. Will you reverse or rearrange any parts? What if you moved or turned it upside down? Can you
imagine another layout or sequence? Can you interchange components or patterns?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

58
 Activity XIII - Creativity

Think of 10 unconventional uses of the following objects….

1. Paper Clip
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

2. Tennis Ball
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

3. Clothes Hanger
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

4. Feather
__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

5. Water bottle
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

A1

Skill- Based Activities

• Research and administer a self- rating questionnaire and score responses on

entrepreneurial competencies.
• Collect a small story/ anecdote of prominent successful entrepreneurs.
• Identify entrepreneurial competencies reflected in each story and connect it to the definition of
entrepreneurial competencies.
• Prepare a competency profile of yourself.
• Participate in games and exercises on changing entrepreneurial behavior and development of
competencies for enhancing self- confidence, problem solving, goal setting, information
seeking, team building and creativity

59
 Answer Key for Activity VII
Actual Score | (Individual Actual Score | (group
Item score) score)
Box of matches 15 | 15 |
Food concentrate 4 | 4 |
Nylon rope, 50 feet 7 | 7 |
Parachute silk 8 | 8 |
Portable heater 5 | 5 |
Two 0.45 caliber pistols 11 | 11 |
Dehydrated pet milk, One 12 | 12 |
case
Two 100-Pound oxygen 1 | 1 |
tanks
Star Map-Moon 3 | 3 |
Constellations
Life raft 6 | 6 |
Magnetic compass 14 | 14 |
5 gallons of water 2 | 2 |
Signal flares 13 | 13 |
First-aid kits, injection 9 | 9 |
needles
Solar powered FM 10 | 10 |
transmitter

60
61
Class XII Green Skills

1. Introduction

To achieve the aim of more sustainable economy and society, the concept of Green Jobs came into
existence. As discussed previously, the main objective of a sustainable society is
judiciously using the natural resources for the present and future generation.

In 2008 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International

Labour Organization (ILO), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and
the International Employers Organization (IEO) jointly launched the Green Jobs
Initiative. The purpose is to bring a just transition to a green economy by providing
space for workers, employers, and governments to negotiate on policy effective in
providing equitable opportunity to green jobs.

Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon

World is the first comprehensive report on the emergence of a “green
economy” and its impact on the world of work in the 21st Century.
The report defines “green jobs” as work in agriculture, industry,
services and administration that contributes to preserving or
restoring the quality of the environment. Green jobs reduce the environmental impact of enterprises
and economic sectors, ultimately to levels that are sustainable.

Green jobs are found in many sectors of the economy from

energy supply to recycling and from agriculture and construction
to transportation. They help to cut the consumption of energy,
raw materials and water through high-efficiency strategies, to
de-carbonize the economy and reduce greenhouse-gas
emissions, to minimize or avoid altogether all forms of waste and
pollution, to protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity.

Green jobs play a crucial role in reducing the environmental

footprint of economic activity. This reduction is gradual and the
different jobs contribute to different degrees. Workers
manufacturing fuel-efficient or hybrid cars, for example,
contribute less to reducing emissions from transport than those
working in public transport systems. Moreover, what is
considered fuel-efficient today will no longer qualify in ten
years’ time. The notion of a green job is thus not absolute, but
there are ‘shades’ of green and the notion will evolve over time.

62
Until now, there has been much anecdotal evidence indicating that the pattern of employment is
indeed changing—and that new jobs are beginning to emerge in favour of greener, cleaner and more
sustainable occupations.

2. What are the Key Drivers of Green Employment?

Green innovation helps businesses stay at the cutting edge, retaining existing jobs and creating new
ones.

Modern economies mobilize enormous quantities of fuels, metals, minerals, lumber, and agricultural
raw materials. Although some changes have been made in past decades to reduce the world
economy’s environmental impact, these gains are insufficient and may simply be overwhelmed by
continued economic growth. In view of the gathering environmental crisis, and especially the spectre
of climate change, there is an urgent need to make economies far more sustainable and thus to re-
examine the prevailing production and consumption model. Concepts such as dematerialization,
remanufacturing, “zero waste” closed-loop systems, durability, and replacing product purchases with
efficient services (such as “performance contracting”) have been discussed for some time and tested
in some instances, but by and large have yet to be translated into reality. Economic systems that are
able to churn out huge volumes of products but require less and less labour to do so pose the dual
challenge of environmental impact and unemployment. In the future, not only do jobs need to be
greener, their very essence may need to be redefined.

A1

Hold a group discussion on possible ways to promote Sustainable Development. Do not forget to highlight
the role of changing careers in propelling the idea of Sustainability.

63
3. Green Jobs

3.1 Urban Growers: They manage terrace

top gardens to grow fruits and vegetables in
urban cities. They use environment friendly
ways to grow fruits and vegetables. Today
there is a shift in the demand of consumers.
The rising instances of food adulteration
and use of pesticides in the fruits and
vegetables had paved a way for need of
Organic food. Many people have their own
organic gardens on roof tops to grow seasonal vegetables and fruits, while many do it as a hobby
and love for gardening, there are many who do it for living.

3.2 Clean Car Engineers: Recent initiations by Government on restricting the vehicular
movement around Diwali time through ‘Odd-Even’ Scheme says a lot about the need of Clean
Car Engineers. These people explore ways and means in which the cars don’t emit poisonous
gases and keep the air clean to breathe. The Clean Car Engineers job is to design future
transport that will be sustainable. This would not only mean to help keep air clean but also
how to keep natural resources available for future generation without compromising the
quality – as in average, engine life, durability etc.

3.3 Biofuel Jobs: Biofuel is the non-conventional fuel that is sought for to run vehicles etc.
without creating pollution. Since petrol and diesel create lot of pollution, there is a need to
have clean fuel. It is felt that fuel from bio mass or natural matter can help resolve this
problem.

3.4 Building Roads with Plastic wastes: Engineers have found ways and means to solve two
problems at one go. The waste plastic generated in tons over the globe can be utilized to make
roads. This will not only provide better roads for vehicles to move but also solves the problem of
waste generation.

3.5 Solar Cell Technician: Use of solar energy is in high demand these days. This calls for the
services and knowledge of Solar Cell Technicians. Using the right substance in the panels that
is durable and affordable is a challenge. These
people test the same on different substances for
better results.

3.6 Solar Panel Engineers & Installer: Solar

Power Plant engineers and installers play very
important role in successfully designing and
installing solar plates to produce electricity.

64
3.7 Wind Energy Workers: After the solar energy, wind energy is also sought for to produce
electricity. Hence, the wind energy workers would be needed to lay down the plan for same.

3.8 Wave Energy Producers: Another way to generate electricity without exhausting resources
could be using the energy of waves from oceans. Since, 70% of our planet consists of water
bodies, this could be useful in creating sustainable society.

3.9 Water Quality Technicians: Water Pollution is in

its alarming state. This has given rise to the need of
Water Quality Technicians to help monitor the
water quality and treat it.

3.10 Rain Water Harvesting Engineers: With

the rising problem of scarcity of water, need to
build Rain Water pits are on demand. These are
specialised to lay the plan and construct rain water
harvesting systems (RWHS) for collecting the rain
water and reusing same in buildings. The RWHS
may also be used to replenish ground water level.

3.11 Waste Water Treatment Workers: People involved in planning and constructing a
system in green building to retreat the waste water from the same building and reutilizing it
for secondary purposes.

3.12 Recyclers: Waste generation across the globe has given rise to need of segregating
waste. The recycler’s job is to segregate and collect the recyclable products. These days many
recyclers are upcycling the waste products. Over time, the need of recyclers is going to
increase.

3.13 E-Waste Recyclers: With advancing technology,

organisations and industries across the globe are facing the
threat to dispose the e-waste generated by them. Many
organisations have now started contacting special recyclers
who collect all the electronic waste and recycle it. It is
expected that in coming years, we will need more e-waste
recyclers.

3.14 Sewage Treatment Plants: The process

to treat the waste in its impure form at a sewage
treatment plant involves human engineering.
People involved in the process will also have Green
collar jobs.

65
3.15 Eco-Tourism: Eco-Tourism is
relatively new area focussing on socially
responsible travel, personal growth and
environmental sustainability. This includes
visiting fragile, pristine and undisturbed
areas of nature.

3.16 Green Builders: Green Builders

ensure that environment friendly things are
used to build houses and buildings.

3.17 Green Design Professionals: The Green design professionals work in collaboration
with Green Builders. They lay the idea of how the building will look like after its completion.
The green design professionals also provide artistic beauty to buildings to make them look
innovative and interesting.

3.18 Energy Auditors: Energy Auditors inspect

the buildings and measure heat, cooling, electrical
and gas usage and find energy leakages in a
structure.

3.19 Energy Consultants: They help

organisations

analyse their energy consumptions with aim to

reduce the same.

3.20 Environmental Engineers: Environmental

engineers provide solutions to environmental
problems by using engineering, biology and
chemistry. Providing solution to improve the quality
of soil for better productivity, devising strategies to
generate public electricity using renewable
resources like solar street lights etc. is a part of
environmental engineering.

3.21 Natural Scientists: As we take step towards using sustainable means to create a
sustainable society, it is very important to record and analyse the impact of our steps on
environment. Natural Scientists help in achieving this aim.

3.22 Working with a Non- Governmental Organisation (NGO): Working with an NGO
for the cause of Environment provides opportunity to closely work for creating a sustainable
and better society.

3.23 Environmental Education Teacher: A teacher who takes up the role of sensitising
young minds and creates acceptance amongst them to contribute in protecting environment.

3.24

66
Choose any 4-5 Green Careers and prepare a brochure elaborating all the aspects like Educational
Qualifications, Skills, Universities and colleges where these courses are available etc.

4. Role of Green Jobs

i. In toxin free homes: Collins English Dictionary defines Toxin as “any poisonous
substance produced by bacteria, animals, or plants.”

Do you think there are toxins in our environment? What is your view of toxins in our homes?

Well, yes, there are toxins present in our environment and environment includes our homes
also. Hence, the role of green jobs in our homes is to make it toxin free so that we have a
healthy life.

Toxins may be present in our homes in many ways such as – refrigerators releasing CFCs,
cleaning and washing products, cosmetics, upholstery fabrics, rugs, mattresses, paint used on

the wall, chemicals used to polish the floors, fragrances, some kind of clothes that uses
chemicals, use of RO and Microwaves in our kitchens etc. So, in order to ensure that our

67
 homes are safe from toxins and healthy places to breathe people with green collar jobs help
us maintain a healthy environment.

ii. In improving energy and raw material use: The exhaustive list of Green jobs mentioned above
elaborately describes their role in
improving the quality of energy. The
energy produced through hydro-electric
power plants, thermal power plants,
nuclear power plants has grave
consequences on the environment. Using
alternate source of energy to produce
electricity will not only minimize the
exploitation of resources but will help the
economy to flourish.

iii. Limiting greenhouse gas emission: The alternates that the green jobs provide for sustainable
development definitely help curb the emission of greenhouse gases. With the promotion of
use of renewable sources in our homes and daily life, green jobs promise to limit the emission
of harmful gases.

iv. Minimizing waste and pollution: This problem has come a long way and the probable solution
to this has been provided in 4Rs and 1U of sustainable development – REFUSE, REDUCE,
REUSE, RECYCLE & UPCYCLE. Following these has definitely helped minimize the waste and
pollution. But, the recyclers job at its best is trying to put a full stop to this problem. The
concept of upcycling and the avenues it has created for a green market are luring and helps
resolve this problem to a great extent.

v. Protecting and restoring ecosystems: Various NGOs across the globe are working day and
night to protect the wildlife, forests, endangered species etc. With their efforts we have been
able to protect and restore the degrading eco system that would otherwise have collapsed
much earlier. Their consciousness has certainly helped create awareness and sensitize masses
to join hands together to have a sustainable ecosystem.

vi. Promote adaptation to the effects of climate change: Natural Scientist at every point in time
keeps us aware about the changes happening in our environment. It is because of them that
we are able to prepare ourselves for the worst of the environmental changes and take
measures to curb our ways to undo climate changes.

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 In groups, prepare a power point presentation elaborating and discussing the role of green jobs in our
daily life. Remember to incorporate how Sustainable Development will be impacted in their absence.

Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_job#UNEP_Green_Jobs_Initiative

https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_098504.pdf

https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_emp/@emp_ent/documents/publication/wcms_158733.pdf

69
70
 CHAPTER 1

CORRESPONDENCE

1.1 Introduction

Correspondence is the most important channel through which Business Communication and
Official Communication takes place in any written or digital form between two or more parties.
It may be in the form of letters, memos, e-mail messages, text messages, fax messages,
voicemails, notes etc.

Business Executives have to write a large number of letters for various kinds of business
enquiries, purchase orders, money collection, complaints and adjustments and for maintaining
the good relations with other companies. A good business letter follows the 7C’s of
Communication – clarity, completeness, conciseness, consideration, correctness, courtesy and
concentration.

In this unit, the students will learn the different styles of Business Letters and Official Letters
such as Memos, Notices, Office Orders, Demi-Official (DO) Letters and Office Note with
adopting the proper formatting techniques.

1.2 Objectives

After going through this unit, you will be able to:

 Know the meaning of Business Correspondence.

 Define the basic principles of Business Correspondence.
 Make the format and arrangement of Business Letters.
 Use the different styles and layouts of typewriting of letters –Indented, Block and Semi-
Block.
 Know about the Official Correspondence.
 Generate Memos, Notices, DO Letters, Office Orders and Office Notes.
 Identify the three types of Correspondence – Personal, Business and Official.
 Distinguish between Business and Official Correspondence.

1.3 Business Correspondence

Business Correspondence means the exchange of information in any written format inside an
organization (intra-organization i.e. within a business), between two or more organizations
(inter-organization i.e. b2b) and between the customer and organization (i.e. b2c and c2b). E-
correspondence has also become extremely essential for modern businesses.

The whole Business Correspondence should, preferably, be done on the letter-head of the
organization. It is through letters that an organization can build good relations with different

1
parties i.e. customers, suppliers and service providers. The image of an organization depends on
what impression is conveyed through the business letters. These letters help to bridge the gap
between two parties. Since the basic objective of a business letter is directly or indirectly to
increase the business of the company, it should be drafted and typed with utmost care, accuracy
and displayed in such a way that it gives a pleasing appearance.

Styles of Typewriting Letters

The layout of business letters depends on the choice of individual firm concerned. Yet, some
common styles have been standardized and adopted over the years. The common styles of
business correspondence are:

i. Indented Style
ii. Block Style/Fully Blocked Style
iii. Semi-Block Style

These styles have been discussed as under:

1.3.1 Indented Style

This is the oldest style of typed writing the letters. The word “indented” generally refers to the
beginning of first line of each paragraph by indenting in the left side of the margin of the letter 5
or 7 spaces and typing the remaining lines of each paragraph from the left set margin.

A specimen of the Indented Style of business letter is as under:

GST No:……. …… Telephone No: ……….. …

Tin No: ………. ………… Mobile No: ………………
E-Mail Id: ……………….. Fax No:…………………..

ASHOK ELECTRICAL COMPANY

26 Mount Road
Chennai
Tamil Nadu

Ref. No. AEC/56/Accounts/2076 9th August ….

M/s R.K.Khanna & Sons

143, Asaf Ali Road
New Delhi-110002

2
 Subject: Non-payment of dues

Dear Sir,

We regret to point out that we have written to you repeatedly, on 14th June, 26th June and
again on 10thJuly, ….requesting to settle the balance account of Rs. 25,000/- (Twenty five
thousand only) against supply of electrical goods vide order No. 36, but we have not received
any response as yet.

In the above circumstances, we are compelled to advise you with great reluctance that
unless our account is settled by 20th July we shall place the matter in the hands of our solicitors.

We trust that you will try to settle our account at the earliest.

Thanking you and hoping to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,
for Ashok Electrical Company

(Abhay Prakash)
Accounts Manager
______________________________________________________________________________

- Block Style/Fully Blocked Style:

This type of letter style is now the most commonly used method of display for all business
correspondence. It is thought to look very businesslike and sleek method. It is also known as the
American Style of typewriting the letters. This layout simply means that every line is aligned
flush with the left margin. No paragraphs are indented, no headings are centered – everything
starts at the left set margin. Paragraphs are separated by leaving two lines blank between the two
paragraphs.

A specimen of the Block Style of business letter is as under:

GSTIN: ………………… Mobile No: ………………

E-Mail Id: ……………….. Fax No: ………………….

ASHOK ELECTRICAL COMPANY

26 Mount Road
Chennai
Tamil Nadu

Ref. No. AEC/56/Accounts/7657

3
9thAugust,….

M/s R.K.Khanna & Sons

143, Asaf Ali Road
New Delhi-110002

Subject: Non-payment of dues

Dear Sir,

We regret to point out that we have written to you repeatedly, on 14th June, 26th June and again
on 10thJuly, ….requesting to settle the balance account of Rs. 25,000/- (Twenty five thousand
only) against supply of electrical goods vide order No. 36, but we have not received any response
as yet.

In the above circumstances, we are compelled to advise you with great reluctance that unless our
account is settled by 20th July we shall place the matter in the hands of our solicitors.

We trust that you will try to settle our account at the earliest.

Thanking you and hoping to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,
for Ashok Electrical Company

(Abhay Prakash)
Accounts Manager

____________________________________________________________________________

1.3.3 Semi- Block Style:

Semi-Block Style is a combination of both the Indented Style and the Block Style. In this style,
there is no indentation in the first line of each paragraph in the body of the letter. All the text of
the paragraph is aligned to the left set margin. All the other parts of the letter are typed more or
less in the same way as in the Indented Style. It gives a neat and balanced look to the letter,
which is more popular. Paragraphs are separated by a double or a triple spacing.

A specimen of the Semi-Block Style of business letter is as under:

GST No: …………………. Telephone No: ……………..

Tin No: ………………….. Mobile No: …………………

4
E-Mail Id: ……………….. Fax No: …………………..

ASHOK ELECTRICAL COMPANY

26 Mount Road
Chennai
Tamil Nadu

Ref. No.AEC/56/Accounts/8765 9thAugust, ….

Messrs R.K. Khanna & Sons

143, Asaf Ali Road
New Delhi-110002

Subject: Non-payment of dues

Dear Sir,

We regret to point out that we have written to you repeatedly, on 14th June, 26th June and again
on 10thJuly, ….requesting to settle the balance account of Rs. 25,000/- (Twenty five thousand
only) against supply of electrical goods vide order No. 36, but we have not received any response
as yet.

In the above circumstances, we are compelled to advise you with great reluctance that unless our
account is settled by 20th July we shall place the matter in the hands of our solicitors.

We trust that you will try to settle our account at the earliest.

Thanking you and hoping to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully,
for Ashok Electrical Company

(Abhay Prakash)
Accounts Manager

______________________________________________________________________________

1.4 Official Correspondence

Official Correspondence define official work letter and include all action of work in an office.
The letters are written between different offices and departments of government, autonomous
bodies and government and semi-government bodies. It includes the letters written between two

5
governments, inter-government, from one state government to another state government or the
central government or vice versa. Like business letters – the official letters are not friendly.
There is no personal touch. These letters are formal letters and demand special care of dignity
and designation of the person or officer writing the letter. The letter heading in an official letter
is mostly followed by the words ‘From’ and the addressee’s name and address is followed by the
words ‘To’. They have different layouts, styles, language etc. These letters have to be a fine
blend of clarity, correctness and conciseness in all aspects.

Types of Official Correspondence

Various types of Official Correspondence are given below:

1. Official Letters
2. Demi-Official letters (D.O. Letters)
3. Office Memorandum (Memo)
4. Office Order
5. Unofficial Note (UO Note)
6.Circular Letters
7. Endorsements
8. Notifications
9. Resolutions
10.Press Communiqué (Press Release)

All these types of Official Correspondence are discussed below:

1.4.1 Office Memorandum:

The Office Memorandum is known as ‘Memo’ and is commonly used for interoffice
correspondence in different offices. A memo is a message in writing sent by one person or
department to another ‘within the same organization’. This is the reason why a memo sometimes
is described as an inter-office memo. It is usually used in offices for routine matters like
granting of annual increments, confirmation in services, making announcements, requests, policy
statements, notices, reminders, suggestions, acknowledgements, congratulations, informal
invitations, salary and leave adjustments etc.

It is usually drafted by Senior Officers for their subordinates. It includes the name of the
originator, the intended person(s) to whom it is addressed, the date of issue, the general topic and
the body of the document.

The important features of the memorandum are:

(i) It is written in third person;

(ii) It is written in direct style;

(iii) It does not have either salutation or subscription;

6
(iv) The address of the addressee is written in the left hand bottom corner after the signature;

(v) It contains either the name or the designation of the officer signing the letter.

A specimen of the memorandum is as under:

Name and Address of the Department

Memo No.& Dated

MEMORANDUM

Subject: Appointment to the Post of Lower Division Clerk

With reference to her application dated………..for the Post of Lower Division Clerk in the
Administrative Department, Ms. Urvashi Rana is selected for the same post and is requested to
join with immediate effect.

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

Ms. Urvashi Rana

B-38, Uttam Nagar
New Delhi-110059

1.4.2 Office Order

According to rules Office Orders are used by a competent authority for issuing instructions for
internal administration like change of working hours, warning letter, show cause notice, grant of
leave, distribution of work, promotions and transfers etc. They are the means of downward
communication. The Office Orders are issued periodically. The sequence of information is pre-
decided. The copy of the Officer Order is also forwarded to the other effected
Departments/Officers. It is also written in third person.

7
A specimen of the Office Order is as under:

Name and Address of the Department

No……………… Dated…………………..-

OFFICE ORDER

Mr. Sumit Kumar, Assistant, Administrative Section has been transferred to the Accounts
Section with immediate effect. He is also directed to join at the earliest and hand over the charge
of his duties to Mr. Rakesh Sharma, Accounts Section.

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

Copy to:

1. The Section Officer, Accounts Section

2. The Section Officer, Administrative Section
3. Mr. Rakesh Sharma, Assistant, Accounts Section
4. Mr. Sumit Kumar, Assistant, Administrative Section
5. Personal files of the concerned persons

1.4.3 Demi-Official Letter (DO Letter):

The DO letters are generally written or typed in the form of personal or private communication
on the printed personal letter heads containing personal name, official designation, name and
address of the office etc. These types of letters are written by one official to another for various
reasons such as (i) maintenance of secrecy (ii) drawing personal attention (iii) expecting quick
decision on the matter etc.

Some of the features of DO letter are as under:

1. DO letter is written in first person using “I” instead of “We” in a friendly way;
2. It is addressed personally to an officer by his/her name;
3. The reference No. and Date are written as usual as “DO No……..”
4. Subject is not mentioned in the DO letter;
5. The starting point of D.O. letter is ‘Dear Mr……….’ or ‘My dear Sh.………….’ In
appropriate salutation;
6. The name of the officer writing the letter and his designation are written before the
salutation at the left hand margin;
7. The subscription or complimentary close often used in DO letters is ‘Yours sincerely’
or ‘Sincerely yours’ or ‘Sincerely’.
8. It is signed by the officer without stating his designation at the bottom as the same is
written on the letter-head. Only the name is written within brackets.

8
 9. In these letters, the name and letters of the addressee is written at the end on left hand
bottom corner of letter after the signature line.
10. The respectful phrases like “With kind regards”, “With best regards” etc. may be
added before the complimentary close.

A specimen of the Demi-Official (DO) letter is as under:

Name and Address of the Department

Mr. Dinesh Sharma

Purchase Officer

D.O. No…………… Dated: ……………….

Dear Shri Gupta,

Please refer to your letter No………..dated……….. regarding the purchasing of stationery items
from the “Vikas Publications”. I shall be glad if you kindly let me have your comments on it,
which you had discussed in your purchase committee meeting. The minutes of the same
committee may also be forwarded to me, if possible. It is proposed that we can convene an
Inter-departmental meeting during the next week to finalize the rules and regulations for the
purchase of stationery items. Hence an early reply will be appreciated.

With warm regards,

Yours sincerely,

(Dinesh Sharma)

Mr. Rakesh Gupta

Convener
Purchase Committee

1.4.4 Office Note:

It is also known as Inter-departmental Note or Un-official Note. Office Note is used for a
horizontal communication. They are exchanged between departments, or between officers of

9
almost equal rank. These notes are circulated asking for suggestions, advice, views and
comments of other departments on a proposal or in seeking or giving information about some
matter concerning their respective departments. This reference can be made either on the note
itself, or by an independent self-explanatory note. No salutation or complimentary closes are
required.

Office Notes usually Follow the Memo Format.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

The Head of the Department of Commerce has desired to obtain the observations of all the
Heads/Teacher-in-charges of the Colleges under the Commerce Department, on the enclosed
letter regarding the change of syllabus under the CBCS Programme.

The observations/comments may kindly be submitted as early as possible.

( )
Programme Coordinator

All Head/Teacher-in-Charges

U.O. No…………… dated…………..

Encl: As above

1.5 Review Questions:

1. What do you mean by Correspondence?

2. What do you mean by Business Correspondence?

3. What is the difference between Business Correspondence and Official Correspondence?

4. How many styles are implemented for Business Correspondence? Explain.

5. Explain the difference between Semi-Block and Fully Blocked Style.

6. Explain the difference between Indented and Semi-Block Style.

7. Define the different types of Official Correspondence.

8. Write down the features of Demi-Official (DO) Letters.

10
 9. What is the difference between a Memorandum and an Office Note?

10. Write down the features of an Office Order.

11. What is the difference between Formal and Informal Letters?

Fill in the Blanks:

(i) The memorandum is always written in _________person.

(ii) A good business letter follows the 7C’s _________.

(iii) The paragraphs are indented in the left margin in _________ Style letter.
No paragraphs are indented, no headings are centered in _________.

(iv) _________ Style of letter is called the American Style of typing letter.

(v) The _________letters are not friendly.

(vi) The subject is not written in _________letter.

(vii) The memos are called_________.

(viii) No salutation and complimentary close are required in_________ letters.

(ix) Office Note is used for _________ communication.

(x) The complimentary close such as ‘sincerely yours’ is used in_________letters.

11
 CHAPTER 2

MANUSCRIPT

2.1 Introduction

A manuscript is any document in typewritten or hand-written form – it may be books, legal

documents, letters, e-mails, articles in magazines, thesis, project reports, agenda, minutes,
documents, agreements, dissertations and research papers which are corrected before sending to
the publisher for its publication. These documents are considered as drafts or rough scripts.

These drafts require many additions, deletions, alterations, and modifications before sending the
same to the publisher. The drafts are read again and again and the requisite proof correction
signs are put to make corrections in the margins of the document. These symbols are called
Proof Correction Signs.

2.2 Objectives

After going through this unit, you will be able to:

 Know the meaning of Manuscript.

 Learn the different proof correction signs.
 Typewrite the fair copy of the documents by incorporating necessary corrections.
 Know the procedure to finalize the documents from Manuscripts.
 Take precautions while typewriting from Manuscripts.

2.3 Meaning

Manuscripts are rough scripts - hand-written or printed, in any form, having corrections,
additions, deletions, alterations or modifications etc. In certain cases, the Manuscripts are half-
typed and half-handwritten. The various changes i.e. additions, alterations, and corrections are
indicated on the Manuscripts by Standard Proof Correction Signs. Manuscripts also form part of
question papers set for most of the typewriting examinations. The Office Assistants/Computer
Operators are required to typewrite Manuscripts written by various persons. In order to become
an efficient Office Assistant or Computer Operator, he should attain mastery in typewriting of
Manuscripts of different kinds and should have the thorough knowledge about the standard Proof
Correction Signs.

2.3.1 Proof Correction Signs/Symbols

12
The Standard Proof Correction Signs are given below:

Proof Correction Signs/Symbols

Symbol/Sign Meaning Before Correction After Correction

Caps (Capital) The meeting ended with a The meeting ended with
Change the alphabets vote of thanks to the chair. a vote of thanks to the
underlined/ crossed Chair.
through to Capital
Letters.
The meeting ended with a The meeting ended with
( Space) voteofthanks to the Chair. a vote of thanks to the
# Insert the Space. Chair.
The meeting ended with The meeting ended with
a vote of thanks to the a vote of thanks to the
Chair. Chair.
Eq# Equalize Spacing.
(Lower case/small The Committee Members The Committee
case) are selected according to members are selected
Change the alphabets their Seniority. according to their
underlined/crossed seniority.
through the lower
case/small case).
l.c./s.c
NP or (New Paragraph). The Board shall issue The Board shall issue
// certificates of registration to certificates of
each member of the registration to each
Shorthand Reporters member of the
Association with five years Shorthand Reporters
of reporting experience. Association with five
The Board shall conduct years of reporting
such examinations annually experience. The Board
and at such times and places shall conduct such
as it may deem necessary. examinations annually
//All ‘applicants’ for and at such times and
registration shall be given at places as it may deem
least sixty days notice of the necessary.
examination to be conducted All ‘applicants’ for
by the Board. registration shall be
given at least sixty days
notice of the

13
 examination to be
conducted by the Board.
(Run on) The hardware and software The hardware and
There should be no are likely to become less software are likely to
paragraph. expensive as technologies become less expensive
become sophisticated. as technologies become
sophisticated. Their
Their installation being installation being
possible in remote areas has possible in remote areas
increased their popularity. has increased their
popularity.
(Delete the matter) The Heading of the letter The Heading of the letter
or D Not required to Print. should not be centralized. should be centralized.
Ctr. (Centralized the Delhi Development Delhi Development
matter). Authority. Authority.
stet (let it stand as it is) The Board may prove that The Board may prove
Do not delete the the applicant has the that the applicant has the
matter. Ignore the knowledge, practical knowledge, practical
corrections dotted experience, and competence experience, and
underneath/underlined. necessary to act as a competence necessary to
Shorthand Reporter and may act as a Shorthand
require a practical Reporter and may
demonstration of the require a practical
applicant’s skill. demonstration of the
applicant’s skill.
In full (Write the matter in The Committee decided to The Committee decided
full form instead of complete the work within a to complete the work
short form). month conducting the within a month
meetings on every conducting the meetings
Wednesday i.e. on every Wednesday i.e.
3rdAugust,…….and….. 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and
31st August.
(Transpose the words). I believe the education is I believe the education is
spreading undoubtedly. spreading undoubtedly.
Possibly in few a years’ Possibly in a few years’
Trans
time, perhaps four or five time, perhaps four or
years, it may well include five years, it may well
everybody and girl in the include everybody and
country. girl in the country.

14
 (Transpose the letters). I believe the edcuation is I believe the education is
spreading undoubtedly. spreading undoubtedly
Trans
Trans (Transpose the words I believe the education is I believe the education is
given in a jumbled spreading undoubtedly. spreading undoubtedly.
order). Possibly in a few years’ Possibly in a few years’
time, perhaps years five or time, perhaps four or
four, it five years, it may well
(4) (3) (2) (1) include everybody.
may well include
everybody.
SP (Spell) The Board decided to except The Board decided to
Correct the spelling the Ministry’s invitation in accept the Ministry’s
error. principal. invitation in principle.
(Close Up) Now, the reasons why girls’ Now, the reasons why
Not to leave any space education has lagged behind girls’ education has
between the two some what are fairly lagged behind somewhat
words. obvious social customs. are fairly obvious social
customs.
(Doubtful/Query and The minutes of the meeting The minutes of the
? make it clear from the held on August
August10, w meeting held on August
author or writer). 10… and
were discussed 10, … were discussed
confirmed. and confirmed.
(Change to correct The minutes of the meeting The minutes of the
X
font). held on August meeting held on August
17…and
were discussed 17 were discussed and
confirmed. confirmed
_____ Move to the Left. I believe the I believe the education is
education is spreading spreading undoubtedly.
undoubtedly.
______ Move to the right. I believe the education is I believe the education
spreading undoubtedly. is
spreading undoubtedly .
Move up. The minutes of the meeting The minutes of the
______ held on August 10, 2016 were meeting held on August
discussed and confirmed. 10, ….were discussed
and confirmed.
_______ The minutes of the meeting The minutes of the
Move Down. held on August 10, 2016 were meeting held on August
discussed and confirmed. 10, 2016 were discussed

15
 and confirmed.
Straighten the left The Board may prove The Board may prove
Margin. that the applicant has the that the applicant has the
knowledge, practical knowledge, practical
experience, and competence experience, and
necessary to act as a competence necessary to
Shorthand Reporter. act as a Shorthand
Reporter.
Justify the matter The Board may prove that The Board may prove
(Right Side). the applicant has the that the applicant has the
knowledge, practical knowledge, practical
experience, and competence experience, and
necessary to act as a competence necessary to
Shorthand Reporter. act as a Shorthand
Reporter.
Insert Full Stop. The hardware and software The hardware and
. are likely to become less software are likely to
expensive as technologies become less expensive
become sophisticated/ Their as technologies become
installation being possible in sophisticated. Their
remote areas has increased installation being
their popularity/. possible in remote areas
has increased their
popularity.
, Insert Comma. The Board may prove that The Board may prove
the applicant has the that the applicant has the
knowledge/ practical knowledge, practical
experience/ and competence experience, and
necessary to act as a competence necessary to
Shorthand Reporter. act as a Shorthand
Reporter.
Insert sign of What should you do when What should you do
? Interrogation. you decide that a meeting is when you decide that a
necessary/. meeting is necessary?
Insert Hyphen. Make sure you undersand Make sure you
- the question / paraphrase it undersand the question-
if necessary; repeat it if paraphrase it if
needed. necessary; repeat it if
needed
Insert Dash. Here are three samples of Here are three samples

16
_ visuals commonly used for of visuals commonly
presentations / a pie chart, a used for presentations --
table and a bar garph. a pie chart, a table and a
bar garph
Insert Sign of Wow / This grammar stuff Wow! This grammar
! Exclamation. is interesting. stuff is interesting.

Insert Semi-colon. I will be there as soon as I I will be there as soon as

; finish working / that is a I finish working; that is a
promise I will definitely promise I will definitely
keep. keep.

Insert Colon. This is the reason why a This is the reason why a
: memo is sometimes also memo is sometimes also
described as an inter-office described as an inter-
memo/ a message sent from office memo: a message
one office to another sent from one office to
another
Insert sign of I/ m afraid it won/t be I’m afraid it won’t be
‘ Apostrophe. possible. possible.
Insert double inverted /The delegation is expected “The delegation is
“” commas. to arrive next week./ expected to arrive next
week.”
Insert the matter in the The next meeting of The next meeting of the
^ or Margin. ^16/8/ Purchase Purchase Committee
Committe will be held on Tuesday,
Insert 2016 Will be he held on 16/8/2016 at 9.30 a.m.
Tuesday ^ at 9.30 am.

2.4 Procedure of Preparing a Fair Copy of the Manuscript

For Typewriting a fair copy of a Manuscript, the Office Assistant/Computer Operator/

Stenographer/Personal Assistant should possess sound knowledge of the language in which the
document has been written. He may face certain difficulties at the time of preparing a fair copy
of the Manuscript such as the problem in understanding the handwriting of the person who has
written the Manuscript, spellings of certain difficult words, and so on. Hence he should be well
acquainted with the various Proof Correction Signs, their meaning and usage. He should be well
aware about the various rules of display to be applied in different kinds of documents, especially
when the documents are in draft form and are sometime hand written with various corrections

17
indicated by the standard proof correction signs. The following points should be kept in mind at
the time of typewriting the fair copy from the Manuscripts:

- Before starting to typewrite the document, it should be read once or twice. In case the
document is lengthy one, it should be read paragraph wise. By reading the document
once or twice, he becomes familiar with the style of the person who has written the
document and it becomes easy to typewrite a fair copy of the Manuscript.

- The word which is not clear in the Manuscript should be encircled and he should proceed
reading the matter. It may be possible that this word is more clear in the following
paragraphs of the document.

- In case, after reading the whole document, one is not able to understand any word, the
sentence should be read time and again in order to find out the correct word which
conveys the correct sense of the sentence.

- During the course of typewriting from the Manuscripts, the spellings of the words must
be checked with the help of Dictionary in the Computer. The Computer Operator should
run the Spelling Check and Grammar Check after typewriting the whole document before
giving the print command.

- No sentence should be typed by a mere guess work.

- The Operator should apply common sense while typewriting from Manuscripts and
glaring errors should be avoided.

- Most commonly used abbreviations should not be typed in full. For example, ‘Dr.’
should not be typed ‘Doctor’, ‘Mr.’ should not be typed as ‘Mister’ and so on.

- The whole document should be compared with the Manuscript before giving the print
command.

2.5 Review Questions

1. What is Manuscript?

2. What is proof-reading?

3. What is the difference between proof-reading and manuscript?

4. What should we do before typewriting the manuscript?

18
5. Why do we need to learn the manuscript signs?

6. Is it compulsory to read the passage two or three times before final typing?

7. Explain the meaning of the following Proof Correction Signs:

1. Stet

2. Trans

3. Cap

4. /^/

5. /”/

6.

7. l.c.

8. eq#

9. sp

10. D

19
Specimen of Manuscripts

A few specimens of typed and hand written Manuscripts are given below:

Specimen 1

Typewrite a fair copy of the following Manuscript on your Computer by incorporating the
corrections:

20
Specimen 2

Typewrite a fair copy of the following Manuscript on your Computer by incorporating the
corrections:

21
Specimen 3

Typewrite a fair copy of the following Manuscript on your Computer by incorporating the
corrections:

22
Specimen 4

Typewrite a fair copy of the following Manuscript on your Computer by incorporating the
corrections:

23
Specimen 5

Typewrite a fair copy of the following Manuscript on your Computer by incorporating the
corrections:

24
 CHAPTER 3

EXCEL

3.1 Introduction

MS- Excel 2007 is a windows based application package. It provides powerful tools and features
that can be used to analyze, share, and manage your data with ease. It displays a table of numbers
and text in rows and columns, and used for accounting, budgeting, financial analysis, scientific
applications, and other work with figures. It performs detailed analysis on numerical data. The
analysis is done by defining formulas to perform calculations on a set of data, link different
worksheets and present data in the form of graphs. It automatically recalculates the result of
mathematical formulas if the source data changes.

An Excel file is made up of Worksheets, which collectively are called a Workbook. Worksheets
are pages within a workbook and can contain data or be blank. Worksheets can contain
information and work independently of each other or can be linked together to form a workbook.
Each worksheet contains horizontal rows and vertical columns. The maximum number of rows is
18,278 (A to ZZZ) columns and 1,048,576 rows. The intersection of a row and column is a cell.

3.2 Objectives

After going through this lesson you would be in a position to

 Explain the basic features of MS Excel.

 Set pages and their printing.
 Modify a worksheet.
 Enter and edit data in a worksheet.
 Use formulas and functions.
 Format data and worksheets.
 Use AutoFormat and AutoCorrect features.
 Prepare chart from data.

3.3 Starting Excel

1. Click on (with the help of mouse) the Start button on the Windows 7 Taskbar at the
bottom of the Screen.

2. Highlight the All Programs item. The menu will open.

3. Select Microsoft Excel from the list of programs.

4. Click on Microsoft Excel

Select Start->All Programs->Microsoft OfficeMicrosoft Excel commands from menu bar.

25
The symbol  is used to indicate the direction (steps) to be followed in all the chapters of MS
Excel.

Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar can also be used to start work on Excel.

3.3.1 Excel Window

Excel window has ribbon, name box, formula bar, worksheet, scroll bars, Status bar, Sheet tabs,
buttons like Normal View, Page Layout View, Page Break Preview.

26
3.3.2 Excel Ribbon

The band at the top of the Excel 2007 window is the Ribbon.

1. Office button: The button is used to open, save and print the document. Option available are
New, Open, Save, Save as, Print, Prepare, Send, Publish, Close.

2. Quick Access Toolbar: Save, Undo, redo, and the toolbar is completely customizable.

3. Tabs: Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, View.

4. Group: Each tab has a number of groups. Groups have number of options.

5. Dialog box launcher.

3.3.3 Excel Workbook and Worksheet

An Excel workbook is a file that contains one or more worksheets that can be used to organize
related information. Each new workbook comes with three worksheets, like pages in a document.
Each workbook can contain upto 255 worksheets. Data is entered into the worksheets. Each
worksheet has a name on its sheet tab at the bottom left of the workbook window: Sheet1,
Sheet2, and Sheet3. Click each sheet tab to view a worksheet.

3.3.4 Opening Workbook

1. Click Microsoft Office Button , and then click New.

2. Under Templates, select Blank and recent and under Blank and recent in the right pane,
click Blank Workbook.

3. Click Create.

27
3.3.5 Data Entry

Various kinds of data can be entered in a cell.

1. Numbers: Numbers are from the entire range of numeric values: whole numbers (example
25), decimals (example, 25.67) and scientific notation (example,0.2567E+2). Excel displays
scientific notation automatically if a number is entered that is too long to be viewed in its
entirety in a cell. Number signs (# # # # # #) can be seen when a cell entry is too long.
Widening the column will allow to read the number.

2. Text: Select the cell in which data has to be entered and type the text. Press ENTER key to
finish text entry. The text is displayed in the active cell as well as in the Formula bar. If
numbers are to be treated as text use an apostrophe (‘) as the first character. Calculations
cannot be done with these kind of data entry.

3. Date and Time: When dates and times are entered in a cell, Excel converts these entries into
serial numbers and kept as background information. However, the dates and times will
be displayed on the worksheet in a format selected.

4. Data in Series: Fill a range of cells either with the same value or with a series of values with
the help of AutoFill.

3.3.6 Navigating the Worksheet

One can advance through worksheet by rows with the vertical scrollbar or by columns with the
horizontal scrollbar. When the thumb tab on the scrollbar is clicked and dragged, a Screen Tip
will appear alongside the bar identifying the row or column to which the view is advancing.
keyboard shortcuts can also be used for navigating the worksheet.

Page Setup

Select Page Layout tabPage Setup group to format the page, set margins, and add
headers and footers.

1. Margins: Change the top, bottom, left, and right margins under the Margins.

2. Orientation: To select the orientation of the page Landscape or Portrait.

28
3. Size: Set the paper size to be printed.

3.3.7 Saving and Printing the Workbook

Click Microsoft Office Button , and then click Save Astype file name and press Save. For
printing select PrintPrint

3.4 Editing Excel

3.4.1 Selecting Cells and Ranges

To enter data into worksheet first a cell or range is to be selected. When an Excel worksheet is
open, cell A1 is already active. An active cell will appear to have a darker border around it than
other cells on the worksheet. The simplest way to select a cell is with mouse pointer. Move the
mouse to the desired cell and click on it with right button. Whatever is typed goes into the cell.
To select a range of cells, click on one cell, hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse
pointer to the last cell of the range that is to be selected.

Selecting Cells

A cell must be selected first, before it is modified or formatted. Refer to the table below for
selecting groups of cells.

Cells to Select Mouse Action

Single Cell Click once in the cell.

Entire Row Click the row label.

Entire Column Click the column label.

Entire Worksheet Click the whole sheet button (at the intersection of
rows and columns).

Cluster of Cells Drag mouse over the cells or hold down the SHIFT
key while using the arrow keys.

To activate the contents of a cell, double-click on the cell or click once and press F2.

3.4.2 Editing Data

Data can be edited by any of the following ways:

1. Select the cell containing data to be edited. Press F2. Use Backspace key and erase
the wrong entry. Retype the correct entry.

2. Select the cell and simply retype the correct entry.

29
3. If the contents of the cell is to be cleared, select the cell and press Delete key.

4. To get back the previous entry, either click on Undo button on standard Toolbar or
select EditUndo command or use keyboard shortcuts CTRL+Z.

3.4.3 Modifying a Worksheet

3.4.3.1 Adding Worksheets, Rows, and Columns.

1. Worksheets: Add a worksheet to a workbook by selecting Home tabCells group Click

InsertInsert Worksheet.

2. Row: To add a row to a worksheet, select Home tabCells group Click InsertInsert
Sheet Rows.

3. Column: Add a column by selecting Home tabCells group Click InsertInsert Sheet
Columns.

3.4.3.2 Resizing Rows and Columns

The two methods to resize rows and columns are :

1. Resize a row by dragging the line below the label of the row to be resized.
Resize a column in a similar manner by dragging the line to the right of the label
corresponding to the column to be resized.

2. Click the row or column label and select Home tabCells group Click FormatRow
Height or select Home tabCells group Click FormatColumn Width

3.4.3.3 Moving and Copying Cells, Freezing pane

1. Moving Cells

To move the cell contents to another cell select Home tabClipboard groupCut. Highlight the
cell to paste select Home tabClipboard groupPaste.

2. Copying Cells

To copy the cell contents, select Home tabClipboard groupCopy. Highlight the cell to paste
select Home tabClipboard groupPaste.

3. Drag and Drop

To move the cell contents only a short distance, the drag-and-drop method is used. Drag the
highlighted border of the selected cell to the destination cell with the mouse.

30
4. Freeze panes to lock specific rows or columns

On the worksheet, perform one of the following

 To lock both rows and columns, click the cell below and to the right of where the split
has to appear.
 To lock rows, select the row below where the split is to be appeared.
 To lock columns, select the column to the right of where the split is to be
appeared.

On the View tab, in the Window group, click Freeze Panes, and then option.

When one freeze panes, the Freeze Panes option changes to Unfreeze Panes so that one can
unlock frozen rows or columns.

3.4.3.4 Find and Replace Data, Autofill

To locate a number or text that is already typed in the worksheet, select Home tabEditing
group click Find & Select Optionfind.

Data can also be located and replaced with new data with Home tabEditing group Click Find
& Select optionReplace.

Autofill

Autofill is used to fill automatically ie., fill a series of numbers, numbers and text combinations,
dates or time periods, based on the pattern established. Select cells and drag the fill handle
.

31
3.5 Formatting Worksheets

3.5.1 Formatting Cells

Select Home tabAlignment group. Format Cells dialog box opens.

Number Tab

The data type can be selected from the options on this tab. Select the range and click on one of
the Category, apply that style to numbers.

 Select General if the cell contains text and number and it does not have any specific
number format.
 If Number Category is selected numbers can be represented as integers, decimals with
number of decimal as option etc.
 Date and Time: Used to change the date format and the time format.

Alignment Tab

These options allow to change the position and alignment of the data with the cell. The tab gives
text alignment options.

Font Tab

All the font attributes are displayed in this tab including font face, size, style, and effects. The
Format Cells dialog box offers options bold, italicize, and underline for cell entries.

32
Border Tab

In the Format Cells dialog box, in Border option the size and style of the border can be changed.

3.5.2 Formatting Rows and Columns

For formatting columns and rows AutoFit Selection feature can also be used. It adjusts a column
width or a row height according to the widest entry of a column or tallest height of a row. Select
Home tabCells group, click FormatAutoFit Row Height or AutoFit Column Width. It
adjusts the width of the column according to the widest entry in that column and increases the
height of the row(s) to accommodate the tallest character in a row.

Hide

Hides the selected column(s) or row(s), though the data is still there. Hiding column(s) or row(s)
will help to prevent unwanted changes. To hide a column:

1. Select the column to hide by clicking on the column header.

2. Select Home tabCells group, click FormatVisibilityHide & Unhide option. Select any
of the three options Hide Rows, Hide Columns and Hide Sheet.

Unhide

To unhide the column:

1. Select the visible range of columns that includes the hidden column(s).

2. Select Home tabCells group, click FormatVisibilityHide & Unhide option. Select any
of the three options Unhide Rows, Unhide Columns and Unhide Sheet.

33
3.5.3 Formatting Text

Formatted text has control codes indicating the fonts, bold or italic type, margins, indents,
columns, tabs, headers and footers, and other attributes.

1. Merge & Center: Select the cells. On the Ribbon, select the Home tab  in the Alignment
group  click Merge & Center. All selected cells are now merged and the data in the first cell is
centered. To unmerge the cells simply follow the same process.

2. Basic Style Changes: On the Ribbon, select the Home tab  in the Font group 
select B for Bold, I for italics, U for Underline.

3. Background Colour : Select the cells. On the Ribbon, select the Home tab  in the Font
groupclick Fill Colour (down arrow for dropdown menu). Choose the colour.

3.5.4 Formatting Worksheets using Styles Toolbar

The use of styles in Excel allows to quickly format worksheet. In Excel, all styles are cell styles.
However, a defined style can be applied to an entire worksheet. Select the Styles from the Home
tabStyles group.

Applying a Style in an Excel Worksheet in order to apply an existing style in Excel,

follow the steps :

1 Select the cells to which a defined style is to be applied.

2 Choose Home tabStyles groupCell styles.

3 Select the name of the style to apply in the Cell styles.

4 Select OK.

Create a custom cell style

1. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Cell Styles.

2. Click New Cell Style.

3. In the Style name box, type an appropriate name for the new cell style.

34
4. Click Format.

5. From the different tabs in the Format Cells dialog box, select the formatting and then
click OK.

6. In the Style dialog box, in the option Style Includes (By example), clear the check boxes
that is not needed in the cell style.

Create a cell style by modifying an existing cell style

1. In the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Cell Styles.

2. Select one of the following:

 To modify any existing cell style, right-click on cell style, and click Modify.
 To create a duplicate of an existing cell style, right-click the cell style, and click
Duplicate.

3. In the Style name box, type an appropriate name for the new cell style.

4. To modify the cell style, click Format.

5. From the tabs in the Format Cells dialog box, select the formatting and then click OK.

6. In the Style dialog box, in Style Includes, select or clear the check boxes that is not to be
included in the cell style.

Remove a Cell Style

1. To remove a cell style from selected cells without deleting the cell style, select the cells
that are formatted with that cell style.

2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Cell Styles.

35
3. Select one of the following:
 To remove the cell style from the selected cells without deleting the cell style, in
Good, Bad, and Neutral, click Normal.

3.5.5 AutoFormat

Automatic formatting can make entering certain kinds of text faster and easier. The specific
options that are available depend on the program that you are using. To see and modify
automatic formatting options :

Select Office buttonExcel Options, Excel Options Window opens. Click the Proofing button at
left bar. In AutoCorrect Options section, click AutoCorrect Options buttonselect AutoFormat
as you type option.

3.5.6 AutoCorrect

AutoCorrect feature is used to correct typos and misspelled words, as well as to insert symbols
and other pieces of text.

Select Office button Excel Options, Excel Options Window opens.

Click the Proofing button at left bar. In AutoCorrect Options section, click AutoCorrect options
button.

36
3.5.7 Format Painter

This tool gives the ability to make a format somewhere in the document and then apply it
somewhere else.
Format a cell using the Format Painter. Select any cell.
 On the Ribbon, select the Home tab > in the Clipboard group > click Format Painter.
 Select cell.
 The formatting of the cell has changed and the Format Painter will be inactive until it is
selected again.

3.6 Formulas and Functions

3.6.1 Formulas

Formulas are entries containing an equation that calculates the value to be displayed. Formulas
are used in: (a) simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and (b) complex
formulas involving a combination of arithmetic operators.

3.6.2 Operators

An operator is a special symbol that tells a programme what action to take on a series of
numbers. There are two kinds of operators:
(a) Mathematical operators and (b) Comparison or logical operators.

(a) Mathematical Operators: These operators are used to add, subtract, multiply, and divide
numbers. The following are the 5 mathematical operators.

Operator Explanation Example

Symbol
^ Exponential =4^2
+ Addition =4+2
- Subtraction =4-2
* Multiplication =4*2
/ Division =4/2

37
 (b) Comparison Operators: These operators are used to compare one value to the other. These
operators are also called logical operators because the resulted answer in the cell is always either
True or False.The following are the comparison operators.

Operator Symbol Explanation Example

= Equal to =C1=10
> Greater than =E5>50
>= Greater than or equal to =D5>=20
< Less than =E1<20
<= Less than or equal to =C5<=10
<> Not equal to =F1<>10

Basic Properties of a Formula

1. A formula may consist of operators, cell references, range names, values and functions.

2. A formula always start with an equal to (=) sign.

3. When a formula is entered in the cell, and then the ENTER key is pressed, only the
calculated result is displayed in the cell and not the formula.

4. If a cell containing formula is made an active cell, though it still shows the value, but
in the formula bar, the formula is displayed.

3.6.3 Creating a Formula

Formulas are to be entered in the cell and with an equal sign “=”. When the formula is typed in
the cell, it is calculated and the formula is visible in the formula bar.

3.6.4 AutoSum

It automatically adds the values.

Ex. The AutoSum function to add the contents of 5 cells.

1. Select the cell range J5:J8.

2. Select the cell that the sum will appear in that is outside the cluster of cells whose values will
be added, Cell J9.

3. Click the Formula tabFunction Library groupAutoSum.

4. The sum will be displayed in cell J9.

38
3.6.5 Relative, Absolute and Mixed Referencing

Relative Referencing: Calling cells by just their column and row labels (such as “A1”) is called
Relative Referencing. When a formula has Relative Referencing and it is copied from one cell to
another, exact copy of the formula is not created. It will change cell addresses relative to the row
and column to which they are moved to.

Relative Reference

When the formula in F2 is copied and pasted to F3, the formula in F3 will
appear as =D3*A3 because it is a relative reference

39
Absolute Referencing: To prevent the cell addresses to change, a dollar sign “$” is placed
before column and row location in the formula. The references become absolute and they will
not change when copied.

Absolute Reference

The $ sign makes this an absolute reference. Now, cell A2 will

remain constant in the formula.

Mixed referencing : It is a combination of relative and absolute reference.

For example, in the formula “=(D2$+$A$2)”, the row of cell D2 is fixed and the column of cell
A2 is fixed.

3.6.6 Functions

The built-in formulas are called functions. The users have to provide the cell references or
addresses only. These are called arguments of the functions that are given between a pace of
parentheses ( ). The functions perform the operations on the given values and return the result
that is displayed in the same cell where the function was entered. They perform mathematical
operations more efficiently than formulas. For example, to add the values of cells D1 through
D10, type the formula “=D1+D2+D3 +D4+D5+D6+D7 +D8+D9+D10”. A shorter way would be
to use the SUM function and simply type “=SUM(D1:D10)”. Several other functions and
examples are given in the table below:

(a) SUM() function - Adds all the numbers in a range of cells.

The Syntax is
=SUM(number1,number2,……)

Ex. =SUM (A1:A4) finds the sum of cells A1 through A4

40
(b) AVERAGE() function - Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of the arguments
The Syntax is
=AVERAGE(number1,number2,……)
Ex. =AVERAGE(A1:A10) finds the average of cells A1 through A10

(c) MAX() function - Returns the largest value in a set of values.

The Syntax is
=MAX(number1,number2,…..)
Ex. =MAX(A1:A10) returns the highest number from cells A1 through A10

(d) MIN() function - Returns the smallest number in a set of values.

The Syntax is
=MIN(number1,number2,…….)
Ex. =MIN(A1:A10) returns the lowest number from cells A1 through A10

(e) COUNT() function – Returns the number of cells that contain numbers.
The Syntax is
=COUNT(value1,value2,…….)
Ex. =COUNT(A1:A10)

(f) COUNTIF() Function – It is used to count the number of cells within a range that meet the
given criteria.
The Syntax is
=COUNTIF (range, criteria)
Where range is the location of all the values from which the COUNTIF will choose and criteria
are the expressions, text, or values that define which cells will be counted.
For example, Find the number of students who have scored more than 80 with the formula:
=COUNTIF (A1:A10, “>80”) in quotes using comparison operator.

(g) SUMIF() Function – It is used to add the numbers in the range that meet the given criteria.
The Syntax is
=SUMIF(Range, Criteria)
For example, Find the total marks of students who have scored more than 80 with the formula:
=SUMIF (A1:A10, “>80”)

41
In this formula the range A1:A10 is the range of marks of 10 students and the criteria is specified
in quotes using comparison operator.

3.6.7 Spell Checking

Checking for possible spelling mistakes and then confirm each correction. To spell check all of
the sheets in a workbook: Select the Review tabProofing group Click Spelling option.

3.7 Using Charts

Charts allows to present data entered in the worksheet in a visual format using a variety of graph
types. Before making a chart, first enter data into a worksheet.

3.7.1 Components of a Chart

There are a number of components of a chart. Some of the major components are:

Chart Title : A title given to the whole chart.

X-Axis Title : A title given to the X-axis data range.

Y-Axis Title : A title given to the Y-axis data range.

X-Axis Category : This is the category of the data which have been plotted. These are taken
from the first column or first row of your data range.

Y-Axis Value : This is the data range marked to plot the data series.

Data Labels : The values of the data series plotted.

Legends : Specifies the colour, symbol or pattern used to mark data series.

42
Tick Marks : These marks are used to show the scaling of X-axis and Y-axis.

Grid Lines : Displays lines at the major intervals on the category X-axis and/or Y-axis.

3.7.2 Chart Types

Select a Chart from a set of chart types in step 1 of the Chart Wizard. Some of the chart types
are :

Column Charts : They compare distinct items. In this chart category axis is horizontal (X-axis)
and value axis is vertical (Y-axis). It is important to keep the number of series in a column chart
to a minimum. Many series cause the column to become narrow and difficult to analyze. Column
charts are used to compare the results.

Chart Title
80000

60000
Maruti
Sales

40000
Honda
20000 Tata
Hyundai
0
2012 2013 2014 2015
Year

Bar Charts : Compare different items or show single items at different intervals. It is similar to
column chart except that the chart value axis is horizontal (X-axis) and category axis is
vertical (Y-axis).

Chart Title
2015

2014 Hyundai
Year

2013 Tata
Honda
2012
Maruti
0 20000 40000 60000 80000
Sales

43
Area Charts : They show the relative contributions of each value to a total over time.

80000

60000
Maruti
Sales

40000
70000 Honda
55000 60000
2000050000 Tata
0 Hyundai
2012 2013 2014 2015
Year

Line Charts : These charts are useful to compare the trends over time.

Chart Title
80000
60000 Maruti
Sales

40000
Honda
20000
0 Tata
2012 2013 2014 2015 Hyundai
Year

Pie Charts : The chart show the proportion of each part value to the total value in a data series.
They are used to show proportional sales figures or representation of different categories of
population like workers/non-workers, male/female, adults/children, etc.

Maruti

50000 2012
70000
2013

55000 2014
60000 2015

44
3.7.3 Creating a Chart

1. To create the chart, create the worksheet.

2. Select the cells containing the data for creating the chart. Include the data labels. Choose the
Insert tab. Click the Column button in the Charts group. A list of column chart sub-types
appears. Click the Clustered Column chart sub-type. A Clustered Column chart is created and the
Chart Tools context tabs appear.

3. Apply a Chart Layout : Click the chart. The Chart Tools become available. Choose the Design
tab. Click the Quick Layout button in the Chart Layout group. A list of chart layouts appears.
Click Layout 5. Excel applies the layout to your chart.

45
4. Add Labels : When a layout is applied, it create areas where labels can be inserted. Labels are
used to give chart a title or to label axes. Enter the title, axis title.

5. Change the Style of a Chart : A style is a set of formatting options. Style can be used to
change the colour and format of the chart. Excel has several predefined styles. They are
numbered from left to right, starting with 1, which is located in the upper-left corner.
Click the chart. The Chart Tools become available. Choose the Design tab. Click the More
button in the Chart Styles group. The chart styles appear. Click any Style.

46
6. Move a Chart to a Chart Sheet - By default, when a chart is created, Excel embeds the chart in
the active worksheet. However, the chart can be moved to another worksheet or to a chart sheet.
A chart sheet is a sheet dedicated to a particular chart. By default Excel names each chart sheet
sequentially, starting with Chart1. One can change the name.

7. Change the Chart Type - Any change can be made to a chart that is embedded in a worksheet,
one can also make to a chart sheet. For example, Chart type can be changed from a column chart
to a bar chart.

8. Save and close the file.

Practice Questions

I. Fill in the blanks:

a) Formulas in Excel start with_________.

b) The intersection of a row and column is called _________.

c) An Excel workbook can have number of _________.

47
d) The function _________is used for calculating average.

e) A selected cell in Excel is called_________.

f) A_________ is a group of cells.

g) In_________referencing, the cell reference does not change while copying formulas.

h) A spreadsheet is also called _________.

II. Answer in brief:

1) What is the method of copying formula?

2) How do you add data to the chart?

3) What do you understand by AutoFormat feature?

4) What are the different types of Charts?

5) Differentiate between the SUMIF() and COUNTIF() functions.

6) What is the function of Autofill feature?

7) Differentiate between relative and absolute referencing?

8) What are the uses of operators in Excel?

III. Reproduce the following worksheet & save it, insert a title Half Yearly Sales

A B C D E F G
Name January February March April May June
1 Mr. Dinesh 20000 10000 5000 10000 50000 70000
2 Mr. Manish 25000 30000 20000 12000 40000 45000
3 Mr. Sahil 30000 18000 16000 28000 30000 40000
4 Mr. Mohan 20000 22000 18000 23000 28000 30000
5 Mr. Harish 25000 28000 16000 30000 34000 40000
6 Total
7 Average
8 Highest
9 Lowest

48
Using Formulas

a) Calculate Total for each month and display them in cells B7, C7, D7, E7, F7, G7
respectively.

b) Calculate Average for each month and display them in cells B8, C8, D8, E8, F8, G8
respectively.

c) Calculate Highest for each month and display them in cells B9, C9, D, E9, F9, G9
respectively.

d) Calculate Lowest for each month and display them in cells B10, C10, D10, E10, F10, G10
respectively.

e) Create a column graph on a new sheet showing the heading Monthly sales for six months.

49
 CHAPTER 4

POWER POINT

4.1 Introduction

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 helps to develop dynamic, easy to create, professional presentations.
It can be used to create and organize slide shows, speaker notes, handouts. It is used by teachers
and trainers to make the lecture presentations. It is used in the corporate sector to present project
plans and strategies. It improves the presentations with pictures, sound effects, tables and charts.

4.2 Objective

After going through this lesson you would be in a position to:

 Explain features of PowerPoint.

 Create Presentations.
 Generate Slides.
 Add text, pictures, shapes to slides.
 View slides using different views.
 Set up the slide show.
 Save and Print Presentations.

4.3 PowerPoint Presentation

4.3.1 Starting PowerPoint

1. Click on Start button on the Windows 7 Taskbar.

2. Highlight the All Programs item. The menu will open.

3. Select Microsoft Office from the list of programs.

4. Click on Microsoft PowerPoint 2007.

50
4.3.2 Creating a Presentation

1. Select Office buttonNew

2. New presentation dialog box opens.

3. Select Blank Presentation. Click Create.

4.3.3 Open an Existing Presentation

1. Select Office buttonOpen.

2. In the open dialog box, select the file name.

3. Click on open.

51
4.4 Viewing Slides

PowerPoint consists of different views to help in the creation and presentation of slides. The
views are Normal View, Slide Sorter View, Notes Page and Slide show.

View tabPresentation View group

Normal View

It is the default view where one can write and design presentation. It has four working areas:
Outline tab, Slides tab, Slide pane, Notes pane. In Outline tab it displays small images called
thumbnails. Slides tab shows all the text on the slides. Slide pane shows the currently selected
slide. Notes pane is used for entering notes about the current slide.

Slide Sorter View

It displays the thumbnails of all the slides in the presentation. It allows to sort, move, add and
delete slides easily.

52
Notes Page

It displays a page layout of the notes and the slide. It allows to rearrange the notes and compare
them to the content of the slide.

Slide Show View

It displays the presentation from the beginning with animation.

4.5 Working with Slides

4.5.1 Adding a Slide

1. Select Home TabSlides GroupNew Slide.

2. It adds a new slide in the default layout “Title Slide”.

Changing Slide layout

1. Select Home TabSlides GroupLayout.

2. In the Office Theme box select the layout.

53
4.5.2 Deleting a Slide

1. Select Home TabSlides GroupDelete.

2. The current slide will be deleted.

4.5.3 Adding Text

In PowerPoint text is added using text box.

1. Select Home TabDrawing GroupText box

or Insert TabText GroupText box.
2. Click on the text box.
3. In the slide, click and drag the mouse to draw a text box.
4. Type the text within the text box.

4.5.4 Move a Text Box

1. Select the text box.

2. Bring the cursor over the border of the text box.
3. The cursor will change to the move icon (2 crossed arrows).
4. Click and drag with the mouse to move the text box.

4.5.5 Format Text

1. Select the text in the text box.

2. Click Home Tab.
3. In the Font group and Paragraph group, the font, size, style, color, alignment of the text.

4.5.6 Adding WordArt

1. Select Insert tabText groupWordArt.

2. Click WordArt, select the style from the list.
3. Type the text.

54
4.5.7 Format WordArt

1. Select the WordArt.

2. The Drawing Tools tab appear at the end of the Ribbon Tabs.
3. Click on the Format Tab.
4. Format the selected WordArt in WordArt Styles Group.

4.5.8 Adding Shapes, Image and ClipArt

1. Select Insert tabIllustrations groupShapes.

2. Select the shape from the list of shapes.
3. Click on slide to insert the selected shape.

Adding an image from a file

To add an image from a file in the computer.

1. Select Insert tabIllustrations groupPicture.
2. Select the picture from the Insert Picture window.

Adding an image from Clip Art

1. Select Insert tabIllustrations groupClip Art.

2. In the Clip Art task pane, in search for text box, type a word or phrase that describes
the Clip Art.
3. Click Go.
4. In the list of results, click the Clip Art to insert it.

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Formatting an image and Clip Art

1. Select the Image/Clip Art.

2. The Pictures Tools tab appears.

3. Format the image using Adjust, Arrange and Picture Styles group.

Formatting Slide Design

4.6 Adding Theme to Slide

1. Select Design tabThemes group.

2. Select the theme.

3. The theme is applied to all the slides in the presentation.

The Color, Font and Effects for the current theme can be changed using Color, Font, Effects
options from Themes group.

4.7 Changing the Background

1. Select Design tabBackground groupBackground Styles.

2. Click on Format Background.

3. The dialog box will appear.

4. One can set the color, solid or gradient, transparency or choose picture/texture fill.

5. To apply to current slide, choose close. To apply to all slides, choose Apply to All.

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4.8 Formatting Presentation Using the Slide Master

The slide master is template for the entire presentation. Changes made in slide master will
change the formatting of all the slides in the presentation. Select View tabPresentation Views
groupSlide Master. The Slide Master tab appears. Select the top Master Slide, edit the
background, background styles, slide titles, slide animation.

4.9 Objects and Animation

4.9.1 Create Custom Animation Effects for Objects

1. Select Animation tabAnimationsCustom Animation.

2. Custom Animation Panel appears on the right hand side of the current slide.

3. Select the object.

4. Click the Add Effect button and choose an animation style.

4.9.2 Modify Animation Effects

1. Select Animation tabAnimationsCustom Animation

2. Custom Animation Panel appears on the right hand side of the current slide.

3. Select Modify: Blinds

Start – how to start animation.

Direction – direction of animation.

Speed – Speed of animation.

4.9.3 Create a Slide Transition

Slide transitions are the animation effects that occur between slides. Speed of transition slide can
also be controlled and sound can also be added.

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1. Select Animations tabTransition to this slide.

2. Select the transition from the list.

3. Click on Transition Sound button to apply sound effect.

4. Click on Transition Speed button to adjust the speed.

5. Click on Apply to All the transition to all the slides.

4.9.4 Change the Order of the Slides

1. Select View tabPresentation Views groupSlide Sorter.

2. Click on slide, drag up and down to change the order.

4.9.5 Slide Show Options

The Slide show tab of the ribbon contains many options for the slide show. These options
include:

 Preview the slide show

-> from the beginning.

-> from current slide.

 Set up the Slide show.

Set Up Slide Show

This option allows to set preferences for how the slide show will be presented. The options
include:

Whether the show will run automatically or will be presented by a speaker:

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  The looping options.
 Narration options.
 Monitor resolutions.
 Record Narration.

When a record narration for the slides is to be added:

 Click the Record Narration button.

 Click Set Microphone Level to check the levels of audio input.
 Click Ok to record the narration.

4.9.6 Rehearse Timings

Use rehearse timings to rehearse the presentation to see whether it fits within a time frame.
On Slide Show tabSet Up groupRehearse Timings.

The Rehearsal toolbar appears. The presentation timing begins.

To set time to the presentation:

 Select Next to move to the next slide.

 Select Pause to temporarily stop recording of the time.
 Select Pause to restart recording the time after pausing.
 Select Repeat to restart recording the time for the current slide.

When the time is set for the last slide, a message box displays the total time for the
presentation and then select either yes or no:

 To keep the recorded slide timings select Yes.

 To discard the recorded slide timings select No.

Slide Sorter view appears and displays the time of each slide in the presentation.

To Save the Presentation:

 Click Save As on Office button.

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  Choose the folder where the file is to be saved.
 Type the filename and then click Save button.

Print a Presentation

Click Office buttonPrint

In the Print dialog box, click the arrow next to Print What

The options available are:

 Slides – print a slide in a page.

 Handouts – prints the number of slides specified by user in a page.
 Notes Page – prints the slides and the speaker notes.
 Outline View – prints the outline of the presentation.

Choose the option and click Ok to print.

Practice Questions

I. Multiple choice questions

1) Which of the following should be used if all the slide in the presentation to have the same
“look”?
a) The slide layout option.
b) Add a slide option.
c) Outline view.
d) A presentation design template.

2) Special effects used to introduce slides in a presentation are called

a) Effects.
b) Custom animations.
c) Transitions.
d) Present animations.

3) How can you create a uniform appearance by adding a background image to all slides?
a) Create a template.
b) Edit the slide master.
c) Use the autocorrect wizard.
d) All of the above.

4) Which of the following section does not exist in a slide layout?

a) Titles.
b) Lists.
c) Charts.
d) Animations.

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5) The effect applied to display when slides changes in slide show view is
a) Slide Animation.
b) Custom Animation.
c) Custom Transition.
d) Slide Transition.

II. Answer in brief :

1. What is Presentation? What are its uses?

2. What are different views options available in PowerPoint?

3. What is the difference between a presentation and a slide?

4. Write the steps to insert ClipArt in a slide.

5. Write steps to insert textbox and WordArt.

6. What is the difference between animation and transition?

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 CHAPTER 5

INTERNET SEARCH
5.1 Introduction

The Internet consists of millions of private/public/academic/business and government networks

having local to global scope. It has billions of web pages. As compared to searching a database,
the search for a document contents is more terrifying since is not structured. We need the
services of the Search Engines for finding the documents on the Internet. When a user enters a
query into a search engine, the engine examines it as index and provides a list of best-matching
web pages according to its ranking criteria.

5.2 Objectives

At the end of the unit, the student should be able to understand:

 Function of search engine.
 The role of search engine in browsing.
 The different search engines.
 Uses of search engines.
 Function of E-Commerce.

5.3 Search Engine

A software application or service used to locate files on an intranet or the Web, generally
accessed with browsers. It is needed for the same reason you need a card catalogue in a library.
There is lots of great and useful information in a library, but it’s physically impossible to
examine all the books personally. There are millions of pages and billions of words on the Web
and more are being added.

A Search engine can be defined as a tool to search these disorganized sources of information
available on the Internet. Using a search engine is pretty simple. Just type in the data to be
searched, the space provided at the search engine’s current page, and click search. The result
will be displayed with information corresponding to the search in the form of a list of web-sites
that match that word or phrase. A search engine is a critical tool in finding information, products
and businesses on the web.

5.4 Types of Search Engine:

There are three basic categories of Search engines:

1. Primary Search Engines: Such search engines use web crawlers or spiders. Google and
AltaVista are examples of the same.

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 2. Web Directory: Web directories organize information into categories and subcategories.
Directories differ from search engines in the way they organize information. Yahoo is an
example of Web-directory.

3. Meta Search Engines: Such search engines pass your queries to many search engines
and web directories and present summarized results to the users. Some of the examples
of meta search engines are – Dogpile, Infind, Metacrawler, Metafind and Metasearch.

Some of the popular Search Engines on the Internet are:

 Google https://www.google.com/

 Bing https://www.bing.com/

 Yahoo https://search.yahoo.com/

 Baidu http://www.baidu.com/

 AOL http://www.aol.com/

 Ask.com http://www.ask.com/

 Excite http://msxml.excite.com/

 Lycos http://www.lycos.com/

 Indiatimes http://www.indiatimes.com/

 Rediff http://www.rediff.com/

5.5 Finding Information through Search Engine

1. Connect to the internet.

2. Open browser.

3. Type the address (URL) of the search engine in the browser.

4. Home page of the search engine opens.

5. Type the query in the search box, press enter.

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The Search requested travels to the Search Engine’s WebSite. There, the query terms are
matched against the index terms in the site’s database. The matching references are returned to
the computer as result and displayed on the screen. Each result shows the title of the document.
By clicking the title, link to the document can be made. Under the title is a brief description
consisting of few lines of text in the document. Under the brief explanation, is the URL or web
address of the document.

During the web search there are some simple rules to keep in mind. Generally the more
keywords are used in search the more specific and accurate will be the results. For example, a
search for the “Sania Mirza”, will produce better results if the search is with the keywords "Sania

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Mirza" and if the search keyword is just "Sania" which might bring up links to websites
containing references to another person named Sania.

Operators are the rules or specific instructions used for making a query in a keyword search. A
well defined query improves the chances of finding the information being searched for. Each
search engine has its own operators; some operators are used in common by a number of search
engines.

Most search engines support Boolean Search, such as AND (+), OR (either or two) and NOT (-),
“” (used for exact phrase). () Parentheses are used to group parts of the search phrase, * Asterisk
is used to search for various forms of word.

Boolean Operator

Boolean Operators AND, OR and NOT are used to connect words and terms in the query

AND Operator

AND is the default operator in search engines. So whenever more than one keyword is typed, the
search engine will automatically connect them with the AND operator. This search will retrieve
records with BOTH search terms present. It is used to narrow the search.
Example: Wind AND Fire

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OR Operator

By using OR operator search results will contain either one or several or all of the search terms.
It is best used when one want to pull together results on similar topics. OR operator is used to
EXPAND the search.

Example: Wind OR Fire

NOT Operator

It is used to exclude keywords from search. It is best used when the search is ambiguous. Instead
of NOT – (dash) can also be used. NOT operator is used to narrow the search by eliminating
term.

Example: Wind NOT Fire or Wind -Fire

Phrases

Search syntax involves using quotation marks (") around a specific phrase. Phrases are very
useful at narrowing down search results to pages that contain the exact, specific string of
characters written as a phrase.
Example: If "Padma Shri Award Winners 2014" is searched for, the search results now will only
bring back pages that have all these words in the exact order that is typed them in.

5.6 Different Search Engines

In brief, here is a quick run-down of some well-known general topic search engines:

Google: The full form of Google is “Global Organization of Oriented Group Language of
Earth”. It is a powerful tool. It would be practically impossible to find out the information
without Google. It was launched in January 1996 and it is based on Logical ‘AND’ with 3-D
Keyword search operation.

Yahoo!: The word "Yahoo" is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle".
It is a web search engine owned by Yahoo. As of February 2015, it is the third largest search
engine in the US. Yahoo was launched in January 1996. It is actually a directory – a subject
index. It searches on a subject or topic and is based on Logical ‘And’ and wildcard after each
search word. It is a filtered search site. A search agent, category based approach and recently
switched to 3-D search Google technology.

Rediff: Rediff search engine is one of the leading internet portals in India. Its headquarters are in
Mumbai, New Delhi and New York. It was founded in the year 1996. It maintains a directory
categorically and uses Inktomi search technology. It is the only websites that appears in the first
100 websites. It is one of the best search tools in the world. It has been designed to meet the
needs of Indians worldwide. Yet it is balanced in such a way that it does not compromise on
accuracy for non-Indian topics.

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Lycos: It is the oldest search engine. It is big, thorough and comprehensive. It was originally
developed in July 1994. It is gradually becoming more like yahoo, acting as a Web Directory as
well as a search engine. It used logical operation “OR” and customized search.

Indiatimes: It is called an Indian Search Engine. It is powered by Google. It has divided search
into “The Web”, “News”, “Indian directory” and “Indiatimes Channels” It does not supports
“OR” operators and wildcard entries but supports Logical “AND” based 3-D keyword search
plus smart search by Autonomy (A Software). Web directories that are India-specific are also
included.

5.7 E-Commerce

As the Internet makes way for new business transactions via its complex telecommunications
network, it is difficult to provide a single all encompassing definition of e-commerce. It means
different to different people. A broad definition of e-commerce is: “The marketing, promoting,
buying & selling of goods electronically, particularly via the Internet”. A narrower definition is
“the trading of goods and services in which the final order is placed over the Internet”. In
fact E-Commerce is the subset of E-Business.

5.7.1 Types of E-Commerce

It is necessary to consider the various forms that Internet Commerce embodies in order to
understand the implications for taxation. E-commerce can be categorized in four ways:

 Business to business (B2B); www.vendome.niit.com

 Business to consumer (B2C); www.indiatimes.com
 Consumer to business (C2B); www.makemytrip.com
 Consumer to consumer (C2C); www.ebay.in

5.8 E-Business

E-business refers to all aspects of a business where technology is important. This may include
knowledge management, design, and manufacturing, R&D, procurement, finance, project
planning, human resource planning and the related activities. E-commerce is that part of e-
business that relates directly to sales & marketing. That is, e-commerce is part of the all-
encompassing world of e-business.

E-business is a wider concept that embraces all aspects of the use of information technology in
business. It includes not only buying & selling but also servicing customers and collaborating
with business partners and often involves integration across business processes &
communication within the organization.

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Practice Questions

1. What is Search Engine? Give three examples.

2. Why Search Engine is needed?

3. Name three Boolean operators used with keywords while using Search Engines.

4. What is E-Commerce?

5. Name the different types of E-Commerce.

6. What is the use of Phrase search?

Fill in the Blanks

1.When a request is sent from the browser, it is _________ that retrieves the information and
provides it back to the browser.

2. A network of networks is called_________.

3. B2B is called_________ .

4. There are _________type of search engines.

5. _________ is the subset of E-Business.

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 CHAPTER 6

EMAIL

6.1 Introduction

E-mail (Electronic mail) is an electronic exchange of messages. E-mail does not require physical
components like pen, paper for compiling information or man power for movement of message
from the source to the intended end-user. It is a quick and inexpensive way to stay in touch with
the near and dear ones almost anywhere. An email recipient doesn’t even have to be available
when email is sent to her. It is stored in the mail server and the recipient can log in and download
it at a convenient time.

6.2 Objectives

At the end of the Unit, the student should be able to understand:

 Creating email account.

 Reading email.
 Sending and Receiving email with/without attachment.
 Adding signature to email.
 Forwarding an email.

6.3 Importance of Email

Email is the new age tool used for individual as well as mass communication. There are many
advantages of using E-mail as a prime mode of communication, as summed up below:

 Email is Fast: Email provides the fastest mode of messaging when compared to other
modes like post, telegram etc. Just type the message, specify the recipient and click
“SEND”. Within seconds, the message will reach the end-user.
 Mass Mailing: You can target multiple audiences in one go using Emailing by selecting
multiple recipients. Email is used as a marketing tool to attract the customers with latest
offers and products on the go.
 Email for record keeping: Use Email as a record keeper for all your
conversations/discussions. Email can be used as a proof of dialogue between two parties
for future reference.
 Growth of Organization: Maintaining and growing your e-mail database will allow you
to fully utilize the services, including free broadcast e-mails and an upgraded version of
HTML e-mails (fee applies) in order to reach more participants.

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6.4 Email Services

Last two decades have brought an exponential boom to the count of email service providers. The
service providers are putting a lot of efforts in increasing the services provided via email,
increasing the span to not just mailing but also sharing multimedia and data storage. Some of the
leading internet service providers are as follows:

Gmail (A Google product)

 15 GB online free storage for the end-user.

 Information transmission using the HTTPS protocol to provide protection from
phishing and malware.
 The user can send attachments up to 25 MB with the mail.
 Money transfer option also available in some countries.
 Gmail Apps (in Android and iOS) provide portability to the end user.
 Mostly used for personal mail.
 Gmail connects the user with other services like YouTube, Google Play and
Google Drive.

Outook.com (A Microsoft product)

 Integration of Microsoft Office package within the Email.

 Practically unlimited storage via application OneDrive inbuilt in the mail.
 Skype messenger/ Video chat integrated within the Email.
 Use of DMARD for better security.
 Mostly preferred on an organizational level.

Yahoo Mail (A Yahoo Product)

o 1TB (1000 GB) of free email service.

o Yahoo Messenger integrated within Yahoo mail.
o Best in class Anti-spam features.
o Both POP and IMAP supported by this mail service.

Other popular emailing services are AOL mail, Hotmail, Zoho Mail, Mail.com, Yandex Mail,
Inbox.com, iCloud Mail.

The following sections provide an overview of below topics:

 Opening an e-mail account.

 Composing a message.
 Sending a mail with attachment.
 Formatting text in a message.

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  Email Actions:
o Reading a mail.
o Replying a mail.
o Printing a mail.
o Deleting a mail.
o Forwarding a mail.
 Add a signature.
 Creating folders/labels for archiving mails.

This Unit will be using Gmail to provide an overview of the above actions.

6.5 Opening an Email Account (Using Gmail)

 To sign up for Gmail, create a Google Account.
 Visit the Google Account creation page (https://accounts.google.com/signup). The
following form will appear on the screen.

 Once you have filled all the personal information, click on the button “Next Step” in the
bottom right corner (highlighted in red).
 The next screen will ask you to verify the account as shown in the figure below. Press
“Continue” button at the bottom of the screen.

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  Next screen will ask you to enter the verification code received on your mobile as shown
in the figure below. Enter the verification code and press “Continue”.

 The following screen will appear once you have created your Gmail account. Click on the
below icon to access all the applications/services available to you.

6.6 Composing an Email

 Click the Compose button on the left side of your Gmail page.

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 The screen given below will appear on the mailbox. The arrows highlight the purpose of
various buttons and text boxes in the Compose Mail Window.

Enter Email Address Here

Enter Subject Here

Type your mail here

Click the
“Send”
button

 Fill in the intended username in the “To” text box. “Cc” button allows you to add users
whose responses are welcomed but not required. “Bcc” Option allows you to hide
recipient addresses from one another.
 Summarize the purpose of mail in the “Subject” text box.

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  Enter the content of the mail in the large field below the subject line text box.
 Use “Send” button at the bottom left of the Compose Mail Screen to send the mail to the
recipient.

6.7 Sending an Email with Attachment

 Gmail provides the feature to add attachments like documents, multimedia files with the
mail.
 In Gmail, click the Compose button.
 Click the paperclip icon at the bottom of the compose window.

 Browse through your files and click the name of the file you'd like to attach.
 Click Open.
 To remove a file attached to a message, click the x to the right of the file name at the
bottom of the message.

6.8 Formatting Text

We can use various inbuilt text formatting options to modify the appearance of the mail. Gmail
provides the following options to modify the message text (highlighted in red in the below
screenshot).

 Bold
 Italics
 Underline
 Change Font Type/Size/Colour/Background
 Indent the message text
 Use “Bullets and Numbers” to highlight the information.

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6.9 Email Actions

Email uses basic terms like Inbox, Outbox, and Sent Items etc. which are summarized below:

Four basic categories of folders are:

1. Inbox: An inbox is the main folder where your

incoming mail gets stored in. Mails in the inbox are
automatically categorised into “Primary”, “Social” and
“Promotion”.
2. Starred ( ): Stars appear to the left of the sender’s
name in the inbox and can be marked for later use.
3. Sent Mails: Sent Mails has all the mails sent by the
user.
4. Drafts: All saved messages are available in the Drafts
folder.

Other sub folders available are as follows:

1. Important ( ): Mark a message important by clicking

on the icon on the left of the mail.
2. Chats: All the chats are saved in the chats folder.
3. All Mails: This folder has mails consolidated from all
the folders(Inbox, Sent Items, Starred and Drafts).
4. Spam: All unwanted mails are automatically transferred.
directly to Spam folder.
75 mails are placed in the Trash folder.
5. Trash: All deleted
6. Categories: There are 4 mail categories in which Inbox
mails are distributed: Social, Promotions, Updates and
A user can perform basic actions using the email services like:

o Reading an email
o Replying an email
o Forwarding an email
o Printing an email
o Deleting an email

6.9.1 Reading an email

 The new mails are marked bold in the inbox.

 Place the mouse pointer on the mail you want to open and click on the left mouse button
to open the mail.
 Use the backward arrow ( ) to return to the Inbox.

6.9.2 Replying an email

 Replying lets you send a response to a

mail in your inbox.
 To reply to a message, just click in the box
below the message and type away!
 Click the arrow icon in the top right corner
of the message you received.
 Select the “Reply” option to open the
reply dialogue box.
 When you reply, the previous text from
the rest of the conversation can be seen.
by clicking the Show trimmed content
6.9.3 Forwarding an email
icon.
 Forwarding lets you resend a message
in your inbox.
 Open the message you want to
forward.
 Click the arrow icon in the top right
corner of the message you received.
 Select the “Forward” option to open
the Forward dialogue box.
 Add the recipients in the “To” Text
box and send the mail.

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6.9.4 Printing an email

 User might find it handy to print a movie

or concert ticket using a “Print” option.
 Open the message you want to print.
 Click the down arrow next to the reply
button, at the top-right of the message.
 Connect to the printer and select Print.
 To print an entire conversation, open the
conversation you want to print.
 Click the "Print all" button, located above
your message panel.

6.9.5 Deleting an email

 User can delete unwanted/old

mails/conversations using the “Delete”
option.
 Open the message you want to print.
 Click the down arrow next to the reply
button, at the top-right of the message.
 Click the "Delete" button to delete the
message.
 User can also use Trash button ( )
to delete a mail.

6.9.6 Adding a Signature

An e-mail signature is a block of text that is appended to the end of an e-mail message that is
sent.

 On a computer, open Gmail.

 At the top right, click the settings icon ( ).
 Select Settings.
 At the top right, click the settings icon ( ).
 Select Settings.

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  Scroll down to the "Signature" section and enter your new signature text in the box.

 At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.

6.10 Creating Folders/Labels for Archiving Mails

Gmail provides labels for organizing your email messages into categories, like work, family, to-
do, read later or any other category. Labels are customizable and private to every user. They
work like folders, but one can add more than one to a message or delete labels as per the need.
Use the steps given below to create a label:

 On the left, below your labels list, click More. If you don't see More, drag the gray
dividing line down to show more labels.

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  Click Create new label.
 Type the name of your new label.
 Click Create.
Email is a fast and reliable means of communication that is free and easily accessible. Email
allows people to foster long-lasting, long-distance communication. They are delivered instantly.

Practice Questions

1. What is an E-mail?

2. How can an email text be formatted?

3. How can a file be sent with an email message?

4. What is the difference between replying to a message and forwarding it?

5. Write the steps to clean the inbox of unwanted email messages.

6. How do you add a signature to email?

Fill in the blanks

1. Email stands for _________.

2. Websites offering free email services are_________, _________, and _________.

3. An_________ is the main folder where your incoming mail gets stored in.

4. All deleted mails are placed in the_________ folder.

5. CC is used to send a _________ of message to a person.

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 CHAPTER 7

COMPUTER VIRUS

7.1 Introduction

A computer virus is a software program attached to a legitimate program that is destructive in

nature and infects other programs in the system by replicating and attaching itself to other
healthy programs. These harm the computer in many ways such as:

 Corrupt and delete the data or files.

 Effect the functionality of software applications.
 Effect the Hard Disk by erasing everything.
 Use e-mail to infect the other computers.
 The processing of the computer is also affected.
 The virus also spread through the files downloaded on Internet.
 The virus cannot infect write protected disks or written documents, already
compressed file and computer hardware, it only infects software.

7.2 Objectives

At the end of the Unit, the student should be able to understand:

 To define computer virus and its evolution

 To differentiate between the Computer Virus and Biological Virus
 To identify the different types of virus with their names and area of infection
 To explain the damage done by the virus to computer
 The process of virus infection
 The effects of virus on the Operating System
 To apply virus preventive measures

7.3 Computer Virus

A Computer virus is a small program that which can attach it or infect the other programs as well
as replicate itself without the knowledge of the user, like its biological counterpart, and runs
against user’s wishes. All Computer Virus are manmade. Most widespread virus infections
spread through email message attachments that activate when opened. Internet is the main reason
of Virus Infection in Computers.

Virus stands as an acronym for “Vital Information Resources Under Seige” and this concept is
not new but dates back to 1949 when John Von Neumann introduced the concept of Self
Replicating Program.

The first commercial application of viruses appeared in 1985, when two Pakistani brothers, in
order to keep track of software piracy, used Brain Virus (also known as Pakistani virus) on their

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low cost software. It was an extra program not supplied by the original manufacturer. These
types of self-replicating programs multiplied so fast and they are a threat to the smooth operation
of a computer.

7.4 Computer Virus versus Biological Virus

Computer virus is an electronic virus and Biological Viruses (Human Virus) are tiny genetic
codes DNA or RNA that take over the machinery of a living cell and are capable of making
thousands of replicas of the original virus. Like biological virus, the computer virus carries in it
an instructional code that makes copies of itself. In computer, the virus takes temporary control
of the disk operating system and when it comes in contact with an uninfected computer, the virus
passes onto the uninfected computer also.

It is assumed that Biological viruses and Computer viruses are the same entity, because both
cause infection and damage to their host/target. Although some of their features & characteristics
are same but they are quite different from each other.

7.5 Computer Virus Classification

Viruses are classified on the basis of their nature of infection and behavior. Different types
of computer virus classification are given below:

7.5.1. Boot Sector Virus

It is a type of virus which infects master boot record or hard disks. The infected code runs when
the system is booted from an infected disk. They infect at a BIOS level, they use DOS
commands to spread to other floppy disks. Since the floppy disks are not used, the propagation of
boot sector viruses has got almost over. After the introduction of boot-sector safeguards with the
Operating Systems, it is not possible for boot-sector viruses to infect the Computer.

The computer is infected by this virus only if the virus is used to boot up the system. After
completing the booting of the system and running the OS, the virus cannot infect the system.

Examples of boot viruses include: Polyboot.B, Joshi, Gravity, AntiEXE and Cbrain virus.

7.5.2. Companion Virus

Unlike traditional viruses, a companion virus is computer virus which does not modify any files.
Instead, it creates a copy of the file and places a different extension on it, usually .com. This
makes a companion virus difficult to detect, as anti-virus software tends to use changes in files as
clue.

The companion virus is an older version of virus that was more prominent during the MS-DOS.
It needs human intervention to further infect a computer but after the advent of Windows XP, as
there is no use of the MS-DOS, there are fewer ways for this type of virus to propagate itself.

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Some examples include: Stator, Asimov.1539, Stator and Terrax.1069

7.5.3. Email Virus

An email virus is a virus which is attached to email communications or sent with it. Many
different types of email viruses work in different ways, there are also a variety of methods used
to counteract such challenging cyber attacks.

Email viruses also vary in many ways. In some cases the sender of an email virus may be
unknown to a user, or a subject line may be filled with silly text. In some other cases, a hacker
may cleverly disguise the email as being from a known and trusted sender.

7.5.4. Logic Bomb

Logic bombs and time bombs are small malicious programs to cause harm at a certain point of
time but they do not replicate. They are not even programs in their own right but rather
camouflaged segments of other programs. A logic bomb may be implemented by someone trying
to sabotage a database when they are fairly certain they won’t be present to experience the
effects, such as full database deletion. In these instances, logic bombs are programmed to exact
revenge or sabotage work.

For example, a programmer could delete the critical sections of code by establishing a logic
bomb if he/she is terminated from the company. Logic bombs are most commonly installed by
the insiders who have the access to the system.

7.5.5. Macro Virus

A MAC or Macro Virus is a virus which spreads to other computers through software programs
that utilize macros. These viruses infect the files created using some applications or programs
that contain macros such as doc, pps, xls and mdb.

For example, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel are two popular and widely used programs
which have the capability of executing macros. The macro virus is initially embedded in one
document or a few documents, but it can spread to other documents within the same computer, as
well reaching out to other computers through shared documents and infect the other files,
templates and documents also. They automatically infect the files, templates and documents with
macros that are contained in the file. They hide in documents shared through e-mail and
networks.

Examples of macro viruses: Relax, Melissa.A, Bablas, O97M/Y2K.

They usually fix themselves inside the computer memory and get activated during the start of OS
and end up infecting other opened files. They are hidden in RAM.

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7.5.6. Cross-Site Scripting Virus

It is called Cross-site scripting (XSS). It is an injection attack which is carried out on Web
applications that accept input, but do not properly separate data and executable code before the
input is delivered back to a user’s browser. It mostly uses the vulnerable website as a vehicle to
deliver a malicious script to the victim’s browser. During the page loading, the malicious script
execute making the user unable to avoid the attack. The best example of XSS is Java-Script.

7.5.7. Worm

The Worm is very similar to a virus and has the ability to self-replicate itself and infect the
computer also. They travel longer distances by storing themselves in critical areas of the disk
from where they get loaded and have with them sufficient code to transfer themselves outward
from the infected system. Worms have been known to damage and infect the entire LANs.

It does not modify a program like a virus; however, it replicates so much that it consumes the
resources of the computer and makes it slow. Worms are independent programs while viruses
attach themselves to another program.

Examples of Worm: Lovgate.F, Sobig.D, Trile.C, PSWBugbear.B, Mapson, Code Red, Nimda.

7.5.8. Trojan Horse

It is similar to virus. Trojan horse is a hidden malicious code that could alter or delete the
information of client computer or perform any other unauthorized function. Trojan horses
contain programs that corrupt the data or damage the files. It can also corrupt the software
applications. Trojans can illegally trace important login details of users online – for example E-
Banking.

The activities of Trojans are:

 Deleting data
 Blocking data
 Modifying data
 Copying data
 Disrupting the performance of computers or computer networks

Trojan horse does not replicate themselves like viruses and do not infect other software. The
difference between bombs and Trojans is that, the bombs are insider jobs, Trojans are brought in
from outside by unsuspecting users through other programs.

7.6 The Effects of Computer Virus

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The following may be the probable effects of Computer Virus after a virus attack:

 Computer Virus can slow down your computer performance and become inefficient or
run slowly.
 It tends to fill up the computer with useless data.
 Virus can corrupt the system files.
 Viruses can also wipe out the Boot Sector creating problems when you boot into the
windows, which contain system information.
 It can make the changes in the data of the programs or files and cause erratic results.
 It might steal important information from your computer and send the same to some other
person.
 It might reset or reboot a computer by sending the required codes.
 It might format a disk by sending the formatting command to the system thereby causing
to lose everything on the disk.
 The computer gets restarted frequently by itself.
 If the virus deletes the entire keyboard definition; the computer would not be able to
respond to any keyboard inputs.
 The virus might scramble the File Allocation Table (FAT) which contains the
information for the operating system. Any mishappening to the FAT will cause data to
be irrecoverably lost.

7.7 The Vulnerability of Operating Systems to Virus

There are many Operating systems in the market such as Mac, Windows, Linux, UNIX, DOS
etc. which are being used by billions of professional and personal users. Before selecting any
operating system, there is always a question: “Which Operating System is efficient enough to
prevent virus”? Viruses are not restricted to DOS or Windows. A virus has the capability of
infecting any type of computer, irrespective of the Operating System it runs.Virus writers are like
other software developers in their desire to develop for the biggest market. It depends on the
users how long he or she can keep it off of viruses.

DOS vs. Linux

As an operating system, Linux works much better than DOS. In terms of performance Linux is
more reliable than any other operating system, even windows. It easily lowers the number of
viruses.

Windows vs. UNIX

A common belief is that UNIX as an operating is a safer option than using Windows. However,
it is true that UNIX has something different to offer to its users and many of Windows users have
experienced this while operating Windows, but after the recent innovations they may change
their opinions.

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Linux and Mac

Linux and Mac operating systems are less vulnerable to virus attack as these two systems need
advantaged access to install and run any kind of viruses. LINUX can be installed in Super
computers to embedded processors and the Windows is the most recommended OS for desktop.
People across the world are being able to use it without any major support to minimize the attack
of any Malware, especially when it is compared with windows.

7.8 Protection from Virus

We all are interested in securing our belongings such as Office, home, locality and even country
also. So we use different mechanisms to ensure the security- such as we keep our valuables
safely locked in a cupboard, we keep the doors of our houses even locked; we keep the guards to
keep secure the localities and police security within the city and armed forces for the country
also. It is always advisable to the follow the dictum “Prevention is better than cure”.
Moreover, since the viruses are made faster than the vaccines, it is a good practice to follow
some simple precautionary measures, which can reduce the possibility of virus attack. These are
as under:
 Use updated anti-virus program.
 Do not copy pirated software on your computer.
 Use the legal software from the reliable sources only.
 Do not download suspicious shareware programs.
 Use a secure operating system.
 Avoid letting the system to be used by unauthorized users.
 Allow you to schedule scans to automatically run for you.
 Scan the computer using Virus Scanner while booting up the system.
 Avoid loading of games that are passed as freeware.
 Proper backup of all data and program files should be kept.
 Remove suspicious and unnecessary files.
 Make system files “Read only”.
 Use vaccines and immunization programs to immunize computer against virus
infection.
 Always protect your password.
 Keep windows updated.
 Use the scanned USB drives.

7.9 Use of Popular Antivirus Software

Anti-virus software is a program which is designed to search, detect, prevent and remove
software viruses, and other malicious software like Trojans, worms etc.
If the computer system gets infected, despite all possible efforts, then in such cases the virus
vaccines assist you to come out of such difficulties.

The viruses are not omnipotent. Anti-virus programs help to cure the viruses. They perform one
or more the following functions:

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  Prevention
 Detection
 Vaccination
 Inoculation
 Damage control

There are so many anti-viruses available in the market. One can choose any one of them on the
basis of their characteristics:

 Norton Anti-Virus
 McAfee
 Kaspersky
 Webroot
 Symantec (Norton)
 AVG
 Microsoft Security Essentials
 Quick Heal
 EScan

Practice Questions

1. Define Computer Virus.

2. What is a virus? How does it differ from an ordinary program?

3. How can you protect your computer from viruses?

4. What is the difference between the computer virus and biological virus?

5. What are the various types of viruses? Outline the net effect of each.

6. What precautionary measures should be taken in order to keep your computer safe from
the virus?

7. What is the difference between Trojan Horses and Virus?

8. What is the difference between Trojan Horses and Bombs?

9. Differentiate between Computer Virus and Computer Worm.

10. What are the effects of a virus on the computer?

11. What is meant by Anti-Virus software? Name few popular anti-virus software.

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Fill in the Blanks

1. A_________is inactive until you execute an infected program or application.

2. The virus was first found in_________.

3. The biological virus contains the genetic material in the form of _________.

4. The full form of Virus is_________.

5. Viruses do not infect _________files unless the file was infected prior to the
compression.

6. Virus can infect only computer _________.

7. Boot-sector virus usually exists on_________.

8. The logic bombs are used to sabotage_________.

9. The worm mostly attacks the_________.

10. _________ does not replicate themselves like viruses and do not infect other software.

11. Which operating system is less affected by the virus_________.

12. The virus is also attached with _________.

13. Once installed, a _________ program can be set to work in the background.

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 LIST OF STANDARD ABBREVIATIONS
(Terms used in Office)
A

Ad. Val : Ad.Valorem

ASAP : As soon as Possible
ATM : Automated Teller Machine
@ : At the rate of
A/C : Account
A/D : Acknowledgement Due
A/S : Account Sales

BASIC : Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code

BPO : Business Process Outsourcing
B/E : Bill of Exchange
B/L : Bill of Lading
B/S : Balance Sheet
B2B : Business to Business
B2C : Business to Consumer

CA : Chartered Accountant
CAT : Common Admission Test
CAD : Computer Aided Design
CENTREX : Central Exchange
CEO : Chief Executive Officer
COBOL : Common Business Oriented Language
COD : Cash on Delivery
Corp. : Corporation
CPM : Critical Path Method
CR : Confidential Report
C/A : Current Account
CV : Curriculum Vitae
C2B : Consumer to Business
C2C : Consumer to Consumer

DA : Dearness Allowance
DD : Demand Draft
Disc. : Discount
DLO : Dead Letter Office
DSC : Digital Signature Certificate
DVD : Digital Versatile Disk
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D/A : Documents against Acceptance
D/P : Document against Payment

E-Commerce : Electronic Commerce

EOQ : Economic Order Quantity
EDI : Electronic Data Interchange
EDP : Electronic Data Processing
EMI : Equated Monthly Installment
ENCLS : Enclosures
Etc. : Et cetera (And other things)
E&OE : Errors and Omissions Excepted
e.g : Exempli gratia

FAQ : Frequently Asked Questions

FAX : Facsimile
FDI : Foreign Direct Investment
FIFO : First in First out
FIR : First Information Report
FOB : Free on Board
FOR : Free on Roil
FT Calls : Fin Time Calls
FYA : For Your Action
FYI : For Your Information

GPO : General Post Office

GST : Goods and Services Tax

HQ : Head Quarters
HR : Human Resource
HRD : Human Resource Department

Intercom : Inter Communication System

IOU : I Owe You
IRCTC : Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation
ISD : International Subscriber Dialing
ISP : Internet Service Provider

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IST : Indian Standard Time
ITD : Income Tax Department
I/O : Input-Output
i.e. : Id est (In other words/that is)

JIT : Just in time

KPI : Key Performance Indicators

L
LC : Letter of Credit
LIC : Life Insurance Corporation
LIFO : Last in First Out
LLC : Limited Liability Company
LTC : Leave Travel Concession
Ltd : Limited Company

MIS : Management Information System

MNC : Multinational Company
MOOC : Massive Open Online Course
MOU : Memorandum of Understanding
MRP : Maximum Retail Price

NGO : Non-Governmental Organization

NOC : No Objection Certificate
NOI : Net Operating Income
NRN : No Reply Necessary

QC : Quality Control
O&M : Organization and Methods

PABX : Private Automatic Branch Exchange

PAN : Permanent Account Number
PAYE : Pay As You Earn (tax)

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PC : Personal Computer
PCO : Public Call Office
PNR : Passenger Name Record
POD : Payment on Delivery
PR : Public Relations
PRO : Public Relation Officer
PS : Post Script
P.A : Personal Assistant
P.P : Particular Person Call
P.S : Personal Secretary
P&T : Post and Telegraph Department
P/N : Promissory Note
p.a : Per Annum

QMS : Quick Mail Service

RAC : Reserve against Cancellation

RAM : Random Access Memory
RBI : Reserve Bank of India
RTI ; Right to Information
R/R : Railway Receipt
R&D : Research & Development

SLA : Service Level Agreement

SP : Superintendent of Police
SQC : Statistical Quality Control
STD : Subscribers Trunk Dialing

TELEX : Teleprinter Exchange

TMO : Telegraphic Money Order
TIN : Taxpayer Identification Number

UPC : Under Postal Certificate

UPSC : Union Public Service Commission

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V

VAT ` : Value-Added Tax

VIP : Very Important Person
VPP : Value Payable Parcel

WWW : World Wide Web

w.r.t : With Respect To

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