Formatting Works Cited and Reference Source Lists in Canvas Textbox

[MelanieGann]

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to format the works cited or reference lists in the textbox within Canvas for an assignment? I have lost points on almost every assignment because the professors find something wrong with the view they see. It never matches the view I had when I typed it. My end shows to be flawless. When you type each source, it will automatically start a new line. The only thing I have found is to indent the second and following lines after hitting enter at the beginning of each line and increase the indent. Single spaces do not work within a typed source. On the professors' end, they see that enter was hit somewhere random within the source. It just messes it all up. But they insist on double spacing the sources, which I know is the correct format. However, it is impossible to do it correctly within the Canvas textbox.

I would appreciate any help!

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @MelanieGann,

Welcome to the Instructure Community, glad ot have you here!

In my opinion, your question probabl needs more input from your teacher/professor than anything.

If you're typing your assignment directly into a Canvas textbox, that is what would be considered web/html format.  Formatting for the web (where every user's computer will display things differently based on their window/screen size) is a lot different than typing for print where you have a designated paper size, margins, etc...  That is one of the reasons you don't really see as many options for online editors compared to a program like Microsoft Word (no double spacing, hanging indents, etc).  You can usually accomplish formatting changes for web content too, but it will usually take some knowledge of HTML code and is not as easy as clicking a button.  The Create Hanging Indents Using HTML and CSS | Resilient Educator article describes how to create hanging indents with html, though in the beginning it even says, "While, strictly speaking, hanging indents are a part of correct APA style for footnote references, it is worth noting that the use of hanging indents is often considered unnecessary for footnote references appearing online versus in print. Given the shift away from hanging indents for things like footnote references in an online environment, the real question may not be how to add hanging indents into your content, but whether they are really necessary for the purposes of your content in the first place."

If your teacher/professor insists on double spaced format with hanging indents, the easiest thing for you to do would be to upload a word doc instead of trying to type in the Canvas editor directly.  If that's not an option for your assignment, I think your teacher is going to need to give a lot more guidance on what they want and how they want all of the students to do it.

I hope this at least helps start a conversation.

-Chris

[Bonna-MicheleBi]

Do we have access to Microsoft Word since we are Canvas users? If so how do I start using it. I have 2 papers to write for my online classes!

[Chris_Hofer]

@Bonna-MicheleBi ...

That's not a question we may be able to answer here.  If your school is a Microsoft school, there may be ways that you can use Microsoft Office 365 through your school.  You'd want to check with your school's IT department for specifics about that.  Other schools use Google instead of Microsoft Word, and as you may know, Google has its own online word processor, Google Docs.  You'd be able to compose any word-processed document in either O365 or Google Docs, and then you could download a copy to your own computer.

Other people may chime in here with their own thoughts on O365 and/or Google Docs (or other products that might work), but hopefully this gives you a good idea of what people generally use.

Good luck to you!