How do I keep existing formatting from word document?

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n01418641
Community Novice

How do I keep the formatting from my word document to stay when pasting it into the discussion window?  I'm trying to specifically keep the format for my APA citation for reference.  

Using Microsoft Word provided by UNF.  And when I try to use the indent button, it indents the whole paragraph.  Basically I need a hanging indent for the reference.

Please advise.  

Thanks,

Christina

1 Solution
James
Community Champion

 @n01418641  

The hanging indents won't copy directly from Word.

The question about APA citations has come up before. Here's a link to what I wrote in October 2018. The archived feature idea https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/6235 has some good discussion, but you'll need to join the cold storage group to be able to read it.

APA was written for printed work and some allowances should be made for electronic papers. Any instructor who wants their students to follow the law of APA with Canvas discussions should try it themselves. You may want to ask your instructor about it (in a nicer way than I just wrote of course).

In order to get a hanging indent, you would have to edit the HTML and modify the CSS on the paragraph element containing the reference. Here's an explanation of how to do that: Hanging Indents: code-snippet

Another feature idea (archived as well) is here https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/2253 . There I showed how to do a hanging indent for a block of citations.  Here's an example of a what hanging indents can look like in Canvas:

335777_pastedImage_5.png

The trick is to open the HTML editor. Here are lessons on how to do that: How do I use the HTML view in the Rich Content Editor as a student?  or How do I use the HTML view in the New Rich Content Editor as a student? 

Then find your citations and wrap them in a div element as shown below.

<div style="padding-left: 30px; text-indent: -30px;">
<p>Your first citation goes here</p>
<p>Your second citation goes here</p>
<p>Any additional citations go here</p>
</div>‍‍‍‍‍

In my opinion (I teach math and use APA but don't expect my students to do a hanging indent), no teacher should expect that of their students inside a discussion. Of course, it's your instructor's opinion that counts, not mine.

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