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Living History Project

Editing a Life History

Step One:

Creating
a
Document
  1. Open a word processing program and get a new page (File - New).
  2. Move it to the side of your screen by clicking and dragging on the gray lines at the top of the document.
  3. Open your web browser and go to American Life Histories, 1936-1940.

Step Two:

Copying
a
Life
History
  1. Locate the life history you selected.
  2. On the browser toolbar, choose Edit - Select All to highlight the entire text of the life history.
  3. Choose Edit - Copy to copy the life history.
  4. Find the word processing program on the side of the screen and click on it to bring it forward.
  5. On the word processor toolbar, choose Edit - Paste. The life history should appear on the page.
  6. On the word processor toolbar, choose File - Save, then type your name plus the number of your class period as the title and choose Save.

Step Three:

Creative
Cutting

 Now you need to clean up and edit the Life History until it is one page of text. You must read it to see what is most important to keep!
  1. Cut unnecessary words by highlighting them and deleting them.
  2. Be sure to keep:
    • the name of the person who was interviewed;
    • the name of the interviewer (if named);
    • place of interview (if given); and
    • the date of the interview (if given).
  3. Put a Title on the life history, your name, and period on the page.
  4. Choose a photograph that illustrates your life history. Save the small thumbnail version of the photograph to the desktop.
    1. Place the cursor over the image.
    2. Depress the mouse button (right button on a PC mouse).
    3. Select Save image as.
    4. Give the image a name and save it to the computer's desktop.
  5. In the word processor, place the image at the top of the life history. (On the word processor toolbar, choose Edit - Paste. The image should appear on the page.)
  6. SAVE

Congratulations. You should have a finished product of a life history that you can show in your portfolio.

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Last updated 09/26/2002