Documents of any size may have distinct parts. Beyond separating content with headings, we can use page breaks and section breaks to differentiate parts of the document. While page breaks provide a visual distinction, section breaks allow us to format the content of each section differently. This formatting could include page layout, alignment, columns, or page numbering.
Acquiring the practice document
If you are beginning this course at this point, you will need to access the practice document.
Downloading the practice document for Microsoft Word
If working in Microsoft Word, you will download and extract the document.
- To begin downloading the practice document, click the following button:
For detailed instructions on downloading and extracting files in Google Chrome or Firefox, visit Getting Started with Exercise Files.
Copying the practice document in Google Docs
In Google Docs, you will copy the practice document to your Google Drive.
- To begin copying the practice document in a new browser window,
Right-click Copy practice document, Click Open link in new window
The file begins to open in a new window of the web browser. Before the document will open and can be edited, we need to make a copy of it.
Move to the new browser window.
- To copy the document file, in the browser window,
Click 
A copy of the file is now open and, by default, is saved in your Google Drive. The filename now has the words "Copy of" at the beginning.
Considering inclusive design
When inserting a page break or new page, it is important to use the break tools built into Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Pressing the Enter key or Return key several times will create confusion for users who utilize screen reading software. The assistive software may read each of these lines as "blank" and cause the reader to think they have reached the end of the document.
Inserting a page break
The content of our document is complete. However, there are some problems with the spacing. The bibliography should be on its own page, as should the author's note.
Let's start by putting the bibliography on the fourth page of the document.
- Move to the Bibliography heading.
- To place the cursor before the Bibliography heading,
Click before the B in Bibliography
- To insert a page break, on the keyboard, press:
Control key + Enter key
The bibliography is now on the fourth page with no other content.
Inserting section breaks
In this document, we are going to use different types of page numbers for different parts of the content. For this reason, we want the table of contents and author's note to be in their own sections. The remainder of the document will be in a third section. To accomplish this, we will put section breaks after the table of contents and author's note. Because we want these sections to be on their own pages, we will use next page section breaks.
- Move to the first page of the document.
- To place the cursor before the Author's note heading,
Click before the A in "Author's note"
- To insert the next page section break,
In Microsoft Word, on the Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, Click
, Click Next Page
In Google Docs, on the menu bar, Click Insert, Click Break, Click Section break (next page)
The table of contents is now in its own section and the Author's note section has moved to the second page. Now let's add another section break to put the author's note in a section alone. We'll insert this break before the Wildflowers by season section heading.
- Move to the second page of the document.
- To place the cursor before the Wildflowers by season heading,
Click before the W in "Wildflowers by season"
- To insert the next page section break,
In Microsoft Word, on the Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, Click
, Click Next PageIn Google Docs, on the menu bar, Click Insert, Click Break, Click Section break (next page)
- To save the document, on the keyboard, press:
Control key + S
The author's note is now alone on the second page of the document. The remaining content starts on page three.
We will use these sections to add different page numbering schemes to the document.