A course of study in personal-use typewriting for adults

147 Pages·05.893 MB·English

by  Johnson, M. Beverlee

A COURSE OP STUDY IN PERSONAL-USE
TYPEWRITING FOR ADULTS
A P roject
Presented to
The Faculty of the School of Education
The U niversity of Southern C alifo rn ia
In P a rtia l F ulfillm ent
of the Requirements fo r the Degree
M aster of Science in Education
by
M« Beverlee Johnson
June 1950
UMI Number: EP46383
All rights reserved
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This project report, written under the direction
of the candidate's adviser and approved by him,
has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty
of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Education.
Date.......................................................................
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Adviser
Dean
II
INTRODUCTION
The day has come when every person should be able to
operate a typew riter with a reasonable degree of efficien cy .
A rap id ly increasing number of people wish to use
the typew riter fo r th e ir own personal work. Formerly, adu lts
considered typing a s tr ic tly vocational subject; however,
the scope has changed so much in the la s t decade, i t can no
longer be c la s s ifie d as such.
Adults e n ro llin g in evening school do i t to get some­
thing they want or can use in th e ir everyday lif e ; th erefore,
the courses offered in these classes must meet the needs of
the students. This personal-use typew riting course is de­
signed to give the students what they can use; i t also p re ­
sents the contents in a sim plified manner in order th at the
adult can acquire typing s k ill fo r personal use in a re la ­
tiv e ly short tim e.
The student who completes th is course w ill have devel-
oped a reasonable ra te of speed, perhaps th ir ty to forty,
words per minute, w ithout the need fo r watching the keys; he
w ill possess the necessary inform ation about the p a rts of
the typew riter and th e ir care. The student w ill gain a work­
ing knowledge of the techniques of paragraphing, hypheniza-
tio n , punctuation, and c a p ita liz a tio n , the c o rrect forms for
le tte r s , themes, re p o rts, o u tlin es, recip es, and other simple
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personal-use papers. Using a l l of the typing techniques,
the student w ill fin a lly gain s k ill in composing communica­
tio n s at the typew riter w ithout the need fo r w riting them
in longhand and thenre-copying them.
Decreasing the learn in g time is one of the outstand­
ing featu res of th is course o u tlin e. Most adu lt students
can a tten d class only one night a week; th erefo re, th is
course must be organized to enable a student to make use of
a ll of h is class in stru c tio n fo r building typing power.
The length of time required to learn the keyboard is
shortened because a l l of the learning is connected. The
student learn s to type connected words the f i r s t day. Spe­
c ia l emphasis is given to co rrect machine operation tech ­
niques because s k ill in typing depends upon a working know­
ledge of a ll p a rts of the machine.
Since adults have many o ther in te re s ts and a c tiv itie s
to occupy th e ir time, they often fin d i t necessary to miss a
period of in stru c tio n . The d irec tio n s of th is book are ex­
pressed c le arly and concisely in order th a t a student who
m isses one period of in stru c tio n w ill find i t p o ssib le to
f,catch up1* by reading the d ire c tio n s, which are lis te d in
the lo g ic a l order of a p p lica tio n or use.
The classroom a c tiv itie s section of each chapter
expresses the very h e art of the course. A ll of the in s tru c ­
tio n m aterial is employed by the students, in some form,
v
fo r working on the assignm ent. There is no routine copying;
ra th e r independent thinking and in itia tiv e are co nstan tly
stim ulated as the student makes p ra c tic a l a p p licatio n of the
d irectio n s.
The evaluation section a t the end of each.chapter
makes i t possible fo r the in te re ste d adu lt to check h is
knowledge of the processes presented in the chapter and
evaluate h is experiences in the a c tiv ity assignm ents.
Because of the comparative newness of courses in p e r­
sonal typew riting, th ere are very few typew riting te s ts th at
contain much m aterial which is adaptable to the everyday
uses of the adu lt learn er. This course is developed to give
the students the learn in g processes they asked for when they
enrolled in the typew riting classes.
When a student e n ro lls in an adult typing class, he
not only f i l l s out an enrollm ent card but he also f i l l s out
from ten to twenty cards, on which he l i s t s the things he
would lik e to learn fo r h is personal or so cial-bu sin ess use
from the course. The author kept a carefu l f i l e of these
requests from each of the fiv e d iffe re n t ad u lt typing classes
taught. The rela te d requests were placed in the same guide
caption. Each chapter of th is course has a t i t l e sim ilar to
each of the guide captions. These chapters, th erefo re, con­
ta in the d irec tio n s on using the typew riter to perform the
functions th at the adults need and want to 3e arn when they
V
en ro ll in a personal-use typew riting course.
The typew riter enables i t s user to produce a form of
w ritten expression th a t is a ttra c tiv e , neat, le g ib le , com­
p act, and modern; the operator must be train ed , however, to
apply h is s k ill in te llig e n tly to meet h is personal needs.
This course is geared to give the student help and guidance
in h is sp ecial typew riting in te re s ts . A student can perform
an a c tiv ity assignment from a previous chapter i f he is not
in te re ste d in a technique presented in any of the chapters.
A Course of Study in Personal Use Typewriting is
divided in to three main p a rts, each p a rt incorporating such
learn in g and doing situ a tio n s as are c arried on in the p er­
sonal and so cial-b u siness l if e of the average adu lt.
P art I concerns i t s e l f w ith g ettin g o ff to a good
s ta r t. The student learns how to operate the typew riter, how
to type from copy, how to improve h is typing a b ility by se lf-
d irected p ra c tic e , and how to care fo r h is own machine.
Copy placement and form is the ch ief problem of Part
II. The adult learns how to apply his typing s k ill typing
menus, recip es, poetry, m anuscripts or school papers, and
personal rep o rts; he also becomes fa m ilia r w ith designing
and drawing on the typew riter, producing m ultiple copy, and
how to f i l l in ruled forms.
Composition at the machine is the technique developed
in P art I I I . The student learn s how to compose h is personal
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correspondence a t the typew riter. The mechanics and form of
the business l e t t e r is presented; however, the student is
also taught how to w rite e ffe c tiv e ly the four most commonly
used business le tte r s : the l e t t e r of ap p licatio n , the order
le tte r , the l e t t e r of com plaint, and the l e t t e r of inquiry.
The le tte r s which are illu s tr a te d in the chapter have a
freshness and v ita lity which add realism to the stu d e n t’s
work; hackneyed and stereotyped phrases are conspicuous by
th e ir absence. In th is fin a l p a rt of the course, the student
makes sp ecific a p p licatio n of the inform ation acquired in
the f i r s t two p a rts.
M. Beverlee Johnson
vii
PHEFACE TO TYPING- STUDENTS
You have in dicated th a t you wish to make e arly use of
your typing s k ill fo r typing your c h ild re n 's class papers,
your personal and business le tte r s , and other personal r e ­
p o rts and forms; by c a re fu lly follow ing the in stru c tio n s in
the manual each day, you can make p ra c tic a l use of your
typing s k ill in a short tim e. No amount of p ra c tic e , however,
w ill insure your success unless you atten d clo sely to the
work you are doing. The purpose of th is book is to make the
learnin g of typew riting the simple m atter i t fundam entally
is .
The prim ary aim of th is course is to help you develop
typing techniques fo r personal use. You w ill begin your
work in class by acquainting y o urself with the mechanical
p a rts of the typ ew riter and th e ir co rrect operation. You
w ill learn how to s i t properly a t the machine, how to in se rt
and remove the paper, and how to strik e the keys accurately.
The re s u lts you get from your work w ill depend la rg e ly on
your fa m ilia rity w ith the typew riter.
When you have m astered the basic operating fa c to rs,
you w ill be taught proper control of a ll the keys. You w ill
lea rn the keys by typing words, phrases, and sentences from
the beginning. The words are easy in order th a t you may be
able to type w ith speed and accuracy from the s ta r t. As you
do your stra ig h t copy typing, keep your eyes on the copy.
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You want to become a rea l touch t y p is t 1 Keep your mind
wholly concentrated on words and sentences in the copy.
Prom the beginning of the course, you w ill be taught how to
p ractice to co rrect erro rs th a t you make; th is w ill prevent
the form ation of a wrong h ab it which w ill lead to more
erro rs.
A fter you have b u ilt a working s k ill in touch typing,
you can use your s k ill to meet your needs. Johnny and Susy
w ill appreciate i t i f you can type th e ir themes fo r them.
Your recipe f ile s and scrapbooks w ill be n eater when you
type them in a ttra c tiv e sty le s. Your budgets and other p er-
sonal-use rep o rts w ill be e a sie r to prepare and more under­
standable when you type them in correct bookkeeping form.
Some students enjoy using th e ir machines as a hobby in pro­
ducing p ic tu re s and a r t i s t i c designs. Many of you w ill make
use of the techniques of typing carbon copies and ste n c ils
fo r dup licatin g b u lle tin s or programs. Since most of you
w ill be typing order blanks, a p p licatio n forms, or other
personal-use business blanks, you w ill want to learn the
techniques of alignm ent. The placement sectio n of th is book
has a chapter devoted to each of the above mentioned typing
techniques.
The a b ility to arrange and compose le tte r s c a lls fo r
the development of judgment; you cannot work m echanically;
you must thin k as you type. The la s t sectio n of th is course