Make your document stand out with an appendix!
Make your document stand out with an appendix!
Appendices are great resources to add to the end of your report, but what if you want to add an appendix before your actual table of contents?
This will make your document stand out and allows you to give more information about the report right away rather than waiting until the end. In Microsoft Word, this process is very simple, and we’ll show you how in this quick article on how to add an appendix to a table of contents in Microsoft Word.
What is an Appendix?
An appendix is a collection of supplementary materials, usually appearing at the end of a report, academic paper, or book. Here, you can find additional information that supports the main text but would be disruptive if included within it. The primary use for appendices in formal writing is to provide additional material that might otherwise make the writing too bulky and long-winded.
Appendices are useful because they can provide some important background information without interrupting the flow of reading. They are also used to reference other documents such as constitutions and contracts (e.g., Appendix A). The first appendix should always be labeled Appendix 1 followed by letter labels. Be sure to refer back to the table of contents when labeling your appendices so readers know where they go in relation to the entire work.
When do you use them?
An appendix can be a great way to add extra information to a document, especially if that information is too lengthy or detailed to include in the main body of the text. Appendices are often used in academic papers, business plans, and manuals. They may also be helpful for adding documents or information that might not fit into other parts of the paper (e.g., an appendix listing interviews conducted for research).
When writing an essay, you may want to put information such as graphs, illustrations, definitions of words, statistics tables and diagrams into appendices. Make sure you give each appendix a heading which will let readers know what they will find in it when they open it up. You should also have a summary sentence under each heading which explains briefly what readers will find there. Your audience might not have time to read every word of your work so this provides them with some essential info about what’s inside.
How do you make one?
An appendix can be a great way to add extra information to a document, and Microsoft Word makes it easy to create one. Here’s how
1) Select the table of contents tab in the navigation pane on the left side of the screen.
2) Right-click on the tab for whichever chapter you want to append, then select Appendices from the drop-down menu that appears.
3) A new page will open up automatically in which you can type all of your additional content. After you’re done, click on the X at the top right corner of the screen to close it.
4) Click again on the heading for whatever chapter you added an appendix to and select Insert > Appendix from the drop-down menu that appears. The content will now appear as an appendix within that chapter.
Examples
An appendix can be a great way to add extra information to a document, especially if that information is too long or detailed to include in the main body of the text. Microsoft Word makes it easy to add an appendix to a table of contents, and this can be a great way to make your document more organized and professional-looking. Here’s how
1) Open your document;
2) Click on Insert at the top of the screen;
3) Select Appendix from the list on the left side of the screen;
4) Drag down until you find a heading for each type of appendix you want to add (e.g., A, B).
