I recently posted about purchasing my new MBP and I would like to know if one of my professors does not have a Mac, will they still be able to get it? I have Microsoft Office 08 and iWorks, if I use Office should there be any problems? Thanks!
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Will professors be able to receive my work?
- Thread starter spmojo
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If you use MS Office, it will save the files in the same formats that the windows version does. I believe that iWork can save that type of file as well, although that comes with some formatting issues. Stick with using Office if you need to send it to someone else
I used iWork to create all of my word documents and powerpoint presentations while I was at Michigan State. As long as you save them as .doc and .ppt extensions all of your professors should be able to open them in Microsoft Office with no issues.
If it's just a text document like an essay then you can also save it as an .rtf document. Just about any word processor can open RTF files and create them.
The reason I bring this up is because back when I was in school I once had a professor who didn't use Microsoft Office. RTF worked for her and that was her preferred file type. Most professors nowadays have Microsoft Office though or they can easily get it from the school if they don't but I always use RTF for text files if they don't specify what they want.
I think my professor just didn't like using Microsoft Office so she refused to accept .doc files.
The reason I bring this up is because back when I was in school I once had a professor who didn't use Microsoft Office. RTF worked for her and that was her preferred file type. Most professors nowadays have Microsoft Office though or they can easily get it from the school if they don't but I always use RTF for text files if they don't specify what they want.
I think my professor just didn't like using Microsoft Office so she refused to accept .doc files.
That's right, you can set edit/copy restrictions when you export to pdf.
Another plus over using .doc files
Use word.
Follow his submission guidelines. iWorks formatting is a bit iffy when it comes to transposing from one to the other. Some professors may not like to recieve pdf's.
The ONLY issue i have found between mac office and pc office, is the mac version will not handle CMYK jpegs (but honestly in 99.9% of cases this isn't an issue)
Follow his submission guidelines. iWorks formatting is a bit iffy when it comes to transposing from one to the other. Some professors may not like to recieve pdf's.
The ONLY issue i have found between mac office and pc office, is the mac version will not handle CMYK jpegs (but honestly in 99.9% of cases this isn't an issue)
What???
The only reason I can think of that you wouldn't send a PDF is if you're e-mailing code or something that the professor has to check works. If it's a report, it's PDF. There is no reasonable alternative.
Agreed. It is difficult for tutors, profs or whoever to add feedback on PDFs. And as already mentioned, follow the guidelines. They're there for a reason and you may lose marks by going outside them.
Actually several professional journals (example) prefer .doc submissions to PDFs, mainly because they can't be edited as easily as a Word document. Office formats are far more common than you want them to be, apparently.
If a professor explicitly states "Submit your work in a Word document" I don't think he'll be happy with a pdf.
But this is speculating. The TS never mentioned that Word documents are a requirement of his professors. So, what's stopping the TS to ask if he can use pdf to submit his work?
Nothing. The counterexample was aimed at the ridiculous statement that "It's just not professional to hand in anything in any other format." The assumption made by Arminator is speculation as well.
I may have assumed the OP was talking about submitting assignments to professors, as in things that will be graded, and do not require substantial feedback.
Obviously if the OP is trying to give a professor eg. a draft thesis, the PDF rule does not apply.
NOTE: As Word is not free, a professor would have to be a tech-n00b to request .doc files, as they require some people (ie. me) to go and spend hundreds of dollars on MS Office just to do one assessment. If they don't want to print a hard copy (which is what all my profs who want digital copies do) then they could e-mail back a text file with their suggestions or something. On the other hand, LaTeX is free software, exports straight to PDF, and is far more professional anyway.
If one of my profs expressly asked for a .doc file, it would seriously piss me off, and I WOULD complain.
PDF is ideal. Word is fine.
Obviously, if the teacher asks for a specific format, you should hand in that format.
If the teacher demands .doc or .docx, then I suggest he pay for the software for the student himself.
Obviously, if the teacher asks for a specific format, you should hand in that format.
If the teacher demands .doc or .docx, then I suggest he pay for the software for the student himself.
I'm not disagreeing that LaTeX is free, exports to PDF, and is significantly more flexible than Word (or any other WYSIWYG word processor), but I don't think you're being realistic in your expectations of students. Your average undergraduate English student isn't going to bother learning the intricacies of a TeX environment, and even if they did they'd probably give up on the first typesetting error.
As far as "more professional", I'm not really seeing that either. A lot of resume-processing suites (brassring, etc) prefer Word to PDF files. Is that a reflection on the "professionalism" of the company that employs that particular HR suite? Or how about the Harvard Law Review? Are you calling into question their "professionalism" because they want Office files?
As if that would ever happen. If they cannot afford a volume licence of Office normally they would suggest you use things like Open Office which is free and more than adequate.
If you were a student you'd be buying the student edition that ISN'T hundreds of pounds / dollars.
But maybe thats just me. When I was at uni, the thought of submitting anything in pdf would be a nightmare for most pc users. Plus the teaching staff preferred word docs as they were guaranteed to have that app.
and if you'd complained you'd simply have been told about open office.
And if the document has to be handwritten the teacher has to provide paper AND pencil? If the teacher demands a specific format, he/she is probably not the most technically skilled person. (but do they have to be??). We as mac users can use cheap alternatives to create .doc files, e.g. NeoOffice, OpenOffice, Bean. ( which can all export to pdf very nicely....
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