How do I keep existing formatting from word document?

[n01418641]

How do I keep the formatting from my word document to stay when pasting it into the discussion window?  I'm trying to specifically keep the format for my APA citation for reference.  

Using Microsoft Word provided by UNF.  And when I try to use the indent button, it indents the whole paragraph.  Basically I need a hanging indent for the reference.

Please advise.  

Thanks,

Christina

[James · Accepted solution]

 @n01418641  

The hanging indents won't copy directly from Word.

The question about APA citations has come up before. Here's a link to what I wrote in October 2018. The archived feature idea https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/6235 has some good discussion, but you'll need to join the cold storage group to be able to read it.

APA was written for printed work and some allowances should be made for electronic papers. Any instructor who wants their students to follow the law of APA with Canvas discussions should try it themselves. You may want to ask your instructor about it (in a nicer way than I just wrote of course).

In order to get a hanging indent, you would have to edit the HTML and modify the CSS on the paragraph element containing the reference. Here's an explanation of how to do that: Hanging Indents: code-snippet. 

Another feature idea (archived as well) is here https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/2253 . There I showed how to do a hanging indent for a block of citations.  Here's an example of a what hanging indents can look like in Canvas:

The trick is to open the HTML editor. Here are lessons on how to do that: How do I use the HTML view in the Rich Content Editor as a student?  or How do I use the HTML view in the New Rich Content Editor as a student? 

Then find your citations and wrap them in a div element as shown below.

<div style="padding-left: 30px; text-indent: -30px;">
<p>Your first citation goes here</p>
<p>Your second citation goes here</p>
<p>Any additional citations go here</p>
</div>‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

In my opinion (I teach math and use APA but don't expect my students to do a hanging indent), no teacher should expect that of their students inside a discussion. Of course, it's your instructor's opinion that counts, not mine.

[jcintel]

Thank you for this James! I'm having issues using this coding within Canvas Quizzes. I have an instructor wanting to create a question on APA formatting, showing and demonstrating examples of various options for students to select from for the correct answer with multiple-choice options. To do this, I need to be able to utilize the hanging indent within the formatting of the question. 

Is it possible to have this code work in the HTML of the Canvas quiz? I'm not having any luck or maybe I'm just putting this in incorrectly....

Thank you for any and all help!

[rsamia]

..."no teacher should expect that (APA formatting) of their students inside a discussion." Thank you for your qualifying statement that followed.