Wow your teachers with visually stunning school reports
Published: June 20, 2005
Microsoft Encarta, a software encyclopedia for your computer, is an incredible reference for kids, teens, and college students. Encarta has thousands of pictures of everything from aardvarks to Zimbabwe, and you can use these pictures to make your next school report more visually exciting-and impress your teachers while you're at it. Using Encarta with Photo Story 3 for Windows, you can make compelling photo movies-complete with narration and background music. You can even add your own photos.
Watch our sample report about Quebec City for inspiration, and then go make your own!
Broadband Dial-up
Here's what you'll need to re-create this type of project:
First, find the right picture
You'll begin by using Encarta for your research, just like you would for any other project. To start Encarta:
1. | Click Start, and then point to All Programs. Point to Microsoft Encarta, and then click Encarta Reference Library 2005. |
2. | In the Find box on the toolbar, type a topic, and then click Go. |
3. | Browse the search results, and collect information for your report.  |
When you find just the right photo to illustrate one of your important points, you'll want to save a copy of the picture so that you can add it to Photo Story later.
Save the picture using the following steps:
1. | Right-click anywhere on the photo, and then click Copy.  |
2. | In the Copy dialog box, click Picture, and then click Clipboard. Click OK to copy the picture to your computer's Clipboard. The Clipboard is a temporary storage location for text, pictures, and other content that you have cut or copied from one location for pasting into another.  |
Save the picture to a file
It's a good idea to save the picture as a file so you can use it later in your report or even as a screen saver. The easiest way to save the picture to a file is by using Microsoft Paint. To save the file using Paint, follow these steps:
1. | Click Start, and then point to All Programs. Point to Accessories, and then click Paint. |
2. | Click the Edit menu, and then click Paste. The picture you copied appears in Paint. Encarta automatically adds a copyright notice to the picture.  |
3. | Click the File menu, and then click Save. Select the folder that you will use to store files for your school report. Type a name for your photo in the File Name box. Click the Save as type list, and then click JPEG. Click Save.  |
4. | Close Paint. |
5. | Repeat these steps for every picture you want to include in your report. Don't forget a photo for your title page! |
Tip: You can save maps as pictures, too. This is great for reports about locations.
Create the slideshow
Once you've done all of your research and collected all of your pictures, you're ready to create your photo movie using Photo Story 3 for Windows.
1. | Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Photo Story 3 for Windows. |
2. | Click Begin a new story, and then click Next. |
3. | On the Import and arrange your pictures page, click Import Pictures. Browse to the folder where you saved your pictures. Press CTRL+A to select all the pictures in the folder, and then click OK. Photo Story will import the pictures you saved from Encarta.  |
4. | On the timeline, drag the pictures to arrange them in the order you want them to appear. When satisfied with the order, click Next. |
5. | On the Add a title to your pictures page, click the first photo in the timeline. Then, type a title for your report in the text box. If your text doesn't show up well on your photo, click the Select Font button to select a different color. Click Next.  |
6. | On the Narrate your pictures and customize motion page, click the picture in the timeline that you want to narrate. Click the Record button, and then speak into your computer's microphone. When you've finished the narration for that photo, click the Stop button. If you make a mistake during the narration, click the Delete Narration button and rerecord. When you've narrated all your pictures, click Next. 
Tip: To make narration easier, write a script for each picture before you begin recording. Try to hold the microphone in the same position for each slide you narrate so that the volume is consistent for every photo.
|
7. | On the Add background music page, click Next. (We won't be adding any background music for this example.) |
8. | On the Save your story page, click Save your story for playback on your computer. Click Browse to select the folder where your final report will be saved. Then, click Next. Photo Story will prepare and create your slideshow.  |
9. | On the Completing Photo Story 3 page, click View your story to make sure your slideshow is exactly as you want it. If it's not, click Back to edit your story, and then repeat the previous step to re-save your story |
10. | Finally, click Save Project to save your photo story. Type a name for your report, and then click Save. |
11. | Click Exit to close Photo Story. |
Take your slideshow to school
Now, you just need to copy your report to the computer in your classroom so you can play the slideshow. You can transfer your report to a writeable CD if you have a CD burner, or you can use a USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash drive to transfer the file. The school computer does not need to have Photo Story installed, but it does need to have Windows Media Player 7 or later installed. To install the latest version of Windows Media Player, click here.
Note: Photos used in this sample report are from the author's personal photo album and not from Encarta. It is not permissible to use pictures from Encarta in commercial publications, such as this article. However, it is acceptable to use pictures from Encarta in your actual school reports.
 | Tony Northrup is a writer, Internet engineer, and digital photography enthusiast. Tony has a decade of experience making networks and servers connected to the Internet run smoothly. He has authored and co-authored eight books about using Windows and has written dozens of articles about Internet technologies. When he's not on his deck writing, he toys with home-automation technologies and takes pictures for display in a Web photo album. He lives in the Boston area with his wife Erica and cat Sammy. You can learn more about Tony by visiting his Web site at http://www.northrup.org.
|
