The assignment for Week 2 of my course had us look at various Office applications. We put the same data into Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I am going to look at each application and show that the best one for this assignment is Word.

A word processor is used for writing documents. It’s main function is that of a typewriter with added benefits. It has the ability to change fonts, size of text, show images and provide references. It can set things up for printing such as mailers. It can display and print things such as tables and spreadsheets but this is not its forte.

            A spreadsheet is “a computer program that allows the entry, calculation, and storage of data in columns and rows.” (Merriam-Webster, nd, SPREADSHEET Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster). This is where it excels. The modern spreadsheet application can be used to store the written word much like a word processor but it lacks some of the same features and it’s row/column setup will cause difficulties.

            A presentation application, such as PowerPoint, works best as a method of presenting data for others to view in a meeting. It can display text and images and even parts of spreadsheets. It does not perform calculations like a spreadsheet nor is it best used in place of a word processor. It is broken down into slides for presentation. Each slide should be prepared with concise and pertinent information.

            A database is “a usually large collection of data organized especially for rapid search and retrieval.” (Merriam-Webster, nd, DATABASE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster). It is mainly used to store data so that the data can be used by other applications. It is best at storing and retrieving data. It can perform calculations on data but this limited to the type of data and database. It can store documents such as word processing documents or spreadsheets but it cannot generate them.

            Why is Microsoft Word the best application for presenting the data in this assignment? Because it has basic functionality of the other two applications. Plus it can display a large amount of text and format it for the best viewing of the audience. It can display tables or even entire spreadsheets. It can also format text in such a way that you can display it in a meeting. While it will only perform basic calculations on the cells in a table, its ability to display an entire spreadsheet makes up for it.

            Anytime that you need to display a large amount of text, images or different pages in a spreadsheet, Word would excel. Authoring a scholarly journal would be an excellent use Word as it will display the text and images needed as well as preparing the reference page. If you need to present different pages of a spreadsheet in one document for others to go over such as a report, it will also function admirably. It is not as good at making presentations as PowerPoint but it is capable of displaying text in the same manner and adding images and video. It can double by selecting each page in a document as a slide.