Learning to Type Effectively.

EVERYTHING has its proper place in the world, and everybody – regardless of his or her station – has something to contribute for the betterment of society. More to the point, a secretary’s job is equally crucial to that of her boss because office management is indispensable in any corporate entity.

Secretaries are responsible for all the paperwork. This means achieving an organized and efficient workflow – a memorandum is circulated, a closed deal is filed, all pertinent details are made available as needed, and all other works of such nature.

It is impossible to run an office without typing, whether in computers or typewriters – which, believe it or not, are still used in certain places. The most effective way to type is to do it correctly. All fingers except the left thumb are used for particular keys in the QWERTY board.

Let us study which finger goes to which key point by point. For the sake of clarity, the keys are separated by a comma (,) but the comma itself is hit by the right middle finger.

The left hand. The little finger, the one on your extreme left when facing the keyboard, hits four keys while the left forefinger hits ten.

Little finger: 1, Q, A and Z.

Ring finger: @, 2, W, S and X.

Middle finger: #, 3, E, D, and C.

Forefinger: $, 4, R, F, V, %, 5, T, G and B.

The right hand. Compared to the left, the fingers of the right hand covers a smaller area have they have more corresponding keys, mostly punctuation marks.

Little finger: , \, +, =, _, -, ), 0, ", ‘, ? and /.

Ring finger: (, 9, O, L,>, and .(period)

Middle finger: *, 8, I, K and , (comma).

Forefinger: ^, 6, Y, H, N, &, 7, U, J and M.

The right thumb is used for the space bar. When making capitals, use the little finger of the opposite of the corresponding key. For example: capital P is typed with right little finger while the SHIFT key is being pressed by the left little finger.

The best way to get used to this set-up is to form the habit of placing your fingers in the guide position, or what professional typists call "home." The home position is where you place the fingers of the right hand on the j, k, l and ; keys while the fingers of the left hand are placed on the f, d, s and a keys. Everything will naturally fall into place.

The continuous typing from the home position will eventually condition you to the point of being able to type without looking at the keyboard.

The aim is to achieve rhythm – the ability to strike keys at a steady rate.

Here are more tips:

Curve your fingers; type with quick strokes; minimize movement of arms and wrists; and concentrate on the work at hand.

Here’s the sentence that contains all the letters of the English alphabet. Most secretaries – and now, call-center agents – find it extremely helpful in learning how to type correctly:

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

It is a simple sentence but it contains deeper meanings — and it helped launch the careers of so many professionals.

Chow...