How to Create Certificates for Students

Instructors can produce excellent awards or other certificates for students.

Certificates of achievement or awards for students can be an important motivational tool for a classroom. Thanks to great desktop publishing software programs and special awards inkjet printer paper, instructors can create their own professional-looking certificates. Simpler and more inexpensive projects can also be created using blank paper and word processing programs.

Things You'll Need

• Optional: Specialty certificate paper

Instructions

1. Select an easy desktop publishing software program, such as Microsoft Publisher. While any publishing software program will work for this project, advanced titles, including Adobe Illustrator, can be overkill especially if you have little or no experience in desktop publishing. You can also use Microsoft Word or any other word processing program for this project.

2. Choose a pre-printed blank award certificate specialty paper if desired. You can purchase special blank certificate papers from most office supply stores and on line. You can also opt to design a certificate border around your award and print on blank standard paper.

3. Open your desktop publishing or word processor program, select a "New Project," and set up the layout and margins for a standard 8 ½ inch by 11 inch sheet of paper. In most cases you will want to set the program's page layout orientation to "landscape," rather than "portrait." If you will be using a pre-printed certificate, set the program's printable margins so your text will fall inside the pre-printed design on the blank. Use a ruler to measure from the edge of the blank certificate to just past the inside edge of any certificate artwork. If you will be using plain blank paper, set the margins to a standard ¼ or ½ inch on all four sides.

4. Create any certificate border design if you are using plain, blank paper. Most desktop publishing programs have a "Border Art" tool that will help you create a border.

5. Add your desired text inside the text area on your page. If you will be pre-printing names on the certificates--as opposed to creating a blank to fill in with a name by hand later--make as many duplicates of your basic page layout as you will need to cover all your award winners. Proofread your work to avoid wasting expensive award paper or ink on a batch that includes a typo. Save your project but don't close the program.

6. Load a single sheet of paper in your printer. If you use a specialty paper, make sure the sheet is loaded so the printing will appear on the correct side of the sheet.

7. Print a test certificate. Examine the product and make any necessary adjustments in borders and spacing in the project file. Save the updated project file and conduct another test.

8. Load the specialty paper for a "batch" printing project. Avoid overloading your printer paper tray: paper jams caused by overloading the tray will waste certificates or paper. Feed certificates into the printer one sheet at a time if the paper is very heavy.

9. Set the program to print the batch in sufficient quantity. Don't set the printer and walk away. Instead, monitor quality as the program prints each certificate. If you see a problem, stop the printing by removing the remaining paper from the paper tray. Use the pause created by a "No Paper" error message to cancel the job properly and make adjustments. Reload the paper and run the batch again when you're ready.

Tips & Warnings

• Always buy more certificate specialty paper than you need for the project. Spoilage will occur and you will need the "extra" to make up for spoiled sheets.

References

• "Microsoft Publisher 2007 for Dummies"; Jacqui Salerno Mabin and Jim McCarter; 2007

Resources

• Free Certificate Templates
• Paper Direct: Certificate