Recommended program/method for creating sourcesheets?

Question

I have seen many sourcesheets provided by Rabbis for a class they are giving. My question is: Is there a particular program that is recommended to use for creating a sourcesheet? Also, is there any particular method to go about creating a sourcesheet that would make the job easier or of a higher quality?

Answer 1

Sefaria has a great source sheet creation community.

Although the end of your question was a drop vague, if not subjective, I’d suggest that your source sheet will only be as good as the work you put in sourcing.

Answer 2

Creating source sheets on Microsoft Word (or similar programs) is also something that once learned, is fairly easy and useful. It can also be customized however you wish, and does not necessarily need to be an advertisement for whatever software you used to create it, nor do you need to sign up for anything (ahem).

Here are some things to keep in mind when creating source sheets (thrown down in the order that they popped into my head):

1. Headers and footers can be extremely useful for displaying a title, page number, or even your name. They also tend to use more of the space on the page versus if you type it on the first line.
2. Choose a fairly narrow margin, so you can put more text on the source sheet, saving paper in the long run. There is no need to waste space.
3. Organize your sources in the way that you like. Often times, placing numbers (which can be done easily using a list) is useful for referring to particular sources, especially if you refer to a particular Sefer a number of times. Also important is titling those sources. Make sure to add a title for each source that identifies the source well, and will be easily understood by your target audience. The source titles can also be bolded or italicized to call attention to them.
4. Choose a readable and clear font/size/color.
5. You can copy your sources from a variety of online repositories, rather than type them up yourself (although you can, of course, do so if you wish). If the online source is unclear/contains errors (if it is OCRd, for example), you can copy it out and then read through/edit it in your word processor.
6. Another consideration is if you don't need a full page, you can use a half page, and copy the text, and when you print it out, you can cut it into halves etc.
7. When quoting sources, especially ones that tend to repeat or quote the other sources you have quoted, you can delete text and fill it in with ellipses, or something like that.
8. Alignment is also important. Especially if you tend to have a mix of Hebrew and English sources, some people prefer that the text be aligned on the proper side of the page.