Instead of purchasing dictation software, Office 365 allows you to use dictation within its applications. To use this feature in Word (maybe you are writing a paper?), sign into your Office 365 account, open Word and start a new document. Make sure your external mic is plugged in and working, or your internal computer mic is on. If the application hasn't already defaulted to the Home menu bar, click on Home in the top menu. At the right end of the menu, you will see the word "Dictate" next to a blue microphone symbol. Click on the arrow next to Dictate to make sure the appropriate dictation language is selected (English, U.S. - although French, German, Italian and Spanish are options). You are ready to begin!

Select "Dictate" and wait for the red dot to appear. Start dictating your content, inserting punctuation into the document by saying the name of the punctuation mark you want to add. You can correct mistakes by moving your cursor to the mistake and fixing it with your keyboard. You do not need to turn off the microphone. When you are finished dictating, select "Dictate" again. For more information, check out Microsoft's "Dictate Your Document" article.