A widow is the last line of a paragraph left by itself at the top of a page.
An orphan is the first line of a paragraph left by itself at the bottom of a page.

You will want to avoid both widows and orphans in your documents as they break the flow of the text.

Word can automatically control widows and orphans in your document.

Put the cursor in the paragraph that has widow or orphan text.
Go to Home tab / Paragraph group
Click the blue arrow / the following dialog box opens

Go to Line and Page Breaks tab
Check Widow/Orphan control box / OK

Created: July 28, 2009

Sr. Arlene Callahan
Training Manager
Rivier College
Nashua, NH 03060
Phone: 603.897.8660
E-mail: acallahan@rivier.edu