Excel likes to help you.

If you put a date into A1 (ctrl-semicolon is good enough), then put =a1 in an
empty cell (say B1).

You'll see that excel helped by formatting B1 as a date.

Excel works the same way with text cells.
format A1 as text (and put something into that cell)
put =A1 in cell B1
Now hit F2 (to edit B1) and just hit enter.

B1 now is text and the formula shows.

I don't think you can stop this "helpful" behavior. Just change the format to
what you want (General?) and hit F2|Enter to reenter the formula.

===
If that's not it, any chance you're showing formulas?
tools|options|View tab
Is "formulas" checked?

neil57 wrote:

I have setting up documents with multiple worksheets. When I initially set
the file up I can type info in worksheet one and have the text display on a
2nd,3rd (etc.) with no problems. However, sometimes this stops working and
the 2nd,3rd worksheets will only display the formula for example =Sheet1!A1
instead of the text written. WHY?

--

Dave Peterson