function checkForBlockTagWrappers (ByVal textToParse as String) as String
    ' set s as string that we'll return
    dim s as String
    
    ' check to confirm that there is actual text to parse
    ' (as opposed to a blank field)
    if textToParse <> "" then
    ' create a Regex to check for leading spaces and lines:    
    dim regexLeadingSpace as New Regex( _
        "(?<leadingSpace>(^(\s|\n)+))" & _
        "(?<EverythingElse>((.|\n)*))", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
    ' set each matched group to a string
    dim matchLeadingSpace as Match = regexLeadingSpace.Match(textToParse)
    dim strLeadingSpace as String = matchLeadingSpace.Groups("leadingSpace").Value.toString
    dim strEverythingElse as String = matchLeadingSpace.Groups("EverythingElse").Value.toString
    ' if there is a match for the leading space, then just use the second match (the text)
    if (strLeadingSpace > "") then
        ' check to make sure there is text after the leading spaces. If so, then
        ' use that text as the string to parse
        if strEverythingElse > ""
            textToParse = strEverythingElse
        ' otherwise, return nothing
        else 
            s = ""
            return s
        end if 
    else
    ' there are no leading spaces, so continue on
    end if
    ' create a Regex to check for the first word/tag. If a tag, it will return
    ' the opening bracket and the tag name. Ex: <table
    dim regexFirstWord as new regex( _
        "(?<firstWord>(\S[^\s/>]*))", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
    ' set the match as a string
    dim m1 as Match = regexFirstWord.Match(textToParse)
    dim firstWord as String = m1.Groups("firstWord").Value.toString
    ' set the first word to all lowercase (for comparing to tags)
    firstWord = microsoft.VisualBasic.LCase(firstWord)
    ' see if the first word is a block-level tag
    if  firstWord = "<address" or _
        firstWord = "<blockquote" or _
          firstWord = "<center" or _
        firstWord = "<dir" or _
        firstWord = "<div" or _
        firstWord = "<dl" or _
        firstWord = "<fieldset" or _
        firstWord = "<form" or _
        firstWord = "<h1" or _
        firstWord = "<h2" or _
        firstWord = "<h3" or _
        firstWord = "<h4" or _
        firstWord = "<h5" or _
        firstWord = "<h6" or _
        firstWord = "<hr" or _
        firstWord = "<isindex" or _
        firstWord = "<menu" or _
        firstWord = "<noframes" or _
        firstWord = "<noscript" or _
        firstWord = "<ol" or _
        firstWord = "<p" or _
        firstWord = "<pre" or _
        firstWord = "<table" or _
        firstWord = "<ul" or _
        firstWord = "<dd" or _
        firstWord = "<dt" or _
        firstWord = "<frameset" or _
        firstWord = "<li" or _
        firstWord = "<tbody" or _
        firstWord = "<td" or _
        firstWord = "<tfoot" or _
        firstWord = "<th" or _
        firstWord = "<thead" or _
        firstWord = "<tr" then
            ' if so, do nothing as it *appears* to be wrapped in a proper block-level tag
            s = textToParse
        else 
            ' add default P tag wrappers
            s = "<p>" & textToParse & "</p>"
            ' if field contained spaces, then just delete it all
    end if
    return s
    ' else, if the field is empty, don't do anything
    else
    end if
end function