Thesis writing up time (Word 2010)

fox65

Hi all
Light at the end of the tunnel.

I am doing a chemistry phd and i have started to write up. I need to ask about how to construct the document in word.

I want to be able to have each chapters figures refer to the chapter number. For example 3.1. I know when i insert a caption i can include a heading number. Will this also restart the numbering for the caption for when i move to different chapter. eg 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2 as opposed to 3.1,3.2,4.3.

I also use endnote and for my transfer report i found this great but liable to crash when copying from one word document to another. I am worried that as the word document swells will this crash liability increase.

My final question, is the master document function in word a good alternative. Will this help me achieve what i need.

pljudge321

Writing up a thesis in word seems like madness to me. Why aren't you using Latex or Lyx?

fox65

I think i dont have the time to learn how to use it. I've wanted to learn it once i finish the thesis

I'm not sure if it can do everything i need it to do and looking into will be a huge source of procrastination for me at this stage!

puddles and umbrellas

The master document function for word is the business - I can PM you a quick guide on how to use it if you like? ('',)

fox65

That would be great. I have constructed documents with this feature. I'm not familiar with the finer points yet.

While using this, can i restart the numbering of the captions to reflect the chapter. I want to avoid a situation where by i have Figure 120.

puddles and umbrellas

PM sent

djpbarry

fox65 wrote: »

I am doing a chemistry phd and i have started to write up. I need to ask about how to construct the document in word.

I would also suggest you investigate LaTeX – invest a couple of hours to learn the basics and you’ll be up and running.

fox65 wrote: »

I also use endnote and for my transfer report i found this great but liable to crash when copying from one word document to another. I am worried that as the word document swells will this crash liability increase.

Word was simply not designed to handle large technical documents. With LaTeX, it’s very easy to break your thesis up into small, manageable chunks, each of which is essentially just a text file. There’s no risk of you losing work if something crashes and if your editor is crashing frequently, you can just use a different one.

Seriously, just give it a look. It will save you days on formatting issues alone. Check out the excellent wikibook:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX

stinkle

If you do stick with Word then there are ways to get the figure numbering right. I also have a guide I can send if you need it.

Basically I set up a "template" and decided on the text headings and subheadings I wanted (e.g. chapter heading, then 1.1, then 1.1.1 etc) as well as Figure and Table headings - stuff like font type and size, bold etc. Every time I started a new chapter/subsection of a chapter I opened the template and all those settings were conserved. Ultimately I merged all my chapter docs at the end and thanks to having all my headings and subheadings set up and conserved, word was able to make a table of contents from this information.

Re: figures - say you have you template doc made, and decide to start a new chapter. You can just write the text you want e.g. "Figure 4.1 blah blah blah" and set it as a figure heading. Do this for all subsequent figures. In the end you can make a table of figures and they will appear in the order you have them.

Having said that, I'm sorry I didn't try to learn Latex. BUT since I had a few supervisors to correct my thesis and make comments, I'm also glad that I didn't bring on extra stress by using a different program to the one they're used to!

djpbarry

stinkle wrote: »

Having said that, I'm sorry I didn't try to learn Latex. BUT since I had a few supervisors to correct my thesis and make comments, I'm also glad that I didn't bring on extra stress by using a different program to the one they're used to!

That's not really much of an issue these days, since the free version of Adobe Acrobat (Adobe Reader) comes complete with annotation tools.

stinkle

djpbarry wrote: »

That's not really much of an issue these days, since the free version of Adobe Acrobat (Adobe Reader) comes complete with annotation tools.

still would have been a total head-wreck for me given the amount people involved and their fondness for butchering text! Anything out-of-the ordinary = drama

djpbarry

stinkle wrote: »

still would have been a total head-wreck for me given the amount people involved and their fondness for butchering text! Anything out-of-the ordinary = drama

I know what you mean - one of my supervisors freaked out a bit when presented with a PDF rather than a Word document. The world seems to be depressingly addicted to Word.

But, academics are going to have to get used to editing PDFs, because (for example) journals are increasingly expecting proofs to be annotated electronically.

ucdperson

Word will do the trick, although sadly its recent versions don't seem to have included much improvement in functionality for a dissertation.

The thing is to use Word, like you would use LaTex. Enter plain text and use the styles from the template to format things. Do not apply arbitrary formatting to particular lines or paragraphs. Put big figures in separate files and link them, don't paste them in. Use appropriate formats for these, e.g vector formats or png, not bmp. Save your document versions with Endnote citations unformatted, as these are less likely to corrupt.

As noted above use the heading, figure and table numbering. Use hyperlinks to cross-reference, so if you refer to a section x.x this will renumber as any changes are made.

Focalbhach

Speaking from a level of complete ignorance (I've seen LateX documents so I'm superficially familiar with their appearance, but that's about it), would it be a big deal to copy a number of chapters that have been written in separate Word documents into one or several LateX file(s)?

I have a fear that everything would go haywire - even if it's not ideal at the moment, at least I (mostly!) know where things are...

avalon68

I think the vast majority of theses are still written in word in most fields with the exceptions of math and physics probably. It was pretty stable for me - it was endnote that caused all my problems....Ive since switched to zotero and have had no issues when writing large documents in word. I also found the track changes feature useful for getting corrections - my supervisor wouldnt have had a clue what to do with a PDF other than print it out and scribble on it. Track changes eliminated the "what the hell is that scrawl meant to be" moments Also, as long as you save regularly, even if you do have a crash you wont lose anything.

djpbarry

ucdperson wrote: »

The thing is to use Word, like you would use LaTex. Enter plain text and use the styles from the template to format things. Do not apply arbitrary formatting to particular lines or paragraphs. Put big figures in separate files and link them, don't paste them in. Use appropriate formats for these, e.g vector formats or png, not bmp. Save your document versions with Endnote citations unformatted, as these are less likely to corrupt.

Very good advice - a reductionist approach is definitely the way to go.

It should of course also be stressed that everything should be backed up in one or more places. I used Dropbox to back mine up, along with an external hard drive.

puddles and umbrellas

djpbarry wrote: »

It should of course also be stressed that everything should be backed up in one or more places. I used Dropbox to back mine up, along with an external hard drive.

+1 Definitely agree with backing up your work! Reduces the stress somewhat