Re: Writing a dissertation using org-mode

[Eric S Fraga <ucecesf@ucl.ac.uk>]

On Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:33:33 +0900, Torsten Wagner <torsten.wagner@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 03/04/2010 01:45 PM, Henri-Paul Indiogine wrote:
> > I started writing my doctoral dissertation in history using org-mode. I
> > am also using git.el for my version control and gnus for my email. Of
> > course I export my org file to LaTeX which I compile to pdf.  My
> > bibliography is managed using BibTeX.
> 
> please consider that you might have to follow a very stricy layout
> style depening on your university, department, lab or supervisor. If

[...]

> I'm not sure how good org-mode might be usable in that case. org-mode
> is really great and I try to use it for many purposes. However, for a
> thesis I would use directly LaTeX which gives me a bit more control of
> what is going on.

Torsten,

if I may (respectfully) disagree?  Having examined too many PhD theses
to count, I would prefer PhD candidates spent more of their time
worrying about the content and organisation of their thesis than the
actual layout.  Unlike the preparation of camera ready copy for
conferences, say, most of the defaults taken by LaTeX are usually fine
once you've set up the layout to meet the university's requirements
(which are usually only about page size, margins and font sizes).  The
great thing about using org-mode for writing is the outlining and the
ability to easily move sections around.

Being able to insert LaTeX code directly when required means that
there is seldom the need to edit the actual LaTeX code generated by
org-mode (bugs excepted, of course, but not only are these few and far
between but Carsten et al. usually fix bugs very quickly).

cheers,
eric