To-Do List, Writing Edition

I just realized that I really ought to have all my reports written by the beginning of December...which is in a week or so. Coupled with piecemeal data collection, this means that the inclination to run around amok panicking is um, quite strong. Hence a frantic to-do list!

The problem with being a student in a industrial research environment is that everyone piles their low-priority projects on the student. There are alot of such projects, believe me.

By priority:

Project R
This one is more like a proposal than anything else - the main work is intended to be done by the next poor sod student after me. (Why is it that my largest project is given to me last?)

• Write out the "chemical" section
• Write out the "mechanical" section
• Figure out which data I'll need to illustrate my points, and get them all off various lab computers
• Convert data into figures/tables and insert into document
• Write introduction, conclusion, recommendations, executive summary, acknowledgements
• Bibliography and citations
• Editing for formatting (the easy part)
• Editing for grammar and style (the hard part)
• Double-check
• Send it off for coworkers to read/critique
• Make revisions as necessary
• Bind final draft
• Submit to boss, along with an evaluation sheet for him to fill

I am planning for this to be submitted to the university as well; I'd like the draft for this sent off for critique by the beginning of next week. This weekend is going to be fun.

Project HS

• Finish data analysis (what there is of it)
• Figure out what the hell to write - so far, there is near-zero correlation between the variables I want to correlate *cough*
• Write content, introduction, conclusion, abstract, citations. This, unlike the other one, needs to be more-or-less in ACS article form.
• Do the two edits and coworker critique
• Revise, send off final draft to whoever may be vaguely interested.

This, let's try to finish this by the end of the first week of December.

Project pH
This goes pretty much the exact same way as Project HS (deadline and all), except it's more like a "communication" than an "article" - my data set is extraordinarily limited (as in, 5 data points or so), so there's no real conclusion I can get from it.

Project "my boss just thought it'd be fun to do this even though I think it's a waste of time"
This one will have an even more limited data set than Project pH. I might include it as part of Project R. Otherwise, it'll quite literally be a quick email to my boss - "hey, these are the results of what you wanted me to run last time; I don't trust the numbers (for various reasons), but here you go anyway." I'll also have to consult a coworker on the data, because the data contradicts conventional wisdom.

Project Titration
This is a side project, just for fun. It also provides some information to Project pH, but no one cares for this project but me.

• Think of ways to expedite the current procedure, which works but takes quite awhile.
• Write up, well, a lab report/SOP cross, with heavy emphasis on discussion.

I think I've got all the data I will have the chance to collect for this little project, so it'll just take a day for me to write it up if I know what I want to write (which I don't, yet).

Oh dammit, until I have the titlesec package installed and figured out, I have to write all these papers in Microsoft Word instead of my beloved LyX. Dammit! (In case it isn't obvious, I don't like Microsoft Word.)

Randomly: also, company Christmas party coming up. I need to um, make a few (more) purchases (already bought the major things, now onto the minor things). *Sigh*.

One more note to self: Pay Tuition! *Feels destitute*

[Edited]
The magical command in LyX for indenting entire blocks of text requires no titlesec:

{\addtolength{\leftskip}{amount} %in ERT
Section title
Text text text
} %in ERT

Beautiful! Now I can write my reports in LyX and annoy all my coworkers because their computers can't handle LyX (I'll give it to them in .pdf).