Document and Version Management 23
longer over the text of a thesis often seem satisfied with throwing together illustra-
tions in a few minutes. In the process, they produce ugly or misleading figures that
undermine their work and erase any impression of quality. Take the time to locate
best-practice models to imitate, and work over your figures until they are as good
as the rest of your work. As is true for text, producing a good illustration takes time,
and includes drafting, reflection, revision, and iteration.
In some older theses, all the figures and tables were collected together at the end
of each chapter, each on a separate page. This was a product of the typewriter age;
you won’t find them like that in a book. The word processor enables you to enter
them in much the same way as in a book: as close as you can get them to the place
where they are first mentioned in the written text.
Tracking Changes
Some word processors have facilities such as ‘track changes’ commands. These al-
low you to alter a document, see what you have done, and later decide whether to
‘accept’ or ‘reject’ your decisions. It can be used collaboratively for documents with
multiple authors. Take note of it and learn to use it but not to excess: often, students
worry too much about every word they have typed to the detriment of their creative
processes. Nor is tracking changes an effective method of version management, that
is, explicit storage of drafts and versions as the work progresses (this is discussed
in the next section).
Some word processors have another useful feature—the ability to selectively
hide text so that it is visible during content preparation but not in the final print or
online format. This text can be used by authors for comments or reminders, or as a
way of keeping text that seems unnecessary but might be useful in another context—
remember, for example, that some text might be used in both a chapter in a thesis
and a paper that is prepared for separate presentation. Again, this feature should not
be overused; I’ve seen theses in which most of the text was ‘hidden’ and the student
could no longer read or edit drafts effectively. But it is powerful when used well.
Document and Version Management
Before the advent of word-processing, thesis drafts were hand-written or typed.
Photocopying was expensive and, as a result, drafts were precious. The nineteenth
century author J Meade Faulkner left the only copy of one of his four novels on
a train, and it was never recovered. In principle, such a loss seems inconceivable
today, but the use of word processors has spawned a completely new set of ways
for work to be lost, mostly to do with poor version or document management—but
also because of a misplaced sense of trust in the reliability of computers. The great
slave can be an obstinate enemy! If you follow a few simple rules you will avoid
the most common problems.