Re: ways to insert "note to self" in an org-mode file for academic paper

[Myles English <mylesenglish@gmail.com>]

>> On Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:55:23 -0400, Christopher W Ryan said:

  > I'm very early in trying a transition from LaTeX to org-mode for
  > academic writing, trying to learn the Org way of doing
  > things. Running Org-mode 7.7 in Emacs 23.4.1 on Win XP.

  > Suppose I'm writing a draft of a research proposal and come to some
  > part that I may want to consider changing, after I think about it
  > some more, check with others, or reassess my resources. In LaTex,
  > I'd write something like this:

  > % need to look into this further, check with so-and-so

  > and keep writing on the next line.

  > How does one do this well in Org-mode? With a # comment character?
  > Or does this become a TODO item?

Chris,

I use inline tasks. e.g.

*************** TODO look into this further, check with so-and-so
*************** END

And to see all of the todos in the file I use this quite a lot, just
press F9 to see a list:

;; show all todos in the current buffer with one key press
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9>") (lambda ()
			       (interactive)
			       (org-agenda nil "t" 'file)))

  > Of course, I wouldn't want that little "note to self" to appear in
  > any final document. But I might want it to remain in the source
  > file, to document my line of reasoning.

To not export todos, have this at the top of you file and press C-c on
it before exporting:

#+OPTIONS:   todo:nil

  > Thanks.

  > --Chris -- Christopher W. Ryan, MD SUNY Upstate Medical University
  > Clinical Campus at Binghamton 425 Robinson Street, Binghamton, NY
  > 13904 cryanatbinghamtondotedu

  > "Observation is a more powerful force than you could possibly
  > reckon.  The invisible, the overlooked, and the unobserved are the
  > most in danger of reaching the end of the spectrum. They lose the
  > last of their light.  From there, anything can happen . . ."  [God,
  > in "Joan of Arcadia," episode entitled, "The Uncertainty
  > Principle."]

Myles