My Latex Preamble

Over the past few years, I’ve relied less on Latex for writing documents. This is primarily because documentation hasn’t been a critical part of the jobs that I’ve had. Another reason is that I’ve found a format and structure that works well, and so I end up using this template over and over for every task that involves document writing. Below is that latex preamble and a brief document that uses my preferred structure.

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{sectsty}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\setlength{\topmargin}{0pt}
\setlength{\textheight}{9in}
\setlength{\headheight}{0pt}
\setlength{\headsep}{0pt}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0.25in}
\setlength{\textwidth}{6in}
\pagestyle{plain}
\sectionfont{\fontsize{11}{14}\selectfont}
\renewcommand{\labelitemi}{$\vcenter{\hbox{\tiny$\bullet$}}$}

\begin{document}

\raisebox{0.6in}[0in]{\makebox[\textwidth][r]{Abraham Mathew - 10/18/2014}}
\vspace{-0.7in}

\begin{center}
\bf\large Tidy Data
\end{center}

\noindent
\rule{\textwidth}{0.8pt}

\medskip

\section*{What is tidy data?}

\begin{itemize}
\item Tidy data possesses the following characteristics.
	\begin{itemize}
    \item Each variable forms a column
    \item Each observation forms a row
	\item Each tpe of observational unit forms a table
  	\end{itemize}
\item Tidy data facilitates initial exploration and analysis of the data, and simplifies the development of data analysis tools that work well together.
\item Tidying refers to the act of structuring datasets to facilitate analysis.
\end{itemize}

\section*{What is messy data?}

\begin{itemize}
\item Messy data is any dataset that does not conform to the characteristics of a tidy data set.
\item Common problems associated with messy datasets include the following.
	\begin{itemize}
    \item Column headers are values and possess no variable names.
    \item Multiple variables are stored in one column.
	\item Variables are stored in both rows and columns.
	\item Multiple types of observational units are stored in the same table.
	\item A single observational nit is stored in multiple tables.
  	\end{itemize}
\item A little bit of melting, string splitting, and casting can easily correct these issues.
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

Do you have a preamble or structure that you use regularly? Please share in the comments below.