⚡ Latex for TURF ⚡

Source files, links, and references for the Tulane University R Fans (TURF).

Description

Latex is a markup language, like HTML, that gives you a way to type up documents that look clean and professional.

It is widely used across academia for publications, theses, and books.

It is also gaining popularity elsewhere - for example, it's possible to use Latex to produce resumes, reports, or presentations.

Topics Covered

  • How to get started quickly with ShareLatex?
  • How to create a basic document?
  • How to work from a template?
  • How to use a journal template?
  • How to use the Tulane thesis and dissertation template?

Get started with ShareLatex

  1. Create an account on ShareLatex.com
  2. Go to your Projects page, create a New Project and select Blank Project

ShareLatex:

  • do not neet to worry about downloading and installing a Latex editor
  • easy to use while learning
  • can download files at any point to work offline
  • can manage projects
  • free (with restrictions)
  • cand send editable or noneditable links

If you get stuck at any point, you can refer to the fully completed documents below.

If you're interested in learning more, there are also a number of ShareLatex projects that go deeper into the topics we covered available in the References section below. The source is also available in this repository, if you want to try downloading and compiling yourself.

All of the tools we discussed are also linked at the bottom.

From a basic document to a dissertation

  • Examples of actual LaTeX docs
  • Basic Latex document
  • ShareLatex default
    • When you start a new, blank, project in ShareLaTeX, the default document pre-populates a number of things for you, giving you a document that is guarantee to compile. The template utilizes a few more features than the minimal document, though.
  • Document Structure and Style
    • Each class has a number of options you can specify. Common options might include font size, number of columns, margins, type of paper, etc.
    • There are also many, many classes to choose from. Each one provides a different default styling, and occasionally new commands you can use to further customize your formatting. Examples classes include: report, book, slides, article, letter
    • Sharelatex file
  • PLOS Template
  • Tulane Thesis and Dissertation via ShareLatex

Useful Tools

  • Document Samples:
  • General Purpose
    • Cheat Sheet
    • TexZilla: A REPL for Math expressions
    • Detexify: Find commands for unknown symbols.
    • Equation Editor GUI for generating code for more complicated expressions
    • Table Generator: GUI for designing tables that generates copy-pastable source code
    • CTAN: Hosts Latex packages, descriptions, and downloads.
  • For installing/using Latex on your local machine:
    • MikTeX: A Latex "distribution", includes compiler and some packages
      • Texmaker: A Latex IDE you can install locally