TEMPLATE FOR ACADEMIC PAPERS
This is a template that I clone in order to begin writing academic papers. It's really for my own personal use, but others are free to make use of it.
WORKFLOW
- Clone this repository with
git clone https://github.com/quinetime/academic-paper-boilerplate PROJECT_NAME - In
package.json:- Rename project (spaces not allowed)
- Check that relative pathing for bibtex file is correct in scripts
- Optional: remove
.gitignorefiles fromprocessedornotesdirectories if you would like their contents version controlled - Edit metadata in header.md
- Write paper in four content files (content, footnotes, header, nocite)
npm run pdfornpm run latexornpm run wordornpm run pdf-font(for a PDF with an arbitrary font)
YAML FRONT MATTER
The file header.md contains metadata and front matter in YAML format.
The first YAML chunk contains material the reader can see. The second YAML chunk contains matter pertaining to the bibliography. The third YAML chunk contains formatting for the conversion into LaTeX.
LaTeX fonts can be found here. See also curated LaTeX fonts, with descriptions. Personal favorites: venturis2, bookman. To use arbitrary fonts installed on one's machine, edit the headerfont.md file instead of header.md, and use the command npm run pdf-font on the command line. Doing so will have pandoc use xelatex instead of pdflatex, which results in the loss of some microtypography.
LaTeX packages can be added either to the header (using header-includes:) or to the texheader.tex file, but doing the former requires manually installing them first and you'll get an error if they aren't installed. Adding them in texheader.tex should bring up a prompt if they aren't installed.
FOOTNOTES
Footnotes go in the separate footnotes file.
CITATIONS
Info about how to cite using pandoc-citeproc.
More info from the main pandoc site.
The scripts that run pandoc include a parameter with reference to a bibtex file: e.g. --bibliography TestBib.bib. You can alternately put the bibliography file data in the YAML header and remove the '--bibliography' parameter from the command scripts.
The csl file contains information about how citations should be formatted. A file for APA style is included; delete the csl index in the header to revert to the Chicago Style default. Other csl files can be downloaded here.
NOCITE
In the nocite file, add the following (replacing the citations as needed). This will include papers in the bibliography even if they are not cited in the text. (One writing strategy is to start by populating this list early with probable citations, then move them into the content as needed.)
Make sure to add an empty line before the following code.
---
nocite: |
@BillonJD; @RadovicSDNE
...
If no nocite references are added, you'll get a warning on creating your document, but it doesn't matter.
WORKS CITED SECTION
The file bib-header.tex fixes the formatting of the Works Cited section in PDFs.
Because of this, a reference-section-title value in the YAML header cannot be used. Instead, Works Cited is given as a section header in the bib-header.tex file.
CREATING A BIB FILE
Once the paper is complete, create a tex file, then convert the tex file into a pdf using WinEDT or some other LaTeX processor. This will create an aux file (which pandoc normally does not expose).
In JabRef, under the Tools menu, use the aux file to generate a sublibrary consisting of only the entries cited in the paper.
FORMATTING TIPS
LINE NUMBERING
Comment out or uncomment the appropriate section of tex-header.md to disable or enable line numbering.
DOUBLESPACING
Add linestretch: 2 to header.
PAGE HEADINGS
Add pagestyle: headings to header.
ENDNOTES INSTEAD OF FOOTNOTES
Uncomment the appropriate section of tex-header.md and add the chunk specified within to bib-header.tex.
TEXT EDITING REMINDERS
WORD COUNT
- SublimeText package
- Use WinEDT (Document > Word Count)
- texcount
SPELLCHECK
F6 enables spellcheck in Sublime Text.
USEFUL LINKS
Boilerplating Pandoc for Academic Writing
Sustainable Authorship in Plain Text using Pandoc and Markdown