LaTeX

LaTeX is used for scientific typesetting of, for example, reports, articles, and books.
In the Physics department, students learn LaTeX as part of their sophomore Modern Physics Lab when writing their lab reports.
This knowledge is then applied in their Junior Independent Studies report and final Senior Independent Studies thesis.
To use LaTeX, you have two choices:
  • Stand-alone program on your computer. You need to install an editor (1) and a compiler (2). If you need any help, please let me know!
    1. I suggest TeXstudio, a newer editor available for macOS and Windows computers. There are other editors out but I don’t have experience with those. I can certainly help with TeXstudio.
    2. Depending on your operating system, you need to install MacTeX (for macOS) or MiKTeX (several OS)
  • The commercial online platform Overleaf, which allows collaboration with other users.
Templates:
    • Article template with extra bibliography file for the Modern Physics lab, Junior I.S., or other research reports. This template shows the general composition of an article but also contains many explanations within the code and in the created PDF file.
    • The department’s ‘old’ Senior I.S. thesis template using the two-sided book document style with chapters.
    • A College of Wooster Senior I.S. template created by Jon Breitenbucher. You can find it for download at 2025 Release 5 · jbreitenbucher/exampleis. The README files spells out in detail what you should do after downloading the template. You should also read the manual for examples of how to use the available features.
      It works best with a local editor but also when used in Overleaf.
Resources:
    • Documentation about the siunitx style file to be used in your LaTeX code.