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.
• You can also use Typeset, a commercial Research Writing Platform with tutorials and a Youtube channel.

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.

• • Senior I.S. thesis template using the two-sided book document style starting with chapters.

Resources:

• • Documentation about the siunitx style file to be used in your LaTeX code.

 

• • Wikibooks LaTeX
    This is a, more or less, complete repository for questions about LaTeX typesetting.
  • PDF file of The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX. 
    This is a good introduction to LaTeX, not too short yet not too long.
  • LaTeX online unofficial reference manual.
  • Another really good resource is the Frequently Asked Question List for TeX website.
  • The webpage Learn LaTeX — A Beginner’s Step-By-Step Guide offers a lot of information about LaTeX and detailed examples for formatting and coding.