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Philip Linden edited this page Aug 11, 2018 · 18 revisions

FAQ

Where do I start?

LaTeX Quickstart Tutorial ☕️

Begin LaTeX in minutes 🔥

How do I use LaTeX on my computer?

You can work on projects in your browser via Overleaf, no installation required. Overleaf allows you to clone projects in git straight from their interface as well.

To work offline, read this: Setting up your computer to work with LaTeX ☕️ 👌

How do I make a PDD from this template?

Read this tutorial! Start a branch of this repository, then submit a pull request when you're ready for review. All this is in the tutorial. Don't forget to assign reviewers!

I wrote my PDD. Now what?

You need to submit it for review so we can make it the best that it can be. This is also covered in the the tutorial as well.

My bibliography won't show up!

  • Make sure you've created a .bib file and it's properly formatted! There are examples in the COPY_THIS folder. sample-formats.bib sample-with-examples
  • Have you made any citations? Whenever you reference an external work such as a textbook or research paper, you must use the \cite{your-reference} command to insert a citation. No matter how many references you have in your .bib file, LaTeX only shows the ones you have cited.
  • Are you telling LaTeX to make the bibliography? Insert the following commands after your acknowledgements and before your appendix:
\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}
\bibliography{YOUR-BIB}

(in this example, I have a file called YOUR-BIB.bib in the same directory as my .TeX file.)

  • Text is rendered from code into the pdf with latex compiler, and the references are all hooked up with the bibtex compiler. LaTeX needs a few passes to make everything look right. When you "build" your LaTeX project, make sure the compiler process is as follows:
latex <file>
bibtex <file>
latex <file>
latex <file>

(Source: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/8332/undefined-citation-warnings)

How do I make nice looking tables?

I'm so glad you asked! Here's a great style guide to effective and beautiful LaTeX tables.

The package booktabs is highly recommended. Its usage is also described in the style guide.

GIF example

Why is my linter yelling at me over periods and dashes?

Because it matters!

  • - (hyphen), -- (en-dash) and --- (em-dash) are actually different characters and have different uses.
    • Hyphens (-) are used for word breaks and hyphenated words like "noise-canceling headphones." Don't worry about this one too much. LaTeX automatically hyphenates word breaks and there's no real "proper" rule for hyphenating words.
    • En-dashes (--) are used to delineate ranges like "1991--1995" or "2--3 weeks." Looks goofy in code, but really nice in print.
    • Em-dashes (---) are used to place things like interjections---an uncommon grammar device in research papers---in among other parts of a sentence.
    • More info: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/3819/dashes-vs-vs
  • Spacing is actually handled differently with periods that appear between letters of an abbreviation, after a word like "etc.", or, of course, at the end of a sentence. There are only a couple special cases to worry about, and even then this is only the "proper" usage (but it's optional).
    • READ THIS FIRST.
    • Non-breaking space (~) - This is used when you don't want two words to be separated if LaTeX wants to push one of them to a new line. It will appear as a space in text, but these~words will be handled like one "chunk." Use this one in between first and last names, or between titles and names like Dr.~John~Smith
    • Interword space (\ ) - The Guide to LaTeX (4e) states that \␣ is a "[n]ormal space between words after a command without arguments or after a period that is not the end of a sentence" (p. 467).
    • Intersentence space (\@) - Read this.
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