This webpage contains resources for the Dartmouth College ``Introduction to LaTeX Workshops'' presented by Daryl DeFord, David Freund, and Katie Harding.
Week 1: Installing LaTeX
Registration link through the Kresge websiteThe first meeting of the workshop series is focused on getting you up and running with LaTeX. We will help you install a LaTeX compiler and the TeX Maker editor on Linux, Mac, or Windows and practice compiling example documents. Several templates will be provided so that you can begin experimenting immediately. Please bring your laptop.
Resources:Week 2: LaTeX Basics
Registration link through the Kresge websiteIn this workshop, we will provide you with the information that you need to produce a basic LaTeX document. We will cover the structural elements of text in LaTeX, including sections, subsections, and paragraphs, as well as text formatting. We will then talk about commands for writing mathematical elements, such as fractions, limits, sums, and integrals. We will conclude by offering some strategies and resources that you can use for troubleshooting error messages. Please bring your laptop.
Resources:Week 3: Environments, Equations, and Tables in LaTeX
Registration link through the Kresge websiteResources: In this workshop, we discuss a variety of LaTeX environments which help produce a clean, readable document. We will start by talking about different list structures (bullets, numbered lists, etc.) and different ways of writing equations. Then we discuss how to build matrices in LaTeX. Our final topic will explore the environment used to create tables in LaTeX, discussing both simple customization options as well as more complicated ones (making use of the multirow and multicolumn packages). Please bring your laptop.
Resources:Week 4: Floating Environments and Figures in LaTeX
Registration link through the Kresge websiteThe final meeting of these introductory workshops covers spacing and figures. We will discuss the basics of horizontal and vertical spacing as well as margin options for various types of documents. Building on the previous week's material we will cover floating environments for tables and figures with the corresponding placement options and captioning. Finally, we will conclude by discussing ways to include and format plots and figures in LaTeX documents using the graphicx package and the \includegraphics command. Please bring your laptop.
Resources:Week 5: Commutative Diagrams with Tikz-CD
This workshop is intended for more advanced LaTeX users. The focus will be on creating commutative diagrams and Galois field extension diagrams in LaTeX using the Tikz-CD package. The documentation of the package is quite good and is an excellent source of reference material. Below are a couple of templates to get you started:
Week 6: Multi-part Documents and Preambles in LaTeX
Registration link through the Kresge websiteIn this session, we will focus on customizing the preamble of your LaTeX documents. Topics will include creating new commands, redefining the formatting of structural elements, and using personalized document classes. Another focus of this workshop will be designing large scale documents, like books or theses. This process is vastly simplified by including many different files in the same document and applying a universal preamble to the entire collection. Please bring a laptop.
Resources:- Here is a .zip archive of a basic multi document setup, covering the material we discussed in the wrokshop. You can use this as a basic template for starting your own documents.
- Link to the Dartmouth Thesis Template
- Wikibooks has a nice guide to the basics of modular documents here.
- ShareLaTeX has a good description and some examples of the subfiles and standalone packages here.
Week 7: Citations and Bibliographies with BibTeX
Registration link through the Kresge websiteIn this workshop, you will learn how to generate citations and bibliographies in your LaTeX documents using BibTeX. We'll start by talking about how you can create a database of your references (a .bib file). We will consider references for different types of publications, such as articles, books, proceedings, theses, and unpublished works. Next, we'll go through the process of citing references in a document. Finally, we'll show you how to declare a citation style and compile your document. Please bring a laptop.
Resources:- Outline for workshop
- Reference sheet for natbib
- Template .tex file (requires refs.bib)
- Template .bib file
Week 8: TikZ: Creating Images using LaTeX
Registration link through the Kresge websiteTikZ is a versatile LaTeX package that allows you to create graphics (e.g., graphs of functions, complicated shapes, diagrams) without importing images from outside sources. Once we've discussed the basics of TikZ, we will give examples of what can be done using this package. After this workshop, you should be comfortable with the basic structure of a tikzpicture environment and able to design your own shapes and graphs. Please bring a laptop.
Resources:Week 9: Presentations in LaTeX
Registration link through the Kresge websiteThe beamer document class is used to make slideshow presentations in LaTeX. The resulting .pdf file has the advantage of appearing the same on every computer. As with any other part of LaTeX, it can take some time to become familiar with the commands, but it is completely customizable. Starting from the basics of creating slides, we will discuss how to delay the appearance of text or figures and customizing the beamer layout. By the end, you will have all the tools you need to make a professional presentation in LaTeX. Please bring a laptop.
Resources:- Beamer Template
- Workshop Presentation (.pdf .tex)
Week 10: Posters in LaTeX
Registration link through the Kresge websitePoster presentations have become a common fixture of research conferences, particularly for students. The focus of this session is creating research posters in LaTeX, making use of the Beamer package. Building your poster in LaTeX allows you to easily incorporate equations and figures directly from your paper without reformatting. We will provide some common templates used by Ph.D. students in the Dartmouth Math Department for you to modify. Please bring a laptop.
ResourcesWeek 11: CVs in LaTeX
Registration link through the Kresge websiteWhen applying for jobs and grants in academia your CV makes your first impression on potential employers and reviewing agencies. Also, this is likely the first document most people will download from your webpage. In this workshop, we will look at some common templates and discuss CV formatting in LaTeX. Please bring your laptop.
ResourcesWeek 12: Sage Interact Workshop
Registration link through the Kresge websiteAre you looking for a way to include computational tools in undergraduate classes? Sage is an open source mathematical programming environment that combines many popular software packages. The combination of the SageCell server and the @interact environment provide a simple way to create specialized, customizable applications for students to use right in their browsers. In this workshop I will discuss how these tools can be used to increase student engagement and learning, show examples from my classes, and teach you how to create your own tools. Please bring your laptop.
Resources