Block 1: An introduction to LaTeX for Academic Writing

Introduction

LaTeX is a robust typesetting system widely used for scholarly communication in the sciences, engineering, and the humanities. This session introduces the principles and disciplined practices that enable clear, consistent, and reproducible academic writing across theses, articles, and technical reports.

LaTeX vs. Word in Scientific Writing

LaTeX is a markup-based system designed for long, structured, and mathematically intensive documents. It separates content from formatting, ensuring stable layout, consistent references, and excellent typography—qualities that are especially valuable in PhD theses and scientific articles.

Word offers intuitive visual editing but can become fragile as documents grow, particularly when handling equations, figures, or complex formatting. While it remains convenient for quick drafting and broad collaboration, it lacks the reproducibility and structural reliability that LaTeX provides for large scientific manuscripts.

LaTeX separates content from presentation, allowing authors to focus on writing while ensuring consistent formatting. It excels at handling complex documents with features like automatic numbering, cross-referencing, bibliographies, and high-quality typesetting of mathematics.

A Simple LaTeX Document

A basic LaTeX document looks like this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\title{An Introduction to LaTeX}
\author{Random PhD Student}
\date{\today}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction}
Wow \LaTeX is great for typesetting mathematics! 
Here is an example of Einstein's famous equation:
\begin{equation}
E = mc^2
\end{equation}
\end{document}

Beautiful Mathematics

LaTeX was originally developed for high-quality typesetting of mathematical content, and it remains the gold standard in this area. Its math mode allows authors to create complex equations with ease, ensuring clarity and precision in scientific communication

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{equation}
\int_{a}^{b} f(x) \, dx = F(b) - F(a)
\end{equation}
\end{document}

Renders as:

Tutorial Program

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Write basic documents using LaTeX and compile them to PDF.
• Structure documents using classes, packages, and a well‑defined preamble.
• Compose mathematics, use figures, create tables, and use accurate cross‑referencing.
• Manage bibliographies with BibTeX and apply journal or institutional citation styles.
• Organize long projects using modular files and coherent directory layouts.
• Compile reliably with modern engines and tools (e.g., latexmk) and diagnose common errors.
• Manage your supervisors.

Emphasis is placed on reproducibility, separation of content and presentation, and maintainable project structure rather than ad‑hoc formatting. Basic command‑line familiarity is helpful but not required.

Prerequisites

• Students must come with a laptop with administrative install permissions and a compatible OS (Windows, macOS, or Linux). These are required to install the LaTeX toolchain and editor extensions used in the session.
• A LaTeX distribution that provides pdflatex and latexmk (e.g., TeX Live, MiKTeX, or MacTeX).
• Visual Studio Code (VS Code) as the IDE (download); install the LaTeX Workshop extension (marketplace).
• Git installed is recommended for version control examples (downloads).

Platform notes

Verifications