COMS12303: Introduction to LaTeX

Getting started

The following material is used in support of the Introduction to LaTeX lecture:

• The lecture slides (.pdf), which include instructions on how to download LaTex, and where help may be found on the web.
• A large example and its associated graphic and .bib files.
• This is what the final .pdf file should look like.

To get started, install LaTeX (see lecture slides), then download the above files, read the documentation

Take a look at the source files (note that comments are prefixed by a '%' sign).

Then run in the same directory as the files

1. pdflatex LaTeX_Example.tex to generate the inital files
2. bibtex LaTeX_Example to process the bibliography (citations)
3. pdflatex LaTeX_Example.tex to incorporate the bibliography
4. pdflatex LaTeX_Example.tex again to fix the intra-document references

Then view the resulting .pdf file.

Note: after this first sweep, you need only run pdflatex LaTeX_Example.tex after each change. If you change any \label , however, then you will need to run it twice.

If you are using xpdf or evince, then you can simply press Ctrl-R to refresh between runs of the document.

Help on the web

There is *lots* of help available on the web for LaTeX problems. Some of the best sites are:

• The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2e
• The intuitive CTAN Visual FAQ (Acrobat Reader recommended for reading this .pdf)
• The UK TeX FAQ

The books mentioned in the lecture slides are also invaluable sources of information