Report preparation in LaTeX: Glossary

Start with a template

Prioritise structure over formatting

Compile to view the formatted output

There is a hierarchy of subdivisions in a document, from \chapter to \section to \subsection to \subsubsection.

Tables of contents and other cross-references can be generated automatically by LaTeX.

Equations can be created with the equation, equation*, and align environments, and with $ signs.

Any time you refer to a mathematical symbol, it should be in an equation, most frequently inside $ signs.

Use \eqref to refer to equation numbers within the text.

Accents are placed with an appropriate \ command before the character to get the accent

Opening quotes are single or double backtick (`) characters.

Common LaTeX commands can be prefixed with a \ to make them display as text

Make sure to use the graphicx package

Use the figure environment to contain figures and captions

Use \includegraphics to place images

Tables are held in table floating environments, with captions.

tabular is used to create tables themselves

& and \\ are used to separate columns and rows

Numbers and their uncertainties typically share a column.

Create a bibliographic database in BibTeX, using a reference manager

Create a bibliography using \bibliography

Add citations with \cite

Use the beamer class to create a slide deck

Use \frame to create a slide

Use \uncover and <> brackets to build up slides.

Use itemize and enumerated for bulleted and numbered lists.

Use the a0poster or baposter classes to create a poster

Use a predesigned template for minimal frustration