Casey at Large

Tired of fighting with your word processor? Well there’s an alternative: LaTeX, a document preparation system¹. Unlike a word processor, you tell LaTeX how to format your document using in text commands, such as “\title” and “\doublespacing”. Therefore your get exactly what you mean.

Sample Document

To get a better idea of what LaTeX is and how it works look at these samples: document source and document output (opens new window). If you’re shocked hang in there. Most of the document is LaTeX commands that you don’t need to understand. The import part is:

% Begin your three point essay.

Write the introduction paragraph with thesis and forecasting statements here.
Note: you don't have to indent the sentence as paragraph indention is done
for you by LaTeX.
% Blank spaces tells LaTeX to start a new paragraph.
Write the first point topic sentence and supporting sentences here.

Write the second point topic sentence and supporting sentences here.

Write the third point topic sentence and supporting sentences here.

Write the conclusion here.

% End your three point essay.

Getting Started: Downloading and Installing LaTeX

Great! You’re still with me. You need two things before you can start writing your short LaTeX documents.

1. LaTeX distribution, such as MiKTeX² for Windows or TeX on Mac OS X³ for OS X.
2. My short paper LaTeX example file⁴ Three-Point-Essay.tex

First, download and install LaTeX, following the instructions from the sites mentioned above. Second, download my sample file. Third, edit the files to your desires using a text editor, such as Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on OS X. Last, render your document to PDF using the render that came with your LaTeX distribution.

That’s It

You read a brief introduction to LaTeX and how to write short papers using it. I purposely left out material covering LaTeX in depth because this article focuses on using LaTeX to write short papers, such as three point essays, and not LaTeX itself. For more information, please look at the references. Also, please feel free to give me feedback at casey at my domain name.

References

1. LaTeX – A document preparation system.
2. MiKTeX project page.
3. TeX on Mac OS X.
4. Short LaTeX paper example file Three-Point-Essay.tex.
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