Research Guides: Bite-Sized Library Workshop Materials: LaTeX 101

Introduction

LaTeX 101: Creating Your First LaTeX Document

Always wanted to learn how to use LaTeX? In this workshop, we'll use Overleaf to show you the basics of formatting text, writing mathematical formulae, inserting figures and tables, and adding references to create your first LaTeX document. Beginners and non-coders welcome!

This workshop was designed by Samantha Seah, Librarian, User Services & Experience. If you have any questions, please contact Samantha at samanthaseah@smu.edu.sg.

Workshop Materials

Sample Project
Customised sample project for participants to load into Overleaf.
Activity Document
Activity Document to be used during the workshop.

Related E-Resources

LaTeX Beginner's Guide: Create Visually Appealing Texts, Articles, and Books for Business and Science Using LaTeX by Kottwitz, Stefan
Publication Date: 2021
[E-Book] Harness the power of LaTeX and its wide range of features to create professional-looking text, articles, and books with both online and offline capabilities of LaTeX.
LaTeX Graphics with TikZ by Stefan Kottwitz
Publication Date: 2023
[E-Book] Unleash the power of LaTeX to create professional text, articles, diagrams, and charts using TikZ and its wide range of features for stunning 2D and 3D effects
More Math Into LaTeX by George Grätzer
Publication Date: 2016
[E-Book] For over two decades, this comprehensive manual has been the standard introduction and complete reference for writing articles and books containing mathematical formulas. In this carefully revised fifth edition, the Short Course has been brought up to date and reflects a modern and practical approach to LaTeX usage.

Resources from the Web

Overleaf
A great beginner's resource to LaTeX.
A Quick Guide to LaTeX
Click on View PDF to get a brief overview of using LaTeX.
Overleaf Guides
Not just for Overleaf users! Useful for learning LaTeX from scratch as they have step-by-step guides with many examples. Use Google to search instead of their native search engine for more relevant results.
Overleaf Keyboard Shortcuts
Overleaf keyboard shortcuts for Windows, Linux, and Mac users.
LaTeX Wikibooks
Covers the basics of LaTeX and has examples of different use cases and niche uses of LaTeX.
Comprehensive TeX Archive Network
The Comprehensive TEX Archive Network (CTAN) is the central place for all kinds of material around TEX. CTAN has currently over 6000 packages contributed by over 2900 contributors. Most of the packages are free and can be downloaded and used immediately.
Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List
The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List is an organized list of over 18,100 symbols commonly available to LaTeX users.
Detexify LaTeX Symbol Classifier
Detexify attempts to suggest possible symbols that match what you draw so that you don't have to search for it in the symbol list.
TeX-LaTeX Stack Exchange
TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for users of TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and related typesetting systems.
Tables Generator
More used to excel? Let Tables Generator help you generate the code for your tables. You can import CSV files or copy and paste your table then click 'Generate'.