How to Start Using LaTeX and BibTeX

Getting started with LaTeX and BibTeX
Installing, compiling and generating a document
Paolo Pareti
https://w3id.org/people/paolo

1. Installation
2. First Document
3. Compiling the documents
4. Basic commands
5. Structure of the BibTeX file
6. Summary

1. Installation
The standard LaTeX installation will require to install:
1. TeX distribution
2. LaTeX editor *
* Follow the installation instructions of your LaTeX editor, in
some cases you will have to configure it to use the TeX
distribution you have installed

1. Installation - Windows
1. A common TeX distributions you can install:
○ http://miktex.org/
2. LaTex editor
○ http://www.texniccenter.org/
○ http://tug.org/texworks/
○ http://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/

1. Installation - Linux
○ Your specific system’s software source for an
available LaTeX installation
○ Alternatively use: http://www.tug.org/texlive/
2. LaTex editor

1. Installation - Mac
○ https://tug.org/mactex/
2. LaTex editor

2. First Document - Main files
In a folder, create two documents named:
● paper.tex
● mybib.bib

2. First Document - Document file
Add the following content to the paper.tex file:
documentclass{article}
begin{document}
title{Sample Title}
author{Author's Name}
date{} % optional, add the date for this document here
maketitle
begin{abstract}
The abstract text goes here.
end{abstract}
section{Section Title}
Some text here.
subsection{Title of a subsection}
More text here cite{sample1}.
section{Conclusion}
Conclusion goes here.
bibliographystyle{plain}
bibliography{mybib}
end{document}

2. First Document - Bibliography file
Add the following content to the mybib.bib file:
@article{sample1,
author = {Name, Surname},
title = {A nice paper},
journal = {A nice journal},
year = 2014,
volume = {3}
}

3. Compiling the documents
1. Open the file paper.tex with your LaTeX editor
2. Use the editor build commands to generate the PDF
○ build once
○ then build the BibTeX index
○ build a second time
○ build a third time
3. Alternatively you can directly use the following commands:
○ pdflatex paper.tex
○ bibtex paper
* It is necessary to build documents this way to make sure
that the bibliography and the paper are properly
synchronized. If this is not done properly, you will end up with
undefined citations [?]

3. Compiling the documents - the output
The compiled PDF should look like this:

4. Basic commands - document structure
The document will be styled according to a particular class.
Following the class, there will be a preamble and then the
main body of the document.
documentclass{template}
% ...preamble, such as packages to import
begin{document}
% … body of the document
end{document}

4. Basic commands - comments
Comments can be created using the % symbol. All the text
after this symbol will be ignored.
This is not a comment.
% This is a comment and will be ignored.

4. Basic commands - packages
Extra functionalities might require you to import specific
packages. To do this use the usepackage command as
follows.
Remember to use this command in the preamble: BEFORE
the begin{document} command.
usepackage{hyperref}
For example, this package allows you to use the url
command to properly output URLs:
This is a url: url{http://www.w3.org/}.

4. Basic commands - title
Title, author and date, followed by the maketitle command
title{Sample Title}
author{Author's Name}
date{5 November 2014}
maketitle

4. Basic commands - abstract
The abstract should be enclosed by the following commands:
begin{abstract}
The abstract text goes here.
end{abstract}

4. Basic commands - sections
Divide your text into sections using the following commands:
section{Title of another section}
Some text here.
subsection{Title of a subsection}
More text here.
subsubsection{Title of a subsubsection}
Even more text here.

4. Basic commands - paragraphs
To break your text into paragraphs, use the par command
before a new paragraph. Another to create a new paragraph
is to leave a blank line between two blocks of text.
This is the text of the first paragraph.
par And this text is in another paragraph.
And this text is yet another paragraph.

4. Basic commands - citations
To make a citation, use the cite{} command. Within the
brackets, give the citation-key of the BibTeX entry to cite.
This is an example citation cite{sample1}.

4. Basic commands - in-text references
To make an in-text reference:
1. create labels using the label command
2. refer to them using the ref command
section{First Section}
The next will be Section ref{sectionlabel}.
section{Second Section} label{sectionlabel}
Some text.

4. Basic commands - equations
To create a numbered equation (which you can reference in
the text), use the equation commands:
begin{equation}
label{equationlabel}
alpha = sqrt{ beta }
end{equation}

4. Basic commands - in-line equations
To create in-line equations, enclose the equation within $
symbols:
This is an equation: $ 3x = 2y $, right?

4. Basic commands - lists
To create a list use the itemize command. Substitute itemize
with enumerate to get an enumeration.
begin{itemize}
item First item
item Second item
item Third item
end{itemize}

4. Basic commands - tables
Separate lines using the newline command
Create horizontal lines using hline before the row to overline.
Create vertical lines using the | symbol before the column
definition (in this case the letter ‘l’ stands for ‘left aligned’)
begin{table}[tp] centering
begin{tabular}{ | l | l l }
hline
A & B & C hline
a & b & c
end{tabular}
caption{Table caption here}
label{sampletable}
end{table}

4. Basic commands - figures
Figures (in this case Image.jpg) can be added using the
following command. Images are one of many LaTeX objects
which can have labels.
begin{figure}[tb] centering
includegraphics[width=1.00textwidth]{Image.jpg}
label{figurelabel}
caption{This is a figure}
end{figure}

4. Basic commands - bibliography
1. Choose the style of the bibliography using the
bibliographystyle command.
2. Generate the bibliography using the bibliography
command.
bibliographystyle{plain}
bibliography{mybib}

The BibTeX file is made of a set of entries.
Each entry is made of ...
@Book{abramowitz+stegun,
author = "Milton {Abramowitz} and Irene
A. {Stegun}",
title = "Handbook of Mathematical
Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and
Mathematical Tables",
publisher = "Dover",
year = 1964,
}

Each entry is made of a type (e.g. article, inproceedings, etc.)
A. {Stegun}",
year = 1964,
}

Each entry is made of a citation key (you can choose any key
you prefer)
A. {Stegun}",
year = 1964,
}

Each entry is made of a set of fields
A. {Stegun}",
year = 1964,
}

It is important to notice that each BibTeX type has a number
of REQUIRED fields, and a number of optional ones.
For example:
article (i.e. a journal publication)
● required: author, title, journal, year
● optional: volume, number, pages, month, key, note
inproceedings (i.e. a conference publication)
● required: author, title, booktitle, year
● optional: editor, volume/number, series, pages, address, month,
organization, publisher, key, note

6. Summary
This short tutorial should have helped you getting started with
LaTeX and BibTeX.
For any problems you might encounter, and to use more
advanced features, look at the vast amount of online
resources, such as:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX

How to Start Using LaTeX and BibTeX

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