LaTeX & Reference Management

This module develops the typesetting and bibliographic fluency researchers need to produce formally structured scientific documents. Learners progress from TeX engines and document classes through mathematical typesetting, floats, cross-referencing and bibliography handling with BibTeX/BibLaTeX, then on to collaboration workflows using Overleaf, Git and journal class files. The emphasis is on documents that compile cleanly, cite consistently and withstand peer-review revision cycles. By the end, learners can prepare a submission-ready manuscript with a correctly formatted bibliography drawn from a managed reference library.

Learning Outcomes

Compile LaTeX documents with pdfLaTeX, XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX and select the right engine for a given task.

Structure documents using classes, packages, sectioning commands and labelled cross-references.

Typeset mathematical expressions, theorems, matrices and aligned equations using amsmath and mathtools.

Place and reference tables, figures and listings as floating objects with captions and labels.

Build and cite from a BibTeX or BibLaTeX database using biber and selected citation styles.

Manage reference libraries in Zotero, Mendeley or JabRef and export clean .bib files.

Collaborate on LaTeX projects using Overleaf, Git and journal-provided class files.

Diagnose and resolve common compilation errors involving packages, encodings and float placement.

Topics Covered

TeX engines and distributions: pdfTeX, XeTeX, LuaTeX, TeX Live, MiKTeX

Document classes: article, report, book, beamer, memoir

Preamble, packages and the hierarchy of sectioning commands

Fonts, encodings and language support (fontspec, babel, polyglossia)

Mathematical typesetting with amsmath, amssymb, mathtools

Theorems, proofs, cases and numbered environments

Floats: figure, table, subcaption, placement specifiers and \clearpage

Cross-referencing with \label and \ref, cleveref and hyperref

Tables with tabular, booktabs, longtable and siunitx

Bibliography with BibTeX versus BibLaTeX/biber

Citation styles: numeric, author-year, Vancouver, IEEE, APA

Reference managers: Zotero, Mendeley, JabRef and BibTeX export

Overleaf, Git integration and journal submission class files

Beamer slide decks, themes and overlays

Reproducible pipelines: latexmk, Makefiles and continuous integration

Skills Developed

Document structuring Mathematical typesetting Bibliographic management Float and cross-reference discipline LaTeX debugging Collaborative authoring Journal submission formatting Reproducible build automation

Suggested Resources

Mittelbach, F. & Fischer, U. (2023). The LaTeX Companion, 3rd ed., Addison-Wesley

Oetiker, T. et al. The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e (lshort), CTAN

Lamport, L. (1994). LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley

Kottwitz, S. (2021). LaTeX Beginner's Guide, 2nd ed., Packt Publishing

Overleaf Learn: Documentation and tutorials (overleaf.com/learn)

Lehman, P. et al. The biblatex Package manual (CTAN)

Zotero Documentation and Zotero style repository (zotero.org/support)

Assessment

Assessment rewards the production of correctly structured, compilable manuscripts with consistent bibliographies, with weight placed on sustained portfolio work and a terminal submission-formatting task.

Submission-ready manuscript with managed bibliography (3000 words)50%

Portfolio of five typesetting and reference-management exercises30%

Timed LaTeX practical and MCQ paper20%

Practice bank: 200 MCQs · Timed mock & self-paced modes

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