LibGuides: Reference Managers: LaTeX

LaTeX

How to Set Up TeX on Your Own Machine
(PDF) Professor Glover's guide for setting up TeX.
Learn LaTeX (2015)
(PDF) Professor Glover's get started guide. Includes environments, equations, arrays, tables, troubleshooting, quotations, and references.

Learn LaTeX — A Beginner's Step-By-Step Guide
By SciSpace - Series of tutorials to help get started.

Tex Example File
(Tex) When compiled correctly this file will generate LearnLaTex.pdf

LaTeX Math Symbols
Common Math Symbols in LaTeX
The LaTeX Wikibook
A quite comprehensive reference for different common needs in LaTeX. First stop for questions.
Getting Started with LaTeX

Thanks to Mark Herman and Dr. Rebecca Glover for links and guides.

For More Resources, see Tyler Dzuba's guide on LaTeX.

LaTeX Workshop
by Sarah Siddiqui Last Updated Aug 8, 2022 129 views this year

Reference managers that work well with LaTex

Mendeley
One of your most user-friendly options. Especially good if you're dealing mostly with electronic articles that you download from library databases. Will automatically keep a BibTeX file in sync with your database, and sync across multiple computers and a web interface.
JabRef
Java-based cross-platform option. Designed specifically to manage BibTeX. Hugely customizable. Less user-friendly, but more direct control over your BibTeX.
BibDesk
Mac OS X only. More user-friendly way to directly manage your BibTeX files.

EndNote This link opens in a new window
Export and format references from databases. Learn more.

Install LaTeX for Mac OS X

For Mac OS X, MacTeX is the de facto standard. You can download the distribution package here: https://www.tug.org/mactex/

This will install a number of things in your /Applications/TeX folder, including a text editor called TeXShop, and a package manager called TeX Live Utility. First, we'll get your packages up to date.

Open TeX Live Utility (/Applications/TeX/TeX Live Utility.app) and let it analyze what packages you have and what updates are available. Once it displays a list of packages, navigate in the menus to Actions > Update All Packages. Once it's done, you can quit TeX Live Utility.

Install LaTeX for Windows

For Windows, Tyler recommend using the MiKTeX distribution of LaTeX. To install, follow the directions below or directly from the MiKTeX website:

Go to http://miktex.org/download and select the Basic MiKTeX Installer.
Run the installation program. During the installer, you will need to select your preferred paper size. Select Letter. You can always switch to A4 as needed for non-US printers. The other default options are fine.
Once the installer is complete, you can close it. Now, you'll need to let MiKTeX check for any updated packages that have happened since the installer package was produced.
Go to Start > All Programs > MiKTeX 2.9 > Maintenance > Update.
All the default options are fine. Click Next to let MiKTeX check for any updates. If there are, select all the boxes and click Next. Once done, click Next and exit the wizard as the prompt indicated.

Once you've done that, you should have a working LaTeX installation. MiKTeX comes with a text editor that makes typesetting LaTeX documents super easy.