LaTeX Crash Course

Aims

LaTeX is a free document preparation system. It is particularly well suited for scientific and technical documentation and is therefore widely used in academia. This crash course is aimed at researchers with no prior knowledge of LaTeX and no programming experience. Participants will learn how to use a LaTeX editor to structure and typeset their manuscript, integrate their Zotero/Citavi bibliography, and create standardized output formats such as PDF. Crucially, they will also learn how to deal with error messages and where to get help when they get stuck. The exercises participants complete during the course can be reused for their own research publications such as dissertations, book chapters, or journal articles.

Content

The crash course covers the topics summarized below:

1. When (not) to use LaTeX
2. Syntax, commands, environments and packages
3. Structuring documents
4. Typography primer
5. Typesetting
6. Images, tables, formulas
7. Bibliographies and integration with productivity software
8. Specialist packages
9. Self-help competencies

Methods

The course will primarily use Overleaf, an online LaTeX editor. A brief introduction on working with other software, namely the TeX-distribution MiKTex and the LaTeX-editor TeXstudio will be provided in the second half of the course if the participants wish it. The course format includes presentations and live demonstrations by the instructors. In addition, the participants will be asked to complete two exercises during the course which will be discussed afterwards. The complete course material will be provided after the course.

Target Group

All Doctoral Candidates & Postdocs

About the Trainer

Dr. Anthea Alberto studied political science and physics at the University of Zurich. In 2022, she received her PhD from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin with her dissertation on coalition governments and political communication. She has worked as a Research Navigator at the University of Basel since November 2021 or the newly founded core unit Research and Infrastructure Support (RISE). At RISE, she has offered advice to scientists on project planning and data management plans, as well as on conducting a wide range of statistical and quantitative text analyses.

Workload

Installation of software pre-course: 30min
Course attendance: 2 x 4h
Repetition of core concepts after first unit: 2h

Feature

Once registration is open, applications will be collected for 24 hours and course places allocated by lot. All registrations received after the initial 24h period will be put on a waiting list and assigned on a first come, first served basis.

Course places/places on the waiting list will be confirmed by e-mail. Course registrations can only be canceled before the registration period ends (send an e-mail to grace@unibas.ch). Full course attendance is mandatory. Participants who fail to attend a course without prior notification or withdraw after the registration deadline are subject to a fee of CHF 30. In addition, participants who cancel their course registration at a later point in time, are absent without an excuse or do not attend the entire course will, for reasons of fairness, not be considered for course registration in the following semester and will be removed from other courses offered in the same semester. Please find the detailed regulations on the Transferable Skills Homepage.