latex research paper writing

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Tips for Writing a Research Paper using LaTeX

guanyingc/latex_paper_writing_tips

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Table of contents, examples for table organization, examples for figure organization, latex templates for cvpr/iccv/neurips paper submission, sample latex conference posters (cvpr/iccv/eccv/neurips), latex files for my thesis (sysu b.eng. + hku phd.), simple python programs for figure creation, great resources shared by others, brief introduction.

LaTeX is a very powerful tool for documentation preparation, and is often used by researchers to prepare a manuscript for reviewing and publication. However, some new graduate students might not have experience in using LaTeX and thus have a difficult time in prepare their first papers.

In this article (PDF) , we will first provide some tips for paper writing. Then, we will showcase several working examples for the tables and figures, which have been used in our previous publications. The readers are encouraged to adapt those tables and figures to their purposes to save time when preparing their first papers.

Overleaf Link: https://www.overleaf.com/read/hypvpvnzjjwx

More Resources

• 💥 Main Paper + Supplementary for Conference Submission (NeurIPS) in Overleaf
• 💥 Main Paper + Rebuttal + Supplementary for Conference Submission (CVPR/ICCV) in Overleaf

Download or fork the overleaf project: click the menu at the top left, and select Source or Copy

• Rebuttal for Conference Submission (CVPR/ICCV)
• Supplementary Material for Conference Submission (CVPR/ICCV/ECCV)
• TOM-Net: Learning Transparent Object Matting from a Single Image (CVPR 2018)
• PS-FCN: A Flexible Learning Framework for Photometric Stereo (ECCV 2018)
• Self-calibrating Deep Photometric Stereo Networks (CVPR 2019)
• HDR Video Reconstruction: A Coarse-to-fine Network and A Real-world Benchmark Dataset (ICCV 2021)
• PS-NeRF: Neural Inverse Rendering for Multi-view Photometric Stereo (ECCV 2022)
• S^3-NeRF: Neural Reflectance Field from Shading and Shadow under a Single Viewpoint (NeurIPS 2022)

• Single View Analysis of Non-Lambertian Objects Based on Deep Learning (PhD Thesis, HKU CS)
• LaTex Template Files for Undergraduate Thesis (Sun Yat-sen University)
• A simple code for plotting figure, colorbar, and cropping with python
• Paper Writing Tips by MLNLP-World: https://github.com/MLNLP-World/Paper-Writing-Tips
• Paper Picture Writing Code by MLNLP-World: https://github.com/MLNLP-World/Paper-Picture-Writing-Code
• Makefile 0.4%

Beginners’ guide to writing a manuscript in LaTeX

Hannah Foreman

About this module

LaTeX is a freely available, powerful typesetting system used to create papers in fields where tables, figures and formulae are common. Disciplines using it include Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Economics and Statistics. As it uses plain instead of formatted text, authors can concentrate on the content, rather than the design. You’ll only need to learn a few easy commands to achieve a professional result.

This interactive module covers the basics of writing a manuscript using LaTeX and the mark-up language, similar to html, which is used. If you are starting out on your writing career, you will learn how to download the system before following a detailed step by step guide to creating a manuscript, including how to add commands and comments.

We also share some top golden rules – such as keeping your document simple and the importance of checking the journal’s Guide for Authors – and we highlight some common mistakes. You will come away with a clear understanding of the benefits of LaTeX and develop the skills required to build your own high-quality LaTeX submission.

About the presenter

Publisher, Elsevier

Hannah has 15 years’ experience in the STM publishing industry working directly with researchers, journal editors, reviewers and academic societies. As Senior Product Manager for the Journal Finder, Hannah is responsible for ensuring researchers can easily and quickly find the right home for their research first time around. This includes helping researchers to define and build a publishing plan during the pre-submission phase and making sure that if a researcher does find their manuscript is not accepted for publication at a journal, then a suitable alternative transfer option is offered.

7 tips for simplified LaTeX submissions

LaTeX instructions

Resources for Formatting Papers in LaTex

Guide overview, library books, online resources, smart thinking tutoring service.

This guide provides resources for students and faculty who need to use the scientific text formatting application LaTex for a research paper, thesis, or dissertation.

• The Comprehensive LATEX Symbol List Symbols accessible from LATEX
• LaTex Tutorial for Beginners Full Course Video tutorial for beginners
• LaTex Wikibook This is a guide to the LaTeX typesetting system. It is intended as a useful resource for everybody, from new users who wish to learn, to old hands who need a quick reference.
• The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2E The document derives from a German introduction (‘lkurz’), which was translated and updated; it continues to be updated. (Tobias Oetiker et al., 2015)
• Overleaf video training tutorials Overleaf is an on-line LaTeX editing tool that allows you to create LaTeX documents directly in your web browser.
• Smart Thinking Smarthinking is an online professional tutoring platform available to Rowan students, to supplement our own peer-to-peer tutoring program. Smarthinking offers students academic support through a 24/7 online service and is available at no charge. This platform enables Rowan to offer additional academic support for more students and courses than our peer-to-peer tutoring services alone. Students can access Smarthinking through their canvas course or by clicking this link: https://go.rowan.edu/smarthinking. Available subjects include: Business, Computers & Technology, Math & Statistics, Reading, Science, Spanish.
• Last Updated: Aug 2, 2024 8:25 AM
• URL: https://libguides.rowan.edu/LaTex

Formatting a Research Paper Using LaTeX in Overleaf

Introduction: Formatting a Research Paper Using LaTeX in Overleaf

Welcome to a guide suitable for novice or expierienced users on formatting a research paper using LaTeX. LaTeX is a typesetting language that gives users vast control on how they format their papers. Through these instructions you will find a clear and direct guide that will allow easy navigation through Overleaf and Latex.

Estimated time: 15-30 minutes depending on your familiarity with LaTeX. 

Materials: 

Access to Overleaf

Step 1: Optional Background Information

For a better understanding of LaTeX and Overleaf, consider following the link below for a thirty-minute tutorial on the basics of LaTeX.

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes  

Step 2: Open Overleaf

Open Overleaf, sign in, and press create a blank document. Above is what you should see.

Step 3: Change the Document Class and Import User Packages

Change the document class and import the following user packages shown below: 

\usepackage{multirow} %allowed  

\usepackage{listings} % allowed  

\usepackage{amssymb} % allowed  

\usepackage{natbib} % allowed  

\usepackage{graphicx} % allowed  

\usepackage{dirtytalk} % allowed   

To the right of your code is what your document should look like so far after compiling. 

Step 4: Include Author Information

Below the \author{} line, write the following lines to include additional details about the author: 

\affiliation{%  

 \institution{University}  

 \streetaddress{123 Street}  

 \city{Chicago, IL}  

 \country{USA}  

Replace the information inside the curly brackets with the information of your author. If you would like to include another author replicate this step again. If you would like to include your authors contact information, such as their email, under the affiliation block, write: 

\email{[email protected]}  

You can delete the \date{February 2024} line. Above is what your document should look like after compiling. 

Step 5: Add Abstract

Below the \begin{document} block you can begin writing your abstract block by writing: 

\begin{abstract}  

On the line below, begin writing your abstract. After you finish writing your abstract, write \end{abstract} on the line below. 

Above is what your document should look like after compiling.

Step 6: Add Keywords

Below the abstract block begin adding the keywords section by writing 

\keywords{keyword, keyword2}  

Replace the words inside the curly brackets with your keywords. Above is what your document should look like after compiling. 

Step 7: Add Sections

Below the \maketitle section begin adding additional sections by using the \section{} command. Put your section title in between the curly brackets. You should already have an introduction section added, but for a research paper, I recommend adding a Related Work, Methodology, Results, and Conclusion section. After each section you can write the content you have for each section. 

Above is what your document should look like after compiling. 

Step 8: Add Subsections

To create subsections, use the \subsection{} command directly below the relevant \section{} line. Add the title of your subsection in between the curly brackets. 

Step 9: Troubleshooting

It is very important to pay attention to case sensitivity. It is also important not to confuse \ with / in your document. Avoiding these syntax error will help your code run smoothly.  

Congratulations! You have begun to format a research paper using LaTeX. Your document should look similar to the picture above, with your title, authors information, abtract, sections, and subsections neatly organized. You can now begin to further customize your document for your specific purpose. 

Getting Started with LaTeX

• Installation
• Creating a document
• A sample document
• Library Workshop Files

Introduction

Before reading this section you should have a basic understanding of how to create a LaTeX document, as well as, the basic structure of a document.

This section is about creating templates for LaTeX documents.  Templates are meant to speed up the initial creation of a LaTeX document.  Often it is the case that the same packages and document structure will be applicable to many of the documents you are working on, in this case using a template will save you the time of having to input all of this information every time you create a new document.

Using and Creating Templates

A good front end LaTeX software package will contain at least some standard templates for different document types such as articles, beamers, and books, a great one will also let you create your own template.  Templates can be very useful when there are certain documents types you need to create often such as class notes, homework assignments, and lab reports.  In these cases a template will create consistency between documents and greatly simplify the creation of the document.

Using Templates

How to use a template depends on what program you are using to write your LaTeX code.  If you are not using any front end software a template would simply be an already written .tex file you used to start your document.  It is important to make sure that you do not save over the template as you create the new document as this would destroy the template file.  Different front end software have different methods for using templates.  In TexStudio for example under "File" there is a "new from template" option.  TexStudio comes with a number of preprogrammed templates but also allows you to add your own.  TexMaker on the other hand, under file, has the option "new by copying an existing file".  In this case you would need to create your own template file,  but you would not have to worry that you might accidentally save over it.

If the template you are looking for is not built into the software you are using there are online resources such as LaTeX Templates  where you can download templates for a variety of purposes.  A more advanced LaTeX user may also want to consider creating their own template. 

Creating Templates

When creating a template there are several important questions to ask yourself:

• It doesn't make sense to have a template if you will need to change the document class often.  It is also important to recognize which document best suits your needs (i.e. if you want sections use article but if you want chapters use book).
• One of the best reasons to have a template is that you won't have write the preamble every time you start a new document, therefore it is very important to include all the packages you will need.  Its better to have extra packages than not enough.
• You can save time by incorporating certain common elements into you preamble such as title, author, and date.  You may also want include certain structures in the document, for example if you were making a lab report you may already include all the sections the report requires (Introduction, Experimental Setup, Results, Conclusions, etc...).  
• Perhaps you are using your template for a certain class that often uses matrices or a mathematical symbol with a long name.  Creating a new command as part of the template can help simplify the writing process.

Sample Template Code

% This is a template for doing homework assignments in LaTeX

\documentclass {article} % This command is used to set the type of document you are working on such as an article, book, or presenation

\usepackage { geometry } % This package allows the editing of the page layout \usepackage { amsmath }   % This package allows the use of a large range of mathematical formula, commands, and symbols \usepackage { graphicx }   % This package allows the importing of images

\newcommand { \question }[2][]{ \ begin{ flushleft }         \textbf {Question #1}: \textit {#2}

\end{ flushleft } } \newcommand { \sol }{ \textbf {Solution}:} %Use if you want a boldface solution line \newcommand { \maketitletwo }[2][]{ \begin{ center }         \Large { \textbf {Assignment #1}                          Course Title} % Name of course here          \vspace {5pt}                  \normalsize {Matthew Frenkel   % Your name here                  \today }         % Change to due date if preferred          \vspace {15pt}          \end{ center } } \begin{ document }      \maketitletwo [5]   % Optional argument is assignment number     %Keep a blank space between maketitletwo and \question[1]           \question [1]{Here is my first question}           YOUR SOLUTION HERE          \question [2]{Here is my second question}          YOUR SOLUTION HERE          \question [3]{What is the \Large { $ \int_ 0^2 x^2 \, dx $ } \normalsize {. Show all steps}}           \begin{ align* }     \int_ 0^2 x^2 &= \left. \frac {x^3}{3} \right| _0^2 \\                  &= \frac {2^3}{3}- \frac {0^3}{3} \\                  &= \frac {8}{3}      \end{ align* } \end{ document }

Sample Template Output

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• Last Updated: Jun 4, 2024 12:58 PM
• URL: https://guides.nyu.edu/LaTeX

Use LaTeX templates to write scientific papers

As researchers, we have to write and publish scientific papers to let the world know about our work. The process of preparing a scientific paper can be enjoyable, but it can also be arduous.

Different journals and publishers have different requirements about how we should format our submission. The title page should include certain items, the headers should be bold and italic, references should be formatted in this style, etc. The Instructions to Authors of many journals are long and overwhelming, which may deter potential authors.

When I was a PhD student, I found it strange that journals had so many Instructions on how to prepare a manuscript, but never provided a downloadable template as a .doc or .docx. If I had a template with [Insert title here] , [Insert Abstract here; 400 words] , etc, where the various elements were already formatted correctly, I could focus on writing my paper and not on formatting my paper. Moreover, editors and reviewers would likely have an easier time of dealing with submissions that were more uniform in their style.

Fear not! Many journals and publishers have LaTeX templates that can be downloaded and used in just this way. While these LaTeX files may seem a little intimidating if you have never opened up a .tex file before, most are fairly straightforward and actually include key points from the Instructions to Authors as dummy text in the article or as comments.

Example: writing a paper for a PLOS journal

How do we find LaTeX templates? As is often the case, Google is your friend.

A simple Google search reveals that there is a LaTeX template for all of the PLOS journals. You can download the plos-latex-template.zip file, which contains three files:

• plos_latex_template.tex : This is the file you would open in your text or LaTeX editor to write your paper.
• plos_latex_template.pdf : This is the PDF file generated from the current text entered in the plos_latex_template.tex file.
• plos2015.bst : This is the file that LaTeX will use to appropriately format the references in your paper. References, managing references, and formatting references are a huge topic and will be the focus of one or more future posts.

A copy of these files is also available here .

The title and author section of the first page of plos_latex_template.pdf looks like this:

As you can see it looks very professional and complies with the journal format.

If you open up the plos_latex_template.tex file, there are approximately 70 lines of comments and instructions on how to prepare your article. If you are new to LaTeX, many of these instructions will seem like gibberish. But don’t worry, this won’t stop you from drafting your first article. With a little bit of patience, and possibly reading our series of LaTeX blog posts, you will soon be able to make sense of these instructions.

The actual document starts on line 175. Below we can see the part of the LaTeX document that relates to the title and author section from the PDF document:

While some of the LaTeX commands might seem intimidating at first, you can safely ignore them. Simply replace the dummy text with your own text. For example, if I wanted to write the title of my paper, I would enter the following:

As you can see, I simply entered the title of my paper “ScientificallySound as a resource for scientists” between the curly brackets. Also, I followed the instructions provided in the document, which tell me that I should use “sentence case”. Speaking of these instructions, note that text that follows a percentage sign (i.e. %) is a comment in LaTeX. Comments do not appear in the final PDF.

Special symbols and characters.

If the percentage sign is used to start comments in LaTeX documents, how do we obtain a percentage sign in our final PDF document? In this case, you would put a back slash in front of it, for example 25\% . This tells LaTeX that you want a percentage sign in your text, not start a comment.

This convention may seem overly complex, especially if you are not used to computer programming. It does take a little time to get use to, but soon enough it will become automatic.

What about other special characters? We will address some of these in a future post, but the easiest thing is to Google your question. Also, many modern LaTeX editors such as Texmaker , Lyx and Texstudio have look-up tools similar to the special character look-up in Microsoft Word. You look up the symbol or character you want, click on it and the correspond LaTeX command gets inserted into your text.

Templates for other journal and publishers

Many publishers provide LaTeX templates. For example:

Some journals offer their own templates, and researchers who have created templates that adhere to the Instructions to Authors for a given journal often make these files freely available. For example:

Given that many journals now accept a generically formatted PDF for a first submission, it is possible to use a generic article template to prepare your paper.

• generic article
• short article
• various article formats

Lastly, there are online services that let researchers prepare LaTeX articles in the cloud. These services, such as Overleaf and authorea , provide hundreds of templates. Importantly, using these services means you don’t need LaTeX installed on your computer. Depending on the service and whether or not your institution has an agreement or contract with the service, you may be able to collaborate simultaneously with other authors, regardless of where they are located in the world. Moreover, you can leave comments, track changes, retain a history of your changes, and integrate version control software such as git and github . Given the benefits of such services, they will be the focus of an upcoming post.

LaTeX templates can save you lots of time.

However, there is more to writing a paper in LaTeX then simply downloading a template and filling in the required bits. How do you generate the pretty PDF? How do you get references and figures into the document? How do I share these files with my co-authors? These are all important questions, and we will be deal with them in the next few blog posts.

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AAAI Press Formatting Instructions for Authors Using L a T e X — A Guide

AAAI creates proceedings, working notes, and technical reports directly from electronic source furnished by the authors. To ensure that all papers in the publication have a uniform appearance, authors must adhere to the following instructions.

Introduction

Congratulations on having a paper selected for inclusion in an AAAI Press proceedings or technical report! This document details the requirements necessary to get your accepted paper published using PDF L a T e X . If you are using Microsoft Word, instructions are provided in a different document. AAAI Press does not support any other formatting software.

The instructions herein are provided as a general guide for experienced L a T e X users. If you do not know how to use L a T e X , please obtain assistance locally. AAAI cannot provide you with support and the accompanying style files are not guaranteed to work. If the results you obtain are not in accordance with the specifications you received, you must correct your source file to achieve the correct result.

These instructions are generic. Consequently, they do not include specific dates, page charges, and so forth. Please consult your specific written conference instructions for details regarding your submission. Please review the entire document for specific instructions that might apply to your particular situation. All authors must comply with the following:

You must use the 2024 AAAI Press L a T e X style file and the aaai24.bst bibliography style files, which are located in the 2024 AAAI Author Kit (aaai24.sty, aaai24.bst).

You must complete, sign, and return by the deadline the AAAI copyright form (unless directed by AAAI Press to use the AAAI Distribution License instead).

You must read and format your paper source and PDF according to the formatting instructions for authors.

You must submit your electronic files and abstract using our electronic submission form on time.

You must pay any required page or formatting charges to AAAI Press so that they are received by the deadline.

You must check your paper before submitting it, ensuring that it compiles without error, and complies with the guidelines found in the AAAI Author Kit.

All papers submitted for publication by AAAI Press must be accompanied by a valid signed copyright form. They must also contain the AAAI copyright notice at the bottom of the first page of the paper. There are no exceptions to these requirements. If you fail to provide us with a signed copyright form or disable the copyright notice, we will be unable to publish your paper. There are no exceptions to this policy. You will find a PDF version of the AAAI copyright form in the AAAI AuthorKit. Please see the specific instructions for your conference for submission details.

Formatting Requirements in Brief

We need source and PDF files that can be used in a variety of ways and can be output on a variety of devices. The design and appearance of the paper is strictly governed by the aaai style file (aaai24.sty). You must not make any changes to the aaai style file, nor use any commands, packages, style files, or macros within your own paper that alter that design, including, but not limited to spacing, floats, margins, fonts, font size, and appearance. AAAI imposes requirements on your source and PDF files that must be followed. Most of these requirements are based on our efforts to standardize conference manuscript properties and layout. All papers submitted to AAAI for publication will be recompiled for standardization purposes. Consequently, every paper submission must comply with the following requirements:

Your .tex file must compile in PDF L a T e X — (you may not include .ps or .eps figure files.)

All fonts must be embedded in the PDF file — including your figures.

Modifications to the style file, whether directly or via commands in your document may not ever be made, most especially when made in an effort to avoid extra page charges or make your paper fit in a specific number of pages.

No type 3 fonts may be used (even in illustrations).

You may not alter the spacing above and below captions, figures, headings, and subheadings.

You may not alter the font sizes of text elements, footnotes, heading elements, captions, or title information (for references and mathematics, please see the limited exceptions provided herein).

You may not alter the line spacing of text.

Your title must follow Title Case capitalization rules (not sentence case).

L a T e X documents must use the Times or Nimbus font package (you may not use Computer Modern for the text of your paper).

No L a T e X 209 documents may be used or submitted.

Your source must not require use of fonts for non-Roman alphabets within the text itself. If your paper includes symbols in other languages (such as, but not limited to, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Thai, Russian and other Cyrillic languages), you must restrict their use to bit-mapped figures. Fonts that require non-English language support (CID and Identity-H) must be converted to outlines or 300 dpi bitmap or removed from the document (even if they are in a graphics file embedded in the document).

Two-column format in AAAI style is required for all papers.

The paper size for final submission must be US letter without exception.

The source file must exactly match the PDF.

The document margins may not be exceeded (no overfull boxes).

The number of pages and the file size must be as specified for your event.

No document may be password protected.

Neither the PDFs nor the source may contain any embedded links or bookmarks (no hyperref or navigator packages).

Your source and PDF must not have any page numbers, footers, or headers (no pagestyle commands).

Your PDF must be compatible with Acrobat 5 or higher.

Your L a T e X source file (excluding references) must consist of a single file (use of the “input” command is not allowed.

Your graphics must be sized appropriately outside of L a T e X (do not use the “clip” or “trim” command) .

If you do not follow these requirements, your paper will be returned to you to correct the deficiencies.

What Files to Submit

You must submit the following items to ensure that your paper is published:

A fully-compliant PDF file.

Your L a T e X source file submitted as a single .tex file (do not use the “input” command to include sections of your paper — every section must be in the single source file). (The only allowable exception is .bib file, which should be included separately).

The bibliography (.bib) file(s).

Your source must compile on our system, which includes only standard L a T e X 2020 TeXLive support files.

Only the graphics files used in compiling paper.

The L a T e X -generated files (e.g. .aux, .bbl file, PDF, etc.).

Your L a T e X source will be reviewed and recompiled on our system (if it does not compile, your paper will be returned to you. Do not submit your source in multiple text files. Your single L a T e X source file must include all your text, your bibliography (formatted using aaai24.bst), and any custom macros.

Your files should work without any supporting files (other than the program itself) on any computer with a standard L a T e X distribution.

Do not send files that are not actually used in the paper. Avoid including any files not needed for compiling your paper, including, for example, this instructions file, unused graphics files, style files, additional material sent for the purpose of the paper review, intermediate build files and so forth. Obsolete style files. The commands for some common packages (such as some used for algorithms), may have changed. Please be certain that you are not compiling your paper using old or obsolete style files.

Final Archive. Place your source files in a single archive which should be compressed using .zip. The final file size may not exceed 10 MB. Name your source file with the last (family) name of the first author, even if that is not you.

Using L a T e X to Format Your Paper

The latest version of the AAAI style file is available on AAAI’s website. Download this file and place it in the T e X  search path. Placing it in the same directory as the paper should also work. You must download the latest version of the complete AAAI Author Kit so that you will have the latest instruction set and style file.

Document Preamble

In the L a T e X source for your paper, you must place the following lines as shown in the example in this subsection. This command set-up is for three authors. Add or subtract author and address lines as necessary, and uncomment the portions that apply to you. In most instances, this is all you need to do to format your paper in the Times font. The helvet package will cause Helvetica to be used for sans serif. These files are part of the PSNFSS2e package, which is freely available from many Internet sites (and is often part of a standard installation).

Leave the setcounter for section number depth commented out and set at 0 unless you want to add section numbers to your paper. If you do add section numbers, you must uncomment this line and change the number to 1 (for section numbers), or 2 (for section and subsection numbers). The style file will not work properly with numbering of subsubsections, so do not use a number higher than 2.

The Following Must Appear in Your Preamble

\documentclass[letterpaper]{article} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \usepackage[submission]{aaai24} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \usepackage{times} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \usepackage{helvet} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \usepackage{courier} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \usepackage[hyphens]{url} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \usepackage{graphicx} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \urlstyle{rm} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \def\UrlFont{\rm} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \usepackage{graphicx} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \usepackage{natbib} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \usepackage{caption} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \frenchspacing % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \setlength{\pdfpagewidth}{8.5in} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS \setlength{\pdfpageheight}{11in} % DO NOT CHANGE THIS % % Keep the \pdfinfo as shown here. There’s no need % for you to add the /Title and /Author tags. \pdfinfo{ /TemplateVersion (2024.1) }

Preparing Your Paper

After the preamble above, you should prepare your paper as follows:

\begin{document} \maketitle \begin{abstract} %... \end{abstract}

You should then continue with the body of your paper. Your paper must conclude with the references, which should be inserted as follows:

% References and End of Paper % These lines must be placed at the end of your paper \bibliography{Bibliography-File} \end{document}

\begin{document}\\ \maketitle\\ ...\\ \bibliography{Bibliography-File}\\ \end{document}\\

Commands and Packages That May Not Be Used

There are a number of packages, commands, scripts, and macros that are incompatable with aaai24.sty. The common ones are listed in tables 1 and 2 . Generally, if a command, package, script, or macro alters floats, margins, fonts, sizing, linespacing, or the presentation of the references and citations, it is unacceptable. Note that negative vskip and vspace may not be used except in certain rare occurances, and may never be used around tables, figures, captions, sections, subsections, subsubsections, or references.

Page Breaks

For your final camera ready copy, you must not use any page break commands. References must flow directly after the text without breaks. Note that some conferences require references to be on a separate page during the review process. AAAI Press, however, does not require this condition for the final paper.

Paper Size, Margins, and Column Width

Papers must be formatted to print in two-column format on 8.5 x 11 inch US letter-sized paper. The margins must be exactly as follows:

Top margin: .75 inches

Left margin: .75 inches

Right margin: .75 inches

Bottom margin: 1.25 inches

The default paper size in most installations of L a T e X is A4. However, because we require that your electronic paper be formatted in US letter size, the preamble we have provided includes commands that alter the default to US letter size. Please note that using any other package to alter page size (such as, but not limited to the Geometry package) will result in your final paper being returned to you for correction.

Column Width and Margins.

To ensure maximum readability, your paper must include two columns. Each column should be 3.3 inches wide (slightly more than 3.25 inches), with a .375 inch (.952 cm) gutter of white space between the two columns. The aaai24.sty file will automatically create these columns for you.

Overlength Papers

If your paper is too long and you resort to formatting tricks to make it fit, it is quite likely that it will be returned to you. The best way to retain readability if the paper is overlength is to cut text, figures, or tables. There are a few acceptable ways to reduce paper size that don’t affect readability. First, turn on \frenchspacing, which will reduce the space after periods. Next, move all your figures and tables to the top of the page. Consider removing less important portions of a figure. If you use \centering instead of \begin{center} in your figure environment, you can also buy some space. For mathematical environments, you may reduce fontsize but not below 6.5 point .

Commands that alter page layout are forbidden. These include \columnsep, \float, \topmargin, \topskip, \textheight, \textwidth, \oddsidemargin, and \evensizemargin (this list is not exhaustive). If you alter page layout, you will be required to pay the page fee. Other commands that are questionable and may cause your paper to be rejected include \parindent, and \parskip. Commands that alter the space between sections are forbidden. The title sec package is not allowed. Regardless of the above, if your paper is obviously “squeezed” it is not going to to be accepted. Options for reducing the length of a paper include reducing the size of your graphics, cutting text, or paying the extra page charge (if it is offered).

Type Font and Size

Your paper must be formatted in Times Roman or Nimbus. We will not accept papers formatted using Computer Modern or Palatino or some other font as the text or heading typeface. Sans serif, when used, should be Courier. Use Symbol or Lucida or Computer Modern for mathematics only.

Do not use type 3 fonts for any portion of your paper, including graphics. Type 3 bitmapped fonts are designed for fixed resolution printers. Most print at 300 dpi even if the printer resolution is 1200 dpi or higher. They also often cause high resolution imagesetter devices to crash. Consequently, AAAI will not accept electronic files containing obsolete type 3 fonts. Files containing those fonts (even in graphics) will be rejected. (Authors using blackboard symbols must avoid packages that use type 3 fonts.)

Fortunately, there are effective workarounds that will prevent your file from embedding type 3 bitmapped fonts. The easiest workaround is to use the required times, helvet, and courier packages with L a T e X 2e. (Note that papers formatted in this way will still use Computer Modern for the mathematics. To make the math look good, you’ll either have to use Symbol or Lucida, or you will need to install type 1 Computer Modern fonts — for more on these fonts, see the section “Obtaining Type 1 Computer Modern.”)

If you are unsure if your paper contains type 3 fonts, view the PDF in Acrobat Reader. The Properties/Fonts window will display the font name, font type, and encoding properties of all the fonts in the document. If you are unsure if your graphics contain type 3 fonts (and they are PostScript or encapsulated PostScript documents), create PDF versions of them, and consult the properties window in Acrobat Reader.

The default size for your type must be ten-point with twelve-point leading (line spacing). Start all pages (except the first) directly under the top margin. (See the next section for instructions on formatting the title page.) Indent ten points when beginning a new paragraph, unless the paragraph begins directly below a heading or subheading.

Obtaining Type 1 Computer Modern for L a T e X .

If you use Computer Modern for the mathematics in your paper (you cannot use it for the text) you may need to download type 1 Computer fonts. They are available without charge from the American Mathematical Society: http://www.ams.org/tex/type1-fonts.html.

Nonroman Fonts.

If your paper includes symbols in other languages (such as, but not limited to, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Thai, Russian and other Cyrillic languages), you must restrict their use to bit-mapped figures.

Title and Authors

Your title must appear centered over both text columns in sixteen-point bold type (twenty-four point leading). The title must be written in Title Case according to the Chicago Manual of Style rules. The rules are a bit involved, but in general verbs (including short verbs like be, is, using, and go), nouns, adverbs, adjectives, and pronouns should be capitalized, (including both words in hyphenated terms), while articles, conjunctions, and prepositions are lower case unless they directly follow a colon or long dash. You can use the online tool https://titlecaseconverter.com/ to double-check the proper capitalization (select the ”Chicago” style and mark the ”Show explanations” checkbox).

Author’s names should appear below the title of the paper, centered in twelve-point type (with fifteen point leading), along with affiliation(s) and complete address(es) (including electronic mail address if available) in nine-point roman type (the twelve point leading). You should begin the two-column format when you come to the abstract.

Formatting Author Information.

Author information has to be set according to the following specification depending if you have one or more than one affiliation. You may not use a table nor may you employ the \authorblk.sty package. For one or several authors from the same institution, please separate them with commas and write all affiliation directly below (one affiliation per line) using the macros \author and \affiliations:

\author{ Author 1, ..., Author n\\ } \affiliations { Address line\\ ... \\ Address line\\ }

For authors from different institutions, use \textsuperscript {\rm x } to match authors and affiliations. Notice that there should not be any spaces between the author name (or comma following it) and the superscript.

\author{ AuthorOne,\equalcontrib\textsuperscript{\rm 1,\rm2} AuthorTwo,\equalcontrib\textsuperscript{\rm 2} AuthorThree,\textsuperscript{\rm 3}\\ AuthorFour,\textsuperscript{\rm 4} AuthorFive \textsuperscript{\rm 5}} } \affiliations { \textsuperscript{\rm 1}AffiliationOne,\\ \textsuperscript{\rm 2}AffiliationTwo,\\ \textsuperscript{\rm 3}AffiliationThree,\\ \textsuperscript{\rm 4}AffiliationFour,\\ \textsuperscript{\rm 5}AffiliationFive\\ \{email, email\}@affiliation.com, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] }

You can indicate that some authors contributed equally using the \equalcontrib command. This will add a marker after the author names and a footnote on the first page.

Note that you may want to break the author list for better visualization. You can achieve this using a simple line break (\\).

L a T e X Copyright Notice

The copyright notice automatically appears if you use aaai24.sty. It has been hardcoded and may not be disabled.

Any credits to a sponsoring agency should appear in the acknowledgments section, unless the agency requires different placement. If it is necessary to include this information on the front page, use \thanks in either the \author or \title commands. For example:

\title{Very Important Results in AI\thanks{This work is supported by everybody.}}

Multiple \thanks commands can be given. Each will result in a separate footnote indication in the author or title with the corresponding text at the botton of the first column of the document. Note that the \thanks command is fragile. You will need to use \protect.

Please do not include \pubnote commands in your document.

Follow the example commands in this document for creation of your abstract. The command \begin{abstract} will automatically indent the text block. Please do not indent it further. Do not include references in your abstract!

Page Numbers

Do not print any page numbers on your paper. The use of \pagestyle is forbidden.

The main body of the paper must be formatted in black, ten-point Times Roman with twelve-point leading (line spacing). You may not reduce font size or the linespacing. Commands that alter font size or line spacing (including, but not limited to baselinestretch, baselineshift, linespread, and others) are expressly forbidden. In addition, you may not use color in the text.

Citations within the text should include the author’s last name and year, for example (Newell 1980). Append lower-case letters to the year in cases of ambiguity. Multiple authors should be treated as follows: (Feigenbaum and Engelmore 1988) or (Ford, Hayes, and Glymour 1992). In the case of four or more authors, list only the first author, followed by et al. (Ford et al. 1997).

Long quotations and extracts should be indented ten points from the left and right margins.

This is an example of an extract or quotation. Note the indent on both sides. Quotation marks are not necessary if you offset the text in a block like this, and properly identify and cite the quotation in the text.

Use footnotes judiciously, taking into account that they interrupt the reading of the text. When required, they should be consecutively numbered throughout with superscript Arabic numbers. Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the page, separated from the text by a blank line space and a thin, half-point rule.

Headings and Sections

When necessary, headings should be used to separate major sections of your paper. Remember, you are writing a short paper, not a lengthy book! An overabundance of headings will tend to make your paper look more like an outline than a paper. The aaai24.sty package will create headings for you. Do not alter their size nor their spacing above or below.

Section Numbers.

The use of section numbers in AAAI Press papers is optional. To use section numbers in L a T e X , uncomment the setcounter line in your document preamble and change the 0 to a 1. Section numbers should not be used in short poster papers and/or extended abstracts.

Section Headings.

Sections should be arranged and headed as follows:

Main content sections

Appendices (optional)

Ethical Statement (optional, unnumbered)

Acknowledgements (optional, unnumbered)

References (unnumbered)

Appendices.

Any appendices must appear after the main content. If your main sections are numbered, appendix sections must use letters instead of arabic numerals. In L a T e X you can use the \appendix command to achieve this effect and then use \section{Heading} normally for your appendix sections.

Ethical Statement.

You can write a statement about the potential ethical impact of your work, including its broad societal implications, both positive and negative. If included, such statement must be written in an unnumbered section titled Ethical Statement .

Acknowledgments.

The acknowledgments section, if included, appears right before the references and is headed “Acknowledgments”. It must not be numbered even if other sections are (use \section*{Acknowledgements} in L a T e X ). This section includes acknowledgments of help from associates and colleagues, credits to sponsoring agencies, financial support, and permission to publish. Please acknowledge other contributors, grant support, and so forth, in this section. Do not put acknowledgments in a footnote on the first page. If your grant agency requires acknowledgment of the grant on page 1, limit the footnote to the required statement, and put the remaining acknowledgments at the back. Please try to limit acknowledgments to no more than three sentences.

References.

The references section should be labeled “References” and must appear at the very end of the paper (don’t end the paper with references, and then put a figure by itself on the last page). A sample list of references is given later on in these instructions. Please use a consistent format for references. Poorly prepared or sloppy references reflect badly on the quality of your paper and your research. Please prepare complete and accurate citations.

Illustrations and Figures

Your paper must compile in PDF L a T e X . Consequently, all your figures must be .jpg, .png, or .pdf. You may not use the .gif (the resolution is too low), .ps, or .eps file format for your figures.

Figures, drawings, tables, and photographs should be placed throughout the paper on the page (or the subsequent page) where they are first discussed. Do not group them together at the end of the paper. If placed at the top of the paper, illustrations may run across both columns. Figures must not invade the top, bottom, or side margin areas. Figures must be inserted using the \usepackage{graphicx}. Number figures sequentially, for example, figure 1, and so on. Do not use minipage to group figures.

If you normally create your figures using pgfplots, please create the figures first, and then import them as pdfs with proper bounding boxes, as the bounding and trim boxes created by pfgplots are fragile and not valid.

When you include your figures, you must crop them outside of L a T e X . The command \includegraphics*[clip=true, viewport 0 0 10 10]… might result in a PDF that looks great, but the image is not really cropped. The full image can reappear (and obscure whatever it is overlapping) when page numbers are applied or color space is standardized. Figures 1 , and 2 display some unwanted results that often occur.

If your paper includes illustrations that are not compatible with PDF T e X (such as .eps or .ps documents), you will need to convert them. The epstopdf package will usually work for eps files. You will need to convert your ps files to PDF in either case.

Figure Captions.

The illustration number and caption must appear under the illustration. Labels and other text with the actual illustration must be at least nine-point type. However, the font and size of figure captions must be 10 point roman. Do not make them smaller, bold, or italic. (Individual words may be italicized if the context requires differentiation.)

Tables should be presented in 10 point roman type. If necessary, they may be altered to 9 point type. You may not use any commands that further reduce point size below nine points. Tables that do not fit in a single column must be placed across double columns. If your table won’t fit within the margins even when spanning both columns, you must split it. Do not use minipage to group tables.

Table Captions.

The number and caption for your table must appear under (not above) the table. Additionally, the font and size of table captions must be 10 point roman and must be placed beneath the figure. Do not make them smaller, bold, or italic. (Individual words may be italicized if the context requires differentiation.)

Low-Resolution Bitmaps.

You may not use low-resolution (such as 72 dpi) screen-dumps and GIF files—these files contain so few pixels that they are always blurry, and illegible when printed. If they are color, they will become an indecipherable mess when converted to black and white. This is always the case with gif files, which should never be used. The resolution of screen dumps can be increased by reducing the print size of the original file while retaining the same number of pixels. You can also enlarge files by manipulating them in software such as PhotoShop. Your figures should be 300 dpi when incorporated into your document.

L a T e X Overflow.

L a T e X users please beware: L a T e X will sometimes put portions of the figure or table or an equation in the margin. If this happens, you need to make the figure or table span both columns. If absolutely necessary, you may reduce the figure, or reformat the equation, or reconfigure the table. Check your log file! You must fix any overflow into the margin (that means no overfull boxes in L a T e X ). Nothing is permitted to intrude into the margin or gutter.

Using Color.

Use of color is restricted to figures only. It must be WACG 2.0 compliant. (That is, the contrast ratio must be greater than 4.5:1 no matter the font size.) It must be CMYK, NOT RGB. It may never be used for any portion of the text of your paper. The archival version of your paper will be printed in black and white and grayscale. The web version must be readable by persons with disabilities. Consequently, because conversion to grayscale can cause undesirable effects (red changes to black, yellow can disappear, and so forth), we strongly suggest you avoid placing color figures in your document. If you do include color figures, you must (1) use the CMYK (not RGB) colorspace and (2) be mindful of readers who may happen to have trouble distinguishing colors. Your paper must be decipherable without using color for distinction.

We suggest you use computer drawing software (such as Adobe Illustrator or, (if unavoidable), the drawing tools in Microsoft Word) to create your illustrations. Do not use Microsoft Publisher. These illustrations will look best if all line widths are uniform (half- to two-point in size), and you do not create labels over shaded areas. Shading should be 133 lines per inch if possible. Use Times Roman or Helvetica for all figure call-outs. Do not use hairline width lines — be sure that the stroke width of all lines is at least .5 pt. Zero point lines will print on a laser printer, but will completely disappear on the high-resolution devices used by our printers.

Photographs and Images.

Photographs and other images should be in grayscale (color photographs will not reproduce well; for example, red tones will reproduce as black, yellow may turn to white, and so forth) and set to a minimum of 300 dpi. Do not prescreen images.

Resizing Graphics.

Resize your graphics before you include them with LaTeX. You may not use trim or clip options as part of your \includegraphics command. Resize the media box of your PDF using a graphics program instead.

Fonts in Your Illustrations.

You must embed all fonts in your graphics before including them in your LaTeX document.

Algorithms.

Algorithms and/or programs are a special kind of figures. Like all illustrations, they should appear floated to the top (preferably) or bottom of the page. However, their caption should appear in the header, left-justified and enclosed between horizontal lines, as shown in Algorithm  1 . The algorithm body should be terminated with another horizontal line. It is up to the authors to decide whether to show line numbers or not, how to format comments, etc.

In L a T e X algorithms may be typeset using the algorithm and algorithmic packages, but you can also use one of the many other packages for the task.

Input : Your algorithm’s input Parameter : Optional list of parameters Output : Your algorithm’s output

Listings are much like algorithms and programs. They should also appear floated to the top (preferably) or bottom of the page. Listing captions should appear in the header, left-justified and enclosed between horizontal lines as shown in Listing  1 . Terminate the body with another horizontal line and avoid any background color. Line numbers, if included, must appear within the text column.

The AAAI style includes a set of definitions for use in formatting references with BibTeX. These definitions make the bibliography style fairly close to the ones specified in the Reference Examples appendix below. To use these definitions, you also need the BibTeX style file “aaai24.bst,” available in the AAAI Author Kit on the AAAI web site. Then, at the end of your paper but before \enddocument, you need to put the following lines:

\bibliography{bibfile1,bibfile2,…}

Please note that the aaai24.sty class already sets the bibliographystyle for you, so you do not have to place any \bibliographystyle command in the document yourselves. The aaai24.sty file is incompatible with the hyperref and navigator packages. If you use either, your references will be garbled and your paper will be returned to you.

References may be the same size as surrounding text. However, in this section (only), you may reduce the size to \small if your paper exceeds the allowable number of pages. Making it any smaller than 9 point with 10 point linespacing, however, is not allowed. A more precise and exact method of reducing the size of your references minimally is by means of the following command:

\fontsize{9.8pt}{10.8pt} \selectfont

You must reduce the size equally for both font size and line spacing, and may not reduce the size beyond {9.0pt}{10.0pt}.

The list of files in the \bibliography command should be the names of your BibTeX source files (that is, the .bib files referenced in your paper).

The following commands are available for your use in citing references:

\cite: Cites the given reference(s) with a full citation. This appears as “(Author Year)” for one reference, or “(Author Year; Author Year)” for multiple references. \shortcite: Cites the given reference(s) with just the year. This appears as “(Year)” for one reference, or “(Year; Year)” for multiple references. \citeauthor: Cites the given reference(s) with just the author name(s) and no parentheses. \citeyear: Cites the given reference(s) with just the date(s) and no parentheses.

You may also use any of the natbib citation commands.

Proofreading Your PDF

Please check all the pages of your PDF file. The most commonly forgotten element is the acknowledgements — especially the correct grant number. Authors also commonly forget to add the metadata to the source, use the wrong reference style file, or don’t follow the capitalization rules or comma placement for their author-title information properly. A final common problem is text (expecially equations) that runs into the margin. You will need to fix these common errors before submitting your file.

Improperly Formatted Files

In the past, AAAI has corrected improperly formatted files submitted by the authors. Unfortunately, this has become an increasingly burdensome expense that we can no longer absorb). Consequently, if your file is improperly formatted, it will be returned to you for correction.

Naming Your Electronic File

We require that you name your L a T e X source file with the last name (family name) of the first author so that it can easily be differentiated from other submissions. Complete file-naming instructions will be provided to you in the submission instructions.

Submitting Your Electronic Files to AAAI

Instructions on paper submittal will be provided to you in your acceptance letter.

If you have any questions about the preparation or submission of your paper as instructed in this document, please contact AAAI Press at the address given below. If you have technical questions about implementation of the aaai style file, please contact an expert at your site. We do not provide technical support for L a T e X or any other software package. To avoid problems, please keep your paper simple, and do not incorporate complicated macros and style files.

AAAI Press 1900 Embarcadero Road, Suite 101 Palo Alto, California 94303-3310 USA Telephone: (650) 328-3123 E-mail: See the submission instructions for your particular conference or event.

Additional Resources

L a T e X is a difficult program to master. If you’ve used that software, and this document didn’t help or some items were not explained clearly, we recommend you read Michael Shell’s excellent document (testflow doc.txt V1.0a 2002/08/13) about obtaining correct PS/PDF output on L a T e X systems. (It was written for another purpose, but it has general application as well). It is available at www.ctan.org in the tex-archive.

Appendix A Reference Examples

* Formatted bibliographies should look like the following examples. You should use BibTeX to generate the references. Missing fields are unacceptable when compiling references, and usually indicate that you are using the wrong type of entry (BibTeX class).

Book with multiple authors 

Use the @book class. \bibentry em:86.

Journal and magazine articles 

Use the @article class. \bibentry r:80. \bibentry hcr:83.

Proceedings paper published by a society, press or publisher 

Use the @inproceedings class. You may abbreviate the booktitle field, but make sure that the conference edition is clear. \bibentry c:84. \bibentry c:83.

University technical report 

Use the @techreport class. \bibentry r:86.

Dissertation or thesis 

Use the @phdthesis class. \bibentry c:79.

Forthcoming publication 

Use the @misc class with a note="Forthcoming" annotation.

@misc(key, [...] note="Forthcoming", )

ArXiv paper 

Fetch the BibTeX entry from the ”Export Bibtex Citation” link in the arXiv website. Notice it uses the @misc class instead of the @article one, and that it includes the eprint and archivePrefix keys.

@misc(key, [...] eprint="xxxx.yyyy", archivePrefix="arXiv", )

Website or online resource 

Use the @misc class. Add the url in the howpublished field and the date of access in the note field:

@misc(key, [...] howpublished="\url{http://...}", note="Accessed: YYYY-mm-dd", )

For the most up to date version of the AAAI reference style, please consult the AI Magazine Author Guidelines at https://aaai.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

Appendix B Acknowledgments

AAAI is especially grateful to Peter Patel Schneider for his work in implementing the original aaai.sty file, liberally using the ideas of other style hackers, including Barbara Beeton. We also acknowledge with thanks the work of George Ferguson for his guide to using the style and BibTeX files — which has been incorporated into this document — and Hans Guesgen, who provided several timely modifications, as well as the many others who have, from time to time, sent in suggestions on improvements to the AAAI style. We are especially grateful to Francisco Cruz, Marc Pujol-Gonzalez, and Mico Loretan for the improvements to the Bib T e X and L a T e X files made in 2020.

The preparation of the L a T e X and Bib T e X files that implement these instructions was supported by Schlumberger Palo Alto Research, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, The Live Oak Press, LLC, and AAAI Press. Bibliography style changes were added by Sunil Issar. \ pubnote was added by J. Scott Penberthy. George Ferguson added support for printing the AAAI copyright slug. Additional changes to aaai24.sty and aaai24.bst have been made by Francisco Cruz, Marc Pujol-Gonzalez, and Mico Loretan.

Thank you for reading these instructions carefully. We look forward to receiving your electronic files!

• About the author

Using LaTeX for writing research papers

Many researchers are  using   Microsoft Word   for  writing research papers . However, Microsoft Word has several problems or limitations.  In this blog post, I will discuss the use of  LaTeX  as an alternative to Microsoft Word for  writing research papers .

What is LaTeX?

LaTeX  is a  document preparation system,  proposed in the 1980s. It is used to  create documents  such as  research   papers , books, or even slides for presentations.

The key difference between  LaTeX  and software like  Microsoft Word  is that Microsoft Word let you directly edit your document and immediately see the result, while  using   LaTeX  is a bit like programming. To write a  research  paper  using   LaTeX , you have to write a text file with the  .tex  extension  using  a formatting language to roughly indicate how your paper should look like. Then, you can run the  LaTeX  engine to generate a PDF file of your  research  paper. The following figure illustrate this process:

In the above example, I have created a very simple  LaTeX  document ( Example.tex ) and then I have generated the corresponding PDF for visualization ( Example.pdf ).

Why using LaTeX?

There are several reasons why many researchers prefer  LaTeX  to Microsoft Word for  writing   research   papers . I will explain some of them, and then I will discuss also some problems about  using   LaTeX .

Reason 1: LaTeX papers generally look better

LaTeX   papers  often look better than  papers  written  using  Microsoft Word. This is especially true for fields like computer science, mathematics and engineering where mathematical equations are used.  To illustrate this point, I will show you some screenshots of a  paper  that I have written for the ADMA 2012 conference a few years ago. For this paper, I had made two versions: one  using  the Springer LNCS  LaTeX  template and the other one  using  the Springer LNCS Microsoft Word template.

This is the first page of the paper.

The first page is quite similar. The main difference is the font being used, which is different  using   LaTeX . Personally, I prefer the default  LaTeX  font. Now let’s compare how the mathematical equations appears in  Latex  and Word.

Here, we can see that mathematical symbols are more beautiful  using   LaTeX . For example, the set union  and the subset inclusion operators are in my opinion quite ugly in Microsoft Word. The set union operator of Word looks too much like the letter “U”. In this example, the mathematical equations are quite simple. But  LaTeX  really shines when displaying more complex mathematical equations, for example  using  matrices.

Now let’s look at another paragraph of text from the paper to further compare the appearance of Word and  LaTeX   papers :

In the above picture,  it can be argued that both  LaTeX  and Word  papers  look quite similar. For me, the big difference is again in the font being used. In the Springer Word  template, the Times New Roman font, while  LaTeX  has its own default font.  I prefer the  LaTeX  font. Also, I think that the URLs look better in  LaTeX   using  the  url  package.

Reason 2: LaTeX is available for all platforms

The  LaTeX  system is free and available for most operating systems, and documents will look the same on all operating systems.

To install  LaTeX  on your computer you need to install a  LaTeX  distribution such as MikTeK  ( https://miktex.org/ ). After installing  LaTeX , you can start working on  LaTeX  documents  using  a text editor such as Notepad. However, it is more convenient to also install an editor such as TexWorks or WinShell. Personally, I use TexWorks.  This is a screenshot of my working environment  using  TexWorks:

I will open my  LaTeX  document on the left window. Then, the right window will display the PDF generated by  LaTeX . Thus, I can work on the  LaTeX  code of my documents on the left and see the result on the right.

If you want to try  LaTeX  without installing it on your computer, you can use an online  LaTeX  editor such as  ShareLatex  (http://www.sharelatex.org ) or  OverLeaf.   Using  these editors, it is not necessary to install  LaTeX  on your computer. I personally sometimes use ShareLatex as it also has some function for collaboration (history, chat, etc.), which is very useful when working on a  research  paper with other people.

Reason 3: LaTeX offers many packages

Besides the basic functionalities of  LaTeX , you can install hundreds of packages to add more features to  LaTeX . If you use MikTek for example, there is a tool called the “MikTek package manager” that let you choose and install packages.  There are packages for about everything from packages to display algorithms to packages for displaying chessboards. For example, here is some algorithm pseudocode that I have written in one of my recent  paper  using  a  LaTeX  package called  algorithm2e :

As you can see the presentation of the algorithm is quite nice. Doing the same  using  Word would be very difficult. For example, it would be quite difficult to add a vertical line for the “for” loop  using  Microsoft Word.

Reason 4: You don’t need to worry about how your document will look like

When  writing  a  LaTeX  document, you don’t need to worry about how your final document will look like. For example, you don’t need to worry about where the figures and tables will appear in your document or where the page breaks will be.  All of this is handled by the  LaTeX  engine during the compilation of your document. When  writing  document, you only need to use some basic formatting instructions such as indicating when a new section starts in your document. This let you focus on  writing .

Reason 5: LaTeX can generate and update your bibliography automatically

Another reason for  using   LaTeX  is that it can generate the bibliography of a document automatically. There are different ways of  writing  a bibliography  using   LaTeX . One of the most common way is to use a  .bib file.  A .bib file provide  a list of references that can be used in your  document.  Then, you can use these references in your  .tex  document  using  the  \cite{}  command and the bibliography will be automatically generated.

I will illustrate this with an example:

A), I have created a  Latex  document (a . tex  file) where I cite a paper called “efim”  using  the  LaTeX  command  \cite{efim} .

B) I have created a corresponding  LaTeX   bib  file that provides bibliographical information about the “efim” paper.

C) I have generated  the PDF file  using  the   .tex  file and the  .bib  file.  As you can see, the \cite{} command has been replaced by 25, and the corresponding entry 25 has been automatically generated in the correct format for this paper and added to the bibliography.

The function for generating a bibliography  using   LaTeX  can save a lot of time to researchers especially for documents containing many references such as thesis, books, and journal  papers .

Moreover, once you have created a  .bib  file, you can reuse it in many different  papers .  And  it is also very easy to change the style of your bibliography. For example, if you want to change from the APA style to the IEEE style, it can be done almost automatically, which saves lot of time.

In Microsoft Word, there is some basic tool for generating a bibliography but it provides much less features than  LaTeX .

Reason 6: LaTeX works very well for large documents

LaTeX  also provides many features that are useful for large documents such as  Ph.D thesis  and  books . These features include generating tables of contents, tables of figures, and dividing a document into several files. Some of these features are also provided in Microsoft Word but are not as flexible as in  LaTeX . I have personally written both my M.Sc. and Ph.D. thesis  using   LaTeX  and I have saved a lot of time by doing this. I have simply downloaded the  LaTeX  style file from my university and then used it in my  LaTeX  document, and after that all my thesis was properly formatted according to the university style, without too much effort.

Problems of LaTeX

Now, let’s talk about the disadvantage or problems faced  using   LaTeX . The first problem is that there is a somewhat  steep learning curve .  LaTeX  is actually not so difficult to learn but it is more difficult than  using  Word. It is necessary to learn various commands for preparing  LaTeX  documents. Moreover, some errors are not so easy to debug. However, the good news is that there exist some good places to ask questions  and obtain answers when encountering problems with  LaTeX  such as Tex.StackExchange ( http://tex.stackexchange.com/ ).  There also exist some free books such as the  Not So Short Introduction To  LaTeX   that are quite good for learning  LaTeX , and that I use as reference.  Actually, although, there is a steep learning curve, I think that it is an excellent investment to learn to use  LaTeX  for researchers. Moreover, some journals in academia actually only accept  LaTeX   papers .

The second problem with  LaTeX  is that it is actually not necessary to use  LaTeX  for  writing  simple documents.   LaTeX  is best used for large documents or documents with complex layouts or for special needs such as displaying mathematical equations and algorithms.  I personally use  LaTeX  only for  writing   research   papers . For other things, I use Microsoft Word. Some people also use  LaTeX  for preparing slides  using  packages such as  beamer , instead of  using  Powerpoint. This can be useful for preparing a presentation with lot of mathematical equations.

In this blog post, I have discussed the use of  LaTeX  for  writing   research   papers . I hope that you have enjoyed this blog post.

— Philippe Fournier-Viger  is a professor of Computer Science and also the founder of the  open-source data mining software SPMF,  offering more than 120 data mining algorithms.

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Why Should I Use LaTeX over Word for Writing My Research? | Orvium

Researchers have long been split on whether to use Word or LaTex for their academic papers. The fact is, you can achieve results with both, and considering the latter is more complex, most don’t understand why LaTeX is so good.

Today, let’s look at the differences between the two and present LaTeX in an objective view, taking into account the benefits it presents as well as the things that aren't so great - such as the big issue with learning LaTeX.

What Is LaTeX?

LaTeX (/ˈlɑːtɛx/, often pronounced lay-tech) is a writing software centered around document creation, allowing users to input commands and add unformatted text. The UI is split between an Edit window, where users can write text and code, and a Typeset Window, which appears after the first save, allowing users to see the results of their work and how the document will look in real-time.

Compared to Word or Word-like document processors, LaTeX is fairly complex. The coding element can be a big hurdle for most researchers or students who are used to the simplicity of opening a document and simply starting to write. However, this issue can be easily overcome through an instructional video:

Benefits of LaTeX over Word for Research

1. Professional typesetting

LaTeX is specifically designed to produce high-quality typesetting, which makes your documents look professional and polished. This is especially important for academic writing, where the appearance of your document can affect how seriously your work is taken.

LaTeX is great because it’s not simply a word processor but rather a typesetting application designed for ultimate freedom when creating documents.

In academic writing, the aspect of your final document matters a lot. And since you’re essentially writing code, you can meticulously fine-tune your document to look exactly the way you want it or in accordance with the highly specific requirements some journals have.

Example: LaTeX automatically generates consistent and visually pleasing formatting for sections, equations, figures, and citations.

2. Efficient handling of large documents

Unlike Word and Google Docs, which lags up when editing large documents, LaTeX is optimized for minimal resource utilization. This allows researchers to work more efficiently on large documents with many equations, figures, images, and cross-references (think dissertations, books, or studies).

LaTeX also generates a table of contents, a list of figures, and a complete list of references which you can manually edit in code. I’m sure you know trying to edit and correct your references in Word is a buggy nightmare, and just the thought of it is enough to raise your levels of anxiety.

Another cool feature for large documents is the autosave option. That way, there is close to 0 risk of losing your work due to crashes or faulty equipment. Once you save your initial file, TeXShop, one of the tools in the LaTeX suite, automatically saves your work regularly.

Example: In LaTeX, the \input and \include commands allow you to split up sources in a controlled way, effectively making large documents into smaller files that can be managed separately.

3. Easy version control

Since LaTeX operates with plain text files, the level of control you have as a user is beyond what traditional word processors can offer. This can prove very handy when collaborating with multiple authors on a big project, as it allows you to use tools like Git or SVN to implement version control and track changes.

4. Wide range of packages and templates

LaTeX comes pre-equipped with multiple packages and templates that allow researchers to work on different types of projects, such as multiple kinds of math papers, articles, letters, memoirs, and more.

Furthermore, you can use online repositories such as the Comprehensive TeX Archive to find more packages and templates specifically made for diagrams, coding, tables, and more.

Example: The "tikz" package in LaTeX allows you to create professional-looking diagrams and illustrations.

5. Portable and platform-independent

Don’t you hate it when there's an issue with old versions of word documents? Or when you’re trying to edit a Word doc on a Mac and it doesn’t initially work? LaTeX removes all those headaches with compatibility.

The plain text docs you work on in LaTeX are portable and platform-independent. This makes sharing documents a breeze, regardless of the operating system or software setup. And it’s especially useful if you need to collaborate with colleagues or co-authors who use different systems.

Comparison Table: LaTeX vs Word

Who Benefits Most from Using LaTeX

To sum up, LaTeX is better than Word for:

• Scientific researchers - from math to physics to chemistry and beyond. Anything that prominently features equations, tables, figures, or other designs is best completed via LaTeX.
• Academic dissertations and doctoral theses - from the reference system to the automatic and efficient table of contents, LaTeX makes working on gigantic projects such as these very easy. By comparison, researchers using Word frequently save chapters in separate documents to keep the software from lagging up or crashing and thereby losing their work.
• Textbook writing and editing - if you’re authoring math, physics, or other scientific textbooks, your best chance is with LaTeX, and students will thank you as the equations alone will look miles ahead of what Word can accomplish.
• Any other book authors and editors - for general authors, LaTeX might be a bit complex but worth the learning curve. Editors, however, tend to need a more professional tool to polish the final document for printing, so LaTeX is the better, more logical choice.
• Journalistic investigations - once again, the reference system in LaTeX can easily help journalists keep track of their sources, but it might be too complex on the go.

Overall, LaTeX frequently has a steeper learning curve compared to Word - which is also its biggest disadvantage. However, it offers many benefits that can make research writing more efficient, professional-looking, collaborative, and highly scalable due to its many templates.

If you’re looking to publish your research via Orvium, you should know that our platform is compatible with the LaTeX documents thanks to our integration with Overleaf. But if you want to suggest even more features we should implement in the future, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Learn more about our initiatives and stay up-to-date with the latest news and product features by following us on Twitter , Facebook , Linkedin , or Instagram .

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Antonio Romero

Led several big-data and ML projects for the R&D between CERN and multiple ICT market-leaders. His work accelerating predictive-maintenance and machine-learning solutions at CERN

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Academic Articles

Academic articles, also known as papers, are used to share the results of academic research, primarily with other researchers in the same field. They usually feature a two column layout and are dense with technical language, figures, tables and references. This format is suitable for any highly technical content which has extensive sectioning and displays research results.

Journal Article

This article template aims to emulate scientific journal publications with a formal conservative style and a two-column layout for text. Extensive examples of common content found in scientific papers are provided.

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Stylish Article

This article template attempts to emulate the design of contemporary scientific publications. It does this by including colored boxes behind the abstract and headings and a succinct text layout. The template features a table of contents, something usually not seen in articles, which makes it ideal for longer articles with significant structure or for archival purposes.

Arsclassica Article

This article uses the Arsclassica package to specify the document layout and structure. The template features a single column layout which makes it suitable for a greater number of applications such as for academic articles, business articles and reports. The page layout is very clean and minimal to focus on the content at hand in an elegant way.

Wenneker Article

This article template features a large eye-catching title section with space for multiple authors and affiliations per author. The article has a traditional two column layout to make content easy to read. An abstract section is present to provide a lead-in or summary of the article and features a large lettrine to further draw the reader’s eye. The template contains examples of sectioning, referencing, equations, tables, figures and lists to make it easy for you to get started.

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