[updated at 1/17/2008 12:59:10 PM]
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Which softwares you should get (if the link is
broken, search in Google for the resource) There are several editors that can be used with a LaTeX compiler. The most used compiler is MiKTeX. You can use it with an text editor, like TeXnic (free – I use this!) or Winedt (proprietary, ~$30), wich are interface editors (they still require to learn some coding, but for formulas and equations you can use Mathtype or TeXaide, which write mathematical language in WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) and then easily copy-and-paste to LaTeX). To start, you need a basic manual that will help you with the most basic commands. I wrote one (see below), which uses the approach of learning by copying (I provide a sample file so that you can start practicing). A standard manual available in the web is the Not-so-short introductory manual. Download the manual and print it, if you want. I highly recommend you to get these two additional softwares. Excel-to-LaTeX is a free Excel macro that convert an excel selection to a LaTeX table. You can do most of the work on tables using Excel and just converting it to LaTeX with this macro. jpeg2ps is a free software to convert from jpg to eps file (which is easily insertable in LaTeX files). You will need this because it is more common to get the original graphs and other figures in jpg, so you need to convert to eps in order to insert in your text. Instead, you can convert graphs to pdf files, but it may not be easy to get the right size of the pdf figure. An alternative to the editors above is Scientific Word (proprietary ~ $170 for students), which is an interface editor (the need to learn codes is highly reduced, and the math environment is incorporated; there is a problem of compatibility with other programs and some bugs that I personally don’t like. I DON’T RECOMMEND USING IT. YOU WILL HAVE MORE FLEXIBILITY BY LEARNING TO WRITE LATEX CODES DIRECTLY. THE INITIAL LEARNING COST IS HIGHER, BUT IT IS REWARDING. |
Other (less useful) resources Rtf2LaTeX2e – free software to convert from rtf (MS-Word) file to LaTeX. It saves a lot of work, but it is not perfect. LaTeX2rtf – free software to convert from LaTeX to rtf file (which can be converted to doc files). Not sure why you would ever want to do that… LaTeX.org – information and free softwares Ctan.org – information and free softwares (Boston College) Economics’ resources – information and links for LaTeX typesetting (includes an introduction manual) Sourceforge – free open source softwares (look for LaTex in the software search); several softwares for lots of uses Links for publication in Economics
How to publish in Economics – by Prof. Kwan Choi (Editor, Review of International Economics) WOPEC – to share working papers Rejected ideas (in Prof. Xavier Sala-I-Martin website) Most cited economists (1992~2002) – Thomson-ISI Tip: Look for instructions on formatting your paper in the journal’s website (where you are submitting your paper). |
In the following, red
words are LaTeX commands, and words in bold
are parameters that you should personalize, like the name of the section,
figure, etc.
§ SAMPLE ECONOMICS WORKING PAPER (use this as a base for your working papers – journals usually ask for a working paper version when you submit) with pdf output of it:
[workingpaper.tex] [filename.eps] (download both files and put them in the same folder) [workingpaper.pdf] (this is the output that you should get)
Note 1: it is better to choose filenames that have no space in it. Also, put all the associated files (the latex file and the figures) in the same folder.
Note 2: the conversion to
pdf output may not work properly if there are figures in your file. You may
have to create a dvi file first, and then convert to pdf. I noticed that the
1) you can create a ps file, and convert to pdf. There are several free pdf creators available in the internet [SEARCH AT GOOGLE]. Files of ps format can be read by ghostview [SEARCH AT GOOGLE].
2) you can use other dvi-viewer. I use TrueTex Viewer, which comes with Scientific Word (I guess you can get it for free with the demo of the Scientific Word).
§ USE PACKAGES
For most of the changes you want to do in the format of your document, you have to use packages. Packages must be inserted using
\usepackage{nameofthepackage}
You must insert this code in the preamble (just after the beginning of the document, but before the text (the Title, Author, etc)).
§ LINE SPACING: use package [setspace] and then write in the preamble
\singlespacing
or \onehalfspacing or \doublespacing
The space that you set will be the one for the entire document. To set different line spacing for a portion of the document, add the corresponding command in the start of the portion. In the end of portion, you have to write the corresponding command to return to the original spacing. Instead of the commands above, you can use
\setstretch{#}
where # is the spacing parameter (1=single, 2=double, 3=triple).
§ PAGINATION
\setcounter{#ofthepageinthispage} (example, \setcounter{2} makes the page where this command is written to be “2” and the following pages will follow this numeration.
§ HIPHENATION
To avoid excessive hyphenation, use the
\sloppy
Write it where you want the command to start having effect (like in the beginning of your text).
§ JUSTIFICATION
To have text justified to the left, use
\flushright
To have text justified to the right, use
\flushleft
To have text centered, use
\begin{center}
(text that you want to be centered)
\end{center}
§ INDENT
To eliminated indent in a given paragraph, start the paragraph with
\noindent
§ MARGINS
Change parameters in
\geometry{left=1.0in,right=1.0in,top=1.0in,bottom=1.0in}
Instead of inches (in), you could use centimeters (cm).
You must be using the geometry package. In the preamble (the commands before your text starts) you should have
\usepackage[nohead]{geometry}
§ FOOTNOTES
Footnotes are inserted with
\footnote{Text
that you want to go to the footnote}
You should write that just at the place where you want to have the footnote mark. Numbering of footnotes is automatic. Be careful that footnotes inserted in equations (displays) may not be shown in the bottom of the page (you probably have to put the entire footnote command as part of text, not as part of math text; that is, write \text{\footnote{your text}}).
§ REFERENCES
Use
\begin{thebibliography}{9}
\bibitem {yourcode}Your reference (author, article, journal, year, volume,
page, etc)
\end{thebibliography}
The code is a label (anything you want, but make it a short code) that you can give to the reference. It is useful only if you are using numbered references, like Smith [4], instead of dated references. The numbering is automatically sorted by the order you list the references. So, if the Smith reference is the forth that you listed, then it will appear numbered as [4]. In order to show the number in the text, you have to write
Smith \ref{yourcodeforSmith}
The number {9} just after the \begin{thebibliography} command is the size of the widest-label. I don’t know if it has any effect. I guess if you use short codes for labeling your references, then it has no effect.
§ FONT SIZES
Font sizes depend on the initial shell. In the article shell, which you will be using mostly, the following is the possible font sizes if the standard is set to 12pt (like in the workingpaper.tex file that you have here). Write the command for font size in the beginning of the text that you want to have that size. If you want to go back to the first size (or change to another size) later, write the new font size command again. And so on.
\Huge for size 25
\LARGE for size 20
\Large for size 17
\large for size 14
\normalsize for size 12
\footnotesize for size 10
\scriptsize for size 8
Instead, Texnic allows you change font size by selecting the text and then clicking in Format/Font size (other size options are possible; the ones above are just the most used).
§ FIGURES/PICTURES
To add a picture, it is better to use eps files. To create eps files, here is a tip. Whatever picture you have, you can copy and paste to MS-Paint. To make the pasted figure the same size of the original, do the following: before pasting, change the size of the blank figure in MS-Paint (change the attributes of the image), so that the size becomes very small. Then, when you paste your figure, it will cover the entire original blank figure. Save your figure as jpg using [Save as]. Then, convert the jpg file to eps using the small software called jpeg2eps (easily found in the internet; see the list of useful softwares on the top of this page). Of course, if your original figure was already in jpg format, you don’t need to use MS-Paint.
Write in the preamble (before the text)
\usepackage[dvips]{graphicx}
Then, add the picture with these commands:
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.95\textwidth]{filename.eps}
\caption{titleofthefigure}
\label{fig:yourkey}
\end{figure}
where htbp is for the location in the page: here, top of the page, bottom, of floating in an exclusive page, 0.95\textwidth gives the width (you can use a measure in inches or cm instead), filename.eps is the name of the file of the figure, which should be in the same folder of your tex file, titleofthefigure is the caption that appears in the bottom of the figure, and yourkey is the key that you can use to refer to the figure in the text (you have to write \ref{fig:yourkey} in order to have the reference (the number of the figure) shown in the text).
Hint: where can you create figures? Powerpoint is great to draw diagrams. Excel draws several types of graphs. Mathematica or Matlab creates plots.
§ SECTION NUMBER
If you don’t want to have the Section (or subsection, or sub-subsection) number showed in the text, write
\section*{sectionname}
Note that this section won’t be automatically counted (in the numbering of sections).
§ ENDNOTES
To have all footnotes gone to the end of the document, write in the preamble
\renewcommand{\footnote}{\endnote}
Then, at the point of the text that you want your notes to begin (usually before the references), write
\begingroup
\theendnotes
\endgroup