For   Starters – How to write a paper with Latex

Software Installation

• First install LaTeX compiler, MiKTeX;

  http://miktex.org/download

• Then install LaTeX editor, TeXstudio:

  http://texstudio.sourceforge.net/

• Finally install reference manager,JabRef:

  http://jabref.sourceforge.net/

To Start With…

• Start with a template (see below for more ACM/IEEE        templates)

• Download IEEE templates from http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/IEEEtran/

• Start a conference or journal paper with bare_conf.tex         or bare_jrnl.tex provided.

• Familiarize yourself with the following essential        structures

• Title: \title, \author, \thanks …

• Section: \section, \subsection, \subsubsection         …

• Lists: \begin{enumerate} \item … \item …         \end{enumerate}; or use itemize instead of enumberate.

• Figures & Tables: \begin{figure[*]) …\end{figure[*]},         \begin{table[*]) …\end{table[*]}, etc. (Use * to spread the figure across         two columns)

• Include EPS figures: \includegraphics{}, \epsfig{}, etc. (see below         for how to create an EPS figure)

• Labels: use \label to label ALL section         headings, figures, and tables, and use \ref for ALL         cross-references.

• Bibliography: BibTex is recommended. All bibliography         entries could be compiled in a separate file such that it could be used         for multiple papers.

  Frequently Used Templates

• ACM Proceedings Templates

• http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates

• IEEE Transactions

• IEEETran Home page: http://www.michaelshell.org/tex/ieeetran/

• Official IEEETran Readme  &  HOWTO

• IEEE Computer Society Conferences

• http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/IEEEconf/

Useful Tips

• How to convert Word (.doc) documents to Latex:

• wsW2LTX developed by Ingo H.         de Boer and distributed by CTAN.org.

• How to convert OLE (Visio, Excel, PowerPoint…)        figures to EPS

• I recommend the OLETeX Utility.

• You can always use a PS printer (e.g., HP         ColorJet 5 PS) to print any document into a .ps file, then open it         using GSview to convert it to .eps (don't forget to calculate the         bounding box!!).

• Hyphenation

• To avoid frequent broken words, use \hyphenpenalty,         and \tolerance. For example:

• \hyphenpenalty=5000
           \tolerance=1000

• To avoid incorrect hyphenation for a particular         word, use \hyphenation. For example:

• \hyphenation{op-tical net-works semi-conduc-tor}

Additional Reading Materials

• Latex Help from U. Florida: http://web.image.ufl.edu/help/latex/

• A web based LaTeX help, based on George D.        Greenwade's LaTeX help for VMS machines.

• LaTeX cookbook: tricks and methods,        LaTeX construct and their results.

• Essentials of LaTeX by Jon Warbrik; a        LaTeX file which can be downloaded, processed and printed out. Requires        the hndout.sty style file.

• A gentle introduction to TeX by Michael Doob; a        plain tex file, process it by TeX.

• symbols.tex is a LaTeX file which        lists all (i.e. most of) available symbols in LaTeX with their names.

• An introduction to TeX and friends by Gavin Maltby, a        LaTeX file which was also used as a course handout.

• Making double spacing in your        document

• www.dante.de a German web site with        a use collection of TeX related material.

• www.tex.ac.uk is a TeX archive in        English, with almost anything you might want in connection with TeX.