This afternoon I presented some basics of LaTeX (what is it, why would I not/want to use it, how do I use it) to Physics 200 students who were tasked with writing their lab reports using LaTeX.
We started with the requisite slides and spent most of the hour-long session working through a template modeled on their eventual expected end-product. I pointed the students to some possibly-useful links and let them experiment and typeset to their hearts’ content.
This was all made easier through collaboration with one of my colleagues in CUS — thanks to Ben Salzberg for answering many a nattering question, and providing solid, ongoing support to many a panicked TeX-ie.
As you move forward in your own TeX adventures, here are some resources you may find useful.
Reed LaTeX help pages:
- LaTeX introduction
- 10 strange things to know about TeX
- math in LaTeX and how to use it
- installing LaTeX
- graphics in LaTeX
- lists and tables in LaTeX
Some resources, outside of Reed:
- basics of LaTeX from wikibooks
- xkcd on tech support
- deTeXify (draw your character, it returns code!) [maybe]
- the LaTeX project
- TeX on stackexchange