LaTeX Computing Page

Here are the notes that I created for my LaTeX short course at the Odum Institute.

Getting started for the Windows operating system:

First, download the latest implementation of MiKTeX, the current Windows implementation of LaTeX at http://www.MiKTeX.org.
Second, download WinEdt, a text editor and compiler that works as a front-end for LaTeX, at http://www.winedt.com. By downloading WinEdt second, it will recognize the presence of MiKTeX automatically, which makes getting started easier. WinEdt charges a license fee, but it has a free trial period that you can take advantage of while getting your feet wet.
Other alternatives for Windows: An increasingly popular alternative to WinEdt is TeXnicCenter, which is a free front end. Alternatively, you may be interested in this website, which explains how to set-up MiKTeX with Emacs as a free front-end. I personally had trouble getting this to work on a Windows XP machine, but if you are committed to shareware, this may be worth a look.

Non-Windows users:

Texmaker is a free LaTeX editor that runs on Unix, Mac OS X, and Windows systems.
Mac users may want to consult the wiki page entitled TeX on Mac OS X.The MacTeX (Mac implementation of LaTeX) and TeXShop (a Mac front-end) websites also may be useful.
Linux users may like to take a look at my notes on setting-up LaTeX in Ubuntu Linux.

Useful references for new and continuing users:

An earlier version of my short course notes was written by Evan Parker-Stephen. My thanks to Evan for sharing. You may want to try compiling some of his code, which requires this figure.
Here is a LaTeX cheat sheet.
Jim Stimson wrote these notes on the advantages of LaTeX.
A more comprehensive, yet easy-to-follow, guide is "The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2ε".
For continuing questions, you might consult the TeX users' group website.

Setting-up an automatic bibliography in LaTeX:

Master.bib is Jim Stimson's bibliography file, which I placed under the path: C:\Program Files\texmf\bibtex\bib\my_bibs\Master.bib
APSR style bibliographies will require the following two files: apsr.bst and BIB.STY, which I placed under the path: C:\Program Files\texmf\tex\latex\my_styles\
An alternative to bib.sty is natbib.sty, which automatically downloads on the fly if it is not installed. More information about natbib is available at this link. An example of a bibliography format that works well with natbib is the Chicago style sheet, chicago.bst, which I also downloaded into C:\Program Files\texmf\tex\latex\my_styles\
To see how the file syntax works for bib.sty and natbib.sty, consult this document for two simple examples, first of using the Chicago format with natbib.sty, then of using the APSR format with bib.sty.
For most cases, I believe the key to placing bibliography and style files in the correct directory is to find the equivalent of the "texmf" folder on your computer. It may be called "MiKTeX," "TeXLive," or something else depending on your build. Within this main folder, though, the structure is usually similar.

Creating scientific slideshows:

The beamer class is a great way to make scientific slideshows in LaTeX. The beamer webpage is located at this link.
Here is some some example beamer code I wrote to create these slides that introduce R and LaTeX.
To convert PowerPoint slides to beamer, download the "RTFBeamer" program by Jim Stimson, along with the user's guide. If you would like to make revisions to the C++ code, please send them to me or Jim Stimson, so we can revise the public version.

To format your dissertation or thesis using the guidelines in the UNC graduate student handbook:

Stephen Long has written notes on formatting a dissertation in TeX.
Long also provided some example code to show the basic format of an acceptable dissertation.
To use this, you will need two files: natbib.sty (see Stephen's notes about this revised version of natbib) and uncthesis_sp07.sty. Thanks to Evan Parker-Stephen for creating uncthesis_sp07.sty, a revised version of the old uncthesis.sty file that now reflects changes in formatting requirements.
Master's theses often do not have the chapter structure of a dissertation. Hence, you may want to consult the documents at Jeff Harden's website. He submitted his master's thesis in 2008.
For your reference, here is UNC's Guide to Theses and Dissertations in electronic and pdf format.

To create a poster in LaTeX:

Consult my article with Mark D. Ramirez in The Political Methodologist.
To follow my instructions for creating a poster in the scrartcl document class, you will need the style file scrpos.sty. I have placed this under the path: C:\Program Files\texmf\tex\latex\my_styles\
As an example, I was able to create this file with the following code by including the aforementioned style file in the directory and the UNC seal in the same folder as the TeX file.

To get BibTeX references from Google Scholar (scholar.google.com), do the following:

Go to the site
Click the link to "Scholar Preferences"
Next to Bibliography Manager, select "Show links to import citations into (BibTeX)"
Save preferences

Now, when you locate cites via google scholar, you will notice that there is an "Import to BibTeX" link underneath the paper link. Let's say you search on Erikson, Robert 2002. Clicking on the import link takes you to a page that reads:

@book{erikson2002mp,
title={{The Macro Polity}},
author={Erikson, R.S. and Stimson, J.A.},
year={2002},
publisher={Cambridge University Press}
}

Copy + paste and you have your citation. Just be careful to proofread the information. For example, this entry omits M.B. MacKuen as a co-author.