Overview of LaTeX For Everyone

This is an introductory LaTeX Workshop designed to introduce the general student body of AUB to the LaTeX typesetting system with a specific focus on certain scientific tracks.

Course Details:

• Primary Instructors & Organizers:
  • Daniel Dia (dmd13@mail.aub.edu)
  • Jad Kanaan (jhk22@mail.aub.edu)
• Organizations: AUB Math Society, Cryptography Club, and Transformative Education (TrEd)
• Target Audience: Literally everyone!
• Duration: 2 Weeks (2 core sessions + 1 track session, 90-120 minutes each)
• Term: Wednesday 21 October — Friday 30 October 2026
• Format: In-person
• Prerequisites: None (of course not!)
• Last Updated: October 24, 2026

Quick access to materials and important links: S1 | S2 | F1

Motivation: Why LaTeX?

LaTeX as a computer language makes it very versatile to work with instead of Microsoft Word and similar software. Take the example of an image: we’re sure most of you have had to resist the urge to break your laptops after adding an image ruined a document you’ve been working for for a while. With LaTeX, you have a great degree of control on where that image ends up, the size of the image, and even how to reference it throughout your document. It also makes listing easier, and is overall a much smoother system to work with than Word-like systems. It is also the default method of writing theses, reports, and research papers and is mandated by most journals in Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science.

Course Structure

LaTeX For Everyone runs on two layers: the two core sessions and one elective session as part of a dedicated track for TrEd needs.

Full Schedule:

• Session 1: 21 October 2026 from 17:30 — 19:00
• Session 2: 23 October 2026 from 17:30 — 19:00
• Session F1: 31 October 2026 at 12:00 - 15:00

Syllabus

S1: General Introduction to LaTeX and it’s Academic Applications

This session introduces the concept of the LaTeX typesetter, why LaTeX is the preferred alternative to Microsoft Word and similar softwares, as well as the very core principles of how to use LaTeX and explore the customisability it offers. We will also go over the general structure of the workshop, important academic uses of LaTeX such as the usage of LaTeX for the writing of a thesis, a research paper, an academic report, etc. as well as introduce the concept of a LaTeX template which many institutions offer for their respective fields.

Core Concepts:

• Overleaf Account Creation
• Commands vs Environments
• Document Classes
• Importing external packages
• How to add a Table of Contents
• Text stylisation
• Bibliographies
• Referencing
• Custom Commands (also called Macros)
• Tables
• Cross-references
• Abstracts
• Beamer document class
• Report document class

Practice & Further Study:

• Additional practice can be found in the Problem Set
• Further resources can also be found on Overleaf’s documentation page

S2: Introduction to STEM-specific LaTeX

This session will tackle the aspects of LaTeX more valuable to engineering, physics, mathematics, and computer science students though it is still useful for chemistry and biology majors. We will go into the heart of what makes LaTeX infinitely better than Microsoft Word and other similar software.

Core Concepts:

• Inline Math vs Display Math
• Lists
• Numbered equations
• Adding figures
• Referencing figures
• Numbers and units
• The amsmath and massymb packages
• The siunitx package

Practice & Further Study:

• Additional practice can be found in the Problem Set
• Further resources can also be found on Overleaf’s documentation page

TrEd Track

The TrEd track is primarily designed for members of the Transformative Education (TrEd) team. It applies LaTeX to the team’s actual document workflow: proposals, reports, citation libraries, certificates, and notes, all built on the shared tred.sty package.

F1: LaTeX For Day-To-Day use in TrEd’s Workflow

This session will introduce the various applications of LaTeX in the day-to-day operations of the TrEd team, primarily focused on the Research/Writing subteam’s work.

Core Concepts:

• Using the tred.sty file in LaTeX.
• Custom commands for boilerplate
• Stylisation commands
• How to collaborate on an Overleaf file
• How to use/build the TrEd citation library.
• How to use the custom commands from the tred.sty file for opening remarks
• How to use LaTeX to automate changes and additions to certificates, thank-you letters, etc.
• How to use LaTeX to modernise and update notes from the TrEd Notes Cache
• How to use Chemfig

Practice & Further Study:

• Additional practice can be found in the Problem Set

Resources

1. “LaTeX For Everyone” session slides (which can be found in each session’s page)
2. Overleaf’s documentation page

Acknowledgments

This course would not be possible without the people who volunteered their time to teach it.

Session Leaders:

• Daniel Dia (CCE + Math)
• Jad Kanaan (Biology)

Organizational Support:

• AUB Math Society
• Cryptography Club
• Transformative Education (TrEd)

And to all participants who bring energy, curiosity, and dedication to making this learning community thrive.

For a complete list of contributors to the course materials, see our LaTeX For Everyone “Contributors” page.

License

LaTeX For Everyone by Daniel Dia, Jad Kanaan, and contributors is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.

This means you are free to:

• Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
• Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material

Under the following terms:

• Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made
• NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes
• ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license

For the complete license text, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode