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.

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Course Details:

• Primary Instructors & Organizers:
  • Daniel Dia (dmd13@mail.aub.edu)
  • Jad Kanaan (jhk22@mail.aub.edu)
• Organizations: AUB Math Society and Transformative Education (TrEd)
• Target Audience: Literally everyone!
• Duration: 2 Weeks (3 core sessions + 2 track sessions, 90-120 minutes each)
• Term: Monday 19 October — Friday 30 October 2026
• Format: Hybrid (in-person sessions, live streamed and recorded)
• Prerequisites: None (of course not!)
• Last Updated: September 4, 2026

Quick access to materials and important links:

S1 | S2 | S3 | E1 | E2 | F1 Problem Sets

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 three core sessions and the two elective sessions as part of two distinct tracks.

Full Schedule:

• Session 1: 19 October 2026 from 17:30 — 19:00
• Session 2: 21 October 2026 from 17:30 — 19:00
• Session 3: 23 October 2026 from 17:30 — 19:00
• Session E1/F1: 29 October 2026 at 13:00 — 14:30 & 31 October 2026 at 12:00 - 15:00 respectively
• Session E2: 30 October 2026 at 13:00 — 14:30

Syllabus

S1: General Introduction to LaTeX

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.

Core Concepts:

• Overleaf Account Creation
• Commands vs Environments
• Document Classes
• Importing external packages
• How to add a Table of Contents
• Text stylisation

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 Academic LaTeX

This session will tackle 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:

• 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

S3: 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

STEM Track

The STEM track is for students in mathematics, computer science, physics, and engineering. It builds directly on the final project from Session 3 and covers the tools those disciplines need that the core sessions did not: theorem environments and proofs, the full multi-line equation toolkit, professional notation, and native diagrams, plots, and code.

E1: Theorems, Derivations, and Notation

This session covers the mathematical machinery of LaTeX: theorem and proof environments, multi-line equation environments, matrices, piecewise definitions, mathematical fonts, custom operators, physics-style notation, and smart(er) cross-references in LaTeX.

Core Concepts:

• Theorem, lemma, and definition environments with amsthm; proofs and QED placement
• The align family: align, gather, split, multline
• Piecewise definitions with cases; matrices
• Maths fonts (\mathbb, \mathcal, \mathbf, bm) and custom operators with \DeclareMathOperator
• Derivatives, vectors, and bra-kets with the physics package
• Smart cross-referencing with cleveref

Practice & Further Study:

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

E2: Diagrams, Plots, and Code

This session covers everything in a STEM document that is not prose or equations: drawing diagrams directly in LaTeX with TikZ, plotting functions and data files with pgfplots, commutative diagrams, and typesetting source code and pseudocode.

Core Concepts:

• TikZ fundamentals: paths, nodes, relative positioning, reusable styles
• Flowcharts, automata, and block diagrams
• Plotting functions and .csv data files with pgfplots
• Commutative diagrams with tikz-cd
• Source code with listings (and when to use minted)
• Pseudocode with algorithm2e

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

Requirements & Policies

Problem Sets

There are four required problem sets, each covering roughly one session’s worth of material. You are specifically required to complete the 3 core assignments (covering sessions 1, 2, and 3), as well as one assignment from your chosen track.

See the Problem Sets page for the full policy.

Attendance & Recordings

All sessions are recorded and posted within 48 hours. Problem sets are handed in digitally via email to the instructor responsible for that particular problem set.

Certification

Participation is open to all, but certification is reserved only for those who demonstrate proficiency.

Certificate of Distinction:

• Attend the 3 core LaTeX For Everyone sessions
• Attend 2 sessions from your track of choice
• Hand in and pass at least 2 of the 3 required core problem sets
• Hand in and pass the required track problem set

Honors mention is awarded at the instructor’s discretion to the strongest performers in the cohort.

Note: depending on the student’s performance and personal circumstances, some requirements may be modified or dropped. This applies especially to our high school participants, whose schedules do not align with ours.

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
• 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