5 Different LaTeX Template Tutorials using OverLeaf

Have you wondered how those books come out looking pretty with a perfect place for each letter? The one word is typesetting. Now imagine, that all the forms of documents you write come out looking like that. Be it an essay, CV/resumes, cover letters; all forms of documents included in academic and professional writing. There is one word to that – LaTeX.

LaTeX is the answer to solving formatting issues of regular editors. You would probably have faced formatting problems one time or another. Suddenly the heading of your post changes from Arial to some other font! Well, LaTeX to the rescue.

Now, if you have no idea what I am talking about and have just happened to come across this article while surfing the ocean called the world wide web. I suggest that you stop right here, take a quick look at this -> article (A simple guide to understanding LaTeX for all)  and come back to this position. Go on, I am waiting…

So now that you are back (if you ever left) let us get back to the topic. I used to face the same issues before I was introduced to LaTeX. Vary of what I was missing out, LaTeX has helped me take academic writing or writing itself (as a matter of fact) to the next level. I wrote my undergraduate thesis, internship reports, assignments etc using LaTeX.

 

 

 

  

How to LaTeX with OverLeaf – Segment

After an attempt at introducing LaTeX, I have decided to take it one notch further and go into the depths of LaTeX. Every week, I shall be releasing an article that teaches an aspect of LaTeX and how to start implementing it in your everyday college curriculum, the books you are writing or if you are simply trying to learn something new.

I will be using OverLeaf to run these written tutorials where we shall unleash a new part of LaTeX every week. The segment is called How to LaTeX with OverLeaf.

In this article, I will walk you through the 5 different LaTeX templates that you will use one day or another and provide a simple overview of how to use them and what they mean. I will simply introduce these templates, talk about what they can do and how to use them for maximum gain. These are the topics we will talk about.

Be sure to go through ‘Getting Started With Overleaf‘ and ‘Overview to OverLeaf‘ as they are connected to the other topics.

1. Getting Started With Overleaf

2. Overview of OverLeaf

3. Thesis

4. Cover Letter

5. CV/Resume

6. Presentation

7. Project Report/Essay

Overview of OverLeaf

By now you must have heard the word OverLeaf quite a few times. I have mentioned it in the title of the post, the introduction of the article and even in the first LaTeX article. So what is OverLeaf? I assume that now you know what LaTeX is (seeing the word sooo many times, I am sure it woke up the cat in you, if not see here). Well, OverLeaf makes learning and implementing LaTeX a hundred times easier.

Launched in 2012, OverLeaf vastly became popular and now has over three million users all over the world. It is an effort to ease the collaborative work between individuals working on similar projects. While creating documents you can add real-time collaborators and work with multiple individuals on projects.

OverLeaf being an online platform store can be accessed from anywhere while your data remains intact. Unlike the hustle of downloading the software, configuring it and then learning from scratch, OverLeaf provides users with a variety of pre-made templates which can help you kick-start your projects. As you go forward with learning LaTeX, these templates act as the perfect guides to go about learning the basic code.

The generic idea of LaTeX lies in simplifying the process of typesetting; writing equations, mathematical formulae, adding bibliography, writing books etc. Overleaf provides a variety of templates on writing a CV, resume, letters, books, presentations, posters, newsletter, thesis. I have used OverLeaf for writing my undergraduate thesis, resume, project reports etc and have to say it is the best out there.

Getting Started With Overleaf

But before we begin, hop over to OverLeaf and sign up for free so that we can work side by side at this.

• When you arrive at OverLeaf you will come across this page

 

 

• After you fill in your details, you will have made an account. Yes! It is as simple as that. After you are done making the account, you will come across this. Click on Create First Project and go to view all at the end of the line

 

 

• Clicking on view all will take you to the popular tags of OverLeaf. We will be focusing on the thesis, CV/Resume, presentation, homework assignment and letter templates for this article.

• When you go on the templates you will arrive at this page once you click ‘go to template’.
• The left-hand side contains the files in the template (red arrow). The middle section is the editor (green arrow) and the rightmost section (blue arrow) is the compiler.

 

 

• The first icon signifies ‘new file’, the second icon if for ‘new folder’ and the third icon is to upload any existing files.

 

 

 

 

• If you click on the ‘menu’ option you get this new window.

 

So now that you are done with this, let us begin our journey.

 

Thesis

• Writing a thesis is an essential part of every student’s life. It is the culmination of all the hard work, sleepless nights, tiresome days that you put into your work combined to become a single piece of documentation. OpenLeaf has a vast gallery filled with different templates provided by various individuals and university open for all.

• These Templates are easily editable and can be compiled in real time as you write the content. They are simple to use and understand. These are a few links to my personal favourites:
  • The Caltech Format: This is one of the best formats out there. Usually thesis formats differ from university to university, however, if yours does not define a specific format, you should look into this one. We will be looking at this format in detail.
  • The UC Berkley Template: This template is easy to navigate, edit and provide the most basic necessities any thesis might require.
  • The Cornell Template: Simple and basic this template provides the perfect outline that you can use for your thesis or even project reports.

• For this article we shall look into The Caltech Format:
  • caltech_thesis.cls is the class of LaTeX which defines the structure of the document. The class is loaded via \documentclass{…} command and is called in .tex files of the document. It is responsible for the formatting of documents and calls upon the functionality of LaTeX.
  • Example.bib is where the bibliography of the post is stored. It connects all the citations of the document.
  • The .tex files contain plain text and are compatible with any editor. They contain the structure of the documents. This is where you write the introduction, abstract, chapters; all of it.

 

 

Cover Letter

• Cover letters are essential to any form of application. When applying for jobs, internships, colleges, a position of volunteering, cover letters have a huge role to play. They are essentially the guiding point towards your CV. I have written an article on writing cover letters, click here to have a look.

• OpenLeaf offers a variety of templates. They even might have one specific to your university or college. These are one of the most basic templates available on OpenLeaf:
  • German Latex Letter Template: We will look into this template in detail. It is simple and formal.
  • Carta de motivación/presentación: This is a small variation of the template above.

• For this article, we will focus on ‘the varied language’ format. Available in English and German this format is extremely simple:
  • The varied language form contains just a .tex file which defines its structure and is used to edit the content in it.
  • As explained in the previous article, this format too has the same layout.

 

 

CV/Resume

• Writing a CV/Resume is more or less an art. It is a window to your career and showcases your best abilities. Summarising your projects, education, experiences, skills, a CV/resume has to be simple to go through and must be written well. I have posted an article on writing a CV and you should check it out if you want to know the tips and tricks to learn the art.

• The variety of templates are provided by OverLeaf which can step up your game. These templates are ‘pretty’, easy to navigate, professional and can really help you in your career. In this section, we will be addressing CV and Resume separately.

• CV

• The CV is a detailed document that entails to your experiences, jobs, internships, skill set. It is usually longer than two pages. We will look at three CV formats which you can use:
  • Your new CV: This CV is plain and is uncomplicated. Easy to follow and edit, you can effortlessly move through this template.
  • Curriculum Vitae: This is the format we will have a look in detail at.
  • Deedy CV: One of the most popular LaTeX articles you should definitely look at this.

 





 
• For this article, we will focus on the second template ‘Curriculum Vitae’. This article is good to look at, easy to glance at and well organised. It consists of just one file:
  • The .tex file defines the structure of the format. The layout of the editor is the same as in the previous examples.
  • The main.tex file starts with your name, contact information and with a brief introduction to your interests.
  • It then starts with previous employment but I feel that you should include education before that especially if you are a student.
  • You should check out the template ‘CV for Freshers’ if you are just starting out.

 

 

• Resume

• Now, moving on to Resume. A resume is a shorter more crisp version of a CV. It is a brief summary to your career and should be about one to one and a half page maximum. Many of the OverLeaf resume templates let you put in just one page. A few of my favourite templates are:
  • Entry Level Resume Template: If you need some infographics in your resume this can be the template for you.
  • Deedy resume: This is one of my favourites and we will be looking into this in detail.
  • Resume: This resume is simple with a splash of colour

• We will go through the ‘Deedy’ format for this article. It is simple, pleasant on the eyes and easy to view:
  • It contains a .cls class which provides structure to the resume. It lists out the colours, fonts, styles; the basic formatting of the resume.
  • The .tex file is responsible for the content of the resume and is where you will do the editing.

 

 

Presentation

• You must have made a presentation at least once in your career or even as a student. They are the perfect way of expressing your work to an audience. How many times have these presentations left you wary due to the sudden change in the format when you shift it to another device.

• I have faced this issue timelessly and was rather frustrated by it. But thankfully, LaTeX helped me solve this issue. Professional presentations should not be overwhelmingly colourful but they should be simple, easy to understand and should not have too much going on in a single slide.

• OpenLeaf allows you to do just that. It has a vast array of presentation templates that you can use to make one of your own. These are perfect for any college work, are professional to look at and credibility to your work. Some of my favourite formats are:
  • Presentation template: This is one of the most basic templates you will find for LaTeX and can be seen used by many for professional presentations. We will talk in detail about this presentation template.
  • The second theme: This theme also comes in the category of basic LaTeX presentation templates and is simple to navigate.
  • Beamer template: Now this is a little different from the previous one. It is a little more vibrant and colourful comparatively but still displays the professionalism that a presentation should show.

• For this article let us look at the ‘presentation template’. This template is pleasing to look at, easy to comprehend and follow.
  • This layout has just a .tex file and comes in the ‘Beamer’ class of templates.
  • This template covers the basics of making a presentation and includes how to include paragraphs, block titles, bullet points, pages, cover page, overview etc.
  • Instead of scrolling through the internet you can look at these basics of going about the code for making a presentation.

 

 

Project Report/Essay

• Every student whether in college or still in school has written project reports. In fact, even employees have had to write project reports. They need to be professional looking, easy to read and should flow like water. This is what LaTeX enables us to do.

• Using OverLeaf now we shall move on to looking at the project report templates that it has to offer. Some of my favourites are:
  • University Assignment: This format of writing a project report is universal. We will look at this format in detail.
  • ACM Template: I really like this template. It brings out academic writing and is a variation of the norm still keeping the professional quality intact.
  • The rapportECL Template: This format is a little similar to the university assignment template but has some unique features of its own.

• This section will focus on the introduction of ‘university assignment template’. It is one of the most basic article templates of LaTeX which you can edit as per your likes:
  • It consists of a .tex file which gives structure to the template.
  • You can add chapters and link them to the .tex files which will enable you to organise your template (More about this on next weeks tutorial)

 

 

Now, as I mentioned earlier, this is a segment on working called How to LaTeX with OverLeaf and is the first part of the series which will be released every Friday for the coming month. Next week we shall discover the basics of LaTeX code and how to get started with your very own project.

Subscribe to the list to get updates as soon as a blog post is launched and to get free goodies every week. If you are one of my returning champs who has already joined me on my journey you must have already received the goodies by now (a plus point of being one of my champs!).

Some of my blog posts which can help you out are:

• 7 Best Steps to Write a Cover Letter for Research Internships
• A Simple Guide to Understanding LaTeX for All
• How to Write Undergraduate CV for Internships
• 5 Steps towards a Research Internship for Students with No Experience

Thank you so much for joining me on my adventure! Do comment below if you have any doubts or send me a message if you want to get in touch with me! See you in my inbox 😀

 

Name

Email

Thank you!