LaTeX is a document preparation system/graphical operating system which is ideally suited for you if you want to produce your thesis in to a high typographical quality. It can be used for almost any form of document that you want to produce such as assignments, project reports, questionnaires…etc.
LaTeX is not a word processor. It is a document mark-up language. You just create a plain text file, in a text editor, with the extension .tex, and then produce an output file that converts your source text, combined with the markup language into a high quality document. You don’t need to do any manual graphic designing or formatting as you do when using word processors. LaTeX is widely used by scientists, engineers and other academics, because it makes it easy to typeset any complex mathematical formulae.
Below is an example of a simple LaTeX document in its plain text form and the final PDF output.
Example .tex
Final output
BibTeX generates and formats your bibliography in a LaTeX document.
LaTeX Includes features for you to easily cite references and create bibliographies in your document. The examples below show you how to do this using a separate BibTeX file to store the details of your references. Your BibTeX file extension is .bib and it should contain all the references that you cite in your document. The .bib file is plain text and it can only be edited using Notepad or your LaTeX editor.
BibTeX example:
You should enter your references in the BibTeX file in the following format. Each reference starts with the document type.
@Book{<user-generated citation key>,
Citation key is a unique identifier for a given reference. BibTeX scans your document for occurrences of a cite command with a citation key embedded in it, and translates it into a formatted reference.You can use anything you want as the citation key, but it is recommended that you choose something systematic that can easily differentiate between publications. Eg: First author's name and the year of publication.
Example .bib file
Using other reference management programs with BibTeX
RefWorks, EndNote, Mendeley, JabRef and many other reference management programs can export existing records to your BibTeX file in BibTeX format. With this facility you can get your references exported to your BibTeX file very easily without entering/editing them manually.
The steps below will assist you to export references from EndNote to BibTeX file:
6. Click "Save" button and the EndNote will create the BibTeX file for you
The following commands will insert the bibliography in your .tex document.
\bibliographystyle{stylenamecite}
\bibliography{bibliography name}
APA example:
\bibliographystyle{apacite}
\bibliography{Bibliography}
See below example to see where it is placed within the source text.
UNSW theses templates
UNSW hosts a mirror of CTAN. The UNSW theses templates on CTAN website do almost all the formatting work for you. Please also visit unswcover page for more help
Websites
Useful Documents
Talbot, N. L. C. 2013. Using LaTeX to write a PhD thesis: version 1.3
Pumphrey, H. C. 2009. Typesetting your MSc dissertation using LaTeX
Stitz, T. Using BibTeX: LaTeX Workshop 7
Pößnecker, W. 2013. A gentle introduction to LaTeX (bibliography)
Videos
Installing LaTeX/MiKTeX and Texmaker on a Windows 7 System (Version 2014)
LaTeX tutorial: How to cite references/paper/articles in LateX. 2011
Books
