Bring your draft

When you need this page: If you have a draft

For anyone with a draft in Word, Google Docs, Markdown, or LaTeX: you do not have to start over. Get the sample compiling first (get started) and keep your original untouched. Move one small section first, to meet any surprises early. Then go one chapter at a time, compiling after each. Moving a section or a table? Paste it into Convert to LaTeX for a first pass.

Where do you start?

• Word or Google Docs: From Word or Google Docs
• Markdown: From Markdown
• A LaTeX paper (IEEE, ACM, Elsevier): From a LaTeX paper
• RPI's official LaTeX template: From RPI's official LaTeX template
• Your own LaTeX thesis project: Use just the class

What goes where

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In words: from Word or Google Docs, text pastes in while equations, tables, and citations are rebuilt. Markdown needs them checked and mostly converted; a LaTeX paper keeps most of them. The title page, contents, lists, and page numbers are built for you.

From Word or Google Docs

In Google Docs, copy the text, or choose File → Download → Microsoft Word.

1. Convert one section: paste it into Convert to LaTeX. It turns headings, bold and italics, lists, links, special characters, and tables into LaTeX, and lists what it left for you. By hand instead: headings become \chapter{...}, \section{...}, or \subsection{...}; footnotes become \footnote{...}; italics become \emph{...}; and special characters get a backslash: % → \%, & → \&, _ → \_, $ → \$, # → \#.
2. Paste the LaTeX into a chapter file (add a chapter).
3. Rebuild what doesn't paste (quotations, equations, tables, figures, cross-references, citations) from writing basics and chapters/02-research.tex. Use \label and \ref, not "see Figure 3".
4. References: export your Zotero library, or paste entries into references.bib.

A long .docx? Pandoc can make a rough first pass.

From Markdown

Markdown marks text with symbols, such as **bold** and ## Heading; LaTeX uses commands, such as \textbf{bold} and \section{Heading}. Most of a Markdown draft carries over once each symbol becomes its command. Neither route below changes your original file.

• In your browser, nothing to install: paste a section into Convert to LaTeX, which reads Markdown too.
• One short section by hand: move it by hand.
• A longer draft: use Pandoc, then clean up its output.

Move a section by hand

1. Copy the text into a chapter file, below its \chapter{...} and \label{...} lines (add a chapter). If your draft starts with # Title, use that title in the existing \chapter{...} and leave out the # Title line when pasting the text.
2. Change the Markdown symbols to commands, using the table below.
3. Put a backslash before special characters in ordinary text: % → \%, & → \&, _ → \_, # → \#, and $ → \$ unless it starts or ends math.
4. Compile. Fix the first error before moving the next section.

Optional: convert a long draft with Pandoc

Pandoc (opens in a new tab) is a free program that converts Markdown or Word (.docx) files. It saves typing but does not make a finished chapter. It runs in a terminal (a text window for commands). Prefer not to use one? For Markdown, use the by-hand route; for Word or Google Docs, use From Word or Google Docs.

Tip: installing Pandoc and running terminal commands is where an AI chat helps most. Never paste confidential or unpublished material, and keep your original to compare (more). Try:

I use [Windows/macOS/Linux]. Walk me through installing Pandoc and converting my-chapter.md into LaTeX chapter content for this thesis template. Tell me what to check afterwards.

1. Install Pandoc from its installation page (opens in a new tab). You can convert on your computer even if you compile on Overleaf.
2. Open a terminal in your file's folder: Terminal on macOS or Linux; PowerShell or Command Prompt on Windows (how (opens in a new tab)).
3. Run one command, replacing the input and output names and keeping the quotes. It writes a new .tex file beside your original; pick another output name if that file exists.

For Markdown:

pandoc "my-chapter.md" --to=latex --biblatex --top-level-division=chapter -o "my-chapter.tex"

For Word:

pandoc "my-draft.docx" --to=latex --extract-media=figures -o "my-draft.tex"

The --extract-media=figures part saves the images in figures/media/, next to where you run the command. Move that folder into the thesis figures/ folder, or run the command from the thesis folder with the draft path in quotes.

The result is a rough first pass: body text, no document setup or title page. From Word, headings usually arrive as \section, so add the \chapter yourself. Open the new .tex file before copying anything, and check:

• Headings: one \chapter{...} per file, in CAPITALS. For a single section, keep the existing chapter heading.
• Equations: change \[ ... \] to the numbered equation example, with a unique \label.
• Tables and figures: rebuild from the table and figure examples. Images go in figures/.
• Citations and cross-references: every key must be in references.bib; use \ref, not typed numbers.

Copy the cleaned content into your chapter file, with no second chapter heading. Compile, fix the first error, then compare every equation, table, figure, and citation with the original. Once a chapter is in LaTeX, edit the .tex; changes do not flow back.

If the converted file does not compile: common Pandoc fixes

Paste the first error and the lines around it into an AI chat or a web search, plus what you were converting.

• \tightlist undefined: delete that line. The list around it stays.
• longtable undefined: copy the cells into the template's table example and remove the generated \noalign{}, \endhead, and \endlastfoot lines.
• \pandocbounded undefined: use the template's \includegraphics example with your image's path.
• Citations: --biblatex turns [@key] into \autocite{key} and @key into \textcite{key}; both work here (Pandoc's citation syntax (opens in a new tab)).
• A printed tilde before a reference: Pandoc writes a literal ~ as \textasciitilde. Change it back to ~, as in Figure~\ref{fig:my-plot}.
• Other undefined commands: use the starter's example for that part, not another document's packages.

--top-level-division=chapter makes # a \chapter and ## a \section. Leave out --standalone: you need chapter content, not a second complete document. More options: the Pandoc manual (opens in a new tab).

Example: Markdown, converted LaTeX, and the finished page

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In words: headings, bold, italics, and citations become LaTeX commands; a display equation goes in an equation environment so it gets a number.

From a LaTeX paper (IEEE, ACM, Elsevier)

Text, equations, figures, labels, and \cite keys usually carry over.

1. Start a chapter file with \chapter{...} and copy the paper's body below it.
2. Delete the venue's front matter and formatting: \maketitle, author blocks, keywords, and commands such as \IEEEPARstart, \ccsdesc, or Elsevier's frontmatter. Change figure* and table* to figure and table.
3. Paste the paper's .bib entries into references.bib (keys must be unique), and delete \bibliographystyle and \bibliography.
4. Copy the images into figures/, fix the \includegraphics paths, and add any extra packages to preamble.tex.
5. Add \include{chapters/your-chapter-file} to main.tex where the chapter belongs, as in the chapter recipe.
6. Compile, then add the chapter attribution and any permission statements your publisher's terms require.

Paper used \citep or \citet? Add natbib=true to the biblatex options in preamble.tex, or switch to \parencite and \textcite. Two papers reuse a label such as fig:results? Prefix each chapter's labels (ch3:fig:results).

From RPI's official LaTeX template

Your chapters, figures, tables, equations, labels, and citations mostly carry over. Copy each old chapter into a new file in chapters/, include it from main.tex, then update:

Already have a .bib file? Copy it in as references.bib and choose your style.

Already have a LaTeX thesis? Use just the class

Keep your own project and take only the formatting. Put rpi-thesis.cls next to your main file, then make the top of that file follow this shape (your packages go after the \documentclass line; drop any margin, spacing, or title-page code of your own, since the class handles it):

\documentclass{rpi-thesis}
\usepackage{csquotes}  % \enquote and quotation support, as in the starter
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=numeric,sorting=none]{biblatex}  % your style
\addbibresource{references.bib}
\thesissetup{
  title = {Your thesis title},
  author = {Your full name},
  degree = doctoral,   % or masters, engineering-doctorate
  department = {Department of Your Full Department Name},
  graduation-month = May,
  graduation-year = {2027},
}
\committeemember[Chair]{Your committee chair}
\committeemember{Committee member two}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\thesisfrontmatter
\frontchapter{ABSTRACT}
Your abstract.
\thesismainmatter
\chapter{INTRODUCTION}
Your chapters, or \include lines for them.
\thesisreferences
\end{document}

The biblatex line is the starter's: references numbered in the order you first cite them. Already use a citation style? Keep your own biblatex line instead. The class still puts one blank line between references (tested with numeric, APA, MLA, and Chicago author-date); check your PDF with any other style (citations).

Compile it (save in your editor, or click Recompile on Overleaf; both run the bibliography step for you), and compare with the settings list if something is missing. From RPI's official template, the section above maps its settings one by one.

Still drafting? Make the move easy

Many people draft elsewhere and bring each chapter into LaTeX once it is stable (where to draft). It goes smoothly if you:

• move one small section early, long before a deadline;
• write citation keys, such as \parencite{lamport1994} (or [@lamport1994] in Markdown), with the key from Zotero (citations);
• keep equations, tables, and cross-references simple, or mark them [EQ], [TABLE], [FIG], since they are rebuilt anyway.

Drafting directly in LaTeX is equally fine.

Then keep going

Compile after each chapter. When something breaks, it is almost always the last thing you pasted; see fixing problems. Next, writing basics covers figures, tables, equations, and cross-references.

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