Writing basics

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Once the sample compiles (get started), this is all you need to write. You type ordinary text plus a few commands, short instructions that start with a backslash, \, and the class file (rpi-thesis.cls) handles the layout. Compile after each small change, so you always know what broke. Prefer paper? Print the one-page cheat sheet.

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The 10 commands you'll actually use

Command	What it does	Example
`\chapter{...}`	Starts a chapter; the number is added for you	`\chapter{INTRODUCTION}`
`\section{...}`	Starts a section (`\subsection` goes one level down)	`\section{Research question}`
A blank line	Starts a new paragraph	Leave one empty line between paragraphs
`\emph{...}`	Emphasis, in italics (`\textbf{...}` gives bold)	`\emph{not}`
`\parencite{...}`	Cites a source from `references.bib`, in parentheses or brackets (`\textcite` puts the author in the sentence)	`\parencite{lamport1994}`
`\label{...}` and `\ref{...}`	Names something, then prints its number	`Figure~\ref{fig:plot}`
`figure`	A figure with its caption	See add a figure
`table`	A table with its caption	See edit a table
`equation`	A numbered equation	See equations
`%`	Starts a note LaTeX ignores	`% check this number`

To print a special character, put a backslash before it: \&, \%, \_, \$, \#. Keep every { paired with a }, and use ~ to keep "Figure" on the same line as its number. That's most of a thesis; the rest is your writing.

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In words: commands start with \, braces hold their text, \begin and \end wrap a block (an environment), % starts a note, and a blank line starts a paragraph.

Paragraphs and headings

Separate paragraphs with one blank line, not \\ or extra blank lines.

\chapter{INTRODUCTION}
\label{chap:introduction}

This is my first paragraph, with a \textbf{bold} word and an \emph{italic} one.

This is another paragraph.

\section{Research question}
\subsection{Context}

LaTeX numbers headings and builds the contents, so never type the numbers. Use at most four levels (\chapter to \subsubsection).

Capitalization. OGE asks for one consistent case per kind of heading (manual §2.3). The starter types chapter and appendix titles in CAPITALS, to match CONTENTS and REFERENCES (another case). For sections and captions, pick sentence case ("Results of the field study") or title case ("Results of the Field Study"), and never mix them.

Chapters

In words: a new file, one \include line in main.tex, then compile. The order of the \include lines sets the chapter numbers, not the file names.

Create a new file, e.g. chapters/04-discussion.tex, containing only this:
```
\chapter{TITLE}
\label{chap:short-name}

Your first paragraph.
```
Do not copy a finished chapter: its figure, table, and equation labels would repeat, and every label must be unique.
Replace TITLE and short-name.
Add \include{chapters/04-discussion} to main.tex where it belongs.

To hide a chapter, put % at the start of its \include line.

Cross-references

Give anything you point at a \label{...} and refer to it with \ref{...}; never type a figure, table, chapter, or page number by hand. Put the label after the heading, after \caption for a figure or table, or inside the equation, and give each label a unique name.

As Figure~\ref{fig:my-plot} shows, … (see Equation~\eqref{eq:line}).

A chapter file has the sentence As Figure~\ref{fig:my-plot} shows, and below it a figure whose \caption is followed by \label{fig:my-plot}. The name fig:my-plot is marked in both places: the same name links them. After compiling, the PDF reads As Figure 2.1 shows, and the caption below the picture reads Figure 2.1: Plot of yields. Never type the number: LaTeX fills it in, and renumbers it when chapters or figures move.

In words: the same name in \label and \ref; compile, and both show the figure's number.

Seeing ?? instead of a number, or a citation key in bold? Compile again; if it stays, check that the names match exactly. More in bold keys and question marks and fixing problems.

Cite a source

Add the source to references.bib, by exporting from Zotero or pasting an entry (citations and references).
Find its key, the word after @book{ or @article{ in that entry.
Cite it where you need it, then compile. Use \parencite for a citation in parentheses and \textcite when the author is part of the sentence:
```
An earlier study describes this approach~\parencite{your-key}.
\textcite{your-key} describe this approach in detail.
```
Replace your-key with the key from your source's entry. Check how your style prints both (the citation commands).

Only sources you cite appear in the reference list; to check your references.bib for missing fields or repeated keys, use Check your references. Agree on a citation style with your advisor first (agree on a style), because the style decides what each command prints.

Quote a source

For a short quotation inside a sentence, use \enquote{...}; it prints curly quotation marks that face the right way, and typed " marks do not. Set a long quotation apart with quote (or quotation for several paragraphs); the class single-spaces it (OGE manual §2.1). Your citation style says how long a quotation must be to set apart.

As one participant said, \enquote{the forms took longer than the work}, and
others agreed.

\begin{quote}
  A long quotation goes here, on its own lines, followed by its
  citation~\parencite[23]{lamport1994}.
\end{quote}

The optional [23] is a page locator: it prints the page number inside the citation, for example [1, p. 23] in the sample style. See the citation commands.

Figures and tables

A sketch of a thesis page. The table caption sits above the table and the figure caption below the figure, both in bold with a colon after the number. An equation has its number on the same line at the right margin, and a two-line equation has one centered number. The list of figures repeats the full caption word for word, so there is no short caption.

In words: table captions above, figure captions below, equation numbers on the same line; the lists repeat each full caption.

Mention every figure and table in your text. [htbp] lets LaTeX place each one where it fits, so it may move to the next page. That is normal.

Add a figure

Put the image (PNG, JPG, or PDF) in the figures/ folder, for example figures/my-plot.png.
Paste this after the paragraph that first mentions the figure. The caption goes below the image, and \label comes after \caption:
```
\begin{figure}[htbp]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{figures/my-plot}
  \caption{Your full caption, ending with a period.}
  \label{fig:my-plot}
\end{figure}
```
The file extension (.png, .jpg, .pdf) is optional. This fits images that are wider than tall. For a tall (portrait) image, such as a scanned page, a phone photo, or a tall map, use this line instead so the image and its caption fit on one page:
```
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth,height=0.7\textheight,keepaspectratio]{figures/my-scan}
```
Refer to it in your text: Figure~\ref{fig:my-plot} shows …
Compile, and check that the figure is legible.

A plot, photo, map, scanned artwork, or architectural drawing all use these same examples. For a flowchart, see draw a diagram; for a chart from data or another image format, see export a chart or convert an image. Credit material that is not yours (permissions).

Edit a table

Start from the sample table in chapters/02-research.tex. The caption goes above the table, and \label comes after \caption:

\begin{table}[htbp]
  \centering
  \caption{Your full caption, ending with a period.}
  \label{tab:my-table}
  \begin{tabular}{lr}
    \toprule
    Group & Value \\
    \midrule
    A & 12 \\
    B & 18 \\
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}
\end{table}

{lr} has one letter per column: l left, c centered, r right. Add a letter to add a column, and delete a letter and its cells to remove one.
& moves to the next column, and \\ ends the row.
Tables can hold words too. For text that should wrap, use p{5cm} instead of l; for a heading over two columns, write \multicolumn{2}{c}{Heading}.
In a cell, &, %, _, #, and $ need a backslash: R\&D, 50\%.
Refer to it with Table~\ref{tab:my-table}.

Have the data in a spreadsheet? Copy the cells into Convert to LaTeX: it writes the whole table, caption and label included, in your browser. More routes: make a table from a spreadsheet.

Example: a table of words, with a wrapped column and a merged heading

Replace the tabular part of the sample with this.

\begin{tabular}{lp{5cm}r}
  \toprule
  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{From 30 interviews} \\
  \cmidrule{2-3}
  Theme & Typical comment & People \\
  \midrule
  Cost & This longer comment wraps onto a second line inside its column. & 12 \\
  Access & R\&D staff, 50\% of site \#3 & 18 \\
  \bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Too wide for the page?

Nothing may run into the margins. width=\linewidth keeps an image inside them sideways; the height limit in add a figure keeps a tall image on its page. For a wide table, wrap long text in p{} columns, shorten headings (explain abbreviations in the caption), drop columns you don't need, or split it into two tables. Keep the text the same size as in your other tables rather than shrinking it. An Overfull \hbox message points to anything still too wide (common messages).

As a last resort, add \usepackage{rotating} to preamble.tex and use sidewaystable or sidewaysfigure for a landscape page. For a table longer than a page, uncomment the longtable line in preamble.tex and put \caption in its first row. Check the page numbers and captions afterwards.

Use one full caption, not a short one

Write \caption{Your full caption.}, never \caption[Short]{Long}: OGE expects the lists to match the captions word for word. A long caption is fine. Sentence-case captions end with a period. The optional build helper flags short captions.

Reproduced figures and permissions

A figure or table from someone else's work (or your own published paper) needs the full citation and a permission or license statement in its caption (see chapters/02-research.tex):

With permission: "Reproduced from [full citation], with permission from [publisher]." Add any notice your permission document requires.
Creative Commons or open access: "Reproduced from [full citation] under the CC BY 4.0 license." Name the exact license.

\fullcite{key} prints the full citation in the styles listed in print a full reference; MLA and Chicago author-date need a setup there, and ACS shortens long author lists. Check the printed caption. Keep permission emails or license text, and follow OGE's current instructions for the permissions appendix (submitting). With a numbered citation style, also check delayed figures and tables.

Equations

Inline math goes between dollar signs: $x = 2$ . For displayed equations, OGE expects:

Every displayed equation numbered (except within lemmas, theorems, proofs, and algorithms). Use equation, not equation* or \[ … \].
The number on the same line (see the picture in figures and tables).

A numbered equation, referred to as Equation~\eqref{eq:line}:

\begin{equation}
  y = mx + b
  \label{eq:line}
\end{equation}

If the number drops below a long equation, use split to break it over several lines with one centered number:

\begin{equation}
  \begin{split}
    (a + b)^2 &= (a + b)(a + b) \\
              &= a^2 + 2ab + b^2
  \end{split}
  \label{eq:square}
\end{equation}

\\ ends a line, and & marks where the lines line up. \eqref{...} prints the number in parentheses.

For a matrix, use pmatrix or bmatrix; for a definition by cases, use cases. The class already loads amsmath, the package (add-on) that provides them. Prefer clicking an equation together? See write an equation.

Chapters based on published papers

If a chapter reuses your own published, accepted, or submitted article, OGE expects an attribution statement on its first page, even if you wrote the article alone.

Put \chapterattribution{...} directly below the chapter's \chapter and \label lines. It prints as an unnumbered note at the foot of the page.
Start with the wording for your article's status (OGE manual §2.8, Table 2.1; every variant is in the comment at the top of chapters/02-research.tex), then add the full citation with \fullcite{key}:
```
\chapterattribution{Portions of this chapter have previously appeared as:
  \fullcite{my-article}.}
```
Co-authored article? Also list it on the Declaration of Co-Contribution. A published article you wrote alone needs the attribution but not the declaration (OGE manual §2.8.1). Whether that also holds for a sole-authored paper that is submitted or under review but not yet published is not confirmed (needs OGE confirmation). Check OGE's current checklist or ask OGE.

Optional sections

To drop the acknowledgments or appendices, follow the comments in main.tex.
If you have no tables (or no figures) anywhere, including appendices, set list-of-tables (or list-of-figures) to false in metadata.tex.
Keep the abstract and the contents.

Helpers for common tasks

Free web tools and AI assistants can do the fiddly parts, such as turning a table, an equation, or a sketch into code, so you spend your time on the thesis, not the syntax. What you keep is plain, editable files. Every helper is optional, everything here also works by hand, and they are independent third-party services whose terms can change.

I need to...	Start here
Turn pasted text, or spreadsheet cells, into LaTeX	Convert to LaTeX, on this site
Edit a table's layout cell by cell	Tables Generator
Build an equation by clicking	Equation editor
Find a symbol I can draw	Detexify
Make a flowchart or schematic	Diagram tools
Add a chart from research data	Export a plot
Include source code	Code listing example
Convert a document or image file	Conversion help
Get unstuck on a tricky technical step	An AI assistant

Make a table from a spreadsheet

Use Tables Generator (opens in a new tab) to turn spreadsheet cells into an editable LaTeX table.

Spreadsheet cells with three rows become a LaTeX tabular snippet, which prints as a table with its caption above it.

Paste your cells into its grid, or use File → Import CSV or Excel file. Remove unused rows and columns there.
Optional: pick the booktabs style to match the sample, and give a long-text column a width so it wraps. Don't scale the table to fit.
Copy only the lines from \begin{tabular} to \end{tabular} and paste them over the tabular part of the template's table, keeping its \caption above and its \label.
booktabs is already loaded; put any other \usepackage line it lists in preamble.tex.

Keep the output as tabular for this route; tabularx or multipage tables need other code (wide and multipage tables). To put LaTeX in a cell on purpose, such as $x^2$ , untick Escape special characters.

Write an equation

Use LaTeXEditor.app (opens in a new tab) to build an equation by clicking symbols, fractions, matrices, or a system of equations.

A handwritten or clicked-together equation becomes LaTeX source, which prints as a numbered equation with its number at the right margin.

In a sentence: paste it between dollar signs, $...$ .
On its own line: paste it into the numbered equation example, before \label, or inside split for several lines with one number. Leave out any $, $$, \[, or \] around the code, and keep equation, not equation*, so it stays numbered.
Undefined command? The editor's preview knows commands your thesis may not have loaded. Chemistry such as \ce{H2O} needs \usepackage[version=4]{mhchem} in preamble.tex; compile to check.

Find a symbol's command

Use Detexify (opens in a new tab) when you can draw a symbol but do not know its LaTeX command.

A hand-drawn nabla symbol is matched to the command \nabla, which prints as the symbol.

Draw one symbol, pick the match, and copy its command. If it names a package, add \usepackage{...} to preamble.tex; amssymb and amsfonts are already covered by the class. For a whole handwritten equation, rebuild it in the equation editor instead.

Draw a diagram

Use draw.io (opens in a new tab) to arrange shapes and arrows into flowcharts, concept maps, timelines, or schematics.

A rough sketch of boxes and arrows is redrawn in draw.io and exported, becoming a clean diagram in the thesis, with its caption below it.

Save the editable file in figures/, such as figures/my-diagram.drawio.
Export a PDF next to it (File → Export as → PDF, with Crop ticked so no blank page surrounds the drawing). PNG works too.
Write figures/my-diagram in \includegraphics (add a figure) and compile. Check that the labels are readable at the printed size.

Export as PDF uses draw.io's server (opens in a new tab), which draw.io says deletes the diagram once the PDF is returned. To keep it on your computer, use the draw.io desktop app, or export a PNG or SVG, and check the result. File → Print with Crop and Save as PDF also stays local, but Crop there is not supported in Safari, and this route has not been tested here; if the PDF has blank margins, use another route.

Want a mathematical drawing as TikZ code? Mathcha (opens in a new tab) can export it: add \usepackage{tikz} to preamble.tex and check that it compiles.

Export a chart or convert an image

For a chart, keep the spreadsheet or plotting code and the original data, and export a PDF where possible, or a PNG, for the figure example. Check axes, units, and legends against the data, and use the data file rather than reconstructing values from a screenshot.

Have an SVG or another image format? Export PDF or PNG from the app that made it; renaming the file does not convert it. Keep photos and scans sharp enough for print, and inspect labels and cropping afterwards. Need the steps? Describe the conversion you want.

Ask an AI assistant

For the tricky technical bits, an AI assistant that accepts images can turn a table screenshot, a photo of a handwritten equation, or a rough sketch into editable code, and can explain a compile error; follow up in plain words ("make the first column wider"). It is for technical help only, never for writing your thesis. Prompts you can copy:

Convert this table into LaTeX. Preserve every value and heading. Flag unclear cells instead of guessing.

Transcribe this equation into LaTeX without simplifying it. Preserve signs, subscripts, superscripts, and grouping. Flag anything unclear.

Turn this sketch into an editable diagram. Preserve the labels and arrow directions. List anything ambiguous.

Fix this formatting problem with the smallest change. Preserve my content and the thesis template's formatting. Explain where to paste the correction.

Before you use the result, compare every table cell, equation symbol, and diagram label with the original (a clean compile doesn't prove it is right), paste only the table, equation, or figure into the template's examples (never another document's preamble, the setup lines before \begin{document}, and don't change rpi-thesis.cls), and share only material you're comfortable sending to that service.

More: AI for technical help. Stuck? See fixing problems.

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