The workshop materials below use Overleaf, which is part of our Yale subscription.

The example below show how to use the basic cite regime, BibTeX and natbib (the former included in LaTeX by default, the latter a package), and two newer tools — biblatex and biber. BibTeX and natbib haven't been updated in a while. As of the second version of biblatex, biber is the official .bib file parser — not BibTeX — so the .bib file is quickly becoming disassociated from the specific package behind it.

The workshop the materials come from operates on the assumption that the majority of your research writing requires a knowledge of BibTeX and natbib, but my goal is to also inform you about the future of citing in LaTeX.

A .bib file is still the preferred method for providing information about your references to biber.

Why are the session examples in Overleaf instead of something else? There are several different online LaTeX editing tools, including Overleaf and Authorea. Yale has an institutional subscription to Overleaf.

Authorea is a different type of tool, and it focuses more on collaborative writing with the goal of submitting papers. It goes beyond just LaTeX, has some pretty cool features, and its UI is easy to use if you are collaborating with non-LaTeX users. However, Authorea has a cap on the number of documents you can keep private, so if you're looking for a place to keep your private collaborative course notes, your private research diary, a private scratchspace for hobbies you have (such as conlanging; LaTeX handles them fabulously), and write papers for submission, Authorea is not the right tool for you.

There are a few other online writing tools for LaTeX, but these are the two major ones.

Search our library instruction calendar for LaTeX or BibTeX to see more about workshops that we offer. Here are the three that are currently on rotation:

Introduction to LaTeX Typesetting

LaTeX is a typesetting system used across many fields — math, physics, linguistics, economics, and beyond. In this session, we will cover the basics of LaTeX, including how to:

• Structure a document
• Customize formatting
• Insert images
• Create tables and simple mathematical expressions
• Generate a bibliography without writing it by hand
• Locate packages to add additional functionality
• Use templates created by other people

We will primarily be using Overleaf (https://overleaf.com), which you can use at no cost to you by signing up with your Yale email. However, at some points during the workshop, there will be opportunities to discuss desktop software alternatives.

Bib Your TeX: Citation Tools for LaTeX Users

Prerequisites: Basic LaTeX familiarity

BibTeX, like many citation tools, is a way to save time and avoid that last-minute hunt for citation information that takes the time of many academic researchers. It is designed to be used with the LaTeX typesetting system (and variants like XeTeX and LuaLaTeX). The best way to use it, though, is to bundle it into what you do upstream while locating articles and books and sifting through the information in your research area.

This workshop aims to do just that — give you a solid intro to citation tools in LaTeX so you can integrate them into your searching, reading, and writing.

It covers the basics of citing sources in TeX, along with packages such as natbib that add functionality that you may be missing in basic BibTeX. A basic understanding of (La)TeX is expected. Participants should bring their own laptops.

We will cover:

• BibTeX and natbib.
• What a .bib file is and how it is structured and used by your software.
• The basics of bibliographic style files.
• Two up-and-coming tools, biblatex and biber.
• How to get .bib file entries without having to type in Google Scholar, library databases, and in reference/PDF article management software.

Zotero for LaTeX Users

Prerequisites: Basic LaTeX familiarity

If you are using Overleaf or a desktop-based LaTeX tool and want to integrate Zotero into your research workflow, this workshop is for you. In this workshop, we will discuss how to get started with several tools and plugins you can use to make Zotero work well with LaTeX, review the pros and cons of using the default Overleaf integration, and make full use of Zotero’s functionality for organizing, tagging, and viewing your files.

Participants will:

• Use Zotero BibTeX plugins to expand Zotero’s functionality for BibTeX.
• Import and export references to manage their citations.
• Navigate Zotero’s interface and manage their documents using its built-in features, including tagging and collections (folders).
• Move between a LaTeX document, bib file, and Zotero for seamless reference management.