# GEOL 420 Electronic Writing Environment ## Overview To create your Field Data Interpretation Reports and the Geophysical Portfolio we will created in LaTeXt use=ing [Overleaf](https://www.overleaf.com/), an online [LaTeX editor](https://www.latex-project.org/), and the bibliography and references manager [Zotero](https://www.zotero.org/). Reference and bibliography managers are great; they allow you to store references in a uniform format that can then be rendered in the style of whatever journal you like, from the Journal of Geology to the Slovenian Journal of Mineralogy and far beyond 😉. :::success - Sign up for a free [Overleaf](https://www.overleaf.com/) account using an email address (it can be but **does not need to be** be your Cal Poly email, and you can always change the email associated with your account anytime you like.) - Sign up for a free [Zotero](https://www.zotero.org/) account **and** download the software to your laptop/desktop. ::: The purpose of using a LaTeX editor is so that we don't have to worry about *formatting vs. content* in the documents. By having a ready template, we can just focus on our writing, insertion of figures, mathematical/symbolic typestting, referencing, etc. While software such as Word, Google Docs, etc. have templates, and can do referencing well nowadays, it is still true that: 1. These programs do not typeset symbols or mathematical expressions well, and ... 2. Most people do not *use* the template abilities of these programs, and thus do not conceptually separate *content* from *formatting*. Therefore we can solve all these issues by using LaTeX (via Overleaf, or similar) and Zotero (or similar). ### LaTeX on your laptop/desktop computer? The "main website" for LaTeX is the [LaTeX Project](https://www.latex-project.org/). From there you can find a page listing various [LaTeX software distributions](https://www.latex-project.org/get/) you can run on your local computer. I think [MiKTeX](https://miktex.org/) is pretty nice for when you don't use [Overleaf](https://overleaf.com). ## Using LaTeX (Overleaf) and Zotero: Resources We will have some class discussion on this but as always a lot of it comes from working with it on your own, talking to your classmates, etc. ### An example of how to do mathematical notation The velocity of a S-wave is $V_S=\sqrt{\frac{\mu}{\rho}}$. This is *inline* typesetting of the symbols. But if you have a large formula you want to stand out, or have numbered, then you can do: $$V_S=\sqrt{\frac{\mu}{\rho}}$$ How do the formula/symols get typed in? The *code* for this formula is: `` V_S=\sqrt{\frac{\mu}{\rho}} `` To get it to render *inline*, enclose in one of two ways: `` $ V_S=\sqrt{\frac{\mu}{\rho}} $ `` or `` \( V_S=\sqrt{\frac{\mu}{\rho}} \) `` To get it to render on its own centered line, use: `` $$ V_S=\sqrt{\frac{\mu}{\rho}} $$ `` or `` \[ V_S=\sqrt{\frac{\mu}{\rho}} \] `` There are a gazillion *LaTeX symbols cheat sheets out there* just waiting for your search engine to find. Heres [one such cheat sheet](https://jheffero.w3.uvm.edu/undergradmath/undergradmath.pdf). They look really complicated at first, but remember: :::info It's so easy, even a professor can do it (given enough time). ::: ### Other Resources * Overleaf has good [documentation](https://www.overleaf.com/learn). A good place to start. * The [LaTeX Project](https://www.latex-project.org/) main homepage. Information about LaTeX, including how to get *desktop/laptop* LaTeX software (all free). But of course in our class we don't need desktop LaTeX as we are using Overleaf. * We will have a basic template for your documents to begin with on Overleaf. But you might learn how to modify those for your own purposes for now and/or later. * [LaTeX Tutorial](https://latex-tutorial.com/) is a nice reference site for learning how to do things within a LaTeX document. * There are lots of other resources online, just a web-search away. I will update this list as I rediscover some of them. * Since we are using Overleaf (online) you could begin on this website with **Quickstart** and then move on to the **Tutorials** section. ## Writing Well The importance of writing well cannot be overstated. Of course writing style depends on your goals and audience (scientific, literary, etc.). In this course we use a generally scientific writing style but with the point of view of a consultant to a client rather than a journal article, even though there are some similarities. Writing well is difficult for most people; which definitely includes me and almost certainly includes you. Poor writing results in your ideas being ignored. Should you have a *truly wonderful idea* on page two of a poorly written document ... the idea will not be detected even if the reader *makes it* to page two. ## Factors that contribute to poor writing As you know, there are entire books and courses devoted to this issue. With the caveat that I am not an expert writer, I have noticed in this course a number of tendencies that contribute to poor writing: * Wordiness (a.k.a. *flabby writing*). As an example of wordiness... :::spoiler Here is my favorite writing tip: Remove unnecessary words ==that you don’t need== in sentences. ::: * Repeating the same idea or information in several places of a document (excluding a summary, of course). * This happens because you haven't thought about the story your document is to tell, and haven't sketched out the flow of the document before beginning to write. * Poor formatting/presentation of the document. We are trying to solve this through our use of LaTeX/Overleaf, but learning to use Word or Google Docs *correctly* would go a long way. * Misunderstanding the audience of your document (in this class the documents are the Field Data Interpretation Reports and the Geophysical Portfolio): :::info In this class we will primarily write from the point of view of a *consultant* to a *client*. ::: ### Poor use of writing tools In all likeliness you have often written your previous work using a word processor like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or similar. In principle this is fine; however most people do not take advantage of the formatting tools available in those programs to create a consistent result. For example it is common to see *manual formatting* errors such as "**Bold** 15 point font" for a Section Header, and "*Italic* 13 point (maybe even different) font" for a Subsection header, etc. This guarantees that your word processing program will work *against* you rather than with you as it tries to format (or layout) your document. You will end up with weird page breaks, figures out of place, tables that don't render correctly, etc. And good luck keeping your homegrown section formatting consistent anyway! Want a Table of Contents? Forget about it ... let along formatting references or mathematical symbols. Scientific/technical writing involves a lot of these exact formatting issues: referencing, placement of figures and figure captions, equations and symbols, and even footnotes. Here is an example of a nicely formatted equation (for the velocity of a P-wave): $$V_P=\sqrt{\frac{K+\frac{4}{3}\mu}{\rho}}$$ While insertion of such equations can *in principle* be done in word processors, it is not easy because the functionality is not *native* to the software and the rendering is not great. ## A Note Account Password Management You just created two new accounts and (hopefully different) passwords. As you certainly know, password management is important. :::danger If you don't already use a password manager I highly recommend you start. ::: I personally use [Bitwarden](https://bitwarden.com/), which has a completely free version, or a paid one for only ~$10/yr with some extra features. There are other password managers of course, such as [1Password](https://1password.com/). These products have broswer plugins, phone/tablet apps, desktop/laptop apps, that make it easy to **generate and use distinct and secure passwords for each online account** you have. Of course, you have to remember a really good master password. A *pass-phrase* might be a good solution; check [here](https://bitwarden.com/passphrase-strength-game/), or [here](https://1password.com/password-generator). ## LaTeX Alternatives / Updates? While LaTeX (in our case accessed through [Overleaf](https://overleaf.com)) is a very longstanding and entrenched writing tool, there are attempts at making more modernized platforms that can achieve the same goals. The most promising tool (to my limited knowledge) right now is [Typst](https://typst.app).