This assignment will give you practice using LaTeX to write class papers. It focuses on simple formatting. You will generate a pdf using LaTeX. This should be easy points.

Be sure test your LaTeX on wormulon. Each LaTeX installation may be subtly different.

Assignment 5

Write a paper on something you are passionate about. It could be a place, activity, person, or animal. Example places might be cities, states, countries, national parks or monuments, your home town; or terrain such as the Palouse, Maui, Himalayas, Mt Kilimanjaro, Playa del Sol, Omicron Persei 8, etc. Activities could be horseback riding, reading, chess, hiking, watching Game of Thrones... Example people could be Aragorn or Harry Potter. Example animals, your dog, your horse, or spiders.

Fortunately this assignment doesn't require a lot of original writing, but I encourage it. You may actually do what you are never allowed to do, which is copy some paragraphs right off the web but you may NOT copy the formatting. I would like to read what you write but really I am technically only interested in your formatting. You will later be required to cite the sources so be sure to record in detail in your notes the source so you can write a bibtex entry for each. Never copy text off the web without attribution in a real paper!

Your paper should be formatted with the article document class and use these parameters in the preamble: 

\parskip=.9ex
\textwidth=7.0in
\textheight=9.0in
\oddsidemargin=-.25in
\topmargin=-.75in

Your paper should:

  • Be at least two pages long.
  • Be single column
  • Use the 11pt optional argument to the article document class.
  • Usemaketitle to create the title which must include yourself as author. The paper should have an abstract using the abstract environment which takes the text of the abstract as its only required argument.
  • Must have at least two sections plus a conclusion.
  • One section should have at least 2 paragraphs (not as subsections)
  • At least one section should have two subsections.
  • Have one bullet list of at least 4 items.
  • Have one numbered list of at least 4 items.
  • Make a table that contains a table as in the next point.
  • Have a centered table (use a tabular environment) with at least 4 rows and at least 2 columns. It should at least be surrounded by lines making a box and have a header row. You must use hline to help make the table.
  • Supply a caption ABOVE your table and label it.
  • In a paragraph make at least some part of it bold and some part of it in italics.
  • Use quotes somewhere. For instance, if you take something from a specific source quote it. The quotes have to be the correct left and right quotes as discussed in class! Be sure to note where you got the source for the next assignment.
  • Make a reference from inside your text to the table with something like (see Table blah). You must use \ref in your reference!
  • Add a picture (keep it under 150K in size). Be sure to include the picture in your tar. You must use the \includegraphics command and resize the picture with the command to be 3in wide. The command load by using: \usepackage{graphicx} The picture must be centered. Be sure to include the picture in your tar file!! Feel free to add as many pictures as you like but keep the size of pics limited.
  • Include a second picture in your paper. Put it centered in a figure environment with the caption below the figure. Label it.
  • Make a reference from inside your text to the figure with something like (see Figure blah). You must use \ref in your reference.
  • Now put in at least two cites for text you got from any source other than your own writing. A really cool site is: Wikipedia Cite Generator which you can use to cite a Wikipedia entry. It will actually generate a bibtex entry!! In other classes, always check with your professor to see if citing the web is allowed. Wikipedia is still a bit dodgy by most people's standards. It is OK for this assignment.
  • Don't forget to include the bib file in your tar! Make sure your bibliography is displayed using the apalike style.
  • Do the math extras. After your two page report add a section for math extras. You'll see examples of what to produce at the end of this mock report. Your equations should look the same as the example given. The example itself has coding requirements in the text. This assignment requires that you look up a few symbols and commands in latex documentation you were given so you will become more familiar with it, but it isn't hard. Carefully check that your results have the right parts of the equations in super and subscripts so you get the same format as the example.

    Submit your tar with pas06.tex, pas06.bib, and any image files you need, plus what you got as pas06.pdf. Your LaTeX will be compiled using: 

    pdflatex pas06 
bibtex  pas06
pdflatex pas06
pdflatex pas06

    Submission

    Homework will be submitted as an uncompressed tar file to BBLearn.

    Have fun.