Your first lab report in LaTeX as an undergrad

You do not need to master LaTeX to finish a lab report. You need a template, four commands, and a compile button that works on day one.

Skip the multi-gigabyte install if you can

A desktop app with a bundled engine (for example Oleafly) gets you to a PDF without administering TeX Live. If your course requires a specific distribution, follow the course notes; otherwise optimize for starting.

Steal a skeleton, then delete half of it

Start from a simple article template:

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{amsmath,graphicx}
\begin{document}
\title{Lab 3: ...}\author{You}\maketitle
\section{Method}
\section{Results}
\section{Discussion}
\end{document}

More detail: compile your first PDF and the quick reference.

Equations for the lab, not for a textbook

Inline: $F = ma$. Display: \[ ... \]. Number only what you cite later. If the TA asked for uncertainty, put it in the prose or a small table, not a ten-line align environment.

One figure, done well

Export a plot as PDF or PNG. Include with:

\includegraphics[width=0.85\textwidth]{plot.pdf}

Caption below, label after caption, refer to it as Figure~\ref{…} in text.

References without a PhD bibliography workflow

For three citations, a thebibliography environment is enough. For more, ask a classmate for a shared .bib or export from Google Scholar and clean keys. Broken cites print as [?]: clearing mystery citation marks.

Hand in the PDF, keep the source

Submit what the LMS asks for (usually PDF). Keep the .tex and figures in a folder you still have after the course ends. Future you will reuse the skeleton.