Oleafly Learn

Learn LaTeX and the craft of research writing

A structured curriculum that covers the tools and the territory: how journals, peer review, and arXiv work; LaTeX from your first compile through mathematics, figures, and citations; then venue formats, deadlines, and the submission process. Follow the tracks in order, or search for the problem in front of you. Written for the free Oleafly app and any other local LaTeX setup.

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Research fundamentals

Understand the research world

Papers, journals, peer review, arXiv, ACM, IEEE, et al.: the terminology and the system, explained before you write a line of LaTeX.

First compile

Compile your first PDF

Open the loop: a tiny article, one compile, and the three ideas that unlock most of the language.

The capstone

Your first paper, end to end

Idea to camera-ready: venue choice, deadlines, writing, figures, citations, submission, rebuttal, and the talk.

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Research, decoded

Research

Papers, journals, conferences, peer review, arXiv, ACM, IEEE, open access, et al.: every buzzword, decoded for someone starting from zero.

What a research paper actually isPapers, publishing, and the journey from idea to citation, explained from zero.beginnerJournals, conferences, and workshopsWhere papers live, why CS ships at conferences, and what a venue actually is.beginnerPeer review, decodedWho reviews papers, what the verdicts mean, and why rejection is completely normal.beginnerarXiv and the preprint worldPreprints, arXiv IDs, and why researchers post papers before they are published.beginnerACM, IEEE, Springer, Elsevier: who are these peoplePublishers and societies decoded, and why their names are on every template.beginnerOpen access, paywalls, and DOIsWhat a DOI is, why papers cost 40 dollars, and the free paths around paywalls.beginnerThe research jargon glossaryA skimmable A to Z of the words researchers use like everyone already knows them.beginnerTeX, LaTeX, and 45 years of beautiful documentsHow one annoyed computer scientist in 1978 built the typesetting system research still runs on.beginnerThe research writing toolbox, then and nowFrom typewriters and email round-trips to Overleaf, Zotero, Typst, and local-first workspaces.beginner

Anatomy of a paper

Research

Title to appendix: abstracts vs introductions, sections, figures, footnotes, references, authorship, columns, and how much math a paper needs.

A paper, top to bottomA walking tour of every part of a research paper and the one job each part does.beginnerAbstracts that earn the clickA four-sentence formula for abstracts, plus the LaTeX and the mistakes to avoid.beginnerIntroductions and related work without tearsThe funnel structure, explicit contribution lists, and what related work is really for.intermediateMethod, results, discussion: the engine roomReproducibility, results that answer questions, ablations, and honest limitations.intermediateFigures, tables, and comparisons carry the paperTakeaway captions, comparison tables, plots vs tables, and visual consistency.beginnerFootnotes, references, and appendices: who does whatWhere asides, evidence, and overflow material each belong, and who actually reads them.beginnerOne column or twoWhy layouts differ by venue, what two columns do to figures and equations, and who decides.beginnerAuthor lists, order, and et al.What et al. means, author-order conventions by field, and the machinery of credit.beginnerHow much math does a paper needNotation as precision, symbol discipline, when to number equations, and staying consistent.intermediate

Open the loop

Core

What LaTeX is, a first PDF, the preamble, and how a compile actually works.

Compile your first PDFA tiny article, one compile, and the three ideas that unlock most of LaTeX.beginnerWhen LaTeX beats Word (and when it does not)Pick the tool for the document: equations, long papers, citations, vs short collaborative drafts.beginnerEverything above begin{document}Packages, metadata, and load order: what belongs in the preamble and what does not.beginnerThe files in a real project.tex, .bib, .cls, .sty, and the generated junk you should not commit.beginnerWhy you compile more than onceAux files, bibliography passes, and why references print ?? on the first run.beginnerPick an editor you will actually openWhat beginners need: a compiler, preview, SyncTeX, and files that stay on disk.beginnerA skeleton you can reuseClass, preamble, maketitle, sections, bibliography: the shape of almost every paper.beginner

The local studio

Oleafly

Editors, installs, Oleafly, GitHub, and coauthoring when the cloud is optional.

Browser project vs folder on diskCloud convenience compared with local ownership, offline work, and real Git.beginnerGet a working TeX on any OSOleafly with a bundled engine, or a full TeX Live / MiKTeX install.beginnerPut the paper on GitHubInit, ignore aux files, private repo, habits that keep coauthor merges sane.intermediateCoauthor without a live cursorPatches, shared folders plus Git, and owning separate chapter files.intermediateCoauthors who only speak WordKeep .tex as source of truth while exchanging PDF or DOCX for comments.intermediateA week of writing in OleaflyLibrary, templates, compile, SyncTeX, citations, Git history, optional AI.beginner

Type and shape

Emphasis, size, paragraphs, lists, page numbers, color, and special characters.

Emphasis without fighting the fonttextbf, textit, emph, mono, and why emph nests better than hard-coded italics.beginnerBigger and smaller typeClass options like 11pt, and local size switches that do not wreck line spacing.beginnerParagraphs, breaks, and empty spaceBlank lines, forced breaks, vspace, and the spacing commands that are worth knowing.beginnerBullets, numbers, and definition listsitemize, enumerate, description, nesting, and custom item labels.beginnerPage numbers on or offplain, empty, roman vs arabic, suppressing numbers on the title page.beginnerColor that survives printxcolor, HTML specs, and using color for signal when journals go grayscale.beginnerCharacters that break the sourceHow to type percent, dollar, ampersand, underscore, braces without breaking the line.beginner

Equation craft

Core

Inline vs display, Greek, fractions, align, numbering, matrices, symbol lookup.

Math that sits in a sentence (or alone)Inline math, display math, equation environments, and when numbering is worth it.beginnerStacked ratios that stay readablefrac, dfrac, tfrac, and continued fractions with amsmath.beginnerGreek and everyday symbolsalpha through Omega, plus the operators and relations you type daily.beginnerIndices that do not explodeBraces for multi-character scripts, primes, dots.beginnerMulti-line equations that line upalign, gather, split, multline, and notag.intermediateNumbers and pointers for equationslabel, ref, eqref, and numbering only the lines you mean.beginnerMatrices and arrayspmatrix, bmatrix, vmatrix, and custom array columns.beginnerSymbol desk cardAccents, big operators, number sets, and stretchy delimiters on one page.beginner

Notation depth

Depth

Cases, calculus, operators, line breaks, bold math, alphabets, index notation.

Piecewise definitionsThe cases environment for conditions under a single function.intermediateDerivatives and integralsOrdinary and partial derivatives, definite integrals, thin spaces before differentials.intermediateOperators you invent onceDeclareMathOperator for argmin, argmax, and similar names.intermediateEquations that will not fitmultline and split when the measure is too narrow.intermediateVectors and bold symbolsmathbf, boldsymbol, and a consistent vector macro.intermediateBlackboard, script, Frakturmathbb, mathcal, mathfrak, mathrm and when each alphabet shows up.intermediateStacked indicesEmpty groups for tensor placement and matching field conventions.advanced

Paper bones

Titles, sections, TOC, abstract, labels, and clickable PDFs.

Title blocks and title pagesmaketitle for papers, titlepage for theses and reports.beginnerHeadings that number themselvessection through paragraph, starred forms, secnumdepth.beginnerTOC, lists of figures, lists of tablestableofcontents and why the second pass matters.beginnerThe abstract blockabstract environment placement for article and journal classes.beginnerPoint at other parts of the PDFlabel and ref, plus cleveref for automatic names.beginnerLinks inside the PDFhyperref, url, href, colors, and PDF metadata.intermediate

Long form

Depth

Chapter files, front matter, appendices, glossaries, speed, broken templates.

One root file, many chaptersinclude vs input, includeonly, and drafting one chapter at a time.intermediateRoman then arabic pagesFront matter numbering that committees still expect.intermediateAppendices that renumber cleanlyappendix, A/B chapters, counters that stay consistent.intermediateAcronyms and symbol listsglossaries-extra sketch, or a hand-built list when that is enough.intermediateShorter wait for the PDFDraft figures, includeonly, TikZ externalize, local CPU.intermediateUniversity class files that will not compileTriage: first error, engine, obsolete packages, binary search.advanced

Floats and ink

Core

Tables, images, placement, captions, side-by-side figures, first TikZ picture.

A table that looks like a paper tabletabular, booktabs rules, caption, label.beginnerDrop in a figuregraphicx, width, paths, PDF vs PNG.beginnerWhere floats actually landhtbp, why forced here often fails, moving the environment closer to the text.intermediateCaptions that match the numberPut label after caption so the number sticks.beginnerTwo panels in one rowminipages side by side without a package war.intermediateYour first TikZ pictureNodes, edges, a three-box pipeline that stays vector.intermediate

Float surgery

Long tables, spans, booktabs craft, subfigures, stuck floats, PDF pages as art.

Tables longer than one pagelongtable headers and footers that repeat.intermediateCells that span rows or columnsmulticolumn, multirow, cmidrule under grouped headers.intermediateThree-rule tablestoprule, midrule, bottomrule, and skipping vertical lines.beginnerPanels labeled a, b, csubcaption for multi-panel figures under one caption.intermediateThe figure that flees the sectionFloat barriers, size, and last-resort placement.intermediateA PDF page as a graphicincludegraphics with page selection, and pdfpages for appendices.intermediate

Cite your sources

Core

BibTeX, biblatex, styles, Zotero, websites, and clearing mystery [? ] marks.

From .bib key to in-text citeThe usual BibTeX loop with cite and bibliography commands.beginnerBuild a .bib that lastsEntry types, required fields, stable keys.beginnerClassic BibTeX or biblatexBackends, styles, and what changes day to day.intermediateNumeric, author-year, journal stylesSwap styles without rewriting the database.intermediateClearing mystery citation marksTypos, missing passes, wrong path, BibTeX vs Biber mismatch.beginnerZotero into a .bib fileBetter BibTeX, auto-export, keys that survive machines.intermediateWeb pages, videos, datasetsmisc/online entries and access dates for fragile URLs.intermediatenatbib habits vs biblatex commandsParenthetical and textual cites, and the names that replace them.intermediate

Log literacy

Undefined commands, missing $, overfull lines, empty bibliographies, emergency stop.

Undefined control sequenceUnknown command names: typos, missing packages, wrong engine.beginnerMissing dollar insertedSubscripts and math commands that leaked into text mode.beginnerOverfull horizontal boxLines that poke into the margin and when to care.intermediateEmpty bibliographyPath, backend, missing cite, printbibliography vs bibliography.beginnerQuestion marks instead of numbersLabels need another pass; label placement after captions.beginnerEmergency stop and runaway argumentFatal aborts from missing ends, braces, or bad includes.intermediate

The page

geometry, spacing, headers, forced breaks, paragraph indent.

Margins in one packagegeometry for page size, margins, binding offset.beginnerSingle, one-half, doublesetspace for the whole document or a local block.beginnerRunning heads and feetfancyhdr patterns for title and page number.intermediateForce or refuse a page breaknewpage, clearpage, soft pagebreak, nopagebreak.beginnerIndent or space between paragraphsparindent, parskip, noindent for a single line.beginner

Runtime

Engines, XeLaTeX, packages, macros, load-order fights.

Which engine for this projectpdfLaTeX, XeLaTeX, LuaLaTeX, Tectonic: Unicode, fonts, journal fit.intermediateWhy people switch to XeLaTeXSystem fonts, complex scripts, fontspec templates.intermediateThat package is not installedtlmgr, MiKTeX, and on-demand fetch with Tectonic or Oleafly.beginnerMacros that keep notation honestnewcommand, NewDocumentCommand, a shared macros file.intermediatePackages that fight each otherhyperref last, cleveref after, obsolete pairs, minimal examples.advanced

Typefaces

Common journal fonts, custom .otf files, fuzzy Type 3 output.

Times, Arial, Helvetica-like stacksnewtx, helvet, or fontspec mappings journals still ask for.intermediateA font file next to the projectfontspec Path for local otf or ttf families.intermediateBlurry text in the PDF viewerType 3 bitmaps, outline fonts, vector figures.intermediate

Draw in TeX

Nodes, flowcharts, trees, tikz-cd, exporting figures.

Nodes and arrowsNamed nodes, relative placement, arrow tips.intermediateAligned flowchart boxespositioning library so columns share an edge.intermediateTrees and simple graphschild syntax and spacing knobs.advancedCommutative diagramstikz-cd arrows and labels without coordinate soup.advancedStandalone TikZ to PDF or PNGstandalone class and externalize caches.intermediate

Field kits

Chemistry, physics braket, algorithms, theorem environments.

Chemical formulas and structuresmhchem reactions and a chemfig sketch.intermediateDirac notationbraket package for bras, kets, and matrix elements.intermediateAlgorithms and source listingsalgorithm2e sketch and listings for real code.intermediateTheorem and proof blocksamsthm styles, shared counters, end-of-proof marks.intermediate

On stage

Beamer decks, overlays, conference posters.

A first Beamer deckTheme, title frame, outline, one results slide.intermediateReveal lines on clickOverlay specs, pause, only, without overdoing it.intermediatePosters at A0tikzposter, beamerposter, or geometry plus TikZ.intermediate

Venues and formats

Research

Choosing a target venue, IEEE vs ACM vs Springer classes, one column vs two, page limits, anonymization, and thesis vs paper formatting.

Choosing where to submitReading a call for papers, judging fit, and spotting predatory journals.intermediateIEEE format in practiceIEEEtran conference and journal modes, author blocks, and two-column gotchas.intermediateACM format in practiceThe acmart class: sigconf, metadata, anonymous review, and first-compile surprises.intermediateSpringer, Elsevier, and LNCS formatsllncs, Springer Nature journals, and elsarticle: single-column classes and camera-ready source.intermediatePage limits without typographic crimesLegitimate ways to fit the limit, the hacks that get papers flagged, and why venues check.advancedDouble-blind done rightWhat to anonymize, how to cite yourself, and the metadata that betrays you.intermediateThesis formatting vs paper formattingUniversity classes, front matter, chapters, binding margins, and reusing paper material.intermediate

Ship your paper

Research

Deadlines and AoE, submission systems, posting to arXiv, rebuttals, camera-ready, and the full end-to-end first-paper roadmap.

The deadline lifecycleAbstract deadlines, AoE time, notifications, rebuttals, and camera-ready, decoded.beginnerHotCRP, EasyChair, OpenReview, CMTA field guide to the four submission systems you will actually meet.beginnerPosting your first arXiv preprintEndorsement, categories, source cleaning, licenses, and the announcement cycle.intermediateRebuttals and revisions that change mindsReading reviews without despair, writing rebuttals that work, and surviving revision cycles.advancedCamera-ready without panicDe-anonymize, add funding, embed fonts, and hit the page limit: the final version checklist.intermediateTalks, posters, and the conference itselfWhat happens after acceptance: the talk, the poster session, and why hallways matter.beginnerYour first paper, end to endThe complete roadmap from idea to published paper, with links for every step.beginner

Human + Model

Oleafly

Prompting for compiling code, image equations, paper help, Oleafly with your key.

Prompt models for compiling TeXSend the preamble, demand a diff, always compile the answer.beginnerWhiteboard photo to sourceCrop, OCR or multimodal, compile, fix indices by eye.beginnerDraft help that stays honestOutlines and clarity yes; fake cites and unread prose no.intermediateGive the model your symbol tableMacros and a short notation list so variables stay stable.intermediateAssistant inside OleaflyYour API key, project context, diffs, compile-aware edits.beginner

Desk reference

Cheatsheet, commands vs environments, lengths and units.

Every \command in the LaTeX universe, explainedThe global reference: hundreds of LaTeX commands and environments, from the kernel to amsmath, hyperref, TikZ, biblatex, and Beamer, each explained in one line.beginnerLaTeX quick referenceDense one-page card for skeleton, text, math, floats, cites, layout, engines, TikZ, Beamer, and common log errors.beginnerCommand or environment?Macros take arguments; environments wrap regions.beginnerpt, em, textwidthAbsolute and font-relative units you actually set.intermediate

Write LaTeX locally with Oleafly

Free and open source. Bundled compiler, SyncTeX, real Git history, templates, and optional AI with your own key. No account required.

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