TeX FAQ for dissertators and advanced TeX students

# TeX FAQ for dissertators and advanced TeX students

## References:

1. Making figures and labelling them.
2. Using the showkeys package to make labels visible
4. A plain TeX mail merge package
5. A guide to bibliographic utilities
6. Making complex Commutative Diagrams

### How do I make figures easily and label them with TeX fonts and symbols?

• First download and install Xfig (for Unix) or Jfig (for Windows). This is a simple, free drawing program which allows you to save your output as an eps or pdf file. Use Xfig or Jfig to great your figure, placing simple labels (e.g. A,B,C,...) where you want to place the latex labels.
• Next make sure that your TeX installation has the PSFRAG and PSFRAGX packages. PSFRAG allows you to replace your simple markers (created with xfig or some other graphical program) with TeX fonts and symbols. Here is an example and it's associated graphics files: hat3.eps and venn.eps. Another psfrag example and it's associated eps file.
Sigurd Angenent's Lecturer Notes provide a masterful example of what you can do when you combine LaTeX with Octave (a matlab clone), XFig and psfrag.
• If your figure does not have markers (e.g. you have a picture which you downloaded or scanned), you can use PSFRAGX, the extended version of PSFRAG. PSFRAGX is a package which allows you to overlay latex symbols or text on an eps file. Here is an example and it's associated HOWTO file
• PSTRICKS is a package which allows you to use simplified postscript commands to "draw" complex pictures while using LaTeX's math fonts.
• Here is a pstricks example which shows some of the capabilities of this package.
• Another trig.tex PStricks example showing trig functions.

### How do I make the labels I've assigned to my equations, sections, etc. visible?

Use the showkeys package. Invoke it by putting this in the prologue of your latex file:
\usepackage[notcite,notref]{showkeys}
Here is an example.

### How do I make running heads in a file?

1. First, change your pagestyle by putting this line in the body of the latex file:
(if you don't want any heading on a particular page, use:
\thispagestyle{empty})
or
3. Here is an example

### Is there a mail merge package for TeX?

Try the autoletter and autolabel files for plain TeX: