word vs latex for thesis

LaTeX vs. Word: Main Differences

Last updated: March 18, 2024

Baeldung Pro comes with both absolutely No-Ads as well as finally with Dark Mode , for a clean learning experience:

>> Explore a clean Baeldung

Once the early-adopter seats are all used, the price will go up and stay at $33/year.

1. Introduction

Microsoft Word and LaTeX have been fundamental tools for crafting and presenting our written content.

In this tutorial, we’ll discuss the differences between Word and LaTeX regarding user interface, use cases, collaboration, and version control features.

2. Software

Two products of Microsoft offer Word editor:

• Microsoft Word: This is the official software developed by Microsoft for creating, editing, and formatting documents. It’s part of the Microsoft Office suite and is available for both Windows and macOS operating systems
• Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365) : This subscription-based service provides access to the latest version of Microsoft Word along with other Office applications, cloud storage, and various productivity and collaboration tools

To work with LaTeX, we’ll need a TeX distribution and a LaTeX editor:

• TeX distribution: This includes the LaTeX typesetting system as well as various tools and packages. Some popular TeX distributions include Tex Live and MikTeX
• LaTeX editor: While it is possible for users to create LaTeX documents using a plain text editor (e.g., NotePad or NotePad++), specialized LaTeX editors provide a more user-friendly interface with features like syntax highlighting and error checking. Some LaTeX editors include TeXShop (for macOS users); TeXworks , TeXstudio , LyX (for both Windows and Linux users); or Overleaf (an online and collaborative LaTeX editor that doesn’t require local software installation)

3. User Interface

Microsoft Word’s user interface is renowned for its intuitive design and ease of use , making it one of the most popular word-processing applications worldwide. Its user-friendly ribbon interface neatly organizes a plethora of powerful features into easily accessible tabs, enabling users of all levels of expertise to create and edit documents effortlessly. The following figure shows the screenshot of a Word template provided by IEEE for conference proceedings:

Additionally, its robust spell-check and grammar-check capabilities and real-time collaboration features through cloud integration further enhance its usability. In most cases, it serves as a broad category encompassing all word-processing software that immediately displays the final output. Having this characteristic, Word is usually called a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor  rather than requiring initial file processing .

This may seem intuitive and user-friendly for beginners at first, especially when you use Word for elementary purposes like typing a document, making a list, formatting, or choosing fonts. However, when it comes to editing a large document or taking an uncommon command, e.g., creating a table of references or an index list, users tend to Google to figure out how it could be done.

On the other hand, LaTeX’s user interface is distinct from conventional word processors, as it relies on a markup language for document creation rather than a graphical interface . While its learning curve may appear steep for newcomers, it offers a unique level of control and precision in typesetting documents. The following figure shows the screenshot of TeXmaker opening a LaTeX template provided by IEEE for conference proceedings, which has the same format as the above Word template:

LaTeX may be complicated for beginners, and its ease of use only becomes apparent once users become familiar with its syntax and commands. It excels in handling complex mathematical equations , bibliographies , and multi-lingual documents , making it a favorite among researchers, academics, and technical writers.

The famous (yet unknown source) figure below shows the learning curve for users of Word and LaTeX. These curves show how LaTeX becomes easier to use relative to Microsoft Word as the task becomes more complex. On the contrary, for a simple document like taking notes, a simpler tool like Word (or even Notepad) is easier for users:

To sum up, while it may not be as immediately intuitive as WYSIWYG editors like Word, LaTeX’s power lies in its ability to produce consistently high-quality documents with a minimal margin for error, especially for publications, research papers, and theses. For those willing to invest time in learning its intricacies, LaTeX rewards them with unparalleled document typographic control and professionalism.

4. Use Cases

Microsoft Word is commonly known as a general-purpose document creation software . With its suitability for most office tasks, Word is widely used in both schools and offices. Collaboration and real-time editing in Microsoft Word have become significantly more accessible and efficient thanks to its cloud-based features and collaborative tools. Microsoft Word’s collaboration and real-time editing features have made it a versatile tool for teams and individuals who need to work together on documents, making it easier to create, review, and finalize content efficiently and effectively.

Unlike Word, LaTeX is generally considered as a typesetting system commonly used for producing documents with high-quality typography, particularly in fields like academia, research, and technical writing . Because of its ability to handle complex mathematical equations and references, LaTeX is often preferred by scientists and researchers.

Furthermore, graduate students often use LaTeX to format their theses and dissertations. Many universities provide LaTeX templates for students to ensure compliance with formatting requirements. Since it has great ability in writing, controlling page layout, fonts, formatting, and ensuring a professional and consistent appearance, LaTeX is also an excellent tool for publications with complex formatting requirements.

The following figures show the output of Word:

We can see the mathematical symbols produced by LaTeX are higher resolution than that of Word.

5. Collaboration and Version Control

Collaboration and version control in Microsoft Word has become more streamlined and efficient with the integration of cloud-based tools and collaborative features . Real-time collaboration via Microsoft 365 has enabled users to simultaneously access and work on the shared document.

Also, collaborators can leave comments and suggestions on the document. These comments are visible to everyone, and you can reply to them, accept or reject suggestions, and have threaded discussions. Moreover, Word supports real-time co-authoring, where multiple users can work on the same document simultaneously without conflicts . This ensures that all changes are automatically incorporated into the latest version.

Although collaboration and version control in LaTeX can be achieved using various tools and workflows, they may not be as seamless as Word . To collaborate on a LaTeX document, it’s common to use version control software like Git . Git allows multiple authors to work on the same document, track changes, and merge edits seamlessly. Popular online platforms like GitHub , GitLab , and Bitbucket provide hosting and collaboration features for LaTeX projects.

Alternatively, LaTeX users can use Overleaf as an online platform to do collaborative work with their colleagues. Overleaf also supports various academic templates for scientific journals and conferences of different organizations like IEEE or ACM . Nonetheless, Overleaf may be inconvenient since they limit real-time collaborations (only one collaborator for the free license). Complex tools like real-time track changes or full document history and versioning are only available in the premium features.

6. Conclusion

In this article, we discussed the differences between Microsoft Word and LaTeX.

LaTeX often presents a more challenging initial learning curve when contrasted with Word, which constitutes one of its primary drawbacks. Nevertheless, it provides numerous advantages that can enhance the efficiency, professionalism, collaboration, and scalability of research writing. Researchers, book authors, editors, or journalists are those who benefit most from LaTeX.

In contrast, if you just need to write a simple document, a short letter, or a report, Microsoft Word is a better option for its user-friendly typesetting system. Your choice of software depends on your specific needs, familiarity with the tools, and the type of documents you want to create.

Why Should I Use LaTeX over Word for Writing My Research? | Orvium

Researchers have long been split on whether to use Word or LaTex for their academic papers. The fact is, you can achieve results with both, and considering the latter is more complex, most don’t understand why LaTeX is so good.

Today, let’s look at the differences between the two and present LaTeX in an objective view, taking into account the benefits it presents as well as the things that aren't so great - such as the big issue with learning LaTeX.

What Is LaTeX?

LaTeX (/ˈlɑːtɛx/, often pronounced lay-tech) is a writing software centered around document creation, allowing users to input commands and add unformatted text. The UI is split between an Edit window, where users can write text and code, and a Typeset Window, which appears after the first save, allowing users to see the results of their work and how the document will look in real-time.

Compared to Word or Word-like document processors, LaTeX is fairly complex. The coding element can be a big hurdle for most researchers or students who are used to the simplicity of opening a document and simply starting to write. However, this issue can be easily overcome through an instructional video:

Benefits of LaTeX over Word for Research

1. Professional typesetting

LaTeX is specifically designed to produce high-quality typesetting, which makes your documents look professional and polished. This is especially important for academic writing, where the appearance of your document can affect how seriously your work is taken.

LaTeX is great because it’s not simply a word processor but rather a typesetting application designed for ultimate freedom when creating documents.

In academic writing, the aspect of your final document matters a lot. And since you’re essentially writing code, you can meticulously fine-tune your document to look exactly the way you want it or in accordance with the highly specific requirements some journals have.

Example: LaTeX automatically generates consistent and visually pleasing formatting for sections, equations, figures, and citations.

2. Efficient handling of large documents

Unlike Word and Google Docs, which lags up when editing large documents, LaTeX is optimized for minimal resource utilization. This allows researchers to work more efficiently on large documents with many equations, figures, images, and cross-references (think dissertations, books, or studies).

LaTeX also generates a table of contents, a list of figures, and a complete list of references which you can manually edit in code. I’m sure you know trying to edit and correct your references in Word is a buggy nightmare, and just the thought of it is enough to raise your levels of anxiety.

Another cool feature for large documents is the autosave option. That way, there is close to 0 risk of losing your work due to crashes or faulty equipment. Once you save your initial file, TeXShop, one of the tools in the LaTeX suite, automatically saves your work regularly.

Example: In LaTeX, the \input and \include commands allow you to split up sources in a controlled way, effectively making large documents into smaller files that can be managed separately.

3. Easy version control

Since LaTeX operates with plain text files, the level of control you have as a user is beyond what traditional word processors can offer. This can prove very handy when collaborating with multiple authors on a big project, as it allows you to use tools like Git or SVN to implement version control and track changes.

4. Wide range of packages and templates

LaTeX comes pre-equipped with multiple packages and templates that allow researchers to work on different types of projects, such as multiple kinds of math papers, articles, letters, memoirs, and more.

Furthermore, you can use online repositories such as the Comprehensive TeX Archive to find more packages and templates specifically made for diagrams, coding, tables, and more.

Example: The "tikz" package in LaTeX allows you to create professional-looking diagrams and illustrations.

5. Portable and platform-independent

Don’t you hate it when there's an issue with old versions of word documents? Or when you’re trying to edit a Word doc on a Mac and it doesn’t initially work? LaTeX removes all those headaches with compatibility.

The plain text docs you work on in LaTeX are portable and platform-independent. This makes sharing documents a breeze, regardless of the operating system or software setup. And it’s especially useful if you need to collaborate with colleagues or co-authors who use different systems.

Comparison Table: LaTeX vs Word

Who benefits most from using latex.

To sum up, LaTeX is better than Word for:

• Scientific researchers - from math to physics to chemistry and beyond. Anything that prominently features equations, tables, figures, or other designs is best completed via LaTeX.
• Academic dissertations and doctoral theses - from the reference system to the automatic and efficient table of contents, LaTeX makes working on gigantic projects such as these very easy. By comparison, researchers using Word frequently save chapters in separate documents to keep the software from lagging up or crashing and thereby losing their work.
• Textbook writing and editing - if you’re authoring math, physics, or other scientific textbooks, your best chance is with LaTeX, and students will thank you as the equations alone will look miles ahead of what Word can accomplish.
• Any other book authors and editors - for general authors, LaTeX might be a bit complex but worth the learning curve. Editors, however, tend to need a more professional tool to polish the final document for printing, so LaTeX is the better, more logical choice.
• Journalistic investigations - once again, the reference system in LaTeX can easily help journalists keep track of their sources, but it might be too complex on the go.

Overall, LaTeX frequently has a steeper learning curve compared to Word - which is also its biggest disadvantage. However, it offers many benefits that can make research writing more efficient, professional-looking, collaborative, and highly scalable due to its many templates.

If you’re looking to publish your research via Orvium, you should know that our platform is compatible with the LaTeX documents thanks to our integration with Overleaf. But if you want to suggest even more features we should implement in the future, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Learn more about our initiatives and stay up-to-date with the latest news and product features by following us on Twitter , Facebook , Linkedin , or Instagram .

• Academic Resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox.

Now check your inbox and click the link to confirm your subscription.

Please enter a valid email address

Oops! There was an error sending the email, please try later.

Antonio Romero

Led several big-data and ML projects for the R&D between CERN and multiple ICT market-leaders. His work accelerating predictive-maintenance and machine-learning solutions at CERN

Recommended for you

How to Write a Research Funding Application | Orvium

Increasing Representation and Diversity in Research with Open Science | Orvium

Your Guide to Open Access Week 2023

• How it works

"Christmas Offer"

Terms & conditions.

As the Christmas season is upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and those who we have helped to shape their future. It’s been quite a year for us all! The end of the year brings no greater joy than the opportunity to express to you Christmas greetings and good wishes.

At this special time of year, Research Prospect brings joyful discount of 10% on all its services. May your Christmas and New Year be filled with joy.

We are looking back with appreciation for your loyalty and looking forward to moving into the New Year together.

"Claim this offer"

In unfamiliar and hard times, we have stuck by you. This Christmas, Research Prospect brings you all the joy with exciting discount of 10% on all its services.

Offer valid till 5-1-2024

We love being your partner in success. We know you have been working hard lately, take a break this holiday season to spend time with your loved ones while we make sure you succeed in your academics

Discount code: RP0996Y

Should I Use LaTex Or Word For My Dissertation?

Published by Alvin Nicolas at April 9th, 2024 , Revised On April 9, 2024

The decision of which software to use for writing your dissertation can feel overwhelming. Two popular options are Microsoft Word, the familiar and widely used word processor, and LaTex, a typesetting system known for its technical prowess and professional output. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the ideal choice depends on your individual needs and preferences. 

This guide will discuss the key factors to consider when deciding between LaTex and Word for your dissertation. Let’s discuss further. 

LaTeX is a typesetting system used for high-quality document preparation, especially in academia and scientific publishing. It provides precise control over formatting and layout, particularly for complex documents like research papers , theses, and technical reports . LaTeX uses markup language to structure documents and is known for its professionalism and consistency.

Strengths Of LaTex

The advantages of using LaTex for your dissertation include the following:

Professional & Consistent Formatting

LaTex excels in producing high-quality, professional-looking documents. Its focus on typesetting ensures consistent formatting throughout your dissertation, from equations and figures to citations and references . This consistency is crucial for academic writing, where a polished presentation matters.

Superior Handling Of Equations & Math

If your dissertation involves extensive mathematical elements, LaTex is the clear winner. It offers a wide range of mathematical symbols and packages like Tikz that allow for the effortless creation of complex diagrams and figures. Word, while capable, can struggle with complex mathematical notation and formatting.

Efficient Bibliography Management

LaTex integrates seamlessly with bibliographic management software like BibTeX. This allows for effortless citation management and automatic generation of reference lists in various referencing styles like Harvard , saving you countless hours of manual formatting.

Version Control & Collaboration

Online LaTex platforms like Overleaf offer version control and collaboration features, enabling you to track changes, revert to previous versions, and collaborate with supervisors or peers easily.

Weaknesses Of LaTex

While LaTex does offer several benefits, here are some of the disadvantages of using it for your dissertation. 

Steeper Learning Curve

LaTex requires learning its syntax and commands, which can be challenging for users unfamiliar with coding or markup languages. The initial learning curve can feel daunting, especially for those accustomed to the user-friendly interface of Word.

Limited WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editing

Unlike Word, LaTex doesn’t offer a direct WYSIWYG editing experience. You write the code, and the final formatted document is generated separately. This can make real-time editing and visualisation of formatting changes less intuitive.

Fewer Built-in Templates

While LaTex offers a variety of templates, the selection pales in comparison to the vast array of pre-designed templates available in Word. This can be a disadvantage if you prefer working with a pre-formatted structure and customising it as needed.

Hire an Expert Writer

Proposal and dissertation orders completed by our expert writers are

• Formally drafted in academic style
• Plagiarism free
• 100% Confidential
• Never Resold
• Include unlimited free revisions
• Completed to match exact client requirements

Microsoft Word is a widely used word-processing software that allows users to create, edit, and format documents with ease. It offers a range of features such as spell check, grammar correction, and various formatting options. Word is part of the Microsoft Office suite and is popular for its user-friendly interface.

Strengths Of Word

Here are some of the advantages of using Microsoft Word for your dissertation. 

User-Friendly Interface

Word boasts a user-friendly interface that is familiar to most users. Its point-and-click features and visual editing make it easy to learn and navigate, even for those without experience.

This can be a significant advantage, especially for individuals tight on time or unfamiliar with coding concepts.

Extensive Built-in Features

Word comes packed with features like built-in citation management tools, track changes, and collaboration tools. While not as robust as LaTex’s integration with BibTeX, it offers a sufficient level of functionality for most dissertation projects.

Wide Template Availability

Word offers a vast selection of pre-designed templates specifically crafted for academic writing, including dissertation formats. This can save you significant time and effort in setting up the initial document structure and formatting.

Weaknesses Of Word

Following are the disadvantages of using Microsoft Word for your dissertation. 

Inconsistent Formatting

While Word offers formatting options, achieving perfect consistency across a complex document like a dissertation can be challenging. Manual adjustments are often necessary, which can be time-consuming and error-prone.

Challenges With Complex Equations

While Word can handle basic equations, it can become cumbersome and visually unappealing when dealing with complex mathematical expressions and symbols. LaTex offers superior handling and presentation in this regard.

Less Efficient Bibliography Management

Word’s built-in citation management tool can be adequate for simple projects. However, for complex dissertations, LaTex’s integration with specialised software offers greater efficiency and accuracy.

Additional Considerations

Consider these elements before choosing a tool. 

Departmental Requirements

Some departments may have specific formatting requirements or software preferences. It’s crucial to check with your department advisor or consult any available guidelines to ensure your chosen software meets any established standards.

Existing Skills & Preferences

Consider your technical comfort level and personal preferences. If you’re comfortable learning a new system and prioritising consistent formatting and efficient tools for mathematical expressions and citations, LaTex might be the better choice.

However, if you prefer a user-friendly interface and prioritise ease of use, Word could be a more suitable option.

Ultimately, the decision between LaTex and Word for your dissertation is a personal one. Weighing the strengths and weaknesses of each option in light of your specific needs, technical comfort level, and departmental requirements will ensure you make the best choice for successfully completing your dissertation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the advantage of latex over word.

LaTeX offers precise control over document formatting and layout, particularly for complex documents like research papers and theses. It excels in handling mathematical equations, references, and bibliographies seamlessly. Additionally, LaTeX produces high-quality output and promotes consistency, making it favoured in academia and scientific publishing over the more flexible but less precise Microsoft Word.

Should I use latex or Word?

Choose LaTeX for complex documents requiring precise formatting, such as academic papers or technical reports. It offers better control over layout and is preferred in academic and scientific circles. Use Word for simpler documents or collaborative work, benefiting from its user-friendly interface and compatibility with common office environments.

Should I write my thesis in Word or LaTeX?

Consider LaTeX for thesis writing due to its superior control over formatting, especially for complex structures like equations and bibliographies. LaTeX ensures consistency and professional presentation, which is crucial for academic work. However, if unfamiliar with LaTeX or collaborating with others using Word, choose based on personal preference and practical considerations.

You May Also Like

This article contains information about the dissertation Gantt charts for research, features of Gantt charts, templates of Gantt charts, and their benefits.

The best font for a dissertation is clear and readable, such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri, typically in size 12 for the main text.

Discover PhD dissertation resubmission rules & process. Navigate university policies & program regulations.

As Featured On

USEFUL LINKS

LEARNING RESOURCES

COMPANY DETAILS

Splash Sol LLC

• How It Works

• Interesting
• Scholarships
• UGC-CARE Journals

MS Word vs LaTeX: Which is Better to Write Your PhD Thesis?

Choosing Between Microsoft Word and LaTeX: Finding the Perfect Tool for Your Academic Writing Needs

The world of academic writing can feel overwhelming, and the tools you choose can significantly impact your experience. Two titans in this arena are MS Word and LaTeX , each offering distinct advantages and posing unique challenges. This article, iLovePhD explains the difference between MS Word vs LaTeX debate to help you pick the champion for your PhD thesis.

Let’s discuss the difference between MS Word vs Latex to write your research paper , thesis, assignments, and more.

Microsoft Word: The Familiar Choice

For many, MS Word is a household name synonymous with user-friendliness. Its WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface lets you see the final formatted document as you type, making it perfect for beginners. With its vast features for formatting text, adding images, and creating tables, Word offers impressive versatility for various documents, from simple letters to complex reports.

Another big plus for Word is its compatibility . .docx files can be effortlessly shared and opened by anyone, making it the go-to choice for collaborative work in many academic settings.

LaTeX: Precision and Professionalism

If you crave unparalleled typesetting quality and precise control over formatting , then LaTeX is your knight in shining armor. While it has a steeper learning curve compared to Word, LaTeX excels in crafting high-quality documents, particularly for technical and scientific writing such as research paper writing , thesis, formulas, and so on.

LaTeX shines when dealing with complex documents like academic papers, theses, and books, where consistent formatting and layout are paramount. Mathematical typesetting is another area where LaTeX reigns supreme, making it a favorite in fields like mathematics, physics, and engineering. Additionally, LaTeX files being plain text makes them ideal for version control systems like Git, a boon for collaborative writing and change tracking.

Choosing the Right Tool for You

The MS Word vs LaTeX decision hinges on your specific needs and comfort level. If ease of use and compatibility for general documents are your priorities, Word is the way to go. However, if you demand precise typesetting control , especially for technical or academic writing , LaTeX is the preferred champion.

Some PhD students even adopt a hybrid approach , using Word for initial drafting and then switching to LaTeX for final formatting. Ultimately, the best choice depends on your unique workflow and preferences.

Highlight: MS Word vs LaTeX

• Microsoft Word : User-friendly and compatible, ideal for general documents and collaborative work.
• LaTeX : Precision typesetting and mathematical prowess make it a favorite for technical and scientific writing.
• Decision Time : Prioritize ease of use with Word or opt for precision with LaTeX, based on your needs.
• Best of Both Worlds : Combine Word for drafting and LaTeX for formatting to optimize your writing process.

In the digital writing age, selecting the right tool is crucial for academic success. Both MS Word and LaTeX offer distinct advantages, catering to user-friendliness or precision typesetting . By understanding their strengths, you can make an informed decision that enhances your writing process and elevates the quality of your PhD thesis . So, whether you choose the familiarity of Word or the precision of LaTeX, rest assured that both tools are invaluable assets in your academic writing journey.

• Academic Writing
• collaborative work
• document formatting
• latex for thesis
• latex vs word
• phd thesis latex
• PhD thesis writing
• precision typesetting
• scientific writing
• Technical Writing
• thesis formatting
• thesis software
• thesis typesetting
• thesis writing tool
• word for thesis

Top 7 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools in Scientific Research 2024

Annas archive – download research papers for free, top 10 free software for drawing chemical structures in 2024, most popular, ugc phd excellence citation to recognize outstanding research, strategies to end the science nobel drought in india, why mahatma gandhi never won the nobel prize for peace, nomination and selection of nobel prize laureates, the roadmap to nobel prize-worthy research, ethnographic research examples: exploring cultures through immersive study, advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research methodologies, 150+ cutting-edge chemical engineering research topics, best for you, 24 best online plagiarism checker free – 2024, what is a phd a comprehensive guide for indian scientists and aspiring researchers, popular posts, unethical journal publications, top 100 journal publications in the world 2024, top 488 scopus indexed journals in computer science – open access, popular category.

• POSTDOC 317
• Interesting 259
• Journals 236
• Fellowship 134
• Research Methodology 103
• All Scopus Indexed Journals 94

Mail Subscription

iLovePhD is a research education website to know updated research-related information. It helps researchers to find top journals for publishing research articles and get an easy manual for research tools. The main aim of this website is to help Ph.D. scholars who are working in various domains to get more valuable ideas to carry out their research. Learn the current groundbreaking research activities around the world, love the process of getting a Ph.D.

Contact us: [email protected]

Google News

Copyright © 2024 iLovePhD. All rights reserved

• Artificial intelligence

Word or LaTeX typesetting: which one is more productive? Finally, scientifically assessed

One of the main goals for anyone in the Academia, for any research group, is to publish the results of their research . Therefore, enormous amounts of time and effort are devoted to producing manuscripts which will be evaluated for publication in scientific journals or international conferences. Being this goal so central to the career of many people, it is more than reasonable trying to employ the right tools to achieve the best results in writing, measured in terms on quality vs. time devoted to writing.

We can take for granted that the reader knows Microsoft Word, but perhaps some of you are not familiar with that LaTeX thing . LaTeX (yes, it is always capitalized like that) is a sort of “programming language”, a markup language actually, pretty much like HTML. So, if one want to write a bold sentence, instead of selecting with the mouse and clicking, one must type a specific command around the sentence. The same applies to any other document element: images, tables, section headers, etc. there are commands that must be memorized for every element. It may seem cumbersome . Indeed, it is. It is really cumbersome, at the beginning. I stillr remember how much I protested when a Professor forced me to elaborate an assignment in LaTeX during the PhD courses. But once one overcomes the (steep) learning curve of LaTeX , the realization of its advantages means that there is no turning back:

Mathematical equations of unbeatable quality.

Easy generation of all kind of indices, bibliography, cross references, etc.

It allows you to focus on the text content, instead of its appearance. In theory, a text prepared according to the guidelines of a specific journal may be made to fit another’s style by just using one external style file. In practice, sometimes one finds some incompatibilities, but in all cases it is orders of magnitude faster, cleaner and easier than manually changing all the formatting details in Word.

At least, these are the advantages that we, part of the researchers, see in LaTeX: the call to pick among Word or LaTeX has become one of those endless, “religious” discussions. One support one or the other just like people support different football teams .

But finally here comes a space for objectivity in this debate. A group of researchers on Experimental Psychology from the University of Giessen (Germany) has addressed the problem by measuring the pros and cons of each typesetting system 1 . Next we summarize the experimental setup and their findings.

The experiment consisted in asking a group of volunteers to typeset a number of texts using either Word or LaTeX, provided they had 30 minutes to end the task. In order to characterize the performance for all kinds of texts, the researchers proposed three different texts: (1) a long, continuous text, (2) a text with some tables and (3) one plenty of equations (as one typically found in Mathematics, Physics, Engineering…).

Regarding the volunteers, they were 40 users selected such that there were 10 experts and 10 novices in each typesetting system (Word and LaTeX). The intention was determining whether the efficiency improved or not as users gain experience in each system.

Afterward, the researchers measured the amount of typeset text and the number of mistakes. Text length was such that only about 90% of experts could type it entirely. Ah! The motivation of volunteers was boosted by means of prizes of up to 150€ for the best one in each category.

The results

We start with the manuscripts comprising just long blocks of continuous text, in which is clear that Word is unbeatable : even the (relatively) novice Word users perform really far better than LaTeX users in both, the quantity and the quality of the typeset text. Regarding the existence of orthographic errors, we must highlight that LaTeX users were allowed to use their favorite IDE with any desired plugin or additional tool, thus their errors cannot be attributed to the intentional privation of any of those helps.

Regarding table editing, Word wins again… and this is not big news to anyone who ever tried to enter a table in a LaTeX document. How can something so easy in a WYSIWYG editor and so incredibly complex in LaTex? How many visits to TeX – LaTeX Stack Exchange does it take to create a decent LaTeX table?

As can be seen in Figure 3, the study found that it is not only less efficient to typeset tables in LaTeX, but that the number of mistakes skyrocketed as well. However, the large standard deviation in LaTeX mistakes reveals that it is possible to make it right… but there are so few people capable of such an achievement!

And finally we get to LaTeX comfort zone: texts with plenty of equations. In this last experiment, it is demonstrated that even untrained LaTeX users make fewer mistakes and are more productive than expert Word users.

Apart of measuring the efficiency of typesetting in such an objective way, the researchers also asked the volunteers to fulfil a usability questionnaire (results shown in Figure 5), from which we must highlight the emotional aspect : LaTeX users claim to enjoy much more than Word users while writing (5.2±1.4 vs 3.6±1.7), while also reporting feeling less frustration and tiredness.

These findings are coherent with the well-known popularity of LaTeX among researchers of the more technical areas, where writing equations is typically a significant effort if attempted to do in Word. I would like to remark (making clear that this is a subjective opinion) that aesthetics is another important factor : Word equations are far less “elegant” than those obtained from LaTeX, which “look” totally professional.

Quantitatively, we can point out another work 2 which asked the Editors of several Scientific Journals for the prevalence of each format in received manuscripts . They found that LaTeX rules in the areas of Mathematics (97%), Statistics (89%) and Physics (74%) , then followed by the group of Computer Science (46%) and Astronomy-Astrophysics (35%), with the rest of areas totally dominated by Microsoft Word.

• Knauff, M., & Nejasmic, J. (2014) . An Efficiency Comparison of Document Preparation Systems Used in Academic Research and Development. PloS one , 9 (12), e115069. ↩
• Brischoux, F., & Legagneux, P. (2009). Don’t Format Manuscripts. The Scientist, 23(7), 24. ↩

35 comments

[…] (Artículo traducido de una colaboración con MappingIgnorance.org […]

I really think that both programs are to different. As it is stated in the post, for writing long texts Word is unbeatable, but for equations it is the other way around. The discussion comes when you have a long text, few equations, and a lot os references and figures. In this case Latex is better, because it manages the bibliography in a better way, but the time needed to learn how to use Latex is also much longer and it is not clear to me if it is worthy.

What is absolutely true is this sentence: “the call to pick among Word or LaTeX has become one of those endless, “religious” discussions. One support one or the other just like people support different football teams.”

The same happens with Linux VS Mac VS Windows…

[…] edonork egiten dio galdera hori bere buruari. José Luis Blancok agian argibideren bat ematen digu Word or LaTeX typesetting: which one is more productive? Finally, scientifically assessed […]

This is an interesting study but I think the Word/LaTeX dilemma will soon be overcome in many fields. For example, for data analyses made in the free R environment one should seriously consider using knitr and R Markdown. It has both the benefits of dynamic reports (if you change a single data point all tables and figures are authomatically updated for you) and easiness of use. No need to know LaTeX to get comparable results. And of course it’s infinitely many times better than using Word, which is a text editor and nothing more.

[…] ¿Merece la pena el esfuerzo de aprender LaTeX o con lo que sé de Word me apaño para lo que tengo que hacer? Esta es la pregunta que se hace cualquiera que necesite escribir documentos y dotarlos de un […]

This study was very effectively rebutted by Daniel Lemire some time ago. It does not test tasks that are representative of what scientists do, and it does not address the difference in output quality of word vs. LaTeX.

[…] https://mappingignorance.org/2015/04/06/word-or-latex-typesetting-which-one-is-more-productive-finall… via #etcPB http://www.etcpb.com/ […]

[…] by omegaender [link] […]

I don’t see how you can test anything of interest in 30 minutes especially for something like LaTeX. In 30 minutes you are not even remotely going to reap benefits from using LaTeX over Word. If I decided to use LaTeX right now I’d probably spend at least 30 minutes just setting up templates, add ons etc.

LaTeX shines when you work on large documents over several days. The ability to split into multiple files and version control it with great version control systems like git is a real benefit. Also as you write more you can benefit from easily copy pasting and modifying styles or things you need.

Also I don’t get how LaTeX user could bomb so badly on tables. If you really need to have control of this you can use a GUI tool which generates the LaTeX for you. Lots of editors has such capabilities. But for a 30 minute assignment most might not consider it worth it to use any special tools to make a table.

[…] https://mappingignorance.org/2015/04/06/word-or-latex-typesetting-which-one-is-more-productive-finall… […]

Well office 2013 and onward comes with a built-in TeX interpreter, previous version has plenty of addins that did that same so it’s not really a question any more.

Word offers the easy high level editorial capabilities and low level TeX syntax editing when you need it.

Typesetting is the final act in publishing. Writing is where the bulk of the effort lies. LaTeX addresses 10% of the effort effectively (typesetting) and is cumbersome and gets in the way for 90% of the effort (writing). This is especially true for editing and collaboration where Word’s track changes is required.

“untrained LaTeX users make less mistakes and are more productive than expert Word users” -> “untrained LaTeX users make fewer mistakes and are more productive than expert Word users”

This study is poorly constructed if it did not use the Microsoft Math Add-in for office. This official add-in makes equations dead simple.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36777

I wonder what exactly qualifies as a “Word Expert” here? Many people who use Word regularly aren’t typing in a lot of formulae, so are likely to do it in a clumsy way via the mouse and find it unnecessarily difficult. Indeed most of the students I knew who were using Word for documents containing math were surprisingly unaware of Word’s Math Autocorrect feature, which lets you type in a very LaTeX like format. If you use it often, papers containing math are basically on par with type in ordinary text documents.

I didn’t read the paper but it seems to me like there are some obvious methodological flaws. As pointed out later on; to be an expert in LaTeX – one is also likely to be highly trained in Mathematics. Tables are indeed the most annoying thing in LaTeX but it’s just a markup language! The real problem here is that there is no better table handling in some of the popular editors like TexStudio. Also — in case it wasn’t obvious; it does make sense to separate the structure and content of manuscripts from their presentational style in much the same way web authors do with HTML and CSS. Most academics want to get their work published in a context where its formatting will be standardised. LaTeX and git is a really powerful way of collaborating and managing revisions on manuscripts — would you trust Word to do that? I didn’t think so.

It also misses out another important point, vital in maths and computer science, but also increasingly in other fields: how easy is it to use macros and/or construct parts of your document by script? I had lots of tables for my PhD (computer science + linguistics), so I constructed macros to help me write them in a meaningful way. I’ve also used PERL (in the past) and PYTHON (more recently) to transform data straight into LaTeX tables.

I’m a bit surprised, as Word has a formula editor since Office 2007 which is nearly identical to LaTeX, that the latter has such a profound advantage.

When last I visited this comparison, the issue we had with Word had nothing to do with user mistakes or relative ease of use. The core problem we encountered was more sinister and debilitating. As our manuscripts grew, the likelihood increased that Word would drop portions of the text, lose or change formatting, crash, or in some cases refuse to open a working document. As you can imagine, a lost manuscript was a substantial defeat for Word. Some chose to break their manuscripts into chapter documents to reduce their risk of outright loss, but this tended to make the inter-document references more complex. Our conclusion, was that if you wanted to graduate on time, better to depend on LaTeX.

I wrote my MSc and Phd (Physics) in LaTeX (ca. 90′) . Also convinced my girlfriend to do the same.

What did I gain? Peace of mind. I just did not care anymore about formatting, numbering, fonts, etc. because I did not know LaTeX enough to modify them. The numbering was always right, even if inserting a picture was a nightmare.

I now work in a company which uses Word and when thing go well, they go well. When things go wrong, they go terribly wrong. But what the heck, the tracking mode is fantastic. (please do not tell me about diff for LaTeX – I am an uber-geek and administred unix for many years, I would not even remotely approach tracking with LaTeX.

But this is not very much relevant anymore, the future is with Web publishing in a collaborative mode.

I would also suggest to add lyx (www.lyx.org) to this trial… it is more intuitive than latex but still has most of its advantages!

Does Word papers result in overall accuracy?

I have written many ISI papers in MS Word. Yes the writing part and formatting were easy, but during revisions I always came up with hundreds of mistakes and headaches:

– Wrong equation numbering – Missing headers – addition of new sections –> required entire document modification! – addition of new images would deform most pages, –>required entire document modification! – adding footnotes was odd – writing simple inline math required many clicks – adhering to ISI formatting standards was difficult – choosing proper fonts was subjective

Each technology targets specific audiences. Latex targets academic and researchers while Word targets the rest of the society.

If you write a lot, LaTex is definitely worth the effort. Clicking in Word requires to know the menu. Certainly knowing the menu is considerably less effort than knowing the commands in LaTex. Hence, it is clearly a question of proficiency. If you suck in LaTex, LaTex is horrible.

After I reached a certain skill level in LaTex I started to use it for plotting and drawing figures as well. MATLAB and other math plot programs just cant hold up to the standards LaTex produces – Word does play in this league at all.

In fact LaTex is the most complete solution.

[…] Word or LaTeX typesetting: which one is more productive? Finally, scientifically assessed […]

[…] Luis Blanco discusses a scientific experiment determining which typesetting tool is more productive. Turns out that Word is unbeatable – when it comes to long blocks of continuous text and […]

SIMPLY: Word rules

LaTex produces good looking quality documents especially with Math. However, in the real world you do not work alone—You work with almost ~90% MS Word user! You need to collaborate, share comments with people who do not use LaTex and this quickly becomes a problem. You cant force people to start using LaTex…In the end it’s useless to use LaTex when in the end someone else (e.g. colleague) will need an editable Word document not PDF to work with.

Most people dont know Word!

Just let me repeat; most people have no idea how MS Word works.

There is no great tutorial for learning Word as an expert while for Latex there are numerous books and most users are forced to learn Latex.

What are Word options rarely people use? How can we make Word act logically?

1- You can easily typeset Latex-style mathematical equations in Word. Just enter your equation like Latex and press space. There it is! (You can also use Asana Math font in Word)

2- Use styles. Styles make everything coherent and easyto manage.

3- Use citations and cross-references. They are dynamically updated and easy to manage in Word.

4- Use Bilbliography. It is so easy to manage citations and Bibliography in word. You can apply numerous styles to them easily.

5- Use Headings for sectioning. Table of contents are easily generated based on the headings.

**6- Use page breaks and section breaks to avoid formatting an entire document because you have inserted a new content somewhere in Word.

**7- Use “keep text together” as a style in paragraph to keep all paragraph text, image captions and heading together and not distributed across two pages.

Tell me how many of people know the mentioned options in Word and then lament Word for what it can’t do.

Hamzed, your comment is absolutely perfect. The comments above lamenting Word are from people who seem to have no idea about styles, headings, references, breaks, the Math functionality, fields, etc.

I’m an attorney spending most of my time in Word and Adobe. Sure, I don’t write equations. But I can instantly transform a several-hundred page contract using styles correctly. I can update my table of contents easily. Headers and footers, sections, images, these are a breeze. It took some learning, but reading a couple of blog posts about the nuances of Word is far less of a headache then learning a new markup language.

OK ! it’s right for a simple document. But try this for a thesis or even for a paper. Don’t need to speak about changing the format from a journal to another. I’m a word user for more than 20 years and I actually still using it but only for docs no more than 3 to 5 pages. I happely discovered LaTeX and I’m using it for about 10 years. My feeling is that Word can beat you at any moment, I d’ont trust it at all. Just make attention for long documents

I have tried both of them, basically most of the LaTeX function are available in MS Word but people don’t know how to use it. Basically it has every shortcut right from heading, numbering figure or table or equation, referring them in text (cross references), citation, automatic list of table , figure and table of content, bibliography, typing equation like LaTeX. If you are interested you should look a video See this youtube video and you will never use LaTeX instead of word

I used LaTex to write my Mathematics PhD thesis and a few papers, and the beauty of equations and the automation of references etc is clearly very very impressive. But the steep learning curve (which, on a light note almost got vertical with tables) almost made me late to complete. With time, and with the recent versions of Word upping their game, I have found no real incentive to constrain myself to the lonely world of LaTex. I am lately using Word, so easily available and effortless to use, much more often. Latex is great. So is a beautiful wife (gender protocols observed!). But is the beauty the only criterion for a lifelong union? Just a metaphor. On a second thought, the very idea that any program can be compared with Latex at all is enough proof that the gap is closing and the technical demarcations are getting blurred. Very soon, Word will be able to do all (or most) of what LaTex can do.

If you write math professionally, or want to use it professionally, there are two requirements for your software that most people are not aware, and that were not tested in this ‘experiment’.

1. Inline math. You need to be able to use little chunks of math in your normal text. Word does not do this well – for one, math is treated like an image, and it’s baseline is treated like an image, and is often not the same as the normal text, in particular when you use certain fonts. It often looks ugly, misaligned etc.

2. Number and cross-reference equations. LaTeX just does it. It’s in its DNA. No fuss, no hang-ups. Word… not so much. Try it. I’ll wait. It’s an experiment in frustration. Alone formatting the equation number correctly can be difficult, and if the index for the numbers fails (and it does if you actually work with your document), you need to do what LaTeX does, and what you chose Word for because you do not wanna do it: Re-Compile! And if you start twitching at that step, you should. Frequently, Word does … weird … things when you need to do that that can result in complete formatting change of your document. Not to mention the needlessly complex workflow to pick cryptic labels from a pop-up/down list etc. Did I say LaTeX just does it with no fuss whatsoever?

It’s not enough to be able to typeset formulae if you want to use math and not come off as a buffoon.

This study was a fundamental mistake and fluffy. The author might have never worked on a project that requires to produce dozen of reports which could be over 100 pages and a lot of repetition. MS word is suck when coming to this point. Users of MS Words have to manually edit table, figure, and format whenever there is smt changed in hundred of pages. With Latex, you dont even need to care about it. It saves incredible amount of time to prepare reports for both academia and business. This is regardless of whether the content is heavily math or just plain word. Latex is always far more better and productive.

I find all your comments highly entertaining. In the real world (outside academia and writing fancy lab reports) no-one uses Latex, except for gloves and condoms. MS Word is the standard. It can do everything your Latex language can do, and more, with a few quick mouse clicks. Plus change tracking and collaboration.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

No Search Results

How to Write a Thesis in LaTeX (Part 1): Basic Structure

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Author: Josh Cassidy (August 2013)

This five-part series of articles uses a combination of video and textual descriptions to teach the basics of writing a thesis using LaTeX. These tutorials were first published on the original ShareLateX blog site during August 2013; consequently, today's editor interface (Overleaf) has changed considerably due to the development of ShareLaTeX and the subsequent merger of ShareLaTeX and Overleaf. However, much of the content is still relevant and teaches you some basic LaTeX—skills and expertise that will apply across all platforms.

Your thesis could be the longest and most complicated document you'll ever write, which is why it's such a good idea to use L a T e X instead of a common word processor. L a T e X makes tasks that are difficult and awkward in word processors, far simpler.

When writing something like a thesis its worth splitting up the document into multiple .tex files. It's also wise to organise the project using folders; therefore, we'll create two new folders, one for all the images used in the project and one for all the .tex files making up the main body of the thesis.

• 1 The preamble
• 2 The frontmatter
• 3 The main body
• 4 The endmatter
• 5 All articles in this series

The preamble

In this example, the main.tex file is the root document and is the .tex file that will draw the whole document together. The first thing we need to choose is a document class. The article class isn't designed for writing long documents (such as a thesis) so we'll choose the report class, but we could also choose the book class.

We can also change the font size by adding square brackets into the \documentclass command and specifying the size—we'll choose 12pt. Let's also prepare the document for images by loading the graphicx package. We'll also need to tell L a T e X where to look for the images using the \graphicspath command, as we're storing them in a separate folder.

The start of our preamble now looks like this:

Now we can finish off the preamble by filling in the title, author and date information. To create the simplest title page we can add the thesis title, institution name and institution logo all into the \title command; for example:

This isn't the best way to alter the title page so we'll look at more elaborate ways of customising title pages later on in the series, but this will suffice for now.

This is what the \maketitle command now produces for us:

The frontmatter

After the title page we need to add in an abstract, dedication, declaration and acknowledgements section. We can add each of these in on separate pages using unnumbered chapters. To do this we use the \chapter command and add an asterisk. After these sections we'll add a table of contents using the \tableofcontents command:

The main body

Now for the main body of the document. In this example we will add-in five chapters, one of which will be an introduction and another will be a conclusion. However, instead of just composing these chapters in the main .tex file, we'll create a separate .tex file for each chapter in the chapters folder. We can then fill in these chapters with text remembering to split them up into sections and subsections.

Then to add these chapters into the document, we use the \input command in the root document. Remember to add in chapters/ before the file name so that L a T e X knows where to find it.

The endmatter

We will now add in an appendix at the end of the document. To do this we use the \appendix command to tell L a T e X that what follows are appendices. Again We'll write the appendix in a separate file and then input it.

If we now compile the document, all our chapters will be added to the document and the table of contents will be automatically generated.

Now we have a basic structure for a thesis set up. In the next post I will show you how to change the page layout and add headers.

All articles in this series

• Part 1: Basic Structure ;
• Part 2: Page Layout ;
• Part 3: Figures, Subfigures and Tables ;
• Part 4: Bibliographies with BibLaTeX ;
• Part 5: Customising Your Title Page and Abstract .
• Documentation Home
• Learn LaTeX in 30 minutes

Overleaf guides

• Creating a document in Overleaf
• Uploading a project
• Copying a project
• Creating a project from a template
• Using the Overleaf project menu
• Including images in Overleaf
• Exporting your work from Overleaf
• Working offline in Overleaf
• Using Track Changes in Overleaf
• Using bibliographies in Overleaf
• Sharing your work with others
• Using the History feature
• Debugging Compilation timeout errors
• How-to guides
• Guide to Overleaf’s premium features

LaTeX Basics

• Creating your first LaTeX document
• Choosing a LaTeX Compiler
• Paragraphs and new lines
• Bold, italics and underlining

Mathematics

• Mathematical expressions
• Subscripts and superscripts
• Brackets and Parentheses
• Fractions and Binomials
• Aligning equations
• Spacing in math mode
• Integrals, sums and limits
• Display style in math mode
• List of Greek letters and math symbols
• Mathematical fonts
• Using the Symbol Palette in Overleaf

Figures and tables

• Inserting Images
• Positioning Images and Tables
• Lists of Tables and Figures
• Drawing Diagrams Directly in LaTeX
• TikZ package

References and Citations

• Bibliography management with bibtex
• Bibliography management with natbib
• Bibliography management with biblatex
• Bibtex bibliography styles
• Natbib bibliography styles
• Natbib citation styles
• Biblatex bibliography styles
• Biblatex citation styles
• Multilingual typesetting on Overleaf using polyglossia and fontspec
• Multilingual typesetting on Overleaf using babel and fontspec
• International language support
• Quotations and quotation marks

Document structure

• Sections and chapters
• Table of contents
• Cross referencing sections, equations and floats
• Nomenclatures
• Management in a large project
• Multi-file LaTeX projects
• Lengths in L a T e X
• Headers and footers
• Page numbering
• Paragraph formatting
• Line breaks and blank spaces
• Text alignment
• Page size and margins
• Single sided and double sided documents
• Multiple columns
• Code listing
• Code Highlighting with minted
• Using colours in LaTeX
• Margin notes
• Font sizes, families, and styles
• Font typefaces
• Supporting modern fonts with X Ǝ L a T e X

Presentations

• Environments

Field specific

• Theorems and proofs
• Chemistry formulae
• Feynman diagrams
• Molecular orbital diagrams
• Chess notation
• Knitting patterns
• CircuiTikz package
• Pgfplots package
• Typesetting exams in LaTeX
• Attribute Value Matrices

Class files

• Understanding packages and class files
• List of packages and class files
• Writing your own package
• Writing your own class

Advanced TeX/LaTeX

• In-depth technical articles on TeX/LaTeX

Get in touch

Have you checked our knowledge base ?

Message sent! Our team will review it and reply by email.

Email: