Learn how to create professional articles and papers using LaTeX. This guide covers everything from basic document structure to advanced formatting for publication-ready documents.
Quick start: LaTeX Cloud Studio provides ready-to-use article templates. Click “New Project” and select “Article” to get started immediately.Related topics: Bibliography management | Cross-referencing | Mathematical typesetting

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Basic Article Structure

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Minimal Article Document

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}

% Packages
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{hyperref}

% Document information
\title{Your Article Title}
\author{Your Name}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
Your abstract goes here. This should be a brief summary of your article,
typically 150-250 words.
\end{abstract}

\section{Introduction}
Your introduction text here.

\section{Methodology}
Describe your methods.

\section{Results}
Present your findings.

\section{Conclusion}
Summarize your work.

\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{references}

\end{document}

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Document Class Options

% Font sizes
\documentclass[10pt]{article}  % 10pt, 11pt, 12pt

% Paper sizes
\documentclass[a4paper]{article}  % a4paper, letterpaper, legalpaper
\documentclass[letterpaper]{article}

% Layout options
\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}  % Two-column layout
\documentclass[landscape]{article}  % Landscape orientation
\documentclass[draft]{article}      % Draft mode

% Multiple options
\documentclass[11pt,a4paper,twocolumn,draft]{article}

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Author and Title Information

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Single Author

\title{The Impact of Climate Change on Marine Ecosystems}
\author{Jane Smith\\
  Department of Marine Biology\\
  University of Example\\
  \texttt{j.smith@example.edu}}
\date{March 2024}

\maketitle

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Multiple Authors

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{authblk}

\title{Collaborative Research in Quantum Computing}

\author[1]{Alice Johnson}
\author[2]{Bob Chen}
\author[1,2]{Carol Williams}

\affil[1]{Department of Physics, University A}
\affil[2]{Computer Science Department, University B}

\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

% Alternative without authblk package
\author{Alice Johnson$^1$, Bob Chen$^2$, and Carol Williams$^{1,2}$\\
  $^1$Department of Physics, University A\\
  $^2$Computer Science Department, University B\\
  \texttt{\{ajohnson,cwilliams\}@unia.edu, bchen@unib.edu}}
\end{document}

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Abstract and Keywords

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{abstract}

\begin{document}

\title{Machine Learning Applications in Healthcare}
\author{Research Team}
\date{\today}

\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
\noindent
This paper presents a comprehensive review of machine learning applications
in modern healthcare systems. We analyze various algorithms and their 
effectiveness in disease diagnosis, treatment planning, and patient outcome
prediction. Our findings suggest that deep learning models achieve 95\%
accuracy in early cancer detection.
\end{abstract}

\textbf{Keywords:} machine learning, healthcare, deep learning, 
medical diagnosis, artificial intelligence

% Alternative abstract style
\renewcommand{\abstractname}{Executive Summary}
\begin{abstract}
Your executive summary here...
\end{abstract}
\end{document}

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Sections and Structure

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Section Hierarchy

\documentclass{article}
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{3} % Number subsubsections
\setcounter{tocdepth}{3}    % Include in table of contents

\begin{document}

\tableofcontents
\newpage

\section{Introduction}
Main section text.

\subsection{Background}
Subsection text.

\subsubsection{Historical Context}
Subsubsection text.

\paragraph{Important Note}
Paragraph-level heading (usually unnumbered).

\subparagraph{Detail}
Subparagraph-level heading.

% Unnumbered sections
\section*{Acknowledgments}
Thanks to...

% Custom numbering
\setcounter{section}{0}
\renewcommand{\thesection}{\Alph{section}}
\section{Appendix A}

\end{document}

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Cross-References

\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:intro}
As we will discuss in Section~\ref{sec:methods}, our approach...

\subsection{Problem Statement}
\label{subsec:problem}
The main equation is shown in Eq.~\eqref{eq:main}.

\section{Methods}
\label{sec:methods}
Building on the problem stated in Section~\ref{subsec:problem}...

\begin{equation}
E = mc^2
\label{eq:main}
\end{equation}

% Using cleveref package for better references
\usepackage{cleveref}
\cref{sec:intro} shows...  % Automatically adds "Section"
\Cref{eq:main} demonstrates...  % Capital version

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Figures and Tables

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Figure Placement

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{float}

\begin{document}

\section{Results}

Figure~\ref{fig:results} shows our experimental results.

\begin{figure}[htbp]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{results.png}
  \caption{Experimental results showing the relationship between 
           temperature and reaction rate.}
  \label{fig:results}
\end{figure}

% Two figures side by side
\begin{figure}[htbp]
  \centering
  \begin{minipage}{0.45\textwidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{fig1.png}
    \caption{First result}
    \label{fig:first}
  \end{minipage}
  \hfill
  \begin{minipage}{0.45\textwidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{fig2.png}
    \caption{Second result}
    \label{fig:second}
  \end{minipage}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

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Professional Tables

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{siunitx}

\begin{document}

\section{Data Analysis}

Table~\ref{tab:results} summarizes our findings.

\begin{table}[htbp]
  \centering
  \caption{Comparison of algorithm performance}
  \label{tab:results}
  \begin{tabular}{lS[table-format=2.1]S[table-format=2.1]S[table-format=1.2]}
    \toprule
    Algorithm & {Time (s)} & {Memory (MB)} & {Accuracy} \\
    \midrule
    Method A & 12.3 & 45.6 & 0.92 \\
    Method B & 8.7 & 67.8 & 0.95 \\
    Method C & 15.2 & 23.4 & 0.89 \\
    \midrule
    Baseline & 20.1 & 89.0 & 0.85 \\
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

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Citations and Bibliography

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Using BibTeX

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{natbib} % or biblatex

\begin{document}

\section{Literature Review}

% Citation styles
According to \citet{smith2020}, climate change affects...
Recent studies \citep{jones2021,brown2022} show...
As demonstrated by \citeauthor{wilson2019}...
In \citeyear{taylor2023}, researchers found...

% Multiple citations
Several works \citep{ref1,ref2,ref3} address this issue.

\bibliographystyle{apalike} % or plain, abbrv, unsrt, alpha
\bibliography{references} % references.bib file

\end{document}

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Using biblatex

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

\begin{document}

% In-text citations
\textcite{smith2020} found that...
This was confirmed \parencite{jones2021}.
\citeauthor{brown2022} argues...

% Footnote citations
Some claim this is true.\footcite{wilson2019}

\printbibliography

\end{document}

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Mathematical Content

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Equations in Articles

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,amsthm}

% Define theorem environments
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}[section]
\newtheorem{lemma}[theorem]{Lemma}
\newtheorem{corollary}[theorem]{Corollary}
\newtheorem{proposition}[theorem]{Proposition}

\theoremstyle{definition}
\newtheorem{definition}[theorem]{Definition}
\newtheorem{example}[theorem]{Example}

\theoremstyle{remark}
\newtheorem{remark}[theorem]{Remark}

\begin{document}

\section{Mathematical Framework}

\begin{definition}[Convergence]
A sequence $(x_n)$ converges to $x$ if for every $\epsilon > 0$,
there exists $N \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $|x_n - x| < \epsilon$
for all $n > N$.
\end{definition}

\begin{theorem}[Fundamental Theorem]
\label{thm:fundamental}
Let $f: [a,b] \to \mathbb{R}$ be continuous. Then
\begin{equation}
\int_a^b f'(x)\,dx = f(b) - f(a)
\end{equation}
\end{theorem}

\begin{proof}
The proof follows from... \qed
\end{proof}

\end{document}

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Page Layout and Formatting

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Custom Page Layout

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{geometry}

% Adjust margins
\geometry{
  left=25mm,
  right=25mm,
  top=30mm,
  bottom=30mm,
  headheight=15pt
}

% Headers and footers
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{} % Clear all headers/footers
\fancyhead[L]{Article Title}
\fancyhead[R]{\thepage}
\fancyfoot[C]{Journal Name, Vol. X, No. Y, 2024}

% Line spacing
\usepackage{setspace}
\onehalfspacing % or \doublespacing

% Paragraph formatting
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{1em}

\begin{document}
% Content here
\end{document}

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Journal-Specific Formatting

% IEEE format
\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}

% ACM format
\documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}

% Elsevier format
\documentclass[preprint,12pt]{elsarticle}

% Springer format
\documentclass[smallextended]{svjour3}

% Each journal class has specific requirements
% Always check the journal's author guidelines

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Advanced Features

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Code Listings

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{listings}
\usepackage{xcolor}

\lstset{
  language=Python,
  basicstyle=\ttfamily\small,
  keywordstyle=\color{blue},
  commentstyle=\color{green!60!black},
  stringstyle=\color{red},
  numbers=left,
  numberstyle=\tiny\color{gray},
  breaklines=true,
  frame=single,
  captionpos=b
}

\begin{document}

\section{Implementation}

\begin{lstlisting}[caption={Python implementation},label={lst:python}]
def calculate_mean(data):
    """Calculate the mean of a dataset."""
    return sum(data) / len(data)

# Example usage
data = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
mean = calculate_mean(data)
print(f"Mean: {mean}")
\end{lstlisting}

\end{document}

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Appendices

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{appendix}

\begin{document}

\section{Introduction}
Main content...

\section{Results}
More content...

\appendix
\section{Detailed Calculations}
\label{app:calculations}
Extended mathematical derivations...

\section{Additional Data}
\label{app:data}
Supplementary tables and figures...

% Alternative approach
\begin{appendices}
\section{First Appendix}
Content...
\section{Second Appendix}
More content...
\end{appendices}

\end{document}

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Best Practices

Article writing guidelines:
  1. Structure: Follow the standard IMRaD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion)
  2. Clarity: Write clear, concise sentences and paragraphs
  3. Consistency: Use consistent notation and terminology throughout
  4. Citations: Cite all sources properly and consistently
  5. Figures: Ensure all figures are high-quality and properly labeled
  6. Proofreading: Always compile and proofread the final PDF
  7. Templates: Use journal-specific templates when available

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Submission Checklist

Before submitting your article:
  • Check journal formatting requirements
  • Verify all citations are included
  • Ensure figures are high resolution (300+ DPI)
  • Remove all draft/todo comments
  • Check page limits and word count
  • Include all required sections
  • Validate references format
  • Test compile on clean system

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Quick Templates

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Research Article Template

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{times}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{cite}

\title{Your Research Title}
\author{Author Name\\Institution}
\date{}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
Abstract text (150-250 words)
\end{abstract}

\section{Introduction}
\section{Related Work}
\section{Methodology}
\section{Results}
\section{Discussion}
\section{Conclusion}

\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{refs}

\end{document}
Next: Learn how to create Professional presentations using LaTeX and Beamer.