TUTORIAL 5: LIST ENVIRONMENTS CHRISTOPHER RARIDAN Abstract. Upon completion of this tutorial, the author should be able to create bullet lists and numbered lists using the itemize and enumerate environments, respectively. 1. Welcome (1) Hello. My name is Dr. Christopher Raridan (Dr. R). (2) I want to welcome you to the L A TEX Tutorial Series. (3) In this tutorial I will introduce you to two L A TEX environments which allow you to create bullet lists and numbered lists. (4) By the end of this tutorial, you should know how to use the itemize and enumerate environments. (5) Please note that this is the fifth in a series of tutorials meant introduce you to L A TEX. (6) We start this tutorial with the assumption that you have successfully completed Tutorials 1-4, and subsequent tutorials will build from this one. (7) Hopefully, Windows and Mac users will have a similar experience. Part of Math 3006, Communication in Mathematics, Clayton State University. 1
2 C. RARIDAN 2. Getting Started (1) Navigate to the LaTeX Tutorials folder on your computer. (2) Inside this folder, create a new folder entitled My Third LaTeX Document. (3) Open the My Second LaTeX Document folder. (4) Double-click on the My-Second-LaTeX-Document.tex file. (5) Click [File] > Save As... (6) Navigate to your My Third LaTeX Document folder. (7) Inside that folder, name your file My-Third-LaTeX-Document.tex. (8) Click [Save] to save your file. (9) [Ctrl]+[T] to typeset. (10) Adjust the TeXworks editor window and PDF output window to your liking, if necessary. 3. Bullet Lists To create a bullet list, we use the itemize environment. Bullet lists are often used when the order of the items is not important. This might be for something as simple as a grocery list or for jotting down some ideas for your next party. (1) Place your cursor after expressions. the last word and punctuation of the second paragraph. (2) Hit [Enter] twice to start a new paragraph.
TUTORIAL 5: LIST ENVIRONMENTS 3 (3) Type the following introduction to a good use of a bullet list: I like s mores. When I go to the grocery store next time, I am going to get. (4) Hit [Enter] to go to the next line or hit [Enter] twice if you think that this makes it easier to read your L A TEX code. (5) Type \begin{itemize}. (6) Hit [Enter] twice. (7) Type \end{itemize}. (8) Recall from Tutorial 3 that L A TEX environments start with \begin{arg} and terminate with \end{arg}, where arg is replace by some argument, i.e., a structure. (9) It is good practice to type both to ensure that you have matched each \begin{arg} with an \end{arg}. (10) Place your cursor on the blank line between \begin{itemize} and \end{itemize}. (11) Hit [Tab]. (12) The reason that we use [Tab] in this situation is for readability. (13) Your code will look nicer if the items that are in the list are tabbed over from the margin, but this is not necessary. (14) Type \item followed by a space. (15) Each item in your bullet list will start with this command. (16) Type graham crackers.
4 C. RARIDAN (17) Hit [Enter] twice. (18) It is not necessary to leave a blank line between the items of your list, but again, this aids in readability. (19) Type \item marshmallows. (20) Hit [Enter] twice. (21) Type \item chocolate bars. (22) [Ctrl]+[T] to typeset. (23) You should now have a bullet list, a grocery list for s mores. Yum! 4. Numbered Lists To create a numbered list, we use the enumerate environment. Numbered lists are often used when the order of the items is important. In all of the tutorials so far, and even in this one, I have used numbered lists to indicate that the order of completion is important to obtain the correct final product. (1) Place your cursor after \end{itemize}, the end of your grocery list which used the itemize environment. (2) Hit [Enter] twice to start a new paragraph. (3) Type the following introduction to a good use of a bullet list: Today, I need to do the following:. (4) Hit [Enter] to go to the next line or hit [Enter] twice if you think that this makes it easier to read your L A TEX code.
TUTORIAL 5: LIST ENVIRONMENTS 5 (5) Type \begin{enumerate}. (6) Hit [Enter] twice. (7) Type \end{enumerate}. (8) Place your cursor on the blank line between \begin{enumerate} and \end{enumerate}. (9) Hit [Tab]. (10) Type \item go to grocery store. (11) Hit [Enter] twice. (12) Type \item buy stuff for s mores. (13) Hit [Enter] twice. (14) Type \item return home. (15) Hit [Enter] twice. (16) Type \item make s mores. (17) [Ctrl]+[T] to typeset. (18) You should now have a numbered list that not only says what to do, but gives the order in which those things should be completed. 5. A Tweak In this tutorial, you made two different kinds of lists, the bullet list and the numbered list. You may find the following tweak will improve the way your lists appear on the page:
6 C. RARIDAN (1) Go to your bullet list, which starts with \begin{itemize}. (2) Place your cursor at the end of \begin{itemize}. (3) Type \itemsep10pt with no spaces. (4) [Ctrl]+[T] to typeset. (5) You should notice that the items in your grocery list are now spaced out a bit more. (6) The L A TEX command \itemsep is an abbreviation for item separation. (7) The argument 10pt tells L A TEX how much space to put between each item in the list. (8) This command probably should not be used in a term paper; it is more suited for an oral presentation. 6. A Remark about List Environments When it comes down to it, you should use list environments sparingly. Both of the examples given here concerning bullet lists and numbered lists are trivial and could just as easily have been written in sentence form. This tutorial is more about how to make a list and less about when a list is appropriate. One of the best places to use lists is in an oral presentation, and you will learn more about this later in the semester. Department of Mathematics, Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia 30260 E-mail address: ChristopherRaridan@clayton.edu