Basic Document Structure
A LaTeX document consists of two main parts:The preamble (before
\begin{document}) contains global settings, package imports, and definitions. The document body (between \begin{document} and \end{document}) contains your actual content.Document Classes
The document class determines the overall layout and available commands:Standard Classes
Class Options
Common options for document classes:Document Organization
Title Information
Abstract
For articles and reports:Sectioning Commands
LaTeX provides hierarchical sectioning:Table of Contents
Page Layout
Margins and Geometry
Using thegeometry package:
Headers and Footers
Basic page numbering: Custom headers withfancyhdr:
Multi-file Documents
For large documents, split content into multiple files:Main File (thesis.tex)
Chapter File (chapters/introduction.tex)
\include vs \input:\include{file}- Starts new page, allows\includeonly\input{file}- Inserts content inline, no page break
Appendices
Front Matter and Back Matter
For books and reports:Best Practices
Common Patterns
Academic Article
Technical Report
Next: Explore Text Formatting commands or learn about Math Mode for mathematical content.