LaTeX useful for Org Behavior?

[Carmexx]

I have heard lots of great things about LaTex, but I'm not sure if it makes sense for Organizational Behavior. Does anyone have any insight for this, or will Microsoft Word work just fine? Thanks.

[YaSvoboden]

I pretty sure latex is standard for a lot of academic writing. I am not in ob, but it seems worth putting a little time into. Start with templates and modify them.

[gc98835]

Start with Lyx (LyX | LyX – The Document Processor).

[DrEgg]

We had to use LaTeX for a couple of classes I took. My sense is for OB it is largely personal preference. A few of the professors in my department use it, most do not. It also probably depends on the type of research you do. If you are heavily quantitative, have a lot of tables, etc. or have a lot of math/equations in your papers then I see how it might be helpful. Personally, I am not that big a fan. Partly, this is probably because I do a lot of qualitative research, but I'm not even sure I would use it for my quantitative work. For me, having to compile all the time to see how things look, to really do any serious proofreading, etc. seems to offset the time spent editing tables in Word.

 

Also, I know a lot of people recommend Lyx. Personally, I found Lyx way more annoying/time consuming than just learning how to write the LaTeX code. Lyx seems to me to be trying to replicate a normal word processor, but to do a fairly poor job of it. For me, I felt like I was getting the downsides of a Word processor without the benefits.

 

Of course, this is all just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt!

[eventualprof]

I knew nothing about LaTeX before this post. So thanks for the exposure.

 

I know that MS Word has capabilities that continue to evolve. I have included complex equations in my writing for a long time. Before Word 2013, there was a free add-on for an equation writer. That add-on is now an included feature with Word 2013. Here is a link:

 

Where is Equation Editor? - Word

 

We'll see if the use of LaTeX is required with my program as I have not considered the addition of complex tables and charts. At least now I won't look like a deer in the headlights when/if someone asks me about LaTeX.

[Carmexx]

I knew nothing about LaTeX before this post. So thanks for the exposure.

 

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I've received lots of help here so glad to be of use!

 

Here is a link that gives reasons why LaTeX is a good option even if there are not lots of equations (coming from Humanities student): Why your should LaTeX your dissertation; or, why you don’t have to write your dissertation in Word. | AmShazam.

 

Part of me wants to learn just so that I can have this option for the dissertation, but the other part of me doesn't want to waste time on something I may not sure too much and that will have a steep learning curve. Other students I asked in OB said they used MS, but I'd like to ask people what they used for their dissertation.

[eventualprof]

^ The "Why not LaTeX?" section in the article you linked to has me shying away. Difficulty in converting to RTF would be an issue that I do not want to deal with. But I will find out what the preferences are at my university. I agree that it would make things much easier for the publications if EVERYONE were submitting the same markup language according to that pub's stylesheet or template preferences.

[gc98835]

the other part of me doesn't want to waste time on something I may not sure too much and that will have a steep learning curve.

 

I don't think the learning curve is that steep, if you want to learn it start writing your next term papers etc. in Latex and you will quickly pick up everything along the way whenever you need something.

[Ald]

Most people don't use LaTeX in my program (management), unless they come from an economics background. That includes professors and students. The people in finance and applied econ all seem to use it.

[rsaylors]

Oddly a lot of the journals and conferences require either a PDF or a Word file (or just a word file they convert to PDF). This means a lot of messing around if you're using a lot of formulas, but this is fairly rare in OB.

[PhDPlease]

The Professors I worked as an RA for submitted their papers as Word docs and didn't use LaTex. I'm personally going to just stick with Word unless I'm instructed to do otherwise since I've already spent a lot of time figuring how to get things to look nice in it. (But of course that doesn't mean that it's the best method...)

[Carmexx]

The Professors I worked as an RA for submitted their papers as Word docs and didn't use LaTex. I'm personally going to just stick with Word unless I'm instructed to do otherwise since I've already spent a lot of time figuring how to get things to look nice in it. (But of course that doesn't mean that it's the best method...)

 

I think I will do that also. I will first ask the faculty I am working with before I learn any new programs. I'd like to preserve as many brain cells as possible for all of the learning I need to do!