The .txt file is the LaTeX file itself. This is the one you want to select to open a file in Texmaker. The .pdf is your final document that is generated and updated every time you compile the LaTeX code. It's good practice to compile often as you write. If there are errors that inhibit compiling, you will have fewer things to debug if you compile frequently. You did set the editor to back-up every 10 minutes, but backing up does not compile the document, it simply saves your changes. You also notice in the above screenshot the 'test-library.bib' file is located in the same folder as the .txt file. This is the bibliographic file created from Zotero. Although the file need not necessarily be stored in the document folder, it is good practice to do so.
Closing Thoughts
The LaTeX learning curve is worth the effort if you're involved in academic writing. It gets you out of proprietary word processors and allows for a wide range of customization. Because it's open source, you can find a community-developed application or code for just about anything you need do to within a document. For support, there is also an enthusiastic
community of users who willingly share their knowledge.
The process described in this post is just one way of writing APA 6th compliant academic articles with LaTeX. Other options and variations on this process exist. Hopefully, this post will get the novice started in the right direction and even help experienced users troubleshoot ongoing issues.
If you are completely new to writing with LaTeX, there are a number of great tutorials to get you started.
Michelle Krummel's YouTube channel is accessible and informative, as is the
LaTeX Wikibooks page. Getting all these components to work together properly will take time and you may find that some variations on the process described here are needed. Results may vary depending on the type of OS and version you are running. Be patient, expect some challenges, and enjoy writing.
Key Terms:
- LaTeX: Free and open source system (coding language) used for academic writing and typesetting. In LaTeX, the formatting of your document is created separately from the content of your document. Formatting is written in LaTeX code and content is written as you would in a word processor.
- LaTeX Editor: A program that runs LaTeX (e.g., Texmaker).
- Compile: Generating a PDF document from LaTeX formatting code and content. This is the process of combining formatting and content into a finished document, and is an integrated function of the LaTeX editor. The keyboard shortcut for this in Texmaker is 'F1'.
- Preamble: Formatting code at the beginning of a LaTeX document that specifies the purpose, structure, and formatting of the document.
- Citation Manager: An application that organizes references and generates citations for inclusion in documents. (e.g., Zotero)
- Cite Keys: Information about given references generated by the citation manager and placed in the document by the author that allow the BibTeX file to insert references into the text and automatically create a reference list.
- BibLaTex: A file type that contains cite keys and metadata about the included references. This is also know as a .bib file. An earlier and somewhat outdated version of this file type is BibTex.
- Better BibTex: An enhanced form of a BibTex/BibLaTeX file.