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Scientific Writing with LaTeX, Overleaf & OpenAI Prism

From a first LaTeX document to AI-assisted drafting: the modern toolkit for scientific writing.

Program Overview

This workshop equips researchers, graduate students, and academics with the tools and techniques for professional scientific writing. Participants learn LaTeX from scratch, collaborate in real-time on Overleaf, and leverage AI-assisted writing with OpenAI Prism — the new LaTeX-native workspace with integrated GPT-5.2 for scientific research.

Software & accounts

  • Overleaf — online LaTeX editor (free tier)
  • OpenAI Prism — AI-powered scientific workspace (free with ChatGPT account)
  • Optional local install: TeX Live + VS Code with LaTeX Workshop extension

Day 1 — LaTeX fundamentals

Objectives: write a first LaTeX document, understand document structure, typeset mathematics.

  • Why LaTeX? — comparison with Word, advantages for scientific writing, the LaTeX ecosystem, document compilation workflow.
  • First document — \documentclass, preamble, \begin{document}, sections, paragraphs, special characters, comments.
  • Text formatting — bold, italic, fonts, lists (itemize, enumerate, description), footnotes, cross-references (\label, \ref).
  • Mathematics — inline vs. display math, fractions, subscripts/superscripts, Greek letters, operators, matrices, align environments, theorem environments.
  • Figures & tables — \includegraphics, figure environment, captions, positioning, tabular, booktabs, multirow/multicolumn.

Lab 1: reproduce a provided 2-page mathematics paper excerpt — complete with title, abstract, sections, equations, a figure, and a table.

Day 2 — Advanced LaTeX & Overleaf

Objectives: master bibliographies, collaboration, and document templates for theses and articles.

  • Bibliography management — BibTeX files, \cite, \bibliography, natbib vs. biblatex, citation styles (APA, IEEE, numeric), Google Scholar BibTeX export.
  • Overleaf deep dive — creating projects, real-time collaboration, track changes, review mode, version history, sharing permissions, templates gallery.
  • Journal templates — using publisher templates (Elsevier, Springer, IEEE, AMS), submission-ready formatting.
  • Thesis structure — multi-file projects (\input, \include), front matter, chapters, appendices, table of contents, list of figures/tables, glossaries.
  • Advanced features — custom commands (\newcommand), packages (hyperref, cleveref, algorithm2e, listings, tikz basics), beamer for presentations.

Lab 2: set up a collaborative Overleaf project with a partner. Create a mini-paper using a journal template with: title page, abstract, 2 sections, 3+ equations, bibliography with 5+ references, and a figure.

Day 3 — AI-assisted writing with OpenAI Prism

Objectives: use AI tools responsibly for scientific writing — drafting, revision, literature search, and diagram generation.

  • Introduction to Prism — what is Prism, how it differs from ChatGPT, the LaTeX-native interface, creating a project, importing from Overleaf.
  • AI-assisted drafting — using Prism to draft sections, refine arguments, suggest structure. Prompt engineering for scientific text. Converting whiteboard sketches to LaTeX.
  • Literature search — using Prism to search academic literature, add references directly to manuscripts, verify citations.
  • Revision & editing — AI-assisted proofreading, style improvement, clarity checks, voice-based editing. Comparing Prism with Grammarly/Writefull for academic text.
  • Ethics & best practices — responsible AI use in academia, disclosure requirements, journal policies on AI-generated text, what to delegate vs. what to write yourself, avoiding plagiarism.
  • Capstone & wrap-up — complete a polished 3-page paper draft using LaTeX + Overleaf + Prism. Presentations, Q&A, certificates.

Lab 3 (capstone): produce a submission-ready paper draft (or thesis chapter). Workflow:

  1. Structure and outline in Prism.
  2. Draft sections with AI assistance.
  3. Add equations and figures manually in Overleaf.
  4. Use Prism for literature search and bibliography.
  5. Final proofreading and formatting.

Assessment

  • Daily labs (50 %) — quality and completeness of LaTeX documents.
  • Capstone paper (30 %) — polished draft produced on Day 3.
  • Participation (20 %) — engagement and collaboration.

Resources

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  1. Write complete LaTeX documents (articles, theses, reports).
  2. Typeset mathematical equations, tables, and figures professionally.
  3. Manage bibliographies with BibTeX/BibLaTeX.
  4. Collaborate in real-time using Overleaf.
  5. Use OpenAI Prism for AI-assisted drafting, literature search, and revision.
  6. Structure a thesis or dissertation in LaTeX.

Who Should Attend

Graduate students and postdocs writing their first thesis or paper. Researchers who already write in Word and want to switch to LaTeX for serious mathematical or scientific work. Faculty or supervisors who want to recommend a working AI-assisted workflow to their students. Anyone preparing a submission to a journal that requires LaTeX (most physics, mathematics, computer science, and quantitative-economics journals).

Prerequisites:

  • No prior LaTeX experience required.
  • Familiarity with academic papers (having read or written reports/essays).
  • A free account on Overleaf (create before Day 1).
  • A free account on OpenAI Prism (requires ChatGPT account).
  • Laptop with internet access.

Brochure

Lecture notes and lab notebooks are linked in the sidebar.

For a printable one-page brochure suitable for forwarding to a program committee, conference organizer, or corporate L&D team, write to gabayae2@gmail.com with the audience size and intended delivery dates.