Academic Writing in Markdown

[@remusomega]

In an extraordinary attempt to procrastinate doing my actual thesis, I've actually learned VIM, Markdown, and VimWiki, and now here I am planning to write it all in VIM.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

remusomega Nice!

[@herpderp4847]

based

[@AlexMercadoGo]

It’s a good thing Markdown can keep you from procrastinating 😂

[@chenwu9788]

Can u do automatic cross reference, how do you write equation

[@DereinzigwahreAkede]

@@chenwu9788 with pandoc you can at latex equations just write $x^2$ pandoc will parse it and make x² in latex style

[@zemja]

I keep coming back to this video. I find it strangely relaxing. Thanks to this video, I wrote all my university assignments in Markdown.

[@genkiferal7178]

Compared to the last video on this exact aspect of markdown, you did an excellent job and painted a very clear picture of how useful markdown can be for me. I need details like that. So many people in life skip the details.

[@TheCausticThinker]

Well done! Love it when I see high quality videos on YT. Congratulations and thank you.

[@erikengheim1106]

Markdown is awesome I have done almost all my writing for years in Markdown for much the reasons you cited. I was tired of all sorts of proprietary formats that got out of fashion or that I could no longer read. I use Markdown for blogs, personal notes, book writing, etc. I think the only thing that I wish was better was that there was a more universal standard for putting captions in images. I think people who are still stuck on using MS Word and its ilk are really missing out. Markdown just gives so much flexibility in tool usage. I got hooked using Ulysses, but now I am using iA Writer. But then there is Bear, Typora and many other which are just so much better than typical Word processors at organizing, tagging and grouping your writing and later find back what you have written.

[@raulacevedo-esteves9493]

Would you choose HTML over LaTeX?

[@erikengheim1106]

@@raulacevedo-esteves9493 I write LaTeX equations in my Markdown files. I think LaTeX is great for mathematics, but for just regular writing I think Markdown is a much better format. I am using AsciiDoc at the moment, so we'll see if I find that preferable. The lack of standardization of Markdown is of course a bit of an issue. But the ubiquity and broad selection of Markdown tools is really neat.

[@dmahadeo]

Thanks very much. I was looking for a something like this. I am an IT administrator and work on servers a lot that do not have any wordprocessing software, other than Wordpad for RTF and wanted to start note taking that would work across platforms as I am now getting involved in Linux. And I stumbled across this video while exploring an app called Joplin. I do believe this is exactly what I need. Thank you very much

[@dukeofearl8078]

Nice, succinct presentation. I'm investigating using Jinja to generate Markdown + LaTeX.

[@etzhaim]

This channel does a great service to the academic community. Kudos and thank you!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Thanks so much! Glad this channel is helping folks!

[@miku4j]

This dude really know how to teach

[@dmahadeo]

I was thinking the exact thing

[@apayrus]

The best video on markdown, I have seen dozens and know it. 🔥🔥🔥

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Rustam Apaev Thanks!

[@apayrus]

@@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody everybody dives into explaining syntax without any explanation - why? for what reason? )) nobody think about abstract level or advantages... Each word in this video written with deep knowledge, understanding and love :) I returned to watch it again )) 👍👍👍

[@karthik2k2]

Crisp and clear. Thank you !

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Awesome! Glad you liked it!

[@johnsobkowicz190]

Great introductory video on Markdown - simple and logical - thank you!

[@stardust6004]

This is such a great video. Despite the fact that im totally overwhelmed by markdown and its simplicity, you've just got the right way to give your audience enough information without taking too long to get on point. Keep your great work on!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Thanks, Jesper!

[@akhil4441]

Must appreciate your teaching technique... whole content is up to the point.. Thank you !!!

[@SuperFerz]

Very clear explanation, thank you!

[@janman7419]

Very good video, thank you very much! I am slowly switching to mark down, trying different apps (Obsidian, Joplin), but I´ll have a look at Pandoc as well!

[@stanheart2102]

Hello, seems I am four years late. Great piece on using Markdown, but could you do a video on using it to write blogs and articles? Thanks.

[@lnus7832]

The thing is that there are also lots of competing markdown standards. Of course it's not nearly as big of a problem as the competing standards elsewhere, but I still think it's worth a mention.

[@probiner]

I saved this video as a good example of presentation. Thanks!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

That's great. Thanks!

[@Cursivesoulsoothing]

It was really helpful. Thanks.

[@rexevan6714]

> maybe you just don't wanna pay Microsoft for the license. Exactly my reason.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Then this will be a perfect fit!

[@williambiggs2308]

An excellent, precise demonstration. Thank you.

[@antonionotbanderas9775]

A better markdown for ordered lists is: 1. Loren ipsum 1. Dolor sit This sintax makes it easier to reorder items. Thanks for the footnotes and refences sintax.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Good tip!

[@marcelpf]

Very good explanation

[@elizabethbroos9088]

Thanks for sharing! You just saved me hours of work...

[@waellerbe]

Thank you for sharing this incredible presentation for academic writing with Markdown. Time for me to download this application on my system.

[@Tlozferk]

Amazing video! Clear and simple explanation! I subscribe now! Greetings from Mexico City.

[@professorfranciscoflavio-f907]

Thank you very much for the class!

[@wonderboy7880]

Thank you. (: Your video made it easy to understand or get a better idea of what markdown is, and it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.

[@itishenry5600]

in 7:14, may I ask how to add text to every row?

[@mangalanimakananisa6800]

Thank you for sharing.

[@Masoudy91]

And that's about it. Page numbers, book collaboration, adjustments to margens, fonts, layout and math equations And you are better off with a Tex document. +20 years of culture and improvements for such a relic syntax. It's quite useful for relatively small or webpages like documentation. Nevertheless you get a thumbs up.

[@duniateknologi2529]

It’s clearly explanation, thank so much. But how to print and setup the layout?

[@dreznik]

where did the data for the citation come from?

[@proguifreccia]

I dont know too

[@socratesoliveira1176]

Hey, thank you very much for the video! Can I change the citation style using RMarkdown? My Country/University has its own citation rules, and I am pretty sure some people already created a citation style to Latex. So how can I use it to RMarkdown?

[@markp.8329]

Hi. Great video. What is the software you use in your video to show the text on the screen? Thanks.

[@khoavo5758]

You have some great visual presentation in this video! What do you use to make the slides, as well as embedding your webcam in it?

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

VDK thanks! I use keynote for the slides and screenflow for the video.

[@gathorn]

Excellent presentation style

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

gathorn Thanks!

[@unbekannter_Nutzer]

One/two advantages of having the text as pure markdown code: It's dead simple and efficient, to do a diff between two versions and hence it is well suited for tools like Git, to archive the code and track modifications.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

💯😎

[@OuZhang]

Well done! and good video!

[@leohuang3361]

Can we use Markdown integrated with Zotero?

[@mayurakshi0002]

Hello, nice to see your all videos explained it in simple and best way. But, I am using Windows OS, so can you help me in this matter?

[@genkiferal7178]

In Joplin, that % sign idea isn't working and I've seen it mentioned nowhere else. Is that only for Pandoc?

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Yup!

[@BenZeebar]

Great explanation. I co-edit an open access academic journal called Asian Ethnology. At the moment, all authors submit work in Word, we edit that, and then import into InDesign to publish PDFs (for print and download). But we're about to launch a new website with all new material also available online. I really want to do what you are showing here - it would be great if the authors would also use Markdown but I'm I'm afraid many won't. I've tried the online Word to Markdown converter, but I'm wondering if there's a less clunky way of doing it (so that the Markdown document doesn't get filled with various Word junk). So I'm considering how to resolve the workflow issues. If you've got any tips, I'd love to hear them. But this is the clearest explanation of Markdown for academic writing I've seen so far. Thank you.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Glad you liked the video! This is a tough one. I agree with you that everything would be so much better if authors were required to submit articles in Markdown (or anything other than Word), but you'll have a hard time convincing everyone to leave Word. Old habits die hard. Have you tried Pandoc to convert the DOCX files to TXT/MD? I have a short introduction here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGSUdpKEj76Eh7s. Another possibility would be to request that submissions be in RTF. That's a little bit easier for people to grasp than Markdown, and you might have less problems with the conversion. Lemme know how it goes. Good luck!

[@BenZeebar]

Thanks for your quick response. I could certainly make submission by RTF a requirement. I'll try some RTFs myself and see how that goes. I've been investigating Pandoc - it may help with workflow. Would you recommend using Zotero for authors' bibliographies? At the moment they submit in Word and we just import that into InDesign templates we've made - no automated bibliography at this stage. I've been checking out your videos for that as well.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

If I had my choice, I would make all authors use some sort of bibliography management software. It makes their and your life so much easier. But it's hard to convince everyone to use one single program. Half of them will be wedded to another program they've always used (JabRef, EndNote), and the other half will refuse to use anything at all! Maybe you could require authors to use the program of their choice and then suggest Zotero as an option. You could point them to my videos as a tutorial. You could even create a Zotero account for your journal. That way, you could share your issues with the public, and authors could share their sources with the journal.

[@BenZeebar]

Thanks so much. I'll consider that seriously.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Good luck! Let me know how it goes. Ah, and what's the website for the journal?

[@rikhardfsoss]

would you do some videos about asciidoc? it's far superior to any type of markdown, and it's as simple.

[@Mrs4ever2gether]

Thank you so much for this informative video. Short and precise. I was thinking to write my master thesis in r-markdown as well. Now I am wondering, if there is any chance, that the tables and figures get numbered automatically like in Word. Or in general, is there any supporting website, you can recommend, where you will get answers in a timely manner? Thank you in advance for your help. Greetings from Germany.

[@markus-linke]

Besides the content, I like the way you did this video :) How did you do it? I mean the combination of slides and video like you to in the first part.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

I used an app called Screenflow 👍

[@markus-linke]

@@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody thanks

[@okbelbab]

Thank you Dr.Nicholas, Grate as usual.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Thank you! What a compliment coming from Mr. AVT!

[@keiichiiownsu12]

Would you recommend markdown over Latex? I'm currently using Bibtex/Jabref to manage my bibliography, so I wonder if markdown can support bibtex citations

[@xiaofangcai1867]

Hi Nicholas, I wonder if you have plan to write tutorials on the version control system for academic writing. Actually one of my motives to learn markdown language is that I want to learn to use Git to control the versions of writing. Thanks a lot!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

That's a fantastic idea, Xiaofang! I will add it to the list. BTW, if you're interested in learning more about these sorts of things, I have a Slack group. It's a great place to get advice on these sorts of questions. You can join here: tinyurl.com/y7p9ohg5.

[@xiaofangcai1867]

Nicholas Cifuentes-Goodbody Great! And see you at Slack!

[@4chiron]

Thank you for a great lecture on R Markdown!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Thanks!

[@EugeneBuvard]

Im digging replying but that's not R Markdown (Rmd), it is simple markdown (md)

[@4chiron]

Eugene, you are correct. I am trying to understand Markdown and apply this understanding in R Markdown. A problem with R Markdown is that a popular R editor is RStudio that comes preloaded with Pandoc and that in my thinking is a source of confusion.

[@jimjones3640]

Do you recommend for Math writing, and statistical equations and research findings with graphs?

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Markdown is more limited in those areas than LaTeX. So if you need to do a lot of figures and equations, that might be a better option.

[@fn9606]

Thanks for sharing! It's very helpful to me!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

F N glad to be of help!

[@pankajsharma-uw9zl]

Hi, Nic i am just a beginner i get everything what u says..But how do i get this sheet to write the program. please help..

[@najams658]

very informative video, can you guide me how to put caption and label in images in typora?

[@ALADMIRAL700]

Amazing !

[@PhotonVision]

Great tutorial. Which editor are you using here? I like that it immediately displays HTML.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Thanks! I'm using Marked 2. marked2app.com.

[@PhotonVision]

I am now using RStudio for writing manuscripts, which I was already using for statistics and sharing results in Rmarkdown format with coauthors. There is excellent integration with Zotero thanks to BetterBibLatex and citr, working similar to the plugin for MS Word but still using markdown syntax. I do not need to keep an exported .bib-file, but citr pulls the references directly from Zotero, and stores them in a project-specific .bib-file. I still share my documents as .doc and .pdf because my documents are code-heavy.

[@lucabaggi3951]

which editor would you recommend using?

[@amirthasri5479]

fantastic speech explanations i like very much

[@AkhilenderJeetSInghBana]

How do you write equations ?

[@sheajohnson5461]

This is awesome :)

[@chenwu9788]

How to do cross reference of numbered item, figures and table. Any time I insert a new number, or figure,or table it auto update ?

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

To do that, you'll need to use a special flavor of markdown called MultiMarkdown. fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/

[@finndriver1063]

Noice! My only issue is that I feel your description for pandoc markdown would better describe lightweight markup languages in general. Secondly, have you heard of org-mode markup for emacs? It is what I write most of my schoolwork in these days and is pretty intuitive.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out!

[@paulkorovkin1067]

Thanks for the tips. I didn't find any clues for command line users though. Got stuck with pandoc-citeproc. Get an error every time I try to make reference to a my bib file.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Hi, Paul. Yup, I wanted to keep this video as a basic introduction. It's hard to tell what the issue is based on what you told me, but here's a shot in the dark: Put the name of the file you're converting at the end of your command. So it would look something like this: pandoc -f markdown -t docx -s --filter pandoc-citeproc library.bib -o success.docx test.txt I know the documentation says to put the file name first, but I have the same problem when I use citeproc, and putting the name last solves it.

[@paulkorovkin1067]

Thanx! You are right, I already got it myself. It's important to place filter name and bib name in correct order. It's not easy to find much on errors one gets, working with pandoc-citeproc. Started my own list of errors and remedies ) Thanx again, great video!

[@LexteLoo]

Clear. Thank you.

[@yomoma6692]

What editor where you using?

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

I'm using TextEdit, which comes installed in Mac OS. For the live preview, I'm using Marked 2.

[@walterbyrd8380]

A problem that I always have with these side-by-side markdown editors is: they never line up. They work okay for a small amount of data, but for a long page, especially if there are images, the idea seems to fall apart. If you are not seeing on one side what you are typing on the other, what's the point? I suppose you can mess with finding words, or constantly adjusting the sidebars, but that is just more trouble than it's worth.

[@sam_AI_Dr]

What GUI is this?

[@arshadhayat]

Man, you are just amazing

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

arshad hayat Thanks, man!

[@heatherhutchinson3625]

Footnote is such a pain for Markdown. You have to manually manage the name/number of all the footnotes. Microsoft Word and Google Docs do it automatically.

[@lemaianh5746]

this is really good instruction

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Le Mai Anh Thanks!

[@balvindersingh8661]

how do we make a table of content with link to heading or a index

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Depending on the format you want your final document to be in, you can use the --toc option. More info in the pandoc documentation: pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#general-writer-options Good luck!

[@eliascherenet6048]

how can we get the citation keys. I want some brief on this !

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

I know, right! Super cool stuff! Check out my channel. I have a play list on academic writing in plain text. That should give you a good start. Good luck!

[@mrWeevil1]

Great video. I'm glad more professionals are standardizing on Markdown, I found it recently and love it. Just a little technical note: the audio is very low at certain parts of the video, do you think you could try playing with the audio gain for the video?

[@rainstormr7650]

excellent vid, thx

[@jerryh1937]

Great. Thanks.

[@sayanjitb]

is latex a sort of markdown language?

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

LaTeX is something else. It's more like a programming language for creating scientific articles in PDF format. Markdown is more focused on ease of use and preparing writing for a website (but it's great with PDFs, too!).

[@source1289]

In Jupyter notebook the % Title and [^note] does not work. Why?

[@leberkassemmel]

Source 128 because this is specific to Pandoc. The original Markdown doesn’t have so many options

[@rogernevez5187]

Is it possible to include images?

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Absolutely, Roger. Just start a new line with:  More info here: tinyurl.com/97b8rxn BTW, if you're interested, I've started a small community for discussing these sorts of issues. You can join here: tinyurl.com/y7p9ohg5

[@belatcradus6123]

Is it possible to create a table in discord ? + thanks for your great videos I'Ve learned a lot of it!

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

I have a video on tables in Markdown: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2HVfmutdtVni5I

[@belatcradus6123]

Thanks

[@myidisvoid]

easy to work with the version control like git

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Totally!

[@daacosta]

Very cool. It'd be nice if it were not so MAC-centric... Though, I've been able to do what you do with Wondows 10 tools by using Notepad++ and Windows Powershell. Great job Nicholas!

[@naviscript2655]

Nice review, but don´t understand how you cited. I need this for my papers but it does not work.

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Hi, Na Vi. Thanks for your comment. For citations you need to create a BIB file and then use a program called Pandoc. You can see videos on all these topics on my channel. Good luck with your writing!

[@KangDianTea]

Dear Sir, Very useful video for me who has just started to learn writing in markdown. I really want to understand on minute: 9:26 in the video, I tried to type citation but it just don't show up instantly on the preview side. Please explain how to do that. Thank you.

[@erichepperle7085]

Just discovered #pandoc today but didn't know that markdowns could be a future-proofing technology. My Office 365 subscription just ended and I needed to find a better (free) way to convert back and forth from Word .doc/.docx files to PDFs. Looks like pandoc might do it. Great run-though

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

Awesome! Yes, pandoc is a great option.

[@matthijshebly]

The power of plain text

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

The power!

[@williambiggs2308]

What do you mean Apple Pages is gone?

[@NicholasCifuentesGoodbody]

To be clear, this is not an issue for current Pages documents. There were compatibility issues when iWork '09 came out several years ago. My point is that you can't assume that your files will be easily accessible forever. Word or Pages might have a major upgrade. Less popular formats might become obsolete (remember Word Perfect?). One of the advantages of plain text files is that there will likely always be several applications that will allow you to access them. In that sense, writing in plain text is "future proof."

[@markcuello5]

Help me

[@bandlanavya4584]

Ca you please suggest me in adding a local text file in markdown

[@drsmahesan203]

Percentage does not work for me.

[@patricior7300]

Fórmulas? academics don't use formulas?

[@vanthuanluong9398]

This is some hardcore stuff. Why don't use google doc?