LaTeX Typography Conventions

Contract

When you emit LaTeX source for an academic manuscript, produce it in the cross-venue typographic conventions below. Apply this any time you write or fix .tex content — tables, figures, prose, math, references, units. These are exact, arbitrary TeX-specific forms; the naive default (straight quotes, \hline, 10-20, ..., $$) is what an inexperienced author types and what reviewers read as amateur typesetting.

Rules

R1 — Table rules use booktabs

• Use the booktabs rules \toprule (top), \midrule (under the header),

\bottomrule (bottom). Never \hline.

• Never emit a double horizontal rule (\hline\hline, or \toprule\toprule).
• One \midrule separates the header row from the body; do not rule between

every data row.

R2 — No vertical rules in the column spec

• The tabular/array column spec carries letters only: {lcr}, {llc}.
• Never put a vertical bar | in the spec ({|l|c|r|}). Vertical rules in a

table are the single clearest amateur tell.

• Numeric columns are right-aligned (r) or decimal-aligned (S from

siunitx); text columns are left-aligned (l).

R3 — Table caption goes ABOVE the table

• Emit \caption{} BEFORE \begin{tabular}, inside the table float.
• A table caption below the tabular is wrong — below is for figures (R4).

R4 — Figure caption goes BELOW the figure

• Emit \caption{} AFTER \includegraphics, inside the figure float.
• A figure caption above the graphic is wrong — above is for tables (R3).

R5 — Float placement is [htbp]

• Use [htbp] (or [tbp], [t]) on \begin{table} / \begin{figure}.
• Never [H] (forces placement, creates large whitespace gaps) and never

[h!]. Plain [h] alone is fragile — avoid it too.

R6 — Ranges use an en-dash --

• Number, page, and year ranges use a double hyphen (en-dash): 10--20,

pp.\ 5--12, 2020--2023. Never a single hyphen 10-20 for a range.

R7 — Em-dash --- for asides, hyphen for compounds

• A parenthetical aside or emphatic break uses an em-dash, three hyphens:

text---text. Apply spacing uniformly (closed text---text is the academic default).

• A single hyphen - is only for compound words (state-of-the-art,

well-known). Never use a single hyphen where a range (R6) or aside belongs.

R8 — Quotes are TeX quotes

• Open a quotation with two backticks and close with two apostrophes

''. Never the straight " keyboard character — it renders as two wrong glyphs in TeX.

• Nested: single backtick / single apostrophe inside the doubles:

He called it optimal' which is debatable.''

R9 — Ellipsis is \ldots

• An ellipsis is \ldots (or \dots). Never three literal periods ...,

which TeX sets with wrong inter-dot spacing.

R10 — Non-breaking tilde before refs and cites

• Put a non-breaking tilde ~ immediately before every cross-reference and

citation: Figure~\ref{fig:x}, Table~\ref{tab:x}, Section~\ref{sec:x}, Equation~\eqref{eq:x}, and prior work~\cite{smith2020}.

• The tilde prevents a line break that would strand the label ("Figure") at the

end of one line and the number on the next.

R11 — Thin space between a number and its unit

• Join a number and its unit with a thin space \,: 10\,ms, 8\,GB,

100\,K. Equivalently use siunitx: \SI{10}{\milli\second} / \qty{10}{ms}.

• Never 10ms (no space) and never 10 ms (a plain inter-word space, which

TeX may break across lines).

R12 — Inline fractions use \nicefrac

• In running prose write an inline fraction as \nicefrac{1}{2} (or

\sfrac{1}{2} from xfrac). Never an inline $\frac{1}{2}$, which creates a tall element that disrupts line spacing.

• \frac is correct only inside display math (R13).

R13 — Display math uses \[ ... \]

• Display an equation with \[ ... \] or an equation/align environment.
• Never $$ ... $$ — that is plain TeX, not LaTeX, and produces incorrect

vertical spacing.

R14 — Multiplication and degree symbols

• Multiplication is $\times$ (e.g. a $3 \times 3$ kernel). Never the letter

x.

• A degree symbol is $^\circ$ or \textdegree (or a siunitx celsius

command). Never the Unicode ° character.

R15 — Emphasis is \emph{}

• Emphasize a word with \emph{...}. Never \textbf, \textit, ALL CAPS, or a

color command for stress in running prose — \emph is semantic and nests correctly.

R16 — Escape reserved characters in text

• Escape \&, \%, \#, \_ whenever they appear as literal text. A bare

&, %, #, or _ is a TeX control character and breaks compilation or is silently dropped.

R17 — URLs go in \url{}

• Wrap a URL in \url{...} or \href{...}{...}. Never leave it as bare text

and never put it in \texttt{...} — only \url allows the line breaks that prevent an overfull margin.

Worked examples (BEFORE = the naive default, AFTER = conforming)

R1/R2/R3 — table:

latex
% BEFORE
\begin{table}[H]
\begin{tabular}{|l|c|r|}
\hline
Method & Accuracy & F1 \\ \hline\hline
Ours & 0.94 & 0.91 \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{Results.}
\end{table}
% AFTER
\begin{table}[htbp]
\caption{Results.}
\begin{tabular}{lcr}
\toprule
Method & Accuracy & F1 \\
\midrule
Ours & 0.94 & 0.91 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

R4/R5 — figure:

latex
% BEFORE
\begin{figure}[H]
\caption{Training curves over 100 epochs}
\includegraphics{results.png}
\end{figure}
% AFTER
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\includegraphics{results.png}
\caption{Training curves over 100 epochs}
\end{figure}

R6 — number range: BEFORE See pages 10-20. → AFTER See pages 10--20.

R6 — year range: BEFORE the years 2020-2023 → AFTER the years 2020--2023

R7 — aside: BEFORE works well, in fact better than expected, on all → AFTER works well---in fact better than expected---on all

R8 — quotes: BEFORE the result was "surprising" → AFTER the result was surprising''

R8 — nested: BEFORE She said "He called it 'optimal'." → AFTER She said He called it optimal'.''

R9 — ellipsis: BEFORE the analysis trailed off... → AFTER the analysis trailed off\ldots

R10 — ref: BEFORE As shown in Figure \ref{fig:curve} → AFTER As shown in Figure~\ref{fig:curve}

R10 — cite: BEFORE Prior work \cite{smith2020} → AFTER Prior work~\cite{smith2020}

R11 — unit: BEFORE latency was 10 ms or 10ms → AFTER latency was 10\,ms

R11 — unit: BEFORE under 8 GB → AFTER under 8\,GB

R12 — fraction: BEFORE about $\frac{1}{2}$ of the runs → AFTER about \nicefrac{1}{2} of the runs

R13 — display math: BEFORE $$L = \sum_i (y_i - \hat{y}_i)^2$$ → AFTER \[ L = \sum_i (y_i - \hat{y}_i)^2 \]

R14 — multiply: BEFORE a 3 x 3 convolution → AFTER a $3 \times 3$ convolution

R14 — degree: BEFORE at 25°C → AFTER at $25^\circ$C

R15 — emphasis: BEFORE This step is \textbf{critical}. → AFTER This step is \emph{critical}.

R16 — escapes: BEFORE Smith & Jones, a 5% gain → AFTER Smith \& Jones, a 5\% gain

R16 — underscore: BEFORE the field max_value → AFTER the field max\_value

R17 — URL: BEFORE available at https://example.com/repo/path → AFTER available at \url{https://example.com/repo/path}

Edge cases & exceptions

• Hyphen vs en-dash vs em-dash. Three distinct marks: hyphen - joins a

compound word, en-dash -- spans a range, em-dash --- breaks a clause. When in doubt about a numeric "A to B," it is a range → --.

• Document class owns the table style. If the class mandates a table style

(e.g. IEEEtran), follow it rather than imposing booktabs — but the default case is always booktabs.

• Percent and degree spacing. % after a number conventionally touches it

(14.3\%); a unit like ms/GB does not (10\,ms). Either way % is still escaped as \%.

• \frac is right in display math. R12 forbids inline $\frac{}{}$, not

\frac itself — inside \[ ... \] or equation, \frac is correct.

• Naturalized Latin. et al., vs., e.g., i.e. are set upright (not

italic) and take a period; this is orthogonal to R15 emphasis.

• Minus vs hyphen. A negative number in math is a real minus inside math

mode ($-5$), not a text hyphen.

Do / Don't

• Never \hline; always \toprule/\midrule/\bottomrule.
• Never a | in a column spec; always letters only ({lcr}).
• Never put a table caption below the tabular; always above it.
• Never put a figure caption above the graphic; always below it.
• Never [H] or [h!]; always [htbp].
• Never a hyphen for a range; always an en-dash --.
• Never the straight "; always ...'' .
• Never ...; always \ldots.
• Never Figure \ref{} with a space; always Figure~\ref{} with a tilde.
• Never 10 ms or 10ms; always 10\,ms.
• Never inline $\frac{}{}$; always \nicefrac{}{}.
• Never $$...$$; always \[...\].
• Never the letter x for multiply or ° for degree; always $\times$ and $^\circ$.
• Never \textbf/\textit/color for prose emphasis; always \emph{}.
• Never a bare &, %, #, _; always \&, \%, \#, \_.
• Never a bare or \texttt{} URL; always \url{}.

Common mistakes

• Reaching for \hline and | columns — the universal novice default.
• Writing the caption after the tabular (figure habit applied to a table).
• Using a plain hyphen 10-20 for ranges; it reads as a subtraction.
• Typing straight quotes "..." and literal ... out of word-processor habit.
• Omitting the tilde before \ref/\cite — the most common LaTeX mistake.
• Gluing the unit to the number (10ms) or using a breakable plain space.
• Using inline $\frac{1}{2}$ mid-sentence and $$...$$ for display math.
• Using \textbf{} for emphasis because it "looks emphasized."
• Forgetting to escape &/%/#/_, which silently breaks the build.

Quick checklist

booktabs rules · no | columns · table caption above · figure caption below · [htbp] · en-dash ranges · em-dash asides · ...'' quotes · \ldots · tilde before refs/cites · 10\,ms units · \nicefrac · \[...\] · $\times$ / $^\circ$ · \emph{} · escaped \& \% \# \_ · \url{}.