Using Pandoc to format a Dissertation from Markdown to HTML, PDF, and ePub


Cartoon showing Pandoc turning data into a document.

Metawork is so much more fun than real work. Sharpening your pencils. Colour coordinating your filing system. Creating Gantt charts of what you intend to do. Marvellous! In that spirit, here's how I used the venerable pandoc to convert my MSc dissertation from .md into a variety of more readable formats. Prep I've no idea what you already have installed on your system but, at a minimum, you need to install the latest version of pandoc and you'll need a modern version of the weasyprint…

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Zotero citations in Markdown - publishing to ePub or PDF


Zotero logo.

Mostly notes to myself - I hope you find them useful. So, you want to write your dissertation or thesis in Markdown. But how do you manage all your citations? Install Zotero Install the Better BibTex plugin Restart Zotero. The BBT plugin will launch a configuration screen - use it to set your preferences Install VS Code (or VS Codium) Install the VS Code Zotero plugin Now, when you want to enter a citation in Markdown, the combined plugins will generate something like this: ## Abstract …

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Zotero Citations to Markdown Links via CSL


Zotero logo.

I use Zotero to manage my references. Instead of in-text citations of (Smith, 1984) - I want that to be hyperlinked to the academic paper referenced. For example ([Smith, 1984](https://doi.org/.....)) This is possible, if you're willing to hack around with CSL - the Citation Style Language. Here's a fragment of CSL that I've adapted from Brenton M. Wiernik's zotero-tools/apa-doi-in-text.csl <macro name="url-intext"> <choose> <if…

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