Document Header or Preamble

The preamble of a L^ATEX document contains a number of global parameters that will control the entire document. It is similar to a Cascading Style Sheet in HTML. It this paper, the following header tags are used:

      \documentclass[12pt]{article}
      \usepackage{doublespace,fullpage}
      \usepackage{epsfig}
      \usepackage{wrapfig}

In the first tag, $\backslash$documentclass, parameters are used to indicate that the basic font size will be 12 point, and the general format for the document will be an article.

The next three tags tell the software to use special packages such as doublespace and fullpage, as well as epsfig for incorporating embedded postscript figures or graphics, and wrapfig so that text can be made to wrap around a figure or graphic image if so desired. These commands will be used later on in this document.

The next section begins the body of the document, including how to define the $\backslash$title and the $\backslash$author. Since the date is not specified, this will be included as part of the $\backslash$maketitle command when the document is actually compiled. The actual code for this is listed below:

      \begin{document}
      \title{An Example {\LaTeX}  Document}
      \author{D. W. Hyatt}
      \maketitle

The abstract tag allows the author to define what exactly goes into the official abstract of the paper. This will typically be printed on the title page of the document.

      \begin{abstract}
      This document presents a few examples showing the use of {\LaTeX}, 
      a powerful document processing package developed primarily for UNIX 
      platforms.  
      \end{abstract}

The actual body of the paper will then be listed afterwards in various sections or subsections until the final $\backslash$end{document} tag is reached.