“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”

Writing Guides


  • Writing in General:
  • For Mathematical Writing:
    • On Writing by Terence Tao
    • Mathematical Writing by Donald E. Knuth, Tracy Larrabee, and Paul M. Roberts
    • Whenever you are unsure about mathematical definitions/theorems/proofs/formalism, just refer to Elements of Mathematics by the Bourbaki group. (Yes, I'm a fanatical Bourbakist!)
  • If you are a heavy user of LaTeX:
    • Watch this lecture by Prof. Ryan O'Donnell for many useful tips that even an experienced LaTeX-er may not know
    • FiXme: the best package for annotation, especially when there are multiple collaborators
    • cleveref: a package for better cross-referencing
    • tcolorbox: a package for fancy boxes that are fully customizable