Markdown Academic

This is a bash script which helps convert markdown files into properly formatted Word files for academics. It is a work in progress.

Workflow

The script needs three things:

1) Citation styles

You will need to download citation-styles, and specify the one you want to use in the command line switches.

2) A Reference Library

For the converter to know what works you are citing, you will need a .bib library file with the citations. I recommend using Zotero and BetterBiBTeX to keep track of your books and articles and what not. The extension should autoupdating your citations with unique keys that way.

3) A Template file

Finally, you will need a template file, so markdownacademic will know what your document should look like - what the margins and fonts are, etc. You can often download a template .docx file from the website of the journal you're writing for. A sample template.docx is included.

Why should I do this?

• Uses little memory, you can write text files comfortably on a computer from 1984
• Don't need Word to write a proper .docx that can be submitted to a journal
• Original document is a regular text file, will never suffer planned obsolescence
• Track your changes and collaborate using Git
• Quickly change the formatting of your output document
• Quickly change citation style into any style you want

TODO Explain this section better TODO Vim tips and tricks

Installation

Put the script in your executable directory or run it from wherever you clone this repository.

Dependencies

bash
pandoc

Usage

You can print usage by running markdownacademic -h

Usage: markdownacademic -bctih

-b,            --bibliography=<filename>         Set your BibTex file here
-c,            --citationstyle=<filename>        Set CSL style 
-t,            --template=<filename>             Set template file (.docx) 
-i,            --input=<filename>                Select markdown file as input
-h,            --help                            Display this help message

Unless specified, output file has the same name as the input file.