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 lets you write your document in Markdown, and then convert it to a valid .docx using almost any citation style.

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

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.

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

• TODO Why should I do this?

  • Uses little memory, write comfortably on a computer from 1984
  • Don't need Word to write a proper file that can be submitted to a journal
  • 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 Vim tips and tricks

Installation

Put the script in your executable directory (~/.local/share/bin on most Linux distributions.

Dependencies

bash
pandoc

Usage

You can print usage by running markdownacademic --usage

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.