Whether it is writing a some notes, a paper or a full thesis, writing in LaTeX can be a pain. Still, there is no real way around it. Luckily, there are a couple of packages that can make the task a bit less painful.

Here’s a short list of LaTeX packages that will make your academic life significantly easier. These packages save time, reduce errors, and help you focus on your research rather than the formatting.

TL;DR

If you don’t feel like scrolling through the examples, here are the packages presented in this paper as a table

The Top-8 of Packages

1. amsmath, amssymb, and amsfonts: The Math Power Trio

If your work involves mathematical notation (which it likely does if you landed here), the AMS packages are non-negotiable. These packages are kind of obvious, but it feels weird to leave them out…

Why they’re useful:

• amsmath gives you advanced math environments (like align, gather, and cases) and better control over equation formatting.
• amssymb adds many commonly used math symbols that are missing from standard LaTeX.
• amsfonts provides access to additional math fonts (like blackboard bold for sets: \mathbb{R}).

Example:

\usepackage{amsmath, amssymb, amsfonts}

\begin{align}
f(x) &= \int_{-\infty}^\infty \hat{f}(\xi) e^{2\pi i x \xi} \, d\xi \\
\mathbb{N} &\subset \mathbb{Z} \subset \mathbb{Q} \subset \mathbb{R} \subset \mathbb{C}
\end{align}

2. physics: Cleaner Math for Physicists (and Friends)

The physics package makes writing derivatives, bras/kets, and vector notations much more intuitive. It has saved me many headaches over the years.

Why it’s useful:

• Reduces code verbosity and errors.
• Provides consistent, beautiful formatting of physical quantities.

Example:

\usepackage{physics}
i\hbar \pdv{t} \ket{\psi(t)} = \hat{H} \ket{\psi(t)}

3. todonotes: Never Forget a Fix or Task Again

This package lets you leave colorful, easy-to-spot notes to yourself (or co-authors) in the margins. I mostly use it with the [inline] option or \todoin to display the comments as solid blocks.

Why it’s useful:

• Helps you track incomplete sections, reminders, and comments during drafting.
• Especially handy for large documents like theses or collaborative papers.

Example:

\usepackage[colorinlistoftodos]{todonotes}

\todo{Fix the citation here.}
\todoin{Fix another citation here.}

4. cleveref: Reference Smarter, Not Harder

Cross-referencing in LaTeX is powerful but repetitive. cleveref automatically adds the appropriate label type (e.g., “Figure”, “Equation”) when you use \cref{}.

Why it’s useful:

• No need to manually type “Fig.” or “Eq.” — reduces redundancy and errors.
• Automatically adjusts labels in plural references (e.g., “Equations 2 and 3”).

Example:

\usepackage{cleveref}

As shown in \cref{eq:main}, the solution is stable.

\begin{equation}
\label{eq:main}
x(t) = x_0 e^{-\gamma t}
\end{equation}

5. hyperref: Clickable Everything

Since we are one topic of links anyway: if you’re not already using it, hyperref makes your PDF interactive (and so much easier to navigate) — a must-have for any thesis or paper.

Why it’s useful:

• Turns all references, citations, and URLs into clickable links.
• Automatically links table of contents and list of figures/tables.
• Makes navigation faster for you and your readers.

Example:

\usepackage[colorlinks=true, allcolors=blue]{hyperref}

Load hyperref last, just before cleveref, to avoid compatibility issues.

6. siunitx: Units Done Right

Even as a theorist, you might have to typeset a unit from time to time. siunitx ensures consistent and properly formatted SI units.

Why it’s useful:

• Maintains a half-space between numbers and units.
• Automatically handles unit formatting according to adjustable conventions

Example:

\usepackage{siunitx}

\SI{9.81}{\meter\per\second\squared}, \SI{3.0e8}{\meter\per\second}

7. orcidlink: Give Credit In Style

Including your ORCID in publications is becoming standard practice, especially for grant reporting and attribution. This package makes it easy to get the nice green bubbles in the right places.

Why it’s useful:

• Cleanly displays your ORCID iD with a clickable link and icon.

Example:

\usepackage{orcidlink}

\author{Patrick Emonts\,\orcidlink{0000-0002-7274-4071}}

8. csquotes: Smarter Quoting for Academic Writing

Using quotation marks in LaTeX can be tricky and inconsistent — especially with multilingual content or nested quotes. csquotes solves that.

Why it’s useful:

• Automatically adapts quotation marks to the language you’re writing in.
• Supports smart, nested quotes (“ ‘ ’ ”).
• Works great with biblatex for formatting quoted material in citations.

Example:

\usepackage{csquotes}

\enquote{This is a quote with \enquote{nested quotes}.}

Output (in English): “This is a quote with ‘nested quotes’.”

📋 Overview Table

Here’s a summary of what each package does and why it’s helpful:

Got other must-have LaTeX packages that saved your thesis? Share them in the comments!