From LaTeX Chaos to Polished PDFs in Hours

We surveyed 50 PhD students across disciplines about their academic writing experience. The results were eye-opening.

The Biggest Pain Points

1. LaTeX Learning Curve (78%) Most students reported spending days just learning LaTeX basics before they could start writing. Common complaints: - "I just want to write, not debug syntax errors" - "The error messages are incomprehensible" - "Compilation takes forever"

2. Citation Management (65%) Keeping track of references was a major time sink: - Manually formatting citations - Fixing BibTeX errors - Keeping the .bib file organized

3. Collaboration Friction (54%) Working with co-authors was painful: - Merging changes from multiple people - Losing track of who wrote what - Conflicting formatting choices

4. Template Troubles (47%) Getting documents to match journal requirements: - Finding the right template - Modifying templates to fit needs - Switching templates when papers get rejected

What PhD Students Actually Want

1. **Write immediately** - No setup, no installation
2. **See results instantly** - Real-time preview
3. **Focus on content** - Formatting handled automatically
4. **Collaborate easily** - Like Google Docs but for papers
5. **AI assistance** - Help with writing and citations

How TypeTeX Addresses These

• **Typst support**: Modern syntax that compiles in milliseconds
• **AI-powered**: Drafting assistance that understands academic writing
• **Templates built-in**: Switch formats with one click
• **Citation import**: Pull references from Zotero or DOI
• **Real-time collaboration**: Multiple authors, no merge conflicts

The PhD experience doesn't have to include LaTeX debugging. Modern tools exist that let researchers focus on research.