**LaTeX Formatting for NSF GRFP** This is a guide for writing an [NSF Graduate Research Fellowship](https://www.nsfgrfp.org/) application in LaTeX. This is just a quick reference guide, and doesn't intend to be an end-all solution. In fact, it's a bare-bones guide to scraping by the requirements. If you're applying for other NSF opportunities, some formatting steps may be applicable to you. # NSF Requirements The NSF asks for the following format in your research statement and personal statement documents: - standard 8.5" x 11" page size - 11 point or higher font, except text that is part of an image - Times New Roman font for all text, Cambria Math font for equations, Symbol font for non-alphabetic characters (it is recommended that equations and symbols be inserted as an image) - 1" margins on all sides, no text inside 1" margins (no header, footer, name, or page number) - No less than single-spacing (approximately 6 lines per inch) - Do not use line spacing options such as "exactly 11 point," that are less than single spaced - PDF file format only (Taken from [2021 GRFP Application](https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf21602&org=NSF)). The application website will automatically check your website and **will not** upload the document for your application if you do not meet these requirements. This allows you to check if you meet requirements easily, but also make it a headache if you aren't meeting the requirements. # Preliminaries: Compilation and LaTeX Editor You will need to compile your LaTeX document in a certain way to meet requirements. Specifically, to use a custom font from a font file, you need to use a package only supported by LuaTeX and XeLaTeX. I'll talk about which package later. Depending on how you edit your LaTeX, you may need to do different things. I'll tell you how to do it on Overleaf, and the rest of you need to consult a Google search for your editor. On Overleaf, go into your project for your statement(s). Select "Menu" in the top left, and then go through the drop-down menus until you see the one for compiler. Then use the drop-down menu to select LuaLaTeX or XeLaTeX. Then you should be able to use the custom math font. # Page Layout There are two requirements we want to fulfill here: page size and margins. We can knock out these in three commands in the preamble: ``` latex \documentclass[11pt]{article} \usepackage[margin=1.01in]{geometry} \pagestyle{empty} ``` I also think all of this is flexible. It never hurts to make your document more readable, just don't sacrifice content to do so. So feel free to increase font size and margins. However, LaTeX sometimes overruns the margins, especially with math and punctuation. I do not recommend decreasing the margins past 1.01 in; you will most likely not be able to submit. Skips between paragraphs is also an option; it depends on the final look of your document. If you need the space, omit the skips. # Font This was the tricky part for me. Times New Roman and Cambria Math are made primarily for Windows, and have limited availability elsewhere. I ended up writing my statement on Overleaf so that I had access to Times New Roman, but still I was missing Cambria Math. I ended up getting the font file from a classmate, but if not, I would have been screwed. If you are on Windows, this is actually not a problem. With installations of Microsoft Office, you have access to the fonts. But otherwise, you need to find the fonts by other means. **I recommend Overleaf if you have trouble with the fonts.** Their standardized system makes this easier. No matter how you get the fonts, here are the commands to set them: ``` latex \usepackage{fontspec} \setmainfont{Times New Roman} \usepackage{unicode-math} % If using the built-in font: \setmathfont{Cambria Math} % If using a font file: \setmathfont{[Cambria-Math.ttf]} % Make sure the font file is in the same directory as your .tex file! ``` # Bibliography If you have references for your research statement, you need a bibliography. Here's the thing about LaTeX bibliographies: they like to do their own font, and this will cause submission problems. I am still working on how to get the fonts to change, but haven't quite figured it out yet. (If you know a solution, send me an email or pull request for the website to post it here!) I still recommend doing the in-line citations by `biblatex` or similar, but typing the bibliography by hand (!). This is painful, but it seems the only way, based on the experiences of myself and others. So here's my recommendation: ``` latex \usepackage[style=science]{biblatex} \newfontfamily{\TNR}{Times New Roman} \renewcommand*{\bibfont}{\TNR} \renewcommand*{\bibsetup}{% \TNR \biburlsetup \frenchspacing} \renewcommand*{\citesetup}{% \TNR \biburlsetup \frenchspacing} \addbibresource{my_refs.bib} ``` This *should* have made the bibliography Times New Roman, but it didn't. Regardless, this makes citations work and format correctly. I recommend doing a `\printbibliography` in your document, compiling, and then copy-pasting your bibliography back into your .tex file to get the bibliography format right. I also recommend the science bibliography style because it is very compact. You want your references to take up as little space as possbile, I've also seen people include their sources as one line in a footnote like style. Since you will probably be typing by hand anyways, you have some flexibility. A last note about bibliographies is to use an automatic citation generator (either from the publisher or from something like Zotero), but clean it up afterwards. I deleted the title field in my .bib to save space. # Extras Here are some additional formatting ideas to make it look better: ``` latex \usepackage{microtype} \usepackage{amsmath, amssymb, amsfonts} ``` These are pretty standard. (I'm also open to more suggestions, email me!). # The Document I think titles can be done with the built-in sectioning commands and made compact, but I prefer to do it manually by manipulating font size and faces. This gives more flexibility in the output, potentially saving space. Let's start the document: ``` latex \begin{document} I will be a leader in the STEM community. %For a first run, print the bibliography, with wrong fonts: {\TNR \printbibliography} % After the bib is copy-pasted, you can compile again: \textbf{\Large References} \begin{enumerate} \item[1.] S. Wallace, /Formatting LaTeX for GRFP/ \end{enumerate} \end{document} ``` And we should be done with formatting. Though this is a minimal template, it is hopefully helpful. You can download the template (as generated from these code block) [here](./statement.tex).