Will professors be able to receive my work?

[Erasmus]

I'm not disagreeing that LaTeX is free, exports to PDF, and is significantly more flexible than Word (or any other WYSIWYG word processor), but I don't think you're being realistic in your expectations of students. Your average undergraduate English student isn't going to bother learning the intricacies of a TeX environment, and even if they did they'd probably give up on the first typesetting error.

As far as "more professional", I'm not really seeing that either. A lot of resume-processing suites (brassring, etc) prefer Word to PDF files. Is that a reflection on the "professionalism" of the company that employs that particular HR suite? Or how about the Harvard Law Review? Are you calling into question their "professionalism" because they want Office files?

Well, yes, I guess I am. MS Office is evil. And I hate lawyers. Trumped up, overpaid arts students all. (Prepares for second wave of stupid arguments)

And I think everyone at Uni should learn LaTeX. And anyone who can't handle it should drop out. Like everyone should learn MATLAB, and Physics and Maths should be compulsory in senior high school, but English should be optional.

Clearly you're in your ivory tower (proved by your location) and I'm in mine. So as neither of us is going to sway the other, and I think I've made my point that the OP should print to pdf before sending stuff to his prof, I'm going to bed.

'night MacRumours

 

[Patrick J]

And I think everyone at Uni should learn LaTeX.

Why? If someone can produce a first rate report in Word/Pages, are they worse than someone who writes a mediocre report in LaTeX? Does the method count, or is it the final result?

 

[miles01110]

Well, yes, I guess I am. MS Office is evil. And I hate lawyers. Trumped up, overpaid arts students all. (Prepares for second wave of stupid arguments)

Evil...but a fact of life.

And I think everyone at Uni should learn LaTeX. And anyone who can't handle it should drop out. Like everyone should learn MATLAB, and Physics and Maths should be compulsory in senior high school, but English should be optional.

No problem with any of that. I actually argued in front of my high school's school board (unsuccessfully) that mathematics should count as a language other than English.

Clearly you're in your ivory tower (proved by your location) and I'm in mine. So as neither of us is going to sway the other, and I think I've made my point that the OP should print to pdf before sending stuff to his prof, I'm going to bed.

There's no "should" in any of this. Until evidence proves otherwise, there's nothing wrong with either pdf or doc files.

 

[Patrick J]

There's no "should" in any of this. Until evidence proves otherwise, there's nothing wrong with either pdf or doc files.

PDF is more compatible and readable over various devices than DOC.

 

[miles01110]

PDF is more compatible and readable over various devices than DOC.

That's great. If the OP comes back and says his professor needs to read his document on a computer, an iPhone, and a Kindle then yes- PDF is better.

 

[Patrick J]

That's great. If the OP comes back and says his professor needs to read his document on a computer, an iPhone, and a Kindle then yes- PDF is better.

There are other advantages. If OP uses non standard fonts, Word will error when open and default to another font. Layout and readability issues ensue. No such problems with PDF.

 

[miles01110]

There are other advantages. If OP uses non standard fonts, Word will error when open and default to another font. Layout and readability issues ensue. No such problems with PDF.

Yeah, and if the professor is using command-line BSD neither format will work- will it? Keep wasting your time speculating, I guess.

Also, PDF formatting compatibility isn't guaranteed either. I've yet to see a file format that is absolutely unchangeable between operating systems.

 

[Patrick J]

Yeah, and if the professor is using command-line BSD neither format will work- will it?

Right, that is so probable.

Also, PDF formatting compatibility isn't guaranteed either. I've yet to see a file format that is absolutely unchangeable between operating systems.

Printing: When the goal is to produce a high-quality print job in which precise page layout and high resolution images are key, then PDF is the clear choice over DOC. PDF files are accepted by professional printers, whereas Word DOC files usually are not.

Archiving: When compressed PDF files can be very compact, so it is ideal for storage. File layout is retained and can be viewed on all platforms. Plus, PDF files are searchable, making archived documents and items much easier to find, categorize, and organize.

Business and Legal Documents: PDF's are essential for business and legal documents and forms that must retain their exact appearance. These important documents must retain their integrity and security. With the PDF format, you can secure your documents so that no one can change the wording of an application or the terms of an agreement.

Combining Multiple Formats: PDF allows you to import text from a Word document, images of various formats, Excel spreadsheets, vector graphics, and more into a single PDF document.

Anyone Can View It: To view a Word document, you must either have proprietary software (Microsoft Office) installed on your computer, or OpenOffice. Both are huge downloads. On the other hand, a PDF can be viewed by anyone who has the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is easy to download and which comes standard on many computers running Windows operating systems. This makes PDF the preferred format for creating a document that many can view.

File Exchange: PDF is ideal for document exchange between users. Not only is it a compact format, but it can also store metrics and information about its own appearance (layout, fonts, content, color, etc.) within the document itself. This means that it may not have to rely on the fonts and settings that may or may not be installed on a user's computer to display properly.

Source, edited by me.

 

[miles01110]

Right, that is so probable.

About as probable as using non-standard fonts.

Printing: When the goal is to produce a high-quality print job in which precise page layout and high resolution images are key, then PDF is the clear choice over DOC. PDF files are accepted by professional printers, whereas Word DOC files usually are not.

You got me. If the professor really needs an essay in 600 dpi, PDF is the clear winner. Can't believe I didn't account for that scenario.

Archiving: When compressed PDF files can be very compact, so it is ideal for storage. File layout is retained and can be viewed on all platforms. Plus, PDF files are searchable, making archived documents and items much easier to find, categorize, and organize.

Word documents aren't that large.

Business and Legal Documents: PDF's are essential for business and legal documents and forms that must retain their exact appearance. These important documents must retain their integrity and security. With the PDF format, you can secure your documents so that no one can change the wording of an application or the terms of an agreement.

Counterexamples already given above.

Combining Multiple Formats: PDF allows you to import text from a Word document, images of various formats, Excel spreadsheets, vector graphics, and more into a single PDF document.

Great. You can merge multiple elements across Office documents as well.

Anyone Can View It: To view a Word document, you must either have proprietary software (Microsoft Office) installed on your computer, or OpenOffice. Both are huge downloads. On the other hand, a PDF can be viewed by anyone who has the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is easy to download and which comes standard on many computers running Windows operating systems. This makes PDF the preferred format for creating a document that many can view.

OpenOffice is free, open source, and is a whopping 162 MB. Office is very inexpensive at the student price and gets even cheaper with volume licenses for universities. Adobe software is bloated, buggy, and contains numerous security holes- one of which figured prominently in recent news.

edit: Stop making me defend Office. Office sucks. However for the basic user it works quite well. Like it or not you cannot deny that almost everyone has access to the Office suite, especially in an education or business environment. As I said above, until the OP says otherwise there's no reason to go to the trouble of creating a PDF when a doc will suffice, advantages of PDF aside.

 

[Patrick J]

About as probable as using non-standard fonts.

I believe that equations are always difficult to mantain when converting/editing/opening on other computers. Pretty common to use equations.

You got me. If the professor really needs an essay in 600 dpi, PDF is the clear winner. Can't believe I didn't account for that scenario.

I am talking about a PDF vs DOC pov, not the specific case of the OP.

Word documents aren't that large.

IF the teacher

OpenOffice is free, open source, and is a whopping 162 MB. Office is very inexpensive at the student price and gets even cheaper with volume licenses for universities. Adobe software is bloated, buggy, and contains numerous security holes- one of which figured prominently in recent news.

Sure, Microsoft Office doesn't have any security holes at all.
Adobe Reader is 16.3MB. Ten times smaller than OpenOffice.
Even smaller? Why not use Foxit Reader? It really is HUGE, at 6.69 MB. Compared to Foxit Reader, then yes, OpenOffice's 162 MB is pretty "whopping".

 

[silverhkswrx]

iWork files are fully compatible with any other Mac or PC.

INCORRECT!

My slide shows that i produce on keynote are saved differently. you must change to .doc, or .ppt . the worst part is keynote has 1000x better backgrounds and interactivity than the office versions.

 

[miles01110]

I believe that equations are always difficult to mantain when converting/editing/opening on other computers. Pretty common to use equations.

In an English paper? If your work involves any kind of equation, LaTeX is hands-down the way to go. For plain text there's no good reason to not use doc unless stated otherwise.

I am talking about a PDF vs DOC pov, not the specific case of the OP.

Theoretical discussion is beyond the scope of this thread. In an ideal world everything would be a combination plain text, bitmap, and FLAC.

Sure, Microsoft Office doesn't

Never argued to the contrary. Of course Office has problems, but it's not like Adobe software doesn't (which you seem to imply earlier).

have any security holes at all.
Adobe Reader is 16.3MB. Ten times smaller than OpenOffice.

If the 30 seconds you waste downloading OpenOffice instead of Adobe Reader on a university connection bothers you, justify it to yourself by acknowledging the functionality of the OO suite is much greater than that of downloading "just" Adobe Reader. Not only can you then read .doc, but .xls, .ppt, and their .---x counterparts! Win win win.

 

[bigjobby]

If the OP could tell us what the guidelines are regarding required formats it might stop this PDF vs DOC argument. If the prof says doc then the OP has to submit a .doc. Guidelines are normally clear and going outside them is at the student's risk.

In all the universities I've attended in my lifetime, all the guidelines states .doc. If it states clearly, why would I want to hand in a pdf despite its advantages and get a warning or lose marks? In the old days you'll have to hand in papers with 1.5 to double spacing. Why? So they could add comments in between the written lines. This might be for student feedback or for an external assessor and markers, educational boards or whoever. That's why Word docs are very practical in academia. We also have to remember academia does not always follow trends and practices in the professional world (generally speaking).

So pointless having a PDF vs DOC discussion in my opinion and its also going off track.

 

[Patrick J]

(...) and its also going off track.

True, true.