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Why Pandoc?

Pandoc is the industry-standard document converter for academic writing:

✅ Free, open-source document converter
✅ Converts Markdown → Word/PDF/LaTeX/HTML
✅ Automatic citation formatting with CSL
✅ 10,000+ citation styles (APA, Chicago, MLA, IEEE, etc.)
✅ Industry standard for academic writing

Citation Style Flexibility: Pandoc supports over 10,000 citation styles through the Citation Style Language (CSL) format. Switch from APA to Chicago to MLA with a single command-line parameter.

Installation and Setup

Install Pandoc

Choose the installation method for your operating system:

Install using Homebrew:

brew install pandoc

Verify installation:

pandoc --version

Expected output: pandoc 3.x.x or higher

Install via apt (Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install pandoc

Verify installation:

pandoc --version

Expected output: pandoc 3.x.x or higher

Install using Chocolatey:

choco install pandoc

Or download installer from pandoc.org/installing

Verify installation:

pandoc --version

Expected output: pandoc 3.x.x or higher

Download Citation Styles

Create a directory for CSL citation styles and download commonly used formats:

mkdir -p ~/.pandoc/csl

Download APA 7th edition style:

curl -sL "https://www.zotero.org/styles/apa" -o ~/.pandoc/csl/apa.csl

Download Chicago Author-Date style:

curl -sL "https://www.zotero.org/styles/chicago-author-date" -o ~/.pandoc/csl/chicago.csl

Browse all 10,000+ citation styles at zotero.org/styles

Verify Citation Style Files

Check that CSL files are in the correct location:

ls -la ~/.pandoc/csl/

Expected output:

apa.csl
chicago-author-date.csl

Writing with Citations

Citation Syntax in Markdown

Pandoc uses BibTeX citation keys with @ prefix. Write your academic content in Markdown:

# Introduction

Recent studies show AI improves research efficiency [@smith_2024; @jones_2023].
However, concerns about accuracy remain [@martinez_2024, p. 42].

@wilson_2024 argues that hybrid human-AI workflows maximize productivity.

# Literature Review

The platform economy literature [@parker_2016; @cusumano_2020] establishes
foundational concepts for digital ecosystems.

Citation Patterns:

In-text citation: [@author_year]
Multiple citations: [@author1_year; @author2_year]
Citation with page: [@author_year, p. 42]
Narrative citation: @author_year argues...

Compiling to Word with Citations

Convert Markdown to formatted Word document with automatic citations:

pandoc paper.md \
  --bibliography ~/Documents/library.bib \
  --citeproc \
  --csl ~/.pandoc/csl/apa.csl \
  -o paper.docx

Parameter explanation:

paper.md - Input Markdown file
--bibliography - Path to BibTeX reference library
--citeproc - Enable citation processing
--csl - Citation style to use
-o paper.docx - Output Word document

Compiling to PDF with LaTeX

For publication-ready PDFs:

pandoc paper.md \
  --bibliography ~/Documents/library.bib \
  --citeproc \
  --csl ~/.pandoc/csl/apa.csl \
  --pdf-engine=xelatex \
  -o paper.pdf

LaTeX Requirement: PDF generation requires LaTeX installed on your system. Install MacTeX (macOS), TeX Live (Linux), or MiKTeX (Windows).

Switching Citation Styles

Change citation format by simply pointing to a different CSL file:

# APA format
pandoc paper.md --bibliography library.bib --citeproc \
  --csl ~/.pandoc/csl/apa.csl -o paper-apa.docx

# Chicago format
pandoc paper.md --bibliography library.bib --citeproc \
  --csl ~/.pandoc/csl/chicago.csl -o paper-chicago.docx

# MLA format (download first)
curl -sL "https://www.zotero.org/styles/modern-language-association" \
  -o ~/.pandoc/csl/mla.csl

pandoc paper.md --bibliography library.bib --citeproc \
  --csl ~/.pandoc/csl/mla.csl -o paper-mla.docx

Automation Script

📂 Code example: 02-code-examples/pandoc-workflows/compile-paper-with-citations.sh

Create a reusable compilation script:

#!/bin/bash
# compile-paper-with-citations.sh

INPUT_FILE="$1"
OUTPUT_FORMAT="${2:-docx}"  # Default to Word
STYLE="${3:-apa}"           # Default to APA

if [ -z "$INPUT_FILE" ]; then
  echo "Usage: ./compile-paper.sh <input.md> [docx|pdf] [apa|chicago|mla]"
  exit 1
fi

BIBLIOGRAPHY="$HOME/Documents/library.bib"
CSL_FILE="$HOME/.pandoc/csl/${STYLE}.csl"
OUTPUT_FILE="${INPUT_FILE%.md}.${OUTPUT_FORMAT}"

pandoc "$INPUT_FILE" \
  --bibliography "$BIBLIOGRAPHY" \
  --citeproc \
  --csl "$CSL_FILE" \
  -o "$OUTPUT_FILE"

echo "✅ Compiled: $OUTPUT_FILE (Style: $STYLE)"

Usage:

chmod +x compile-paper.sh

# Compile to Word with APA
./compile-paper.sh dissertation.md

# Compile to PDF with Chicago
./compile-paper.sh dissertation.md pdf chicago

# Compile to Word with MLA
./compile-paper.sh dissertation.md docx mla

Writing: Pandoc Citation Workflow

Why Pandoc?

Installation and Setup

Install Pandoc

Download Citation Styles

Verify Citation Style Files

Writing with Citations

Citation Syntax in Markdown

Compiling to Word with Citations

Compiling to PDF with LaTeX

Switching Citation Styles

Automation Script

Next Steps

Previous: Zotero

Next: Python Data Analysis

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