Title & abstract

Papers and reports open with a *title block* — the title, authors, and date — and often an *abstract* summarizing the contents. In LaTeX you do not set these by hand in the body. Instead you declare just the information with \title and friends, then typeset it all at once with \maketitle. This page covers that declare-then-render model, multiple authors and footnotes, and the abstract environment.

Declaring the title block

The contents of the title block are prepared with three declaration commands: \title{...} for the title, \author{...} for the author name(s), and \date{...} for the date. These merely store the information — nothing is printed where you write them. The block is actually set the moment you call \maketitle (below). By convention these declarations go in the preamble (before \begin{document}), but they work anywhere before \maketitle.

\title is required — omitting it raises “No \title given”. Omitting \author produces a warning but typesetting continues. \date is optional, and if you leave it out entirely, the date you compiled on is filled in automatically. To state today’s date explicitly, write \date{\today}; to suppress the date altogether, give it empty contents with \date{}. You may also hard-code any text, e.g. \date{May 2026}.

\documentclass{article}

\title{身近な材料で熱流束を測る}
\author{山田 太郎}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
本文をここから書きます。
\end{document}

To break a line *within* one field, use LaTeX’s line-break command \\. For instance, to place an affiliation on a second line under the author, write \author{Taro Yamada \\ University of X}. The format \today produces follows the document language, so with Japanese enabled via babel or polyglossia it prints a Japanese-style date such as “2026年5月26日”.

Rendering with \maketitle

\maketitle is what turns the declared information into an actual title block. The standard place for it is at the very start of the body — immediately after \begin{document}. Calling it outputs the contents of \title, \author, and \date together in the class’s house style (title large and centered, authors below, then the date). Conversely, if you forget \maketitle, no title appears no matter how much you declared.

Where the title block lands and how it looks is decided by the document class. The article class does not start a new page — it puts the title at the top of the first page. The report and book classes instead generate a separate, unnumbered title page and place the title on it. To get a separate title page in article too, add the class option titlepage (\documentclass[titlepage]{article}).

The look produced by \maketitle is fixed and fairly plain in the standard classes, but small tweaks are possible with the titling package — adjusting the fonts and placement of the title and author, or the behavior of \thanks (below). For fuller control you can skip \maketitle and lay the page out yourself inside a titlepage environment.

Multiple authors and footnotes (\and, \thanks)

When there are several authors, separate their names inside \author with \and, and each author’s block is set side by side. Keep the two straight: \\ breaks lines *within* one author’s entry (e.g. an affiliation under the name), while \and separates *different* authors.

To attach an affiliation, a note, or an email address as a footnote, use \thanks{...}. Placed inside \author or \title, it adds a footnote mark to that word and sets the note at the foot of the page. The standard \thanks text is limited to a single paragraph; the titling package lifts that to allow multiple paragraphs.

The abstract environment

A paper’s summary goes in the abstract environment. Put your text between \begin{abstract} and \end{abstract}, and it is set as an indented block under a small “Abstract” heading. The abstract carries no section-style number. Its standard place is right after \maketitle, before the body begins.

The abstract environment is available in the article and report classes. It is not defined in book (books are not given abstracts by convention). Its placement varies by class: in article the abstract follows on the same page as the title, but the titlepage option moves it to its own page; in report, where a separate title page is the default, the abstract sits on the page that follows.

A worked example

Here is everything pulled together. The \title carries a footnote (a funding acknowledgment) via \thanks; the \author separates two authors with \and, puts each affiliation on a second line with \\, and footnotes one author’s email with \thanks. \date{\today} fills in the current date, and an abstract environment follows immediately after \maketitle.

\documentclass{article}

\title{身近な材料で熱流束を測る\thanks{本研究は〇〇財団の助成による。}}
\author{
  山田 太郎\thanks{[email protected]} \\
  〇〇大学 物理学科
  \and
  鈴木 花子 \\
  △△研究所
}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
  本稿では、入手しやすい素材を用いた熱流束の測定手順を論じる。
  まず材料の制約を整理し、続いて測定誤差の扱いを検討する。
\end{abstract}

\section{はじめに}
本文をここから書きます。
\end{document}

Compiling this yields a large title at the top of the page, two authors set side by side beneath it (each with an affiliation), and then the date. The title and one author bear footnote marks, with the acknowledgment and email at the foot of the page. Below that sit the “Abstract” heading and the summary paragraph, followed by the body’s “1 Introduction”.

A final check before submission

The title area is often revised after the body is finished, but breaking it just before submission hurts the whole document. First check whether the call, course handout, or thesis template specifies article, a dedicated thesis class, or a separate title page. If a required class is provided, follow the commands it gives you instead of manually reshaping the output of \maketitle.

• Title — if a long title must break, use \\ only at a semantic boundary, not inside a word or formula.
• Authors — keep names, affiliations, and email data in \author, moving only true footnote material to \thanks.
• Date — for fixed submissions, write a literal date such as \date{30 May 2026}; reserve \today for drafts whose date may change.
• Abstract — state purpose, method, result, and conclusion in short paragraphs, and avoid stuffing in abbreviations or notation that the body has not introduced.

How far to rely on the title machinery

In real work, preserve the semantic contract of the required template before chasing visual freedom. For a course report or short technical note, \title, \author, \date, and \maketitle are usually enough. A conference or graduate-school template may provide its own title commands, such as \studentid or \supervisor; in that case, do not revert to the standard \maketitle pattern, but feed the required data into the template’s interface.