General ⇒ First Paragraph Indentation

[byuhobbes]

Is there a simple way to indent the first paragraph of a section in a Tex document? I understand that it may not always be considered proper style, but it is required in the document I am going to produce. Even though I didn't like the idea of putting an \indent symbol at the beginning of each first paragraph, I tried it unsuccessfully. I have attached my code. Is there a simple way to indent the first paragraph of each section? Thanks.

Code: Select all

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\pdfpagewidth 8.5in
\pdfpageheight 11in
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0.25in}
\setlength{\textwidth}{6in}
\setlength{\topmargin}{-0.25in}
\setlength{\textheight}{8in}
\setlength{\parindent}{0.4in}
\setlength{\parskip}{2ex}

\begin{document}

\section{Introduction}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec a interdum augue. Pellentesque a mi tortor. Cras lacus risus, adipiscing ut tempor eu, hendrerit eu nisl. Fusce in mauris vel nulla fermentum volutpat. Duis sapien urna, aliquet nec dictum vitae, tristique a felis. Cras egestas leo eget mauris euismod consequat. Fusce a nulla quis ipsum porttitor auctor. Vivamus ullamcorper, odio vitae bibendum luctus, nunc mauris tempus nisi, et elementum urna felis sit amet erat. Sed leo ipsum, rhoncus in dapibus non, aliquam vitae diam. Sed tempor adipiscing enim, vel sollicitudin lorem tincidunt lobortis. Donec justo augue, euismod nec dictum eu, lobortis non lacus. Proin quis euismod sem. Phasellus quis ultrices nibh. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.

Sed volutpat vestibulum libero eget pellentesque. Donec in orci est, vitae faucibus nisi. Suspendisse tempus, enim vitae gravida feugiat, justo metus tincidunt turpis, aliquet auctor urna nunc a sem. Nam rutrum malesuada enim, vel congue felis interdum gravida. Sed est mi, aliquet sed molestie eget, convallis in sapien. Integer vitae tincidunt metus. Nam nec orci quam, eget cursus dui. Quisque scelerisque dignissim tincidunt. Nunc blandit turpis ut ante fringilla et sollicitudin mauris vestibulum. Mauris vehicula, purus a sollicitudin rhoncus, purus mi facilisis metus, in semper metus lectus mollis tellus. Cras eget justo mauris. Praesent accumsan varius auctor.

\section{Conclusion}
Sed volutpat vestibulum libero eget pellentesque. Donec in orci est, vitae faucibus nisi. Suspendisse tempus, enim vitae gravida feugiat, justo metus tincidunt turpis, aliquet auctor urna nunc a sem. Nam rutrum malesuada enim, vel congue felis interdum gravida. Sed est mi, aliquet sed molestie eget, convallis in sapien. Integer vitae tincidunt metus. Nam nec orci quam, eget cursus dui. Quisque scelerisque dignissim tincidunt. Nunc blandit turpis ut ante fringilla et sollicitudin mauris vestibulum. Mauris vehicula, purus a sollicitudin rhoncus, purus mi facilisis metus, in semper metus lectus mollis tellus. Cras eget justo mauris. Praesent accumsan varius auctor.

\end{document}

[localghost]

Use the indentfirst package. Page and paper dimensions are better set with geometry.


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi,

Is there a simple way to indent the first paragraph of each section?

perhaps it's not looking simple, but it does what's expected, this redefinition of \section is the same like in article but with indentation:

Code: Select all

\makeatletter
\renewcommand\section{\@startsection {section}{1}{\z@}%
                                   {3.5ex \@plus 1ex \@minus .2ex}%
                                   {2.3ex \@plus.2ex}%
                                   {\normalfont\Large\bfseries}}
\makeatother

Stefan

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Loading indentfirst like Thorsten suggested is indeed easier and will affect all sectioning commands.

Stefan