
\documentclass[twocolumn,11pt]{article}
\setlength{\textheight}{9truein}
\setlength{\topmargin}{-0.8truein}
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{10pt}
\setlength{\columnsep}{.5in}
\newcommand{\beq}{\begin{equation}}
\newcommand{\eeq}{\end{equation}}

\begin{document}

A \LaTeX \ document always contains a bunch of stuff
at the beginning which includes certain template files,
defines certain commands, and sets things up for later use.

But really, all we need is the ``begin'' and ``end'' 
statements around the word ``document,'' with all of our
text in between.

\end{document}
