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https://github.com/mdsumner/utas_latex_thesis

LaTeX template for UTAS thesis
https://github.com/mdsumner/utas_latex_thesis

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LaTeX template for UTAS thesis

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README 

          
update, see here for more modern version: https://github.com/wghuneke/UTasIMAS_PhDThesis_Template



## Historical note



In ca. 2004 Tim Callaghan very kindly provided a LaTeX2e template for

a UTas thesis. The content here is a fairly faithful copy of his

original. 



This material was previously available here: http://staff.acecrc.org.au/~mdsumner/TCallaghan/



1. You can see the original summary file **utas_latex.html**, which is

otherwise reproduced in this readme.

2. The original .zip bundle is available in **thesis.zip**

3. I have included a new directory **extra** which has material provided by Tom Remenyi.  



Michael Sumner, October 2014



## Extreme bare bones usage



    git clone https://github.com/mdsumner/utas_latex_thesis.git

    cd utas_latex_thesis

    latex thesis

    bibtex thesis

    makeindex thesis.idx

    latex thesis

    latex thesis



# University of Tasmania Mathematics Style File and Thesis Template for LaTeX2e



##What is this?



A style file is a way of getting LaTeX to do a lot of formatting and

processing for tasks that are so common that they are deemed style

file *worthy*. The generation of a PhD thesis is once such task that

(in my opinion) falls into this category. Since the Research Higher

Degrees Resource Book lays out fairly specific formatting guidelines

for the thesis it becomes the task of the style file to automatically

meet these formatting requirements. Basically then, we can visualise a

style file in this instance as performing the appropriate formatting

commands behind the scenes. The advantage of this approach is two

fold: It enables easy alterations to the thesis as a whole and, more

importantly, it frees the student from the sometimes troubling

formatting problems that arise, allowing them to focus entirely on the

contents of the thesis.



A template is, in this instance, a set of basic fundamental files that

constitute the various elements of a thesis. These can be used as

bare-bones starting points for populating the thesis with ideas. The

template files include chapters, appendices, bibliography etc. To make

a thesis from the template all one needs to do is edit the appropriate

files with one's own content and the overall structure should already

be in place.



 

##What this isn't.



This is not a tutorial on how to use LaTeX. There are many fine

references on the net that address this issue. A good place to start

is **The (Not So) Short Introduction to LaTeX2e** which is not only a

good introduction but also serves as a handy reference manual . Thus

in the following discussion I assume that you know what LaTeX is and

how to use it on your operating system of choice. I also assume you

know how to install packages (add-ons for LaTeX that increase its

functionality) since the thesis style file is dependent on a few

packages for fancy effects...no point reinventing the wheel.



 

##Who can use it?



This style file is designed primarily for students of mathematics at

UTas who are undertaking a PhD. However, only very minor changes need

to be made to the wording in a few places to use it as a template for

an honours or Masters thesis as well. In fact, there is no particular

reason why this could be not used for, say, an Arts thesis (Shock,

Horror!) since it is mainly about the formatting and less about the

content. However, the heading and chapter structure has been chosen so

as to be more in line with standard practice in the scientific

streams. Again, if you know what you're doing then it's really not

that difficult to modify the style file at the appropriate places. I

have tried to comment it quite heavily so that interested persons can

see how it does all its work and, hopefully, make changes that reflect

personal tastes etc. Okay, if you're still with me then read on...



 

##How do you use it?



Follow the steps below to set your computer up to use the thesis style file and templates. 



###Get the required packages



You must ensure that your LaTeX installation has the following packages installed.



* 'graphicx' for graphics manipulation

* 'makeidx' for generating the index

* 'fancyhdr' for nice headers and footers.

* 'tocbibind' for adding table of contents entries for bibliography, index etc.

* 'sectsty' for generating stylised chapter and section headings.



I believe the first two are part of any standard LaTeX installation

but unless you have a complete installation with all packages the

remaining three will have to be obtained. This is easy enough to

do. Just go to CTAN and grab the ones that are listed above and follow

their self install directions for your particular OS.



 

###Download the thesis files



You must download the following files and save them all to the same directory on your computer 



* The thesis style file **mathphdthesis.sty**

* The thesis TeX file **thesis.tex**

* The prelude TeX file **prelude.tex**

* The new commands TeX file **newcom.tex**

* The chapter TeX files **chap1.tex**, **chap2.tex**, **chap3.tex** and **chap4.tex**

* The appendix switch TeX file **app0.tex**

* The appendix TeX files **app1.tex** and **app2.tex**

* The bibliography switch TeX file **biby.tex**

* The sample bibliography database **thesis.bib**

* The index switch TeX file **index.tex**

* The UTas graphics logo **Utas_vert_BW.ps**



If you prefer, you can just download the zip archive thesis.zip which

contains all the files listed above as well as the dvi and pdf

versions of the bare bones thesis that you will generate in the next

section.



 

###Test the bare-bones files



Now that you have all the files in one directory with all the relevant

packages installed you can make the bare bones thesis by running LaTeX

on the file 'thesis.tex'. In order for LaTeX to determine the page

numbers correctly in the table of contents you have to execute the

commands in the following order.



1. Run LaTeX on **thesis.tex**

2. Run BIBTex on **thesis.tex**

3. Run MakeIndex on **thesis.idx** (note the different file extension)

4. Run LaTeX again on **thesis.tex**

5. Run LaTeX once more on **thesis.tex**



This may look a little strange but this sequence of commands is

necessary to make sure LaTeX gets all its page numbers and references

correct. If you are interested in why this is so, read up on how LaTeX

generates its table of contents, bibliography and index.



Now look at the dvi file that is produced. It should look like this

thesis.dvi (or the pdf version thesis.pdf). If it does, then all

that's left to do is to read the next section to find out how to

customise your name, abstract etc. for inclusion in the thesis.



If it doesn't work I would guess something wrong with the LaTeX

processing step so try repeating the commands above. It's also

possible that your package installation went awry so perhaps reinstall

(?). Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. You can try

emailing me (see below) but I don't guarantee any form of dedicated

technical support. I can only offer advice and suggestions etc.



 

###Customise the template



Now that you have a working bare-bones thesis you can modify the parts

that will customise it for you personally. The file that you will need

to edit is 'prelude.tex'. If you have a look in this file you will see

the following lines...



    \title{PLACE THESIS TITLE HERE} % use all capital letters

    \author{Your Name} % use mixed upper & lower case

    \prevdegrees{B.A. B.Sc. Hons (Qld)} % Used to specify your previous degrees...use mixed upper & lower case

    \advisor{Dr Ask Me} % example: Professor Lawrence K. Forbes

    \dept{Mathematics} % your academic department

    \submitdate{August, 2004} % month & year of your thesis submission



Just simply change your relevant details in the fields. For example, if your name was John Smith B.A. Hons (QUT) and you were studying Ship Hydrodynamics you would put



    \title{SHIP HYDRODYNAMICS} % use all capital letters

    \author{John Smith} % use mixed upper & lower case

    \prevdegrees{B.A. Hons (QUT)} % Used to specify your previous degrees...use mixed upper & lower case

    \advisor{Dr Ask Me} % example: Professor Lawrence K. Forbes

    \dept{Mathematics} % your academic department

    \submitdate{August, 2004} % month & year of your thesis submission



Now change the abstract and acknowledgements text by altering the text

between the {} braces after the commands \newcommand{\abstextwithesis}

and \newcommand{\acknowledgement}.



Look at the very top of the file 'prelude.tex'. You will see a lot of

commands with 'true' contained at the end of the command name. These

are actually flags that specify which elements of the preface you want

to generate. By default all the commands are set to true (include

everything) but if you don't want to include something you merely

change the 'true' to 'false' at the end of the command name. For

example, to not include the title page you would change \titlepgtrue

to \titlepgfalse. This is actually a handy thing to do since the title

page contains the University logo on it and this causes a delay in

display refresh times when viewing the dvi file since the image has to

load each time. If your computer is slow-ish you probably want to set

the above command to false to leave it out until you want to print a

rough draft etc.



 

###Populate the Thesis pages with original ideas!



The easy part, or the hard part, depending on what we are talking

about. From here all that remains to do is to fill out the chapters

with your own work. You edit the chapters as you would any normal

LaTeX document by placing your text and markup commands inside a

chapter declaration. See the files 'chap1.tex', 'chap2.tex' etc. for

examples. You can also add more packages to the preamble (after the

documentclass declaration) to extend the functionality of LaTeX even

more but you should always be careful of nullifying the formats that

are set up in the style file. To make sure your commands are local you

should always declare them inside an environment (inside {} braces).

A sample bibliography database has also been included to give you an

idea of how to set one up. See the BibTeX manual for more help on this

topic. In addition, appendices have been added but these can be

removed if needs been by simply commenting the appropriate include

statements out in 'thesis.tex'.



Perhaps this is not the best way to produce a thesis but it's a

reasonable start and hopefully over time we can all make suggestions

about what this style file should include so that the department has a

quality style file that can be used by all students. For this reason

suggestions and comments are most welcome and should be forwarded to

me by way of the contact below.



### Acknowledgements



I obtained the information to make this file from a variety of sources

on the internet. In particular I have drawn on the [work of John

Castelloe](http://www.divms.uiowa.edu/help/uithesis/index.html). I have

used his templating system as it is the obvious way to do things

neatly. I have also used some of his code for populating dynamic

content.



Some other useful links that I have profited from along the way are...



[General tips and tricks for LaTeX2e](http://theoval.sys.uea.ac.uk/~gcc/family/nicky/csed/advice.html)



[Some sample chapter heading styles](http://zoonek.free.fr/LaTeX/LaTeX_samples_chapter/0.html) 



[LaTeX packages by category](http://www.cs.brown.edu/system/software/latex/packages-by-category.html)



[Packages aimed at thesis preparation](http://www-sigproc.eng.cam.ac.uk/~jrh1008/Resources/Latex/LaTeXPackages.html )



I don't pretend to take credit for originality, however the general code design has been altered enough so as to justifiably call it my own...sort of ;) 



Please send any comments (especially suggestions and bugs/errors) to Tim Callaghan  tgc@hilbert.maths.utas.edu.au