LaTex style file and Workarounds
for my Ph.D. Dissertation
by James S. Jones
Doing a Ph.D. dissertation using LaTex can be a challenge,
so I have included here my style file and a sample thesis
template file which uses it. This was done for my dissertation
at the University of Iowa in Spring 1997.
The Dissertation Template File
I created the file
sample.tex to allow
me to quickly experiment with style file changes. This file
is also a sample which contains fixes that were easier to do
in the .tex file rather than the .sty file. For instance,
Chapter titles are in all capitals to make them appear that way in
the table of contents. Special LaTex commands to override the
style files to get page numbering done correctly and to get
the APPENDIX and REFERENCES lines in the table of contents (TOC).
The template includes some generic figures and tables to show how
they were handled to satisfy the thesis examiner.
The Style File
My style file is
jjthesis.sty.
It is a modification of those that others were using
(uithesis.sty and
uinew.sty). I did not need the postscript
figure support (in uinew.sty) since I
did mine in LaTex so those commands are missing from mine (but
could be added). I changed mine so that the list of tables (LOT) and
figures (LOF) pages are double spaced. I also changed the LOT and
LOF line content spacing in preparation for a workaround fix
(described next). Comments regarding these changes, required by the
Thesis Examiner, are in the style file.
Workaround Fix
The Thesis Examiner wanted all LOF figure and LOT table numbers
to be terminated and aligned by a period. It was too complicated
to fix this in the style file so I simply adjusted the
LOT and LOF spacing (mentioned above) and did the following
after the "final" LaTex'ing of the dissertation:
- Edit the LOT and LOF files manually to add the necessary
period and alignment spacing. See the
before and
after versions of a sample.lot
file with 12 tables to see what kind of changes are needed.
- Insert the \nofiles command in your main tex file
(see sample.tex).
- LaTex the thesis one more time; but this time it will use the
modified LOT and LOF auxillary files.
Miscellaneous
Don't believe all the mythology about thesis examiners.
Let them know when you are having trouble and suggest alternatives
that you can implement to see if they are acceptable.
Mention that you are using LaTex because they may be familiar with
the problems you are facing.
Download
jjthesis.sty or
sample.tex
by going to it (click on the name), viewing its
SOURCE (a brower menu option), and saving it to your
computer. If the filename ends with "_sty" or "_tex" instead of
".sty" or ".tex" then you should change that. It is best to use
a text editor with a window wide enough to avoid word-wrapping
and with COURIER 10 point font for the entire text.
Other LaTex sites for MS/PhD Thesis
Back to my homepage:
http://www.graceland.edu/~jsjones