This is a layout for theses written at James Cook University (JCU) for the very the fantastic LyX document processor.
This layout automagically inserts the required details into your thesis (Honours or PhD), assuming that you give the correct details to LyX.
In case you're unaware, LyX is a WYSIWYM (what-you-see-is-what-you-mean) editor for LaTeX, which makes great looking documents. LyX is free, it's more powerful and simpler to produce your document than Word, and if you're not using it, you should be because you just found about it.
Please feel free to fork this repository as required on GitHub and contribute fixes as pulls. If you are going to be active in development, you can be added to this project; please send contact for details and you too can commit code!
I'd appreciate you acknowledging work on this layout in your thesis. Hopefully one day JCU students will help each other by working on this layout into the future.
Even if you don't acknowledge your use of this layout, hopefully you can see the benefit of telling your fellow students, staff, researchers etc (even cross-discipline!) about this. Help them set this up too!
Clone this GitHub repository to your local computer (using Git, of course). You need to place the files here either within your ~/.lyx directory, or if you prefer, directly next to your pre-existing LyX document in the same folder.
Tell LyX to use that layout. See LyX's Document menu, and click onto Settings. Locate the Document Class entry and select this layout. If you've placed the layout next to your document, then choose Local Layout and browse for the layout. LyX might warn you here, but just make sure all the unzipped files are in the same folder as your original document itself.
Now, generally near the start of the document, use the available section styles (also slightly confusingly called "Layouts") within LyX to create a:
- Title
- Author, with your name
- Degree, with something like Bachelor Of Information Technology with Honours
- School, with something like Information Technology
- University, with James Cook University
- Crest Filename with the local file name of a JCU logo you have. This repository comes with jculogo.pdf, a vectorised version of the new-style JCU logo. The repository also comes with an SVG version of this logo, which you can use to render out a specific size logo if required. If you've got a specific JCU school picture or logo, then you can use something else.
You'll probably want these, but they are optional. Add them by selecting them from the layouts drop-down menu:
- Acknowledgements
- Abstract
You should add these immediately after your front page configuration to improve the logical structure of your LyX document.
Beyond this, you can add everything else like Table of Contents, Figures, Bibliography and more, and the rest of your document. Use the relevant Section styles/layouts to partition your document accordingly.
When you start your document, insert this code: \pagenumbering{arabic}
either as ERT (Evil Red Text; TeX Code: Ctrl+L) or as LaTeX Preample (under
Settings) to start the document numbering correctly.
That's it! Render the document as PDF using LyX and see what happens. If you
find errors, it's because you're missing some LaTeX packages. Configure your
typeset program (MikTeX if you're on Windows) to automatically download missing
packages, then run Reconfigure on LyX, restart it, and go again. Make sure
you're on the Internet first before you do this as new packages need a network
connection in order to be downloaded!
The layout and class here can be modified to suit your needs, if they're different, without too much effort, so keep that in mind!
The layout was originally designed as part of a 2008 Honours thesis and has been used by a variety of students since. The wording and specifics of some parts of the document, such as the Abstract, are specifically taken from the 2008 guidebook for Honours in Information Technology. As such, the wording may change (or have changed since then) or possibly be different for your discipline.