This template produces a 'pretty good' report, compliant with the COMP3200 report standard at the University of Southampton.
Download the files in this repo, and start editing!
In the top of report.tex you will find some configuration variables, and the
document preamble. As the bottom of report.tex you will find a series of \input{}
statments, calling on the other source files. Change these as needed to your documents
requirements.
When compiling, compile the report.tex file, and everything else will be pulled in automatically.
I've compiled it on a Linux machine using the 2017, 2018, and 2019 distributions of texlive and it works fine.
If you're on Linux, the following command may be useful for compiling the report:
latexmk -pvc -pdf -jobname=output/report report.tex (You'll need to mkdir output
first!)
That command should continue to fully compile the report as you write it, and show a preview in your system PDF viewer. I use Evince, which automatically reloads the PDF as it is updated, and usually doesn't crash when that happens.
Users may also like texcount for word counting. It does a pretty good job at word
counting without all of the headings. I received the guidance that the report word
count was not super strict, and "as long as your below the limit with your counting
tool then it's ok". Of course check with your supervisor!
If you don't fancy setting up and maintaining a texlive distribution on your machine, or aren't using Linux, then Overleaf has been widely recommended to me by peers for preparing latex documents. I've found it to be mostly acceptable, if a little slow at times.
I've done my best to make this compliant with the relevant university standards at the time I wrote this template for my own degree (2018).