/latex_template_students

LaTeX-Template for student theses at ISW

Primary LanguageTeX

Thesis template for student thesis at ISW, University of Stuttgart

This template is aimed to provide a LaTeX writing experience with low hurdles.

The template is inspired by Philipp Tempel's Latex templates with a focus on minimum dependencies and low user entry level.

How to use it:

  1. Set up the project
    1. Search for ISW student thesis template on Overleaf, then start your project from there. This is the prefered method. No Latex installation, no package problems, just write.
    2. Or get it from this repository.
      • You need LaTeX installed on your operating system
      • Compile it with Lualatex [recommended] or pdflatex
  2. Select the main file you need
    • Exposé? --> Name_Expose.tex (+ iswthesis.sty)
    • Thesis?
      • Want to setup your own? --> Name_Thema_min.tex (+ iswthesis.sty)
      • Nees suggestions which packages to use? -> Name_Thema.tex (+ the whole directory)
  3. Configure biblatex (either with biber or with bibtex) as your bibliography program
    • If you are on Texstudio, the magic comments on top of the example document should do it for you
    • Overleaf should manage this for you automatically
    • vscode, see here
    • Bibliography programs as JabRef have a setting to configure biblatex, which has more fields and entry types.
  4. Start

Directory structure

.
├── bibliography.bib    # demo bibliography. replace with your own.
├── chapters            # place your chapters here
│   ├── Acronyms.tex    # definition of acronyms
│   ├── Einleitung.tex  # sample chapter
│   └── Examples.tex    # examples, how-to introduction
├── example_figures/    # figures used in examples
├── images/             # logo sources
├── iswthesis.sty       # the ISW styling class
├── Name_Exposee.tex    # sample exposé, start from here when you are writing one.
├── Name_Thema.tex      # sample thesis with packages you might find useful
├── Name_Thema_min.tex  # minimal sample thesis. Load your own packages
├── README.md
└── settings.tex        # settings file used in the sample thesis document

iswthesis.sty

Simplifying thesis writing in LaTeX complying with the style of ISW, University of Stuttgart.

This class does the styling for you (together with a komascript class).

It handles the following:

  • Proper input and font encoding (Just type, don't care about the LaTeX compiler you use or how to type German umlauts)
  • Fonts with ligatures and kerning (Tex Gyre fonts are used, part of every LaTeX installation, text is nice to read)
  • Bibliography styling for biblatex (declare your bibliography file and you are ready to go)
  • Provide command for title page (\makeISWtitle) and declaration of originality ( \declarationOfOriginality)
  • Loads packages "biblatex" and "graphics"

We tried to minimize the package dependencies. This is a styling package, not a documentclass. Komascript does the rest. Below is a list of the packages we need to load anyhow.

Packages Why
ifthen, ifpdf, ifxetex, ifluatex, iflang, kvoptions Options handling
microtype font kerning
[just pdflatex] fontenc, inputenc handle encodings
sans serif font for headings
[just luatex and xetex] fontspec fonts loading
mathpazo, tgpagella, tgheros , DejaVuSansMono textcomp fonts
csquotes handling quotes correctly with biblatex
biblatex bibliography
graphicx loading logo image for the titlepage

Frequently asked questions

  • How do I change the document's language to german? uncomment \usepackage[english,ngerman]{babel} and comment out %\usepackage[ngerman, english]{babel} in settings.tex