Stony Brook University PhD thesis template for LaTeX ---------------------------------------------------- Benjamin Hornberger, May 2007 This is the set of files I used to prepare my thesis in May 2007. It is not an official (university-provided) template, so it comes with no warranty whatsoever. It just worked for me, and grad school accepted it. The origin of the class file is unclear, I just made some changes to make the front matter look a little bit nicer (to my taste) and to fix some bugs with the table of contents. I know that there are more templates around; feel free to use what you like best. Make sure to get the grad schools' thesis guidelines (www.grad.stonybrook.edu -> Graduation Information -> Guidelines to the preparation of theses and dissertations) and verify yourself that everything is fine in the end. I used MiKTeX 2.5 on Windows XP and the WinEdt 5.4 editor to prepare my thesis, but in principle this set of files should work with any LaTeX system on any platform. I used latex and dvipdfm to produce the final PDF file, but it should work with dvips/ps2pdf, or pdflatex as well (in which case you should change the driver in the hyperref.cfg file). Beyond these few instructions, you will obviously need some general knowledge about LaTeX as such, and your TeX system in particular. I can recommend: * Kopka / Daly: Guide to LaTeX (Book) * The not so short introduction to LaTeX 2e (on the web; search Google) * The comp.text.tex newsgroup (search the archives at groups.google.com for specific questions -- most stuff has been asked and answered in the past) * Documentation to the packages used (should come with your LaTeX installation, or on the web) * MiKTeX documentation and dojo (miktex.org, dojo.miktex.org) for MiKTeX-specific issues, default configuration files, paths to fonts and BiBTeX files, etc.) * winedt.com, winedt.org for WinEdt-specific issues (how to set up and make best use of projects, how WinEdt knows about your BiBTeX files etc.) This template package consists of the following files: * usbthesis.cls General document class file. Keep in the same directory as everything else, or in the TeX search path. You shouldn't have to make any changes to it, unless you want to change the appearance of the front matter or you find further bugs beyond the ones I found. To produce the extra abstract printout with the advisor's name on it (see the grad school's guidelines), you can uncomment line 179. * thesis.tex This is your thesis "root" file. It loads all the packages which I needed / found useful -- edit to your heart's content. In the bibliography section, there are some "%input" directives which help WinEdt find your BiBTeX files for automatic completion of \cite{} commands. This only works with the WinEdt editor. To the TeX system, this is just a comment. * mathdefs.tex This file defines a number of special commands for easier and more consistent math typesetting (like units etc.). Most are taken from the article which is mentioned at the top of the file. Note that also the \vec{} command is redefined to use a boldface letter rather than an arrow; if you don't like it, comments out that part. I also recommend using the amsmath package for nicer and easier math typesetting; have a look at its documentation (the Kopka / Daly book also has a section about it). * hyperref.cfg This file contains the setup for the hyperref package which produces a nicely hyperlinked PDF file (you could also include the hypersetup in the root file, but that makes it kind of messy). Have a look at the documentation of the hyperref package. You definitely have to adjust the driver name (dvipdfm, pdftex, dvips, etc.) to the method you want to use to produce the PDF. I found it useful to use "hypertex" while editing the document with MiKTeX and DVI preview (in which case there are working links in the DVI file when viewed with the Yap program) and switching to "dvipdfm" for the final version from which the PDF was produced (in which case the links work fine in the PDF). ---------------------------------------------------- Modifications ---------------------------------------------------- Holger Fleckenstein, June 2007 I have changed the style file (usbthesis.cls) and thesis template (thesis.tex) to fit the new guidelines for electronic submission. You can now choose between the options "sig" and "nosig" (default) for the documentclass: sig: The signature page contains the traditional lines for the orignal page. The abstract page contains the advisors name (for separate abstract) nosig: Complete style for electronic submission. No advisor name on abstract, no signature lines, instead the dean's name is included as specified in thesis.tex. Also new: You also have to specify the type of thesis ("phd" or "master") in the documentclass.