dissertation template latex sample tex

The MIT thesis template in LaTeX

The latex template.

The current MIT thesis template was developed in 2023, using up-to-date LaTeX coding, to meet the current formatting requirements of the MIT Libraries. The title and abstract pages are automatically laid out from information provided by the user. This template includes options to use a variety of fonts, and it is compatible with either pdfTeX or unicode engines such as luaLaTeX. When using LaTeX formats dated November 2022 or later, the resulting pdf file meets the PDF/A-2b archivability standard. A standard TeX Live installation includes all other packages required by the template.

• Download The most current LaTeX files for this template are distributed through the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN): https://ctan.org/pkg/mitthesis
• Documentation Documentation for the template in pdf format Documentation: here . -->
• Gallery of fonts Sample theses in the font sets defined by the template. Gallery of fonts: here . -->
• Sample title pages Sample title pages for various combinations of authors and degrees. Sample title pages: are here . -->
• Overleaf The template is also in Overleaf.com's template gallery. Overleaf.com: , here .--> Learn more about Overleaf at MIT .

This template was written by John Lienhard at the request of the MIT Libraries.

Specifications for MIT theses

The formatting requirements for MIT theses are set by the MIT Libraries, as described at this url: http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/thesis-specs/ . Questions regarding these specifications should be directed to [email protected] .

The original LaTeX 2.09 template was written by Stephen Gildea in the late 1980s (also in CTAN, here ). That template was edited by many later students, leading to the files archived here.

LaTeX has changed greatly since the original MIT thesis template was written. LaTeX 2.09 was replaced by LaTeX2e in 1994. New engines were developed, particularly pdfTeX during the 1990s and Unicode-aware engines in the decades that followed. Many packages and fonts were developed to accompany the original platform, particularly after 2000; and major updates to the LaTeX kernel began in 2018. Over the years, the MIT Libraries have changed the required format several times, especially as electronic thesis submission has become the norm. The original template served MIT well; but by the early 2020s, it was substantially out of date. That situation motivated the creation of this new template.

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Beautiful LaTeX dissertation templates.

suchow/Dissertate

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Dissertate is a set of beautiful LaTeX templates for a thesis or dissertation. Here's a sample .

Note : You can download the templates here:

• UC Berkeley

One of the biggest hurdles in submitting a thesis or dissertation is getting the formatting right — the rules are arcane, and the registrar is pedantic. Few students have the background needed to design and typeset clean and stylish documents. Enter Dissertate. Dissertate is a set of beautiful LaTeX templates for a thesis or dissertation. To date, the software provides everything needed to support the production and typesetting of a PhD dissertation at Harvard, Princeton, NYU, and UC Berkeley, though it will be adapted to meet the requirements of other schools — eventually all of them. The format and styling are based closely on the requirements published by each university's registrar.

Examples of Dissertations using Dissertate

Austrailian national university.

• Duong, Ly. (2018). Unravelling the evolution of the Galactic stellar disk & bulge [Doctoral dissertation, Austrailian National University].

Flinders University

• Szpak, Ancrêt. L. (2015). The Social Space Around Us: the effect of social distance on spatial attention [Doctoral dissertation, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia].

Friedrich–Alexander University Erlangen–Nürnberg

• Harutyunyan, Nikolay. (2019). Corporate Open Source Governance of Software Supply Chains [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)].

Harvard College & Harvard University

• Ayala, Peter. (2019). Evaluating Stock Market Performance Using Aggregated Employee Reviews [Bachelor's thesis, Harvard College].
• Dimiduk, Thomas. G. (2016). Holographic Microscopy for Soft Matter and Biophysics [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts].
• Fu, Daniel. Y. (2018). Design of Influencing Agents for Flocking in Low-Density Settings [Senior thesis, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts].
• Garruss, Alexander Shineman. (2020). Accelerating the Understanding and Design of Intracellular Biosensors by Massively Multiplexed Experimentation and Machine Learning (Pulication No. 28265270) [Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University].
• Limor, Gultchin. (2017). [ Just for Laughts: Utilizing Machine Learning to Rate and Generate Humorous Analogies ]( https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/38811513 [Senior thesis, Harvard College].
• Randle, Dylan L. (2020). Unsupervised Neural Network Methods for Solvong Differential Equations [Master's thesis, Harvard University].
• Xiong, Zhaoxi. (2019). Classification and Construction of Topological Phases of Quantum Matter [Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts].]

Hokkaido University

• Zhai, Hongjie. (2018). Study on Discovery and Exploration Systems Considering User’s Intention [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Hokkaido University].

Humboldt University of Berlin

• Lubitz, Timo. (2016). From signal to metabolism: A journey through the regulatory layers of the cell [Doctoral dissertation, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin].

National University of Singapore

• Lim Yong San, Gilbert. (2015). Automated Methods for Retinopathy and Glaucoma Screening [Doctoral dissertation, National University of Singapore].

New York University

• Heinrich, Lukas. (2019). Searches for Supersymmetry, RECAST, and Contributions to Computational High Energy Physics (Publication No. 13421570) [Doctoral dissertation, New York University].

Paris-East Créteil University

• Buczkowska, Sabina. (2017). Quantitative models of establishments location choices : spatial effects and strategic interactions [Doctoral dissertation, Université Paris-Est].

Paris Sciences et Lettres University

• Saussay, Aurelien. (2018). Trois essais sur les prix de l'énergie et la transition énergétique [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, de l’Université de recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres PSL Research University].

Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg

• Malygin, Mykola G. (2016). Gas Opacity in Planet and Star Formation [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ruperto Carola Universitat].

Saint Martin’s University

• Lentz, Jotham C. (2018). A Fuzzy Architecture for Robotics Sensor Information Integration [Master's thesis, Saint Martin’s University, Lacey, Washington].
• Mortimer, Laura A. (2017). Fluid Velocity Vector Field Measurement in Synovial Joints [Master's thsis, Saint Martin’s University, Lacey, Washington].

Stanford University

• Hawkins, Robert. D. (2019). Coordinating on meaning in communication [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, Stanford, CA].

Technical University of Darmstadt

• Leonard, Mark. Ryan. (2019). Robust Signal Processing in Distributed Sensor Networks [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Technische Universität Darmstadt].

The Polytechnic University of Catalonia

• Pérez, Víctor Javier Jiménez. (2016). Improving the Efficiency of Multicore Systems Through Software and Hardware Cooperation [Doctoral dissertation, Universitat Politè cnica de Catalunya – Barcelona Tech Barcelona].

University of Amsterdam

• Lê, Hoàng-Ân. (2021). Outdoor image understanding from multiple vision modalities [Doctoral dissertation, University of Amsterdam].

University of Birmingham

• Kuszlewicz, James. Stevenson. (2017). Buoyancy-driven oscillations in helio- and asteroseismology [Doctoral dissertation, University of Birmingham].

University of Bologna

• Asri, Ankush. (2019). When Giulia and Andrea meet Salma and Omar: Essays on cultural adaptation [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Universit´a di Bologna].

Universite de Bordeaux

• Golemo, Florian. (2018). How to Train Your Robot - New Environments for Robotic Training and New Methods for Transferring Policies from the Simulator to the Real Robot [Doctoral dissertation, Universite de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France].

University of California, Berkeley

• Langlois, Thomas A. (2018). Uncovering Human Visual Priors (Publication No. 10931026) [Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley].
• Meylan, Stephan C. (2018). Representing linguistic knowledge with probabilistic models (Publication No. 10931065) [Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley].
• Pacer, M D. (2016). Mind as Theory Engine: Causation, Explanation and Time (Publication No. 10194103) [Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley].
• Peterson, Joshua C. (2018). Leveraging deep neural networks to study human cognition (Pulication No. 10930700) [Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley].

University of Cambridge

• Qin, Chongli. (2020). Phylogenetic Signals in Protein Data [Doctoral dissertation, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire].

University of Groningen

• Driesprong, F. T. (2015). Web-scale outlier detection [Master's thesis, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands].

University of Mannheim

• Pietrantuono, Giuseppe. (2016). The Value of Citizenship. Experimental and Quasi-experimental Evidence from Germany and Switzerland [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Mannheim].

University of Oldenburg

• Hornauer, Sascha Alexander. (2016). Maritime Trajectory Negotiation for n-Vessel Collision Avoidance [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Universität Oldenburg].

University of Paris Sud

• Li, Chuan. (2014). Superconducting proximity effect in Graphene and Bi nanowire junctions [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Paris Sud].

University of Virginia

• Yanhaona, Muhammad. Nur. (2017). PCubeS Type Architecture and IT Programming Language [Doctoral dissertation, University of Virgina].

University of Warsaw

• Dittwald, Piotr. (2014). Computational methods for large-scale data in medical diagnostics [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Warsaw].

The University of Western Ontario

• Shannon, Matthew. (2016). The Spectral Variability of Astronomical PAHs [Published doctoral dissertation, The University of Western Ontario].

University of Zurich

• Asri, Maria Viola. (2021). Social Pensions for Greying India – Empirical Analyses of Potential Effectiveness Constraints [Doctoral dissertation, University of Zurich].

Yale University

• Vlastakis, Brian Michael. (2015). Controlling coherent state superpositions with superconducting circuits (Publication No. 10013061) [Doctoral dissertation, Yale University].

Contributors 9

A LaTeX template for thesis, dissertations and similar monograph-like documents

View the Project on GitHub joaomlourenco/novathesis

• Download ZIP File
• Download TAR Ball
• View On GitHub

With a Local LaTeX Installation

With a remote cloud-based service, problems and difficulties, suggestions, bugs and feature requests, word templates.

If you choose to use this project, please:

• Give it a star by clicking the (⭐️) at the top right of the project’s page .
• Make a small donation ( pay me a beer! )
• Cite the NOVAthesis manual in your thesis/dissertation (e.g., in the acknowledgments) with \cite{novathesis-manual} (the correct bibliographic reference will be added automatically).

The “ novathesis ” LaTeX template is an Open Source project for writing thesis, dissertations, and other monograph-like documents, which…

• Just select the School, provide the cover info, your chapters with text… and you’re done!
• It’s LaTeX! What would you expect?! 😉
• E.g., multiple chapter styles, multiple font styles, automatic book spine generation, …
• Currently supports +20 Schools, drawing the covers and typesetting the text according to the rules of each School.

This work is licensed under the LaTeX Project Public License v1.3c. To view a copy of this license, visit the LaTeX project public license .

Getting Started

See below for alternatives to a local LaTeX installation

See “ minimal installation ” for instructions on how to build/use a minimal installation of LaTeX (<100 MB vs. 5GB for tex-live), which is just enough to compile the template successfully

• Windows: install TeX-Live or MikTeX .
• Linux: install TeX-Live or MikTeX .
• macOS: install MacTeX (a macOS version of TeX-Live ) or MikTeX .
• Cloning the GitHub repository with git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/joaomlourenco/novathesis.git ; or
• Downloading the latest version from the GitHub repository as a Zip file
• The main file is named “ template.tex ”.
• Either load it in your favorite LaTeX text editor or compile it in the terminal with latexmk -shell-escape -file-line-error -pdf template . If you use a LaTeX text editor, please notice that the NOVAthesis template uses biber and not bibtex to process the bibliography, which means that most probably you have to open the Editor Preferences and somewhere (depends on the Editor) change bibtex to biber .
• If Murphy is elsewhere, LaTeX will create the file “ template.pdf ”, which you may open with your favorite PDF viewer.
• Edit the files in the “ Config ” folder:

• See 3. above.
• You’re done with a beautifully formatted thesis/dissertation! 😃

See above for using a local installation of LaTeX

NOVAthesis v6.10.10 is available as an Overleaf template . Just select open as template and follow from step 3 above !

• Download the latest version from the GitHub repository as a Zip file .
• Login to your favorite LaTeX cloud service. I recommend Overleaf but there are alternatives (these instructions apply to Overleaf and you’ll have to adapt for other providers).
• In the menu select New project -> Upload project
• Upload the zip with all the “novathesis” files.
• Select “ template.tex ” as the main file.
• Follow from step 3 above

• Install LaTeX in your computer and use a the template locally !
• Opt for a hassle free solution and buy a (student) plan in Overleaf .

Getting Help

Check the wiki and have some hope! :smile:

If you couldn’t find what you were looking for, ask for help in:

• The GitHub Discussions page (only EN please) at https://github.com/joaomlourenco/novathesis/discussions.
• The Facebook page (PT or EN) at https://www.facebook.com/groups/novathesis.
• The Reddit novathesis community at r/novathesis .
• You may also give a look at the novathesis blog at https://novathesis.blogspot.pt .

Please don’t try to contact me directly for questions or support, by email or any other channel! I will not answer such requests… The GitHub Discussions page and the Facebook page are the right places to ask for help and support!

• Do you have a suggestion? Please add it to the wiki and help other users!
• Did you find a bug? Please open an issue . Thanks!
• Would you like to request a new feature (or support of a new School)? Please open an issue . Thanks!

List of Supported Schools

• NOVA School for Science and Technology (FCT-NOVA)
• PhD in Information Management
• Master in Geographical Information Systems and Science
• Master in Statistics and Information Management
• Master in Information Management
• Master in Geospatial Technologies
• Master in Data Science and Advanced Analytics
• Masters in Geospatial Technologies
• National School of Public Heath (ENSP-NOVA)
• Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCSH-NOVA)
• Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biologica Antonio Xavier (ITQB-NOVA)
• Instituto Superior Técnico (IST-ULISBOA)
• Faculdade de Ciências (FC-ULISBOA)
• Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMV-ULISBOA)
• Escola de Arquitetura (EA-UMIMHO)
• Escola de Ciências (EC-UMIMHO)
• Escola de Direito (ED-UMIMHO)
• Escola de Economia e Gestão (EEG-UMIMHO)
• Escolha de Engenharia (EE-UMIMHO)
• Escola de Medicina (EM-UMIMHO)
• Escola de Psicologia (EP-UMIMHO)
• Escola Superior de Enfermagem (ESE-UMIMHO)
• Instituto de Ciências Sociais (ICS-UMIMHO)
• Instituto de Educação (IE-UMIMHO)
• Instituto de Letras e Ciências Humanas (ILCH-UMIMHO)
• Instituto de Investigação em Biomateriais, Biodegradáveis e Biomiméticos (I3Bs-UMIMHO)

Departamento de Engenharia Informática e Sistemas de Informação (ULHT-DEISI)

<!– * ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

Escola de Tecnologia e Arquitectura (ETA-ISCTE-IUL) NOTE: this template is outdated (there are new covers/specifications) –>

• Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL-IPL)

Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal

• Escola Superior de Tecnologia do Barreiro (ESTB-IPS)
• Escola Superior de Enfermagem do Porto (ESEP)

Although the template goes far beyond the cover… some covers from the supported schools are is display below.

These are not official templates for FCT-NOVA nor any other School, although we have done our best to make it fully compliant to each School regulations for thesis/dissertation presentation.

All contributors , both sporadic and regular, are welcome. :) Please contact me to join the team.

If you are here looking for the (deprecated) Word templates (not maintained anymore), please go to this other repository .

Overleaf for Scholarly Writing & Publication: LaTeX Theses and Dissertations

• Reference Managers and Overleaf
• Adding Graphs, Tables, and Images
• Using Templates on Overleaf
• LaTeX Theses and Dissertations

LaTeX Theses and Dissertatons

Tips and tools for writing your LaTeX thesis or dissertation in  Overleaf, including templates, managing references , and getting started guides.

Managing References

BibTeX  is a file format used for lists of references for  LaTeX  documents. Many citation management tools support the ability to export and import lists of references in .bib format. Some reference management tools can generate  BibTeX  files of your library or folders for use in your  LaTeX  documents.

LaTeX on Wikibooks   has a  Bibliography Management  page.

Find list of BibTeX styles available on Overleaf   here

View a video tutorial on how to include a bibliography using BibTeX  here

Collaborate with Overleaf

Collaboration tools

Every project you create has a secret link. Just send it to your co-authors, and they can review, comment and edit. Overleaf synchronizes changes from all authors, so everyone always has the latest version. More advanced tools include protected projects and integration with Git.

Collaborate online and offline with Overleaf and Git

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Getting Started with Your Thesis or Dissertation

How to get started writing your thesis in LaTeX

Writing a thesis or dissertation in LaTeX can be challenging, but the end result is well worth it - nothing looks as good as a LaTeX-produced pdf, and for large documents it's a lot easier than fighting with formatting and cross-referencing in MS Word. Review this video from Overleaf to help you get started writing your thesis in LaTeX, using a standard thesis template from the  Overleaf Gallery .

You can  upload your own thesis template to the Overleaf Gallery   if your university provides a set of LaTeX template files or you may find your university's thesis template already in the Overleaf Gallery.

This video assumes you've used LaTeX before and are familiar with the standard commands (see our other  tutorial videos   if not), and focuses on how to work with a large project split over multiple files.

How to Write your Thesis/Dissertation in LaTeX: A Five-Part Guide

Five-Part LaTeX Thesis/Dissertation  Writing Guide

Part 1: Basic Structure   corresponding  video

Part 2: Page Layout   corresponding  video

Part 3: Figures, Subfigures and Tables   corresponding  video

Part 4: Bibliographies with Biblatex  corresponding  video

Part 5: Customizing Your Title Page and Abstract   corresponding  video

Link Your ORCID

Link yo ur  ORCiD  account  to your  Overleaf account  via the  ORCID @ CMU Portal

Open Knowledge Librarian

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• Last Updated: Oct 4, 2023 9:31 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.cmu.edu/overleaf

LaTeX Resources for Graduate Students: Formatting of theses and dissertations

• BibTeX reference format
• BibTeX command
• LaTeX bibliography file
• LaTeX editors and compilers
• Sample LaTeX file with bibliography
• Sample LaTeX file without bibliography
• Formatting of theses and dissertations

Formatting and structure

The Cornell Graduate School has become increasingly flexible about the formatting of theses and dissertations.  There now are only seven core requirements . For the structure of theses and dissertations here is a list of required and recommended sections .

Latex template

Among the available thesis and dissertation templates provided by the Graduate School is also a LaTeX template (ZIP archive). This template has been uploaded to Overleaf and placed in the Cornell template directory . This template contains a small fix to avoid an error message about \ifpdf .

• << Previous: Sample LaTeX file without bibliography
• Last Updated: Oct 25, 2022 5:12 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/latex

An academic thesis, also known as a dissertation, is a substantial work produced by a graduate student to communicate their research and earn a degree. A thesis will typically include a review of the current state of research in the field of study followed by a central hypothesis to be investigated. The bulk of the thesis will then focus on the methods and results of the research performed, followed by a discussion on how the results add to the field in general. Theses are long, highly structured and include a lot of advanced document elements.

This template is designed for writing books and graduate-level theses and provides numerous examples and documentation to enable complex requirements. The design features a relatively narrow main text column with an adjacent wide margin to house notes, figures, tables, citations and captions.

• View Template Information

Masters/Doctoral Thesis

This template provides a full framework for writing a graduate level thesis. It is carefully structured and separated into multiple parts for easy editing. Included are the following pages/sections: a cover page, declaration of authorship, quotation, abstract, acknowledgements, contents page(s), list of figures, list of tables, abbreviations, physical constants, symbols, dedication, example chapter, example appendix and bibliography.

Classicthesis Typographic Thesis

This template has been designed as a homage to the Elements of Typographic Style. As such, it has an air of efficiency and optimal design. It is suitable for any high-level degree thesis such as for a PhD, Masters or Honors. Sections within the thesis are clearly separated in a consistent way, as are sections within each chapter. The default structure of the thesis proceeds in the following order: title page, dedication, abstract, publications, acknowledgements, contents, list of tables/figures/listings, acronyms, content chapters, appendices, bibliography, colophon and declaration.

Maggi Memoir Thesis

This template uses the memoir document class to beautifully typeset a thesis. It is suitable for any high-level degree thesis such as for a PhD, Masters or Honors. The layout of the content is in a thin format to promote easy reading and the template features advanced specification of margins and trimming. The thesis boasts a professional look which is immediately obvious from the title page itself and carries through the design of the rest of the document. Three custom fonts are used in the template to match the design and beautifully display your content.

LaTeX Templates Information

General enquiries [email protected]

Most templates licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

LaTeX Templates is developed in New Zealand

© Creodocs Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Overleaf for LaTeX Theses & Dissertations: Using Templates on Overleaf

• Using Templates on Overleaf
• Reference Managers and Overleaf
• Adding Tables, Images, and Graphs

Start your projects with quality LaTeX templates for journals, theses, dissertations, CVs, resumes, papers, presentations, posters, assignments, letters, project reports, and more.

Getting started

Start with Overleaf templates

Overleaf templates make it easy to get started with all types of projects - from papers and presentations to newsletters, CVs, and much more! It's also a great way to learn LaTeX and produce professional looking projects quickly.

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New templates are added all the time. Follow us on Twitter for the highlights!

Find templates on Overleaf

Visit our thesis template gallery

Make your own templates on Overleaf

Upload or create templates for assignments, presentations, theses, posters, and student/faculty journals for your institution. Just create it as a project on Overleaf and use the publish menu.

Begin Your Work Using the Official 'University' Thesis Template on Overleaf

(If your University has an official thesis template published on Overleaf, you can customize this box accordingly with a link to the template)

Write your thesis using the official ' Name of University goes here ' thesis template

Find your University's template on Overleaf here ( insert link to official LaTeX thesis template on Overleaf Gallery or custom Overleaf institutional portal template page ).

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Examples of simple beautiful PhD theses

Please share the simplest, most beautiful PhD / master's theses you've ever seen. Looking for ideas for layout (medicine). Source code appreciated.

• book-design
• lyx-layouts

• 2 Should this be community-wiki? –  Sean Allred Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 3:11
• 4 You can find some theses between answers to Showcase of beautiful ... –  Ignasi Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 6:58
• 6 IMHO beauty is in the eye of the beholder. :) I strongly believe this question would be better off merged in the showcase thread indicated by Ignasi than standing as a question on its own. Note that many universities have strict policies on how a thesis should look, so at the end of the day you are stuck with their requirements. –  Paulo Cereda Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 11:56

3 Answers 3

Aaron Turon created a beautiful thesis . His colophon:

This document was typeset using LATEX, with a mixture of classicthesis developed by André Miede and tufte-latex, which is based on Edward Tufte’s Beautiful Evidence. The bibliography was processed by Biblatex. Robert Slimbach’s Minion Pro acts as both the text and display type-face. Sans-serif text is typeset in Slimbach and Carol Twombly’s Myriad Pro; monospaced text uses Jim Lyles’s Bitstream Vera Mono (“Bera Mono”). Donald Knuth’s Computer Modern is used throughout, but I’m not saying where.

• 24 It would be nice to have the sources. –  Heiko Oberdiek Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 19:55
• 1 Is the .tex file anywhere? –  Damian Commented Nov 6, 2017 at 23:20
• I wrote him an email asking for it, but did not get an answer. Thus, I tried to rebuild his thesis template for my own and will make it available, once I finished writing (hopefully soonish). –  asante Commented Jul 24, 2019 at 17:38
• 2 @burningfuses I'm not finished with writing my thesis, but an (almost finished) draft is available here: github.com/pfasante/phd_thesis -- disclaimer: the template is most certainly not well written and can use some improvements, but I'm not experienced with writing latex packages at all. So I'm happy about all feedback. –  asante Commented Aug 7, 2019 at 17:11
• 1 @asante Thanks a lot! I'll try to fix any problems I might encounter. –  burningfuses Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 18:09

The Maggi Memoir Thesis Template is very nice, originally by Federico Maggi. It is a double sided, thin layout that includes index, acronyms, and custom picked fonts.

There seem to be relatively few truly beautiful templates for theses out there, probably because the formatting requirements that most are created to follow simply weren't designed with good looks in mind. I know that was true of my school's requirements. Many are simply Word templates that have been transitioned to LaTeX.

Maggi Memoir Thesis Title Page:

• is maggi memori thesis for book printing? if so what size book could be printed based on the template? –  Strangelove Commented Dec 30, 2014 at 17:04

Just to add to cslstr 's answer, you might want to take a look to the other templates found on LaTeX Templates (besides the Maggi Memoir Thesis Template).

Other good resources with ready-made templates include:

• ShareLaTeX , which has a "mixed bag" of templates.
• Thesis-Template , which has various templates from Universities worldwide.
• UK-TUG , which has templates from some UK Universities.

A lot of contributions can also be found on CTAN .

I agree that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", so probably you should pick one you like by yourself. Besides, as it has been mentioned, at the end of the day you'll have to abide to your University's standard.

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dalthesis.cls LaTeX Template for Theses at the Dalhousie University

Download files, table of contents.

Download Files Table of Contents 1. Introduction      1.1 FGS Regulations      1.2 PDF/A Format      1.3 Overview of Main Commands      1.4 Caveats      1.5 Current Issues      1.6 Other Similar Templates 2. Package dalthesis 3. Examples of Parts to a Thesis      3.1 Front Pages      3.2 Figures      3.3 Tables      3.4 Algorithms      3.5 Theorems      3.6 Glossary (List of Abbreviations and Symbols Used) 4. Administrative Notes      4.1 About      4.2 Acknowledgements      4.3 Update History (ChangeLog)      4.4 Previous Saved Versions of dalthesis (and dalcsthesis) Last Update Information and the End

^ 1. Introduction

^ 1.1 fgs regulations.

The final thesis format is approved by the Faculty of Graduate Studies office. Although this format is regularly maintained in an effort to keep it up to date with the prescribed FGS guidelines, it is possible that some additional corrections will be required. The students are responsible for ensuring that their final thesis conforms to the FGS regulations, especially since LaTeX allows authors to override many aspects of the template within their own text. Hence, make sure that you have your thesis format checked by FGS before trying to submit the final copy of your thesis. This evaluation takes two business days (last time we checked).

With this template, we try to provide an example of something that FGS should accept. Students are welcome to make their thesis look as they want, whether by using their own template or by modifying this one, but always have your thesis format checked by FGS before trying to submit the final copy of your thesis. If you notice that this template does not follow one of the latest FGS rules, please let us know by sending email to: [email protected]

^ 1.2 PDF/A Format

^ 1.3 overview of main commands.

The LaTeX template for theses at the Dalhousie University is based on version 2.9 of the CS template, which was based on version 2.2 of the template for theses in Mathematics. The math template was developed by Clyde Clements and Steven Matheson. The basic usage of this template is similar to the Math one. Some features may not be documented here, so you can also see instructions of the Math template at www.mscs.dal.ca/~clyde/dalthesis or the basic simple.tex starter file to get started and for the regular bells and whistles.

Declare your supervisor with a \supervisor{} statement and each reader with a \reader{} statement. If you have co-supervisors, declare each of them with a separate \supervisor{} statement and the template will designate them as co-supervisors.

The basic template allows you to not print out the front pages if you include a \nofront command in your file. You can omit specific parts with the following commands: \notitlepage, \nosignaturepage, \nopermissionpage \nodedicationpage, \notableofcontents, \nolistoftables, \nolistoffigures, or \nobib. You can also declare a "draft" version of the thesis with the \draft command.

You can browse the file dalthesis.cls to find all degree tags. For example, the following ones are relevant to the Faculty of Computer Science:

• \bcshon — Bachelor of Computer Science Honours thesis
• \bcshoncoop — Bachelor of Computer Science Honours thesis (with co-op)
• \macs — Master of Applied Computer Science project report
• \mcs — Master of Computer Science thesis
• \mec — Master of Electronic Commerce thesis
• \mhi — Master of Health Informatics thesis
• \phd — Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Use one of these designations before your \frontmatter call and it will define the appropriate abbreviations for your thesis.

A thesis file may rely on some additional style files. All of them are typically available on a system with installed LaTeX, but if a required style file is not available, you can place their copies in the directory with your thesis.

The basic files needed are:

• dalthesis.cls -- thesis class file
• afterpage.sty
• glossary.sty

Simple.tex ( pdf , ps ) is a sample basic thesis, which may be a good start file to write a thesis. To process it, you also need its bibliography file simple.bib . All these files are available in the directory example-simple.

The rest of this page provides information on including different features in your thesis like a glossary, tables, or figures. They are presented as changes to simple.tex. Taking a UNIX "diff" between simple.tex and the example will show you the items that change to use the given feature.

^ 1.4 Caveats

Page margins.

• You selected the wrong paper size when you converted the dvi file to postscript (use the correct option for dvips).
• You generated a PDF file and then, as you printed from Adobe Acrobat, you had the "fit to page" option selected, which decreases the printed text by 93%. (unselect the "fit to page" option before printing)

The easiest way to tell if your margins are correct after printing is to measure where the page number appears at the bottom of a page. The template is designed to print it between 0.5 inches and 0.75 inches from the bottom of the page. If the margin is bigger than that then your method of printing the dvi file has shrunk the margins.

^ 1.5 Current Issues

Although an effort is made to keep the template in accordance with the latest FGS regulations, it happens that a thesis using the template does not conform to some requirements. We greatly appreciate any reports about the corrections, and our first step is to list such issues in this subsection. Additionally, we report here any other reported problems.

^ 1.6 Other Similar Templates

^ 2. package dalthesis.

dalthesis.cls , MANIFEST , thesis.tex , thesis.bib , thesis.pdf , index.html , styles.css , afterpage.sty , glossary.sty , example-simple/thesis.tex , example-simple/thesis.bib , example-simple/thesis.pdf , example-simple/Makefile , example-simple/dalthesis.cls , example-glossary/glossary.sty , example-glossary/glossary.tex , example-glossary/glossary.pdf , example-glossary/Makefile , example-glossary/simple.bib ,

^ 3. Examples of Parts to a Thesis

^ 3.1 front pages, ^ 3.2 figures.

This example uses two sub-packages: graphicx and subfigure. graphicx is a standard package that gives you everything you need for figures. The subfigure package is used here to place more than one picture (each with their own caption) within one figure.

• figures.tex ( pdf )— latex file that uses figures
• samplefig.eps — EPS figure to include in the example
• samplefig.pdf — PDF figure to include in the example
• graphicx.sty — style file for graphics (you shouldn't need to install this on any system)
• subfigure.sty — style file for subfigures (Installed on the UNIX system, you may need it for your own system)

Diff with "simple.tex" (< means a line was removed, > means that a line was added):

^ 3.3 Tables

Tables have native support in LaTeX. This one uses a tabular inner environment to give a pretty layout to the data.

• tables.tex ( pdf )— latex file that uses tables

^ 3.4 Algorithms

This example uses two sub-packages: algorithm and algorithmic. There are other algorithm packages that exist that you might consider too. The algorithms don't appear in any table of contents unless you enclose them in a figure environment.

• algorithm.tex ( pdf ) — latex file with an algorithm
• algorithm.sty — May need to install on your own system or the UNIX system.
• algorithmic.sty — May need to install on your own system or the UNIX system.

^ 3.5 Theorems

The example theorems.tex ( pdf ) illustrates how we can write definitions, theorems, proofs, and other similar parts in LaTeX.

• theorems.tex ( pdf ) — latex file with a theorem

For proofs and proof sketches you can also use the style package written by Norbert Zeh, nzproof.sty . The package requires the following other style files: amsmath.sty, amssymb.sty, amsfonts.sty, and ifthen.sty, which are likely already installed on the system. This example shows how nzproof style file can be used. Thanks to Norbert Zeh for providing the style file and the sample LaTeX source.

• nzproof.tex ( pdf ) — sample LaTeX file

^ 3.6 Glossary (List of Abbreviations and Symbols Used)

Previous glossary usage.

• glossary.tex ( pdf ) — LaTeX file with a glossary
• glossary.sty — the glossary style file; it may be already installed on the system.
• simple.bib — the bibliography file

The following is the diff output between "simple.tex" and "glossary.tex", showing all changes (< means a line was removed, > means that a line was added):

^ 4. Administrative Notes

Related links, ^ 4.1 about, ^ 4.2 acknowledgements.

The dalthesis template arose out of the efforts of many people. Particular thanks go to the following contributors:

• Clyde Clements and Steven Matheson for providing the base Math template from which the CS template arose,
• Mike McAllister for the main work on adaptation of the Computer Science template, integration of the updates below, and producing this web page, and examples.
• Todd Eavis, Andrew Rau-Chaplin, Billy Biggs, Srini Sampalli, and Stuart MacAskill for providing examples of how they adjusted the math template to adapt to the FGS regulations as they were getting their theses approved. In particular, Todd provided the foundation, algorithm, and figures of the bigger thesisExample sample thesis.
• Norbert Zeh for looking over the finishing touches of the template and for providing a proof environment.
• Vlado Keselj for some major latex hacking to address the FGS requirements that will go unnoticed by most non-FGS people but that are some of the trickier details to integrate simply and seamlessly in the class file.
• Mike Smit for providing additional corrections from FGS.
• Li Lei for providing corrections.
• Sajjad Hussain for providing corrections.

^ 4.3 Update History (ChangeLog)

• 2023-Mar-2 -- VK: documentation improvements - glossary
• 2022-Nov-14 -- VK: documentation improvements (glossary): documenting the use of newer package glossaries as recommended by Overleaf.
• Fixed the way list of tables and figure appear in the table of contents.
• 2015-Aug-19 -- VK: documentation improvements (glossary)
• Minor update on the title page, based on FGS feedback
• Provided detailed instructions for how to produce these in PDF/A format
• 2014-Aug-07 -- VK: documentation improvements
• 2013-Oct-01 -- VK: glossary files added (fixing)
• 2012-Nov-13 -- Vlado Keselj: dalthesis.cls created from dalcsthesis.cls; documentation improvements;
• 2012-Jun-14 -- VK: documentation improvements
• 2012-Jun-01 -- VK: documentation improvements
• 2011-Apr-05 -- VK: documentation improvements (figures)
• 2011-Jan-21 -- VK: front page updates, fixing spacing
• 2010-Jan-05 -- VK: minor documentation updates
• 2005-Apr-06 -- Added the "random information" section to document that the thesis must still be reviewed by FGS and that the abstract has a limited size.
• 2005-Mar-29 -- Added information about paper margins and on not printing some parts of the text.
• 2005-Mar-22 -- Added a note about how to have co-supervisors.
• 2005-Mar-17 -- Indicate that the template passes the requirements of FGS. Updated the list of files required by nzproof.sty too.
• 2005-Feb-25 -- Made the distinction between \submitdate{} (title page) and \defencedate{} (signature pages) since the latter requires a full date while the former only asks for the month and year. If you have a thesis that uses a prior version of the template, you will need to add a \defencedate{} clause with the new thesis template!
• 2005-Feb-25 -- Added in a disclaimer and indicated that students are welcome to submit whatever thesis format FGS will accept; this template is just a suggestion. Reformatted the acknowledgements section.
• 2005-Feb-24 -- new thesis class file again and glossary example. Vlado made the glossary into an option of the thesis class so that we can modify its line spacing to what FGS wants. Way to go Vlado!
• 2005-Feb-23 -- new thesis class file uploaded with some margin and font size fixes. The index was also removed from examples since grad studies doesn't want an index.

^ 4.4 Previous Saved Versions of dalthesis (and dalcsthesis)

^ last update information and the end.

Last update: 05-Mar-2023 The end.

• Graduate School Webpage - Thesis and Dissertation Filing
• The University of Maryland Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Style Guide, 2021 Edition

LaTeX Template

Latex "how to" documents.

• Using Bibtex with LaTex Documents
• Using Natbib with Latex Documents
• Microsoft Word Template and Template Instructions
• Physical Review Style and Notation Guide, published by The American Physical Society

The original LaTeX thesis template files were developed by Dorothea (Dottie) F. Brosius in 2004 as a result of several requests from graduate students in the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics writing their dissertations.   The template currently in use was updated by D. Brosius on September 20, 2023. Although the sample documents were based on parts of the thesis of Bhaskar Khubchandani, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park in the Spring of 2004, the template has been updated and follows " The University of Maryland Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Style Guide, 2021 Edition " (pdf).   In addition, the Table of Contents, the List of Figures, the List of Tables, and the Bibliography are now single-spaced; the main text is double-spaced.

All of the files needed for your dissertation can be found in LatexThesisFiles_2023.7z or LatexThesisFiles_2023.zip , both were revised to adhere to the ETD Style Guide, 2021 Edition.    All of the files should be placed in the folder with your thesis files. Thesis.cls should not be changed.

The mainthesis files use the hyperref package which links items in your Table of Contents, List of Figures, and List of Tables to corresponding sections in your thesis.   The links will show in blue when you save your thesis as a pdf file.   The Table of Contents has been updated at the request of the Graduate School to show Chapter 1: Name of Chapter.   I use Miktex and typeset my document using pdflatex, bib, pdflatex, pdflatex.   My figures are usually pdf files; if you use eps files, add \usepackage{epstopdf} to your preamble.

The mainthesis files should not be changed unless you include tables in your thesis, in which case you should delete the % sign on the listoftables line and the newpage line.  Chapter 1 has several tips for inserting tables, longtables, figures, theorems, landscape material, displayed equations (including arrays), enumerated lists, and adding your bibliography (using bibtex and natbib).

Insert your own text and figures in the following files: abstract.tex, titlepage.tex, copyright.tex, preface.tex, acknowledgements.tex, dedication.tex, foreword.tex, chapter1.tex, chapter2.tex, etc., appendix.tex, and bibliography.tex. I have included Bhaskar's .eps files from Chapter 2. If you latexpdf the files as they are, you can see exactly how a thesis using this template will look. The information in Chapter 2 and the Appendix is identical; I simply copied the text to show the difference between the numbering in a chapter and an appendix.

Please note that you must Latex your mainthesis file twice to ensure the references will be properly shown in the dvi file. The dvi file must be changed to a pdf file before it can be submitted to the Graduate School.

I hope these files will be useful to you and save you valuable time. If you need additional assistance or if this information is unclear, please contact Dottie Brosius at dbrosius at umd.edu or 301-405-4955. Please email [email protected] if you are using the LaTeX template (for my records) and also if you have any problems when submitting your thesis to the Graduate School (margins, indentations, etc.) so adjustments can be made to the template.

A Latex resource, recommended by Dr. Nicholas Mecholsky, Ph.D., 2010, is " The Not So Short Introduction to LaTex 2ε " (pdf), by Tobias Oetiker, et al.

Using Bibtex

Using Bibtex with LaTeX documents is not difficult. The bulk of the work is organizing your Bibtex file, which is a database compiled by you of the articles, books, etc. which you use in the bibliographies or reference sections of your publications. The file BibtexSamples.tex contains examples of information needed for the different types of references you may wish to use (e.g., articles in refereed journals, books, unpublished articles, conference proceedings).

Please read the file " Bibtex Instructions ". The first two pages explain how to set up and run Bibtex; the remaining pages were taken from a published article and show how the references were cited in the .tex file. 

Using NatBib

Another option of citing references in the bibliography is using Natbib instead of Bibtex. You must still create a bibtex file, as noted above. The command "\cite" cannot be used with natbib; instead "\citet" and "\citep" must be used. "\citet" is used to show references in the text (e.g., Eq.\ 8 in Reiser,1996 shows ...); "\citep" is used in the parenthetical (e.g., Eq.\ 8 (Reiser, 1996) shows ...).

Add the following to the preamble of your mainthesis.tex file -- \usepackage[option]{natbib}.    I used "\usepackage[sort,square,numbers]{natbib}" in the template.  A list of options to be used with Natbib can be found at http://merkel.zoneo.net/Latex/natbib.php .

At the bottom of the mainthesis.tex file add: \bibliography{name of your bibtex file} \bibliographystyle{plainnat, abbrnat, or unsrtnat} (I use unsrtnat)

I use Miktex and typeset my document using pdflatex, bib, pdflatex, pdflatex.

APS Physical Review Style and Notation Guide

The following style guide may be downloaded from The American Physical Society: Physical Review Style and Notation Guide (pdf), published by The American Physical Society, compiled and edited by Anne Waldron, Peggy Judd, and Valerie Miller, February 1993. It may be old, but it is very useful.

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Preparing Your Ph.D. Dissertation Using LaTeX

Introduction, preparing the latex file, downloading the macros to your computer, steps for final submission.

Last updated 11 February 2012

Templates — Thesis

Templates tagged Thesis

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Your thesis or dissertation is often the most important single piece of work you’ll produce as a student (whether it be your final year undergraduate research project or your complete Masters / PhD thesis). These templates, many provided by the university themselves as official layout guidelines, include sections for you to add all the relevant author information (your university, department, supervisor, year, etc) along with placeholder chapters for your introduction, background, method, results, conclusion / discussion, references and appendices.

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