Disclaimer

1. Not liking something is NOT THE SAME as hating it.
2. With above point in mind, I do not like MS Word - reasons for not liking it could actually be another blog entry and I will reserve it for some other day.
3. With first point still in mind, it does not mean that I do not dislike and/or hate people who like and/or use MS Word. Thanks to a dear friend for pointing out the double negative mistake. Point below was/is the intended meaning.
4. With first point still in mind, I do not dislike and/or hate people who like and/or use MS Word.
5. I LOVE LaTeX - so much so that reasons for liking it will easily be another blog entry; and that too has been reserved for another day. Simply put, in Dr. Charles Wallace’s words, computer people don’t feel like doing something (be it as simple a task as preparing a document) unless one actually compiles it (and gets error messages for mistakes); and whether you agree with me or not, I am one of them.

What Is LaTeX?

LaTeX is based on Donald E. Knuth’s TeX typesetting language or certain extensions. LaTeX was first developed in 1985 by Leslie Lamport, and is now being maintained and developed by the LaTeX3 Project. Following Wikipedia and other resources, LaTeX is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting. It is most often used for medium-to-large technical or scientific documents but it can be used for almost any form of publishing.

It is widely used by mathematicians, scientists, philosophers, engineers, and scholars in academia and the commercial world, and by others as a primary or intermediate format (e.g. translating DocBook and other XML-based formats to PDF) because of the quality of typesetting achievable by TeX. It offers programmable desktop publishing features and extensive facilities for automating most aspects of typesetting and desktop publishing, including numbering and cross-referencing, tables and figures, page layout and bibliographies.

Why LaTeX?

Like I mentioned in the disclaimer, I could very well write a complete entry entailing reasons why one should use LaTeX, but for the completeness sake of this entry, here are a few reasons: To produce even the simplest of documents with section headings, author names, etc. in most typesetting or word-processing systems, the author would have to decide what layout to use, so would select (say) 18pt Times Roman for the title, 12pt Times Italic for the name, and so on. This has two results: authors wasting their time with designs; and a lot of badly designed documents! LaTeX contains features for:

1. Typesetting journal articles, technical reports, books, and slide presentations.
2. Control over large documents containing sectioning, cross-references, tables and figures.
3. Typesetting of complex mathematical formulae.
4. Advanced typesetting of mathematics with AMS-LaTeX.
5. Automatic generation of bibliographies and indexes.
6. Multi-lingual typesetting.
7. Inclusion of artwork, and process or spot colour.
8. Using PostScript or Metafont fonts.
9. Accomplishing just about anything, via few hundreds of available packages.

Where Does One Get Started?

If one were to Google! for LaTeX Document Preparation System, a few thousand documents show up that would offer help. One can also get started from my website’s LaTeX Friendly Zone. There is also a TeX User’s Group (tex-lATmtu.edu) on Michigan Tech Campus and one can tap into their resources as well!

What Does This Have To With Michigan Tech?

Most of us, students in the graduate school, do have to write thesis/dissertation as part of the graduation process and some/many of us use LaTeX to prepare our documents. Rather unfortunately, there does not exist a style file or template files to easily generate Title and Approval pages. For the past several years, thanks to a fellow graduate student & dear friend named Mike Larsen, I have been toying around with this document preparation system and finally decided to, as part of my own dissertation writing process, write up a generic style file and template files to painlessly produce MS Thesis or Ph.D Dissertation.

What All Files Does One Need?

After making sure that your computer actually has a working installation of LaTeX and you know the basics (refer to this page if you will), start off by downloading the appropriate zip file (last updated, with corrections/suggestions from Grad School incorporated: Mon, 21 Jan 2008):

MTU MS Template - Linux
MTU MS Template - Windows

MTU PhD Template - Linux
MTU PhD Template - Windows

Upon unzipping it, one should find the following files/folders within a folder named MTU[MS/PhD]Template_[Linux/Windows]. Preserve the filenames as they are.

1. Makefile (only for Linux versions - might also be useful for Mac)
2. MTUMSThesis.sty - Style file for MTU MS Thesis
3. MTUPhDDissertation.sty - Style file for MTU Ph.D Dissertation
4. MyThesis.tex - Main LaTeX file for MS Thesis
5. MyDissertation.tex - Main LaTeX file for Ph.D Dissertation
6. MyThesis.bib - Bibliography file for MS Thesis
7. MyDissertation.bib - Bibliography file for Ph.D Dissertation
8. MyThesis.pdf - PDF document to see MS Thesis features in action
9. MyDissertation.pdf - PDF document to see Ph.D Dissertation features in action
10. Dedication.tex
11. Acknowledgments.tex
12. TableOfContents.tex
13. ListOfFigures.tex
14. ListOfTables.tex
15. Abstract.tex
16. Chapter1.tex
17. Chapter2.tex
18. Chapter3.tex
19. Appendix.tex
20. Bibliography.tex
21. Index.tex
22. Graphs - a folder to contain all the graphs
23. Images - a folder to contain all the other images

What Are The Required Editions?

Read through My[Thesis/Dissertation].tex and

1. Decide whether you want to print your work as a single/double sided document. If you wish to conserve paper and go with double sided option, no changes are necessary. If you wish to choose single sided option for any particular reason, make the lines
   
% Document Type with Options
%\documentclass[letterpaper,12pt]{report} % For Single Sided Printing
\documentclass[twoside,letterpaper,12pt]{report}


   look like
   
% Document Type with Options
\documentclass[letterpaper,12pt]{report} % For Single Sided Printing
%\documentclass[twoside,letterpaper,12pt]{report}


2. Fill in the details for the following in the preamble:
   
\thesistitle{Beginning, Evoloution, Sustenance And Future
Of Our Very Own Sweet Little Universe}
\thesisauthor{Mary A. Doe}
\dept{Physics}
\program{} % Optional
\deptchair{Dr. Dept Chair}
\padvisor{Dr. My Advisor}
\cadvisor{} % Optional
\acommone{Dr. Adv Comm One} % Does not show up for MS Thesis
\acommtwo{Dr. Adv Comm Two} % Does not show up for MS Thesis
\acommthree{Dr. Adv Comm Three} % Does not show up for MS Thesis
\acommfour{} % Optional; Does not show up for MS Thesis
\univ{MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY}
\year{2007}

3. Put in proper content into Acknowledgments.tex, Dedication.tex, Abstract.tex, Chapter1.tex, …, Chapter3.tex (include more Chapters if you need), Appendix.tex
4. Put in appropriate references in My[Thesis/Dissertation].bib and pick an appropriate bibliography style in Bibliography.tex
5. Place all your graphs in Graphs folder and other images in Images folder.

What All Are The Features?

Apart from modularizing your document preparation system and producing Title & Approval pages in accordance with Michigan Tech prescribed standards, using this set of files provides following features:

1. Facility to accommodate two advisors - for MS/Ph.D
2. Facility to accommodate fourth advisory committee member - for Ph.D
3. Page Numbers in Table of Contents (List of Figures, List of Tables and Index as well), Table/Figure/Bibliography references are all hyperlinks.
4. With double sided printing, it automatically inserts a blank page (if necessary) to start the new chapter on an odd numbered page (Thanks to my dear friend, Jacob Fugal, for working on this feature)
5. Many other nicer features that one can learn about by reading the corresponding style files.
6. If using Linux/UNIX or may be Mac, the entire process of compiling/processing and generating PDF could as simple as typing
   make
7. Generate a distributable version of thesis / dissertation and associated files / folders by typing just
   make distro

What If One Likes To Use Magical make Process But Has No Linux Machine?

Given the magical / mystique powers and features of the make process, I personally recommend using it and using it on a Linux machine. As long as one has a moderately modern computer (desktop and/or laptop), members of the pretty active and less-known Linux Users’ Group of Michigan Tech can/will help out - with installation, getting started and/or troubleshooting. These geeky nerds (or nerdy geeks) meet every Thursday in Fisher Hall and conduct Install-A-Thon twice a year in MUB to spread the Linux/Open Source awareness - one may want to use such opportunities.

What If One Doesn’t Belong To Michigan Tech?

Style files and template files distributed are quite generic - with a bit of understanding, patience and effort, these can be very easily modified to meet specific requirements of any other university / institution.

What If Something Doesn’t Work Right?

Style files and template files are distributed in the hope that they will be useful, but they come with no warranty. If you can understand the structure and syntax of these files, feel free to edit them and make them suitable for your needs. However, if your programming skills/understanding is limited, limited to extensive help is available. One can post their questions, comments and/or concerns in the Comment Form below and follow responses from me or other users. If it’s something that can be afforded within my limited time/resources, I may even meet up some place to help you out.