Typesetting Using LaTeX:

Guidelines for Dissertations, Theses, and Project Reports
in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering

by Edward B. Allen and M. Ramkumar

Contents

• Announcements
• Introduction
• Dissertations, theses, and project reports --- examplethesis.pdf
• More about LaTeX

Announcements

Announcing revised approval page layout: On 8/15/13, we released a new version of msuthesis.cls and examplethesis.tex to conform to a new approval page layout required by the University. http://library.msstate.edu/thesis/index.asp

Announcing a simplification: On 7/11/13, we released a new version of msuthesis.cls and relevant sections of examplethesis.pdf. The standard LaTeX commands \section, \subsection, and \subsubsection, with lower case 's' will now properly indent the first paragraph after a section title when there is a paragraph following the section title. This indent is required by the Standards. Similar commands with capital letters ("camel-case") are deprecated, and therefore should no longer be used with this template. They will work, but \Section, \SubSection, and \SubSubSection are not recommended.

Similarly, If there is no paragraph following a section title, because a subsection title immediately follows, use the appropriate new command so that the spacing between titles conforms to the Standards. Note there are no capital letters in the command names: \sectionnoparagraph, \subsectionnoparagraph, and \subsubsectionnoparagraph. Similar commands with capital letters ("camel-case") are deprecated, and therefore should no longer be used with this template. They will work, but are not recommended, for example, \SectionNoParagraph.

The new file is at the link below.

Announcing a bug fix: On 10/19/12, we released a new version of msuthesis.cls that fixes the following bugs that may cause your thesis to be rejected by the library per the 6th edition of the university's Standard.

The new file is at the link below.

• The spacing between the title List of Tables and the first entry should be 2 or 3 blank lines. (Previously was just one blank line.)
• The spacing between the title List of Figures and the first entry should be 2 or 3 blank lines. (Previously was just one blank line.)
• The spacing between a chapter title and the first line of the chapter should be 2 or 3 blank lines. Previously, if the first line was a paragraph, the spacing was correct, but if the first line was a section title, the spacing was only one blank line. The correction has 3 blank lines if the first line is a paragraph and 2 blank lines if the first line is a section title.

Announcing a major update: In May 2012, we released a new version of LaTeX templates for Mississippi State University documents, as described below. New features include the following.

• Conformance with the 2012 6th Edition of Standards for Preparing Theses and Dissertations published by the Graduate School of Mississippi State University. See http://www.grad.msstate.edu/current/publications/ and http://library.msstate.edu/thesis
• The Dean of the Graduate School has approved automatic placement of figures and tables by LaTeX, even though this style does not always conform to the Standards. Therefore, you should let the MSU library know that you have used the template when you submit your thesis or dissertation for review.
• Choice of graphics file formats used in figures. We provide a batch file for each option for use with TeXworks. The template supports either of the following but not both in the same document.
  • *.pdf, *.jpg, and *.png in the same document
  • *.eps only
• Section titles that are more than one line long. However, as a matter of style, we discourage long section titles.
• Captions of figures and tables that are more than one line long. However, the template does not support explanatory paragraphs as part of the caption, even though allowed by the Standards and even though that is the style of some journals.
• Instructions for using TeXworks which is included with MiKTeX.
• A major revision to the example thesis. See the chapters Getting Started, Preparing References, and Typesetting Figures and Tables.

The prior version was released in June 2009.

Introduction

Dissertations, theses, and project reports

If you use this template for your thesis or dissertation, be sure to inform the MSU library staff of this fact when you submit your document for their review. This will facilitate their review.

examplethesis.pdf explains how to typeset a dissertation or thesis using LaTeX that conforms to Mississippi State University standards and style requirements of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. This example thesis is useful as a template. The Department of Computer Science and Engineering requires that M.S. Project Reports conform to the same format and style requirements as a thesis.

To use as a template, download the *.zip file into your directory, unzip using MS Windows features, and proceed to use it as described in the *.pdf document.

Download:

• examplethesis.zip
• examplethesis.pdf
• msuthesis.cls

More about LaTeX

Learning LaTeX is similar to learning a programming language like HTML.  You must have a reference manual.  I recommend that you buy one of the following. It will be worth the investment.

• A Guide to LaTeX, by Helmut Kopka and Patrick W. Daly, Addison-Wesley. This is highly recommended.
• The LaTeX Companion, by Michel Goossens, Frank Mittelbach, and Alexander Samarin, Addison-Wesley.
• LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, by Leslie Lamport, Addison-Wesley

An on-line reference is at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX

A (La)TeX encyclopaedia (http://tex.loria.fr) has a wealth of information about LaTeX and related products, including links to articles and on-line help. This may be old information.

MiKTeX (pronounced mick-tek) is an up-to-date implementation of LaTeX and related programs for Windows (all current variants). http://www.miktex.org/ It comes with TeXworks for a user interface.

You can download any LaTeX-related software for free from the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN) (http://www.ctan.org) A smoothly functioning LaTeX system is composed of many components by many authors, so there is a lot to learn.

Edward B. Allen and M. Ramkumar
Updates:
24 Feb 2003 added \Tablewithfigure, \Tabledblwithfigure, \rotatedtablewithfigure
15 Dec 2003 added \Tablecontinued, Appendix title page, FAQ chapter, minor updates
1 Feb 2005 added pricesfirst.tex and pricesnext.tex to match  exchaplatex.tex
1 Feb 2005 added pricesfirst.tex and pricesnext.tex to match  exchaplatex.tex
29 Jun 2005 added exfaq.tex to index.html
11 Oct 2005 modified msuthesis.cls for different caption style
1 Nov 2005 doublespace between caption number and text
3 Nov 2005 doublespace between section title and first paragraph (not more)
10 Mar 2006 italics subsubsection titles, added limitations, rewording, etc.
17 May 2007 Major revision to make thesis conform to new MSU standards
Apr 2008 Minor revisions to make thesis conform to library reviews
11 Jun 2009 Minor revisions to make spacing conform to library reviews
29 May 2012 Conform to Standards 6th ed. and other improvements
22 Oct 2012 Fix spacing bugs
7 Dec 2013 Fix bottom margin of title page
11 Jul 2013 Deprecate camelcase \Section etc., and fix for one-line titles
15 Aug 2013 Fix for revised thesis approval page layout
25 Mar 2014 In msuthesis.cls fixed \Table so that \Tablecontinue works correctly.
1 Oct 2014 M. Ramkumar assumed responsibility for this template. Non-thesis templates were deprecated and are no longer available.
1 Oct 2014 examplethesis.pdf was updated for clarity.