CSM Thesis Template

Introduction

Welcome to the home of the Unofficial CSM Thesis Template. Please be aware that I have my own responsibilities. So, while I will do whatever I can to help you get your thesis to render properly, I provide no guarantee that I will fix any particular issue you might have in a timely fashion (see legaleze below). If you do have an issue then feel free to contact me by email via ehoover at mines dot edu.

This template is provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the template is with you. Should the template prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.

• Should I use latex or pdflatex to compile my document?

  Either should work fine, provided that you use the appropriate type of figures for the document compiler you have chosen.

• What does this abstract warning mean?: Your abstract contains <X> words, a dissertation (PhD thesis) may not exceed 350 words. If you are submitting a dissertation you may alternatively submit a shorter summary to OGS that adheres to the 350-word limit.

  This warning indicates that you have an excessively long abstract. So, if you want to submit your thesis to the Office of Graduate Studies then you will either need to shorten your abstract or submit a summarized abstract (extra paperwork). Please note that this restriction does not apply to Masters theses, however, there is currently no way for the template to tell the difference between a Masters thesis and a PhD thesis.

• Can I use this template for other documents?:

  If you really want to you can, I won't stop you. Should you use this template in another context then you will need to strip out the warning and error generation code at the end of 'csm-thesis-environments.sty'. Just remove everything inside the 'AtEndDocument' tag.

• Where can I find the most recent version of the Thesis and Dissertation Writer's Guide?

  On the Office of Graduate Studies' website.

• Is this template up-to-date with the most recent Thesis and Dissertation Writer's Guide?

  As of this writing, the most recent version of the guide is the Fifth Edition (revised in Spring of 2009). To the best of my knowledge the current version of the template complies with the requirements set forth in the guide, or at least warns the user of possible incompatibilities (see legal disclaimer).

2010-02-12:
• Added preliminary support for the biblatex package.
• Fixed long lists (toc, lof, etc.) when using the hyperref package.
• Captions inside a "subfigure" are now automatically single-spaced.
• Fixed a bug where "\cite" in a figure caption would not allow the document to compile.
• Fixed some compatibility issues with hyperref where references were not correct internally.
• The convenience functions "\csmfigure" and "\csmlongfigure" are no-longer included "here" [H] by default.
• If exactly one appendix is included then the appendix label (A) is now removed. Depending on your software package you may need to manually re-compile your document (Kile will re-run automatically, WinEdit will not).

2009-11-03:
• Added "\listofabbreviations" capability, add an abbreviation with \addabbreviation{<explanation>}{<abbreviation>}.
• Fixed a bug where referencing a subfigure generated an incorrect reference.
• Fixed a bug where creating an inverted pyramid title manually was disabled.
• Fixed some minor alignment issues with automatic pyramid titles.
• Fixed compatibility issues with the "hyperref" package.

2009-10-21:
• Added "\listofsymbols" capability, add a symbol with \addsymbol{<explanation>}{$<symbol>$}.
• The automatic inverted pyramid title should now work properly under most circumstances.
• Fixed a bug in the detection of whether the list of tables and/or figures is required.
• Fixed a bug where the "acknowledgements" section was being required.
• The greater than (>) and less than (<) symbols now encode as text.

2009-07-08:
• Now warns the user if the abstract is longer than 350 words (the limit for a PhD thesis).
• Added preliminary support for one sided pages.
• No-longer conflicts with the "color" package.

2009-05-09:
• Now includes preliminary support for automatically creating the inverted pyramid title.
• Now stops the user from including the "fullpage" package (messes with the margins).

2009-04-27:
• Fixed a bug where "List of Tables and Figures" is displayed when there are no tables.
• Using "subfigure" no-longer adds blank entries to the list of tables and figures.

2009-04-01:
• List of Figures/Tables and References Cited now single-space multi-line entries.

2009-03-26:
• Removed error when "\listoffigures" and "\listoftables" are used individually rather than using "\listoffiguresandtables."
• Fixed equation numbering not restarting after each new chapter.

2009-03-25:
• Added additional space between Figure and Table labels and the description in the Table of Contents.
• Fixed Figure and Table labels in Appendices to use the correct Appendix value (ie. Figure~A.1).
• Simplified single-siding the front matter so that "\newpage" no-longer needs to be redefined.
• Added additional styles to the LyX layout to reduce the amount of direct LaTeX calls.

2009-03-09:
• Correctly redefines the label created using the "\label" command for every new "section" (all chapters and subsections).
• Automatically titles the "List of Tables and Figures" appropriately if one or the other does not exist.
• Warns about having a "List of Tables and Figures" section if there are no tables AND no figures.
• There is a new "\newappendixnum" and "\appendixnum" command for adding "pocket" appendices.
• Properly single-sides the front matter when any of the sections is longer than a page.
• Detects missing sections and generates an error forcing you to fix the problem.
• There is a new "\appendix{<Title of Appendix>}" command for appendices.
• Now includes examples of inserting figures and tables.

2009-03-05:
• Redefines the "\newpage" command properly instead of using a special "\nextpage" command.
• Detects errors such as missing "\author", "\title", "\degree", "\advisor", etc.
• Includes a LyX "layout" file to make it easy to work directly in LyX.
• Uses a special environment for each of the necessary components.

2009-03-04:
• Properly automatically capitalizes the title even if there are carriage returns in it.
• Fixed an incompatibility between the "\chapter" command and AMS-LaTeX.

2009-03-03:
• The co-advisor (\coadvisor{<name>}) is now optional (the signature page reflects this properly).

2009-02-04:
• First public release.