Formatting your thesis for final submission

Kaustubh Bhalerao Department format checker

bhalerao@illinois.edu

Writing a thesis is hard enough - formatting can be made easier

• The thesis approval and submission process

• Formatting requirements

• Word vs LaTeX

• Common issues arising in the format check

• My rant! (LaTeX is awesome!)

The submission sequence• Writing your thesis

• Defense

• Rewriting your thesis

• Getting the format right

• Sending a final version to Dr. Bhalerao

• Format corrections

• Sending a copy of the TDA form

• Department check and approval upload

• More format corrections

• Final upload and completion

Getting the format right• Must have:

• Title Page, Abstract, ToC, Main Text, References

• Many have:

• Dedication, Acknowledgments, References per chapter, Lists of Abbreviations / Tables / Figures and Appendices and Code blocks

Google search: UIUC Thesis Format

http://www.grad.illinois.edu/graduate-college-thesis-requirements

The full list of Graduate College thesis requirements is available at www.grad.illinois.edu/graduate-college-thesis-requirements

COFFEE CONSUMPTION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS TRYING TO FINISH DISSERTATIONS

BY

ANNE ELIZABETH GARVIE

DISSERTATION

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Food Science and Human Nutrition

in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 20xx

Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Laurence Strongarm, Chair Professor Joseph Green, Director of Research

Assistant Professor G.L. Foreman Associate Professor Celia Barerra, Northern Illinois University

Sample Title Page (Doctoral Students)

Distance from top of page

2 inches

3.5 inches

5.5 inches

7.5 inches

8 inches

Bottom of page

Top of page

The full list of Graduate College thesis requirements is available at www.grad.illinois.edu/graduate-college-thesis-requirements

COFFEE CONSUMPTION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS TRYING TO FINISH DISSERTATIONS

BY

ANNE ELIZABETH GARVIE

THESIS

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Food Science and Human Nutrition

in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 20xx

Urbana, Illinois Adviser: Professor Laurence Strongarm

Sample Title Page (Master’s Students)

2 inches

3.5 inches

5.5 inches

7.5 inches

8 inches

Distance from top of page

Top of page

Bottom of page

Numbering and ToC• No number on title page

• Abstract starts on page ii, Chapter 1 on page 1.

• Copyright (optional), Title page, Abstract, Dedication (optional), Acknowledgments (optional), ToC, Other tables

• Everything after the ToC appears in the ToC - Preceding material doesn’t

• ToC may have only chapter (first level) headings - subheadings are optional and not encouraged.

Tricky bits - refer formatting guidelines

• Format in the ToC and the chapter headings are tricky to get right in Word

• Multi-level chapter headings and their indentation

• Figure / Table numbering - (1,2,3… or 1.1,1.2,2.1, …) and their internal references

• Large (rotated) and Long (multi-page) tables

• Code format (pet peeve)

Things that I catch• Margins - most people get 1” right, but

tables and figures overflow

• Title page spacing - double and triple check it

• Heading indentation, inconsistent fonts

• Off-center page numbers

• Incorrectly formatted chapter headings

• Orphaned lines (my check)

• Code format

• Appendix headings and their format

• Spacing around Figures and Tables

public class MyLoop { public static void main(String[] args) { String[] sa = {"tom ", "jerry "}; for(int x = 0; x < 3; x++) { for(String s: sa) { System.out.print(x + " " + s); if( x == 1) break; } } } }

Things that I (sometimes) miss

• The text in the title page block has a precise capitalization scheme. Reproduce it exactly.

• Page numbers in ToC are not correct, or have missing entries (you should not be doing this manually any way!)

• Missing figures (i.e. jumping from 4.7 to 4.9) - You should not be doing this manually any way!)

• Appendix numbering

• Missing sections - (i.e. 4.2.1 to 4.2.3)

Things that I don’t look for

• Grammar

• Content

• Bibliography style

• Figure quality (However…)

MS Word is not a tool for typesetting

• Thesis = Content + Format

• MS Word allows bad habits (e.g. manual formatting of titles, adding blank lines to create space between paragraphs)

• MS Word makes it hard to place figures in the right places (e.g. flow around text, vs move with text, and lock anchors etc)

• Cross-referencing figures, tables, pages is tricky

• You still need an external references manager like EndNote / RefWorks / Zotero etc.

You need a document preparation system (LaTeX)

• Is that a groan I hear from previously scarred faculty?

• Top reasons to use LaTeX

• Separation of content and formatting. Focus on content - let LaTeX do the formatting for you (and me)

• Integrated with referencing (BibTeX)

• Forces good structure in the document content

• Gorgeous equations

• Cross-referencing is trivial

i~ @

@t = H

i \hbar \frac{\partial}{\partial t} \Psi = \hat{H}\Psi

H2 +1

2O2 ! H2O

H_2 + \frac{1}{2} O_2 \rightarrow H_2O

Time spent on formatting / checks

~0

Is LaTeX hard to get into?• Not really - you are all engineers right?

• UIUC thesis template already exists

• Hard part is the collaboration aspect: Your advisers will probably want you to send Word files around

• That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try to help yourself: (LaTeX2RTF, PDF outputs, PDF annotation)

• Advanced formatting (creating a template) is hard, thankfully you almost never have to get to that point

You can learn how to do everything with MS Word

• Using LaTeX made me a better Word user

• Learning formatting styles

• Using lots of pre-formatted headers

• Learning cross-referencing

• MathType / Microsoft Equation

• However, files get very large, especially with annotation

• Poor control on figure placement

• YMMV - I find it not worth the trouble

Resources

• Automator Script to put a grid on the PDF

• http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX

• http://shaunakelly.com/word

• Data analysis and visualization- RStudio.com

Frequently asked questions• How long does it take to review a thesis: LaTeX with the proper template - almost none (<5

minutes); Word - ~15 minutes.

• Why does it take you three days to respond? Its the end of the semester!

• I’m still finishing revisions - can you do a format check? No. You might remove a figure and forget to change the numbers.

• How soon before the deadline do you need it? That depends on how busy I am around that time. Give me at least 4-5 working days.

• I sent you my thesis last Monday - I haven’t heard back from you: I probably forgot your email. If you don’t hear from me within 3-4 days acknowledging your email - send me a reminder.

• Can you help me with my formatting issues? Yes - see resources on previous page.

• How long does Grad College take? They are surprisingly fast - it takes them about half a day to turn around *and* they have eagle eyes

• What do you need from me: 1) Your final version in PDF form only. 2) A scanned copy of your TDA form. 3) Appropriately pestilential followup.