abiaiastikanastika / UGA-Dissertation-LaTeX-Template

A dissertation/thesis template in LaTeX approval by the UGA Grad School.

Changelog

2020/03/07 - Bugfix: Sidenotes module not enabling when the "\sidenotetrue" flag is set. This should be working now.

2020/02/27 - Major restructuring of dissertation template file structure. Generally cleaning up organization and improving workflow. Please open an issue if any problems arise, or if there are conflicts that need to be addressed.

UGA-Dissertation-LaTeX-Template

A dissertation template in LaTeX approved by the UGA Graduate School.

The goal of this repository is to cut out all of the hard work of using LaTeX so that one could easily write their dissertation/thesis using this. Here is a list as to why this template is useful:

• Produces really nice footnotes and sidenotes
• Automatically adds to the Table of Contents, List of Figures, and the List of Tables
• Automatically organizes the bibliography and citations
• The Front Matter Pages are done fore you!!

These sample pages are from an actual UGA dissertation that uses this template. For more details, see below.

Getting LaTeX Up and Running

We want to give some options such that you can be editing this Template as fast as possible. There are many different ways to run and compile these TeX files. Below will be a list of the options and how to get them set up.

Overleaf.com

This by far is the easiest way to use LaTeX. Just make an account with Overleaf and you are ready to start. There is a free version and paid version, there are differences and you may not notice them at the start. Overleaf's live preview is really nice, you can see how everything you are typing out is rendering. Potential issues of having too much content that it will take overleaf more than 3 minutes of compile time, which is the limit for the free version. If you happen to run into this, then check out running and compiling locally on your own computer.

Run it Locally

1. Install LaTeX

• Under TeX Distributions in the link above, click the link that will point you to the correct version of LaTeX to install. For example, if you have a Windows computer then click the link for MikTeX under Windows. Once you download that, you will have TeX and a TeX editor installed on your local computer. Same goes for Mac.

2. Download a TeX editor

• In the first step, a TeX editor maybe install when you install LaTeX. If thats the case, give it a try and see if you like it. For Example, if you installed TeX for a Windows computer then TeXworks is already installed. Check out and see what all was downloaded when you installed LaTeX from the previous step. Look up how to use it because there are a lot of different editors.

• Atom is a good editor to use. You can follow along with this tutorial to get you set up with using atom. (If you are not using a Mac, you can still follow along, just make sure you completed step one above.) Creating Your First PDF with LaTeX and Atom. If you already completed step one here, then you have already completed the first step in the tutorial. I will say that you don't have to download the skim pdf viewer application (step 3), you can install an additional package in atom called 'pdf-view'. TeX already requires you download all of these things, so if you don't want to download another application, then viewing it inside of atom will suffice. The only thing is you will get a red warning message every time you compile because atom is expecting to open skim. This warning message is nothing to worry about, but it can just get annoying.

• TeXmaker is also a good editor to use.

3. Compiling TeX Files

• Most TeX editors have a 'Run' button or something that will compile your files into pdfs.
• In Atom, it's a keyboard shortcut. For a Mac its CMD+Option+B to build the pdf. Windows and other operating systems will be similar.
• If you are familiar with the command line, then once you have completed the first step, then check out the manual page $ man pdflatex to get started.

How to Compile this Dissertation

This TeX project uses the package called subfiles. This allows for the different tex files to be compiled all together without having to compile them all individually. You will only have to compile the main file, which is the 'dissertation.tex' in this case.

• If you are using atom, then just make sure the cursor is anywhere in the dissertation.tex file before hitting the keyboard shortcut. If you you compile chapter 1 page, then you will only see the contents of chapter 1. This is easy to do, so just be aware.
• This has not been implemented yet, but there will be a bash file that can be run to compile everything for you. Once that is implemented, the instructions will be included below.

Regardless, you will have to compile 4 times to get all the citations and references to be correct. The order of compilation will be:

1. dissertation.tex
2. dissertation.bib
3. dissertation.tex
4. dissertation.tex

Sample Pages

This pdf contains about a dozen pages from an actual UGA dissertation which implements this template. The pages illustrate the following:

• A table of contents page. This was automatically generated in LaTeX.
• A blank page and the first page of a chapter.
• A pair of "normal" pages. This is what the bulk of the dissertation may look like. It also illustrates the header and subheader.
• This template will have the option to implement "Sidenotes" instead of footnotes. The next page illustrates what these look like. Page 12 shows that you can fill the entire outer margin with many footnotes, and it'll place them correctly. Page 13 shows what a more typical page, one with just a single footnote, may look like. Note: sidenotes have not yet been implemented in this template.
• While some images may be placed comfortably within the main body text page, sometimes, a full-width image is desired. Page 56 shows what that may look like. It is useful to have the option of full-width images since the main body width is a little narrower than normal. (The next page, 55, is just a filler for when you view two pages of the PDF at once.)
• Some images are very tall and narrow. Rather than using an entire page for them, they can be fit within the footnote margin instead. Page 52 illustrates what this may look like.
• Alternatively, sometimes a very small image is all that is needed to illustrate a point. Page 145 shows that these small images can be embedded within the footnotes themselves.
• Finally, the last page is a sample bibliography. Note that this was automatically generated in LaTeX.

Note that these sample pages implement design choices that have not yet been implemented in this template, such as font choices, page margins, line height, and other typographical elements.

Tutorials

LaTeX tutorials from the Digital Humanities Lab are available at the links below:

• Introduction to LaTeX - An introduction to LaTeX syntax and logic, and how best to use it
• The UGA LaTeX Template - How to apply the UGA LaTeX template to your thesis or dissertation
• Advanced Topics in LaTeX - Customize and use LaTeX for your own discipline