LaTeX Style Files for UNT Dissertations and Theses

The information and style files below should be enough to get started preparing a thesis or dissertation that conforms to the requirements in the UNT Dissertation and Thesis Manual using LaTeX. Please note that information regarding UNT dissertations and theses found on this page is NOT official. It is provided solely as an aid for students preparing a dissertation or thesis using LaTeX.  

Instructions

1. Download the files you need into a single directory/folder. Downloading the files to a newly created directory or folder is the preferred method.
2. Files with names beginning in lowercase, for example macros.tex, are meant to be modified. Files with names beginning in uppercase, for example UNTdissertation.sty are not meant to be modified. You can rename the files to whatever you want as long as the master file, mydissertation.tex, is modified accordingly.
3. Make more chapter?.tex files and appendix?.tex files as needed.
4. Two example dissertations are provided, one is plain vanilla and one isn't. The vanilla example is straightforward LaTeX with no extra bells or whistles. The non-vanilla example loads more LaTeX packages and contains some more sophisticated LaTeX techniques. It is highly recommended that you start with plain vanilla and add flavors and toppings as needed, using ideas from the non-vanilla example as a guide.

Files

The individual files that comprise the plain vanilla example, with the exception of the .pdf examples, all files are text files (updated May 7, 2012)

• mydissertation.tex - The master file, this is the file that gets "texed" (or typeset)
• macros.tex - A file called by mydissertation.tex that contains macros
  (Macros can be included in the master file, but it's easier if they aren't.)
• copyright.tex - A sample copyright page
• acknowledgments.tex - A sample acknowledgments page
• chapter1.tex and chapter2.tex - Sample chapters
• appendix.tex - A sample appendix
• bibliography.bib - The source file for the bibliography, in BiBTeX format
• UNTdissertation.sty - The main style file, needed by mydissertation.tex
• UNTamsplain.bst - A bibliography style file that controls the format of the entries in the bibliography
• mydissertationCM.pdf - The vanilla example typeset using the standard computer modern fonts
• mydissertationSS.pdf - The vanilla example typeset using the cmbright package and san serif fonts

Compressed files

• UNTdissertation-plain-vanilla.tar.gz - A .tar.gz file containing all the files listed above
• UNTdissertation-plain-vanilla.zip - A .zip file containing all the files listed above
• UNTdissertation-fancy.tar.gz - A .tar.gz file containing the non-vanilla example of a dissertation
• UNTdissertation-fancy.zip - A .zip file containing the non-vanilla example of a dissertation

Notes and Caveats

• The master file mydissertation.tex uses the amsbook documentclass. The stye file UNTdissertation.sty includes modifications to the amsbook documentclass needed to conform to the UNT style.
• The macros in the style file assume that the default paper size is US letter. In many TeX/LaTeX distributions the default paper size is initially set to A4. To set the paper size to US letter
  • in Windows XP with a default MiKTeX 2.9 (or proTeXt) installation go to Start --> Programs --> MiKTeX 2.9 --> Maintenance --> Settings, then set the paper size on the General tab,
  • in Mac OS X with a default TeXLive installation, run the TeXLive utility in the Applications folder,
  • in linux with a default teTeX or TeXLive installation, run texconfig.
• Dragging and dropping a .dvi file onto the dvipdfm program that comes with MiKtex converts the .dvi file to .pdf.
• Some editing of the UNTdissertation.sty might be required depending on your implementation of LaTeX or specific aspects of your thesis or dissertation. For example if you want to use some feature that is not well-, or fully-implemented in UNTdissertation.sty.
• If you include graphics, the conventional wisdom is that pdflatex can handle any file type except postscript file types (.ps and .eps) and that latex can handle only postscript file types. Some modern TeX implementations convert postscript files on-the-fly. If you use pdflatex, the simplest thing to do is convert your images to a non-postscript format (for example .png, .jpg, or .pdf) and then call the converted files (see Chapter 4 in the non-vanilla example).

Credits

The files were originally created and are periodically maintained by Matt Douglass. William Cherry helped with the code to produce the APPROVED block on the title page.

• Ion Coiculescu (PhD 2005) was the first student to use the style files.
• Ross Bryant (PhD 2006) contributed code for the List of Tables and the List of Figures.
• Andy Yingst (PhD 2006) identified the paper size "feature" in pdflatex and provided an initial fix.
• Stephen Muir (PhD 2011) suggested using the geometry package to deal with margin and paper size problems that might arise when using pdflatex.
• Kalyan Pathapati-Subbu (PhD 2011) contributed the basic code used to typeset the graphics in the non-vanilla example. 
• Matt Farmer (PhD 2012) contributed a working implementation of the autoref feature in the hyperref package.

Suggestions for additions, modifications, and/or improvements to the style files, as well as helpful hints for future users, are always welcome!

Happy TeXing!!