% Copyright (C) 2000 Sergio Mendoza Astrophysics Group Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge UK Last modified: Tue Jun 27 15:08:43 BST 2000 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA ------ Written by: Sergio Mendoza Churchill College Cambridge UK Summer 1998 This document is intended to explain how to use the main LaTeX document thesis.tex which will produce a Thesis more or less as much as I would like it . Of course this doesn't mean that you are going to like it, so you are free to through it away. However, if you think you like it, as it is usual with any FREE SOFTWARE, you can modify it, pass it to your friends and do whatever you like with it. Just leave at least my name in the source LaTeX code :=). So far I haven't found a nice LaTeX package for producing a thesis which will be flexible enough so that users can exploit all the wonders of normal LaTeX and at the same time allows them to make their own modifications. I hope this document will account for all this. Before we start, if you know nothing about LaTeX then, let me suggest you go and find a nice tutorial. For example, the introduction to LaTeX which can be found in any CTAN Archive. In the United Kingdom it is in: ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/info/latex-essential/essential.tex Having dominated this, you can go and read the no so short introduction to LaTeX2e: ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/info/lshort For all the AstroFans of Starlink you can go and find an introduction to LaTeX in: http://star-www.rl.ac.uk/star/docs/sun9.htx/sun9.html#xref_ Obviously, the best way to produce what you want is having at hand the two biblic volumes of LaTeX: -)LaTeX user's guide and reference manual by: Leslie Lamport -)The LaTeX Companion by Groosness, Mittlelbach and Samarin. In order for the document you are reading now to work, make sure you've got the following LaTeX packages in your system (ask your system administrator if you don't know): Latex2e or better geometry fancyhdr If you are just anxious and want to see whether you like this document, just do latex thesis and then xdvi it. A simple example is provided for you. The way this LaTeX document works is as follows. It is based on the book.cls LaTeX style and all that you need to know is written in the controller or main file: thesis.tex Have a look at it before doing anything. It has lots of comments on how it works and why it does what it does. It loads the file: thesisinput.tex and you SHOULD NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!!! -unless you really know what you are doing-. Once you've read the file thesis.tex, then it's time to modify it to your own needs (ie for your own Thesis): a)Add the packages you want, for example, if you are using the package epsfig and babel: \usepackage[british]{babel} \usepackage{epsfig} b)If you want one sided printing then comment: \geometry{twoside} If you want a4paper size (it looks pretty unusual, but it's up to you!), put: \geometry{a4paper} I STRONGLY suggest you to uncomment the line which says: \geometry{lmargin=3cm,rmargin=3cm,tmargin=1.5cm,bmargin=1.5cm,twosideshift=0.5cm but again, it is your decision, and your thesis... If you think you need more things other than a4paper, you can use: a1paper, a2paper, a3paper, a4paper, a5paper, b1paper, b2paper, b3paper, b4paper, b5paper, letterpaper, executivepaper, legalpaper If you don't actually like any of the ones provided then leave the defaults, i.e. don't do anything If you are not still happy, I'm afraid you'll have to read about the package itself. It most be in your LaTeX directory on your system. You can also download a pdf info version from the tex archive in the UK: http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/ctg.html#geometry). c)If you prefer having footnotes with numbers rather than symbols then comment the line: \renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}} d)Modify the \includeonly{one,two,three} to your needs. For example, you probably don't want to LaTeX chapter one and two while you are modifying only chapter three, so in this case do only: \includeonly{three} to LaTeX chapter three only. When you xdvi the document, all chapters will appear in the dvi file, but without going to the (painful) process of waiting hours for the whole thing to be LaTeXed. e)Include your whole thesis: 1) Write everything in separate chapters (say) -title.tex, acknowledgments.tex, one.tex, two.tex, etc.- Then include them in the proper section after the \begin{document} space provided...If you have questions here follow any information about how to write a book or a long document in your favourite LaTeX book! 2) Bibliography. I created my own style (thesis.bst) which is included this document. If you need to use another one, then use the defaults that come with natbib ( abbrvnat.bst plainnat.bst unsrtnat.bst ) or create your own with the makebst facility -there is a brief explanation on how to use this on the LaTeX Companion. If you want something else, go for it! To input your own bibliography go and edit thesis.bib Hope you have fun writing your thesis in LaTeX! Sergio Mendoza Churchill College Cambridge UK Summer 1998