Do you know Thesis.cls? I bet you heard the name before. The
internet is a strange place and templates are provided all over
the place. But what makes Thesis.cls so special? Well, the
origin of the template was buried in a backyard and someone
digged it up creating a large
garden.
In the beginning there was ...
the original class for use within the Dept. of Electronics and
Computer Science at the University of
Southampton
dated back to 2001/2003. The zip-file on the linked page
containes those lines in a dtx file that generates several
classes, one of them a thesis class. That thesis class defines
the environment for use within the department, including fixed
margins, onehalspaced text, making sure the text is singlespaced
in the list of tables, figures and contents. The class sets
default values for predefined commands to generate a title page.
Example documents (called templates) show how to use those
commands along with \maketitle:
\title {An Investigation into \dots}
\authors {\texorpdfstring
{\href{mailto:S.R.Gunn@ecs.soton.ac.uk}{Steve R.
Gunn}}
{Steve R. Gunn}
}
\addresses {\groupname\\\deptname\\\univname}
\date {\today}
\subject {}
\keywords {}
\maketitle
Enter Thesis.cls
The class with its very creative name was created in 2007 as stated in the class file
\ProvidesClass{Thesis}
[2007/22/02 v1.0
LaTeX document class]
The class changes a few minor things and adds a few, like a list of symbols and a list of constants. t also adds the list of figures and tables to the table of contents. But it does come with a sample document in which we can find some advice on how to use LaTeX. Some bits and pieces from it:
\chapter{Chapter Title Here} % Write in your own chapter title
\label{Chapter1}
\lhead{Chapter 1. \emph{Chapter Title Here}} % Write in your own chapter title to set the page header
if I want to use \emph{italic text for emphasis}, I write the
`$\backslash$\texttt{emph}\{\}' command and put the text I want
in italics in between the curly braces. This means that \LaTeX{}
is a ``mark-up'' language, very much like HTML.
\textbf{Thesis.blg} -- this is an auxiliary file generated by
BibTeX, if it is deleted BibTeX simply regenerates it when you
run the main `\texttt{.tex}' file.
\section{Filling in the `\texttt{Thesis.cls}' File}
You will need to personalise the thesis template and make it
your own by filling in your own information. This is done by
editing the `\texttt{Thesis.cls}' file in a text editor.
Open the file and scroll down, past all the
`$\backslash$\texttt{newcommand}\ldots' items until you see the
entries for `\texttt{University Name}', `\texttt{Department
Name}', etc\ldots.
The text is set to 11 point and a line spacing of 1.3. Generally,
it is much more readable to have a smaller text size and wider
gap between the lines than it is to have a larger text size and
smaller gap. Again, you can tune the text size and spacing should
you want or need to. The text size can be set in the options for
the `$\backslash$\texttt{documentclass}' command at the top of
the `\texttt{Thesis.tex}' file and the spacing can be changed by
setting a different value in the
`$\backslash$\texttt{setstretch}' commands (scattered throughout
the `\texttt{Thesis.tex}' file).
\href{http://www.physics.wm.edu/~norman/latexhints/pdf_papersize.html}{\texttt{http://www.physics.wm.edu/$\sim$norman/latexhints/pdf\_papersize.html}}
References should come \emph{after} the punctuation mark if there
is one (such as a comma or full stop). On the other hand,
footnotes\footnote{Such as this footnote, here down at the
bottom of the page.} come \emph{before} the punctuation mark.
You should break your thesis up into nice, bite-sized sections
and subsections. \LaTeX{} automatically builds a table of
Contents by looking at all the `$\backslash$\
texttt{chapter}$\{\}$', `$\backslash$\texttt{section}$\{\}$' and
`$\backslash$\texttt{subsection}$\{\}$' commands you write in the
source.
The table of Contents should only list the sections to three (3)
levels. A `$\backslash$\texttt{chapter}$\{\}$' is level one (1).
\item[\tiny{$\blacksquare$}] This work was done wholly or mainly
while in candidature for a research degree at this University.
\item[\tiny{$\blacksquare$}] Where any part of this thesis has
previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification
at this University or any other institution, this has been
clearly stated.
Those were some of the bits i found interesting.
The template is quite famous, it was provided in the original form on LaTeX templates. In the meantime that one was renamed and cleaned up a little bit. Overleaf is using this modified version. Sharelatex has the template two times in its original form (minor changes, but of course no indication with respect to a date change or author comments). Those are graduate-thesis and Easy Thesis. There might be more versions providedd by the template providers, i didn't look too closely.
The renaming of the class file on latex templates is visible on
every day support, since quite a few questions popped up with the
new name. Looking at github, a few users have chosen that
template as well. People are searching for thesis templates and
find that one, either in the original form or modified as
MastersDoctoralThesis.cls
What do we have now? A few hundred different files called
Thesis.cls Isn't that nice?
Renaming of files is one issue, but let's take a look at the headers at the different stages of evolution:
###ecsthesis.cls:
%%
%% This is file `ecsthesis.cls',
%% generated with the docstrip utility.
%%
%% The original source files were:
%%
%% ecsdocs.dtx (with options: `thesis')
%%
%% Copyright (C) 2001 by Steve R. Gunn
%%
%% This file is part of the ECSDocs class distribution
%%
###Thesis.cls from Sunil:
%%
%% This is file `Thesis.cls', based on 'ECSthesis.cls', by Steve R. Gunn
%% generated with the docstrip utility.
%%
%% Created by Steve R. Gunn, modified by Sunil Patel: www.sunilpatel.co.uk
###Thesis.tex (the main file the user sees):
%% ----------------------------------------------------------------
%% Thesis.tex -- MAIN FILE (the one that you compile with LaTeX)
%% ----------------------------------------------------------------
I have to admit, that wasn't very exciting.
###Thesis.cls from LaTeX templates (obsolete):
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Thesis LaTeX Template - THESIS CLASS FILE
%
% This template has been downloaded from:
% http://www.latextemplates.com
%
% This class file defines the structure and design of the template.
%
% There is one part of this file that needs to be filled out - the variables
% dictating the document particulars such as the author name, university
% name, etc. You will find these in the commented "DOCUMENT VARIABLES"
% section below.
%
% The other two easily-editable sections are the margin sizes and abstract.
% These have both been commented for easy editing. Advanced LaTeX
% users will have no trouble editing the rest of the document to their liking.
%
% Original header:
%% This is file `Thesis.cls', based on 'ECSthesis.cls', by Steve R. Gunn
%% generated with the docstrip utility.
%%
%% Created by Steve R. Gunn, modified by Sunil Patel: www.sunilpatel.co.uk
%% Further modified by www.latextemplates.com
%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
###main.tex
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Masters/Doctoral Thesis
% LaTeX Template
% Version 1.43 (17/5/14)
%
% This template has been downloaded from:
% http://www.LaTeXTemplates.com
%
% Original authors:
% Steven Gunn
% http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/srg/softwaretools/document/templates/
% and
% Sunil Patel
% http://www.sunilpatel.co.uk/thesis-template/
%
% License:
% CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)
%
% Note:
% Make sure to edit document variables in the Thesis.cls file
%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The updated template now says:
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Masters/Doctoral Thesis
% Class File
% Version 1.1 (2/9/15)
%
% This class has been downloaded from:
% http://www.LaTeXTemplates.com
%
% Version 2.0 major modifications by:
% Vel (vel@latextemplates.com)
% Johannes Böttcher
%
% Note:
% This class file defines the structure and design of the template file (main.tex).
%
% License:
% CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)
%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The above is to be found in the class file, the follwoing in main.tex:
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Masters/Doctoral Thesis
% LaTeX Template
% Version 2.1 (2/9/15)
%
% This template has been downloaded from:
% http://www.LaTeXTemplates.com
%
% Version 2.0 major modifications by:
% Vel (vel@latextemplates.com)
%
% Original authors:
% Steven Gunn (http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/srg/softwaretools/document/templates/)
% Sunil Patel (http://www.sunilpatel.co.uk/thesis-template/)
%
% License:
% CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)
%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%