Thesis Style

Why

The physical preparation of a thesis, be it for a Master's degree, a Ph. D., or other degree is supposed to simulate the preparation of a work for scholarly publication. The graduate college is very rigid about its formatting requirements because many scholarly journals are similarly rigid.
In mathematics and some other fields, journals often prefer that manuscripts be prepared using LaTeX. The journal can supply the formatting macros to make the typesetting fit their style, while the author concentrates on content.

Thus, to simulate the real world of academic publishing in mathematics, students should strongly consider preparing their thesis using LaTeX. For this to work, an external source needs to provide a LaTeX style file which contains macros so that the document will fit the ASU graduate college formatting requirements.

What

A style file which accomplishes the task described above is available. The most complicated parts of a thesis in regard to formatting are the title page and other front matter. To ease the preparation of these pages, we also supply a template file for using the style file. Using the template is like filling in blanks with data such as the thesis title, author's name, etc. Finally, there is a manual for using the style file and template.

Where

Everything you need to get going is here (except for a running LaTeX system). You may need to hold down the shift key while clicking on these links to ensure that your browser will try to save copies of the files.

• Style file.
• Template file for using asthesis.sty.
• LaTeX source for the manual on using asthesis.sty. You need to have the style file to run the manual through LaTeX.
• The same Manual in dvi format. You should try producing your own dvi file using the LaTeX source. However, if that is giving you problems you should download the manual in dvi format.

Important Note

The Format Guide published by the ASU Graduate College for writing Thesis/Dissertation is available at http://www.asu.edu/graduate/format/index.html At one time, asthesis.sty formatted graduate theses in accordance with the Format Guide. In recent years, the Format Guide has been revised, and formatting produced by asthesis.sty is no longer accepted by the Graduate College. The author of asthesis.sty is not able to keep up with changes made by the Graduate College. Consequently, assistance in formatting theses is no longer available from the author. People are still, however, free to modify and use the software for personal use.