The PurdueThesis LaTeX document class
Mark Senn <latex@ecn.purdue.edu>
February 24, 2023
permanent URL for this document: tinyurl.com/PurdueThesis

IMPORTANT: Sign up for the PurdueThesis mailing list to learn of updates to PurdueThesis. You must be signed up for this mailing list to get support for this software. This software is not supported by Overleaf—don't contact them about it.

IMPORTANT: This software is only supported using TeX Live (it supports Linux, MacOS, Windows, and Unix). Overleaf uses TeX Live.

IMPORTANT: If you are a Purdue Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences student send email to latex@ecn.purdue.edu to get the customized software for your department.

Abstract

The Puthesis LaTeX documentclass is obsolete. The Purdue Graduate School no longer accepts theses using it. Use this PurdueThesis LaTeX document class from now on. PurdueThesis is abbreviated “PuTh” and pronounced “pooth” (rhymes with “tooth”). Purdue's puthesis software was renamed to PurdueThesis so it would not be confused with Princeton University's puthesis software.

PurdueThesis can be used for

All the needed software is free.

Contents

 Nomenclature
 Why use PurdueThesis?
 Testimonials
 Get the software
 Enter \documentclass parameters
 Continue with your thesis
 Resources
 Frequently Asked Questions
 To get help

Nomenclature

For historical reasons, to use the same nomenclature as other Purdue departments, and be able to lump instructions describing master's bypass reports, master's theses, PhD dissertations, and PhD preliminary reports together the word “thesis” will be used to refer to all of these. The term “bypass report” will be used to refer to things that are master's bypass report specific, “dissertation” to refer to things that are dissertation specific, and “prelim report” to refer to things that are PhD preliminary report specific.

Why use PurdueThesis?

Purdue's Thesis and Dissertation Office recommends it.

Thousands of people have graduated using it. You won't need to “reinvent the wheel.”

All formatting details are done automatically, you can concentrate on the content of your thesis instead of worrying about margins, typefaces, etc.

It is especially convenient for typesetting mathematics.

Many people think it produces more attractive output than other systems.

Some (especially engineering, mathematics, and science) journals use LaTeX. You may be able to cut large chunks out of your thesis, change a few lines at the top of the resulting file, and send that to a journal.

Using LaTeX and BibTeX is very common in the scientific community. Sooner or later you may need to learn it anyway.

Testimonials

The PurdueThesis class file for LaTeX has helped hundreds of ECE graduate students meet the requirements for format approval. Using it allows them to focus on the content of their thesis without concern for the myriad of formatting details that it automatically handles. The Graduate School's Thesis/Dissertation Office also recommends the use of PurdueThesis and LaTeX.
—Andy Hughes, former ECE Thesis Format Advisor

Many candidates have made favorable comments about PurdueThesis when depositing their theses. We strongly recommend candidates consider learning PurdueThesis prior to the writing process. Using PurdueThesis cuts formatting discrepancies to almost zero, drastically reduces the possibility of revision requests, and helps ensure stress-free deposits!
—Mark D. Jaeger, former Manager, Thesis/Dissertation Office

PurdueThesis has played an instrumental part in decreasing the number of revisions that are asked of depositors. Over 75% of PurdueThesis users pass formatting without any revision requests, which reduces student stress at deposit time. Our staff highly recommends PurdueThesis as a prelim and final thesis tool as it allows students to focus more on the content of their thesis and less on the formatting.
—Ashlee Mesersmith, MS, Manager, Thesis/Dissertation Office

Get the software

You'll need access to LaTeX. Purdue's Thesis and Dissertation Office recommends using Overleaf if you use LaTeX. To get started go to the PurdueThesis documentclass template and click “Open as Template”. Please take note that Overleaf SHOULD NOT be used for writing, editing, or publishing documents or research papers that contain data subject to EAR, ITAR, DFARS Clause 252.204-7012, and other controlled data designators due to the increased security required for these types of data.

If you don't want to run LaTeX over the web using Overleaf, LaTeX may already be installed on your computer.

The template-2022-10-05.zip file contain all the files for the PurdueThesis template.

Resources

Dictionary/thesaurus
     Merriam-Webster dictionary  

Dissertation advice (both of these are short, please read them)
     Dissertation Advice, Olin Shivers
     How To Write A Dissertation, Douglas E. Comer

Books
     (none listed yet)

Software
     doi2bib, look up BibTeX information for a DOI.  
     The LaTeX Project, LaTeX news.
     Overleaf, run LaTeX on the web.  
     PurdueThesis.  
     Some TeX Developments, learn of new TeX/LaTeX developments.  
     TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange, LaTeX questions and answers  
     TeX Live, TeX and Latex software for Linux, MacOS, Windows, and Unix.
     TeX and Typography, LaTeX and typography tweets.  
     TeX Users Group, follow on twitter to learn of new versions of LaTeX packages.  

Style manual
     Chicago Manual of Style (for writing English)  
     Mathematical Writing

Frequently Asked Questions

See thesis.pdf.

To get help

Follow the instructions in How to Get LaTeX Help. Overleaf does not support this software—do not contact them.

Revised: February 24, 2023
Created: February 20, 2020