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

CURRENT VERSIONS: Current version of thesis.tex is 2021-02-05. Current version of PurdueThesis.cls is 2021-02-05. See Get the software for all current file versions.

Abstract

Puthesis is deprecated. 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 during a major upgrade so it would not be confused with Princeton University's puthesis software.

PurdueThesis can be used for

• master's bypass reports
• master's theses
• PhD dissertations
• PhD preliminary reports

Contents

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 any 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.

The 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.

Puthesis has played an instrumental part in decreasing the number of revisions that are asked of depositors. Over 75% of puthesis users pass formatting without any revision requests, which reduces student stress at deposit time. Our staff highly recommends puthesis 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

Many candidates have made favorable comments about puthesis when depositing their theses. We strongly recommend candidates consider learning puthesis prior to the writing process. Using puthesis 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

The puthesis 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 puthesis and LaTeX.
—Andy Hughes, former ECE Thesis Format Advisor

Complete list of testimonials.

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.

This
    template.zip
file contains all the files for the PurdueThesis template. All the files are listed below.

These are the individual files in the template:

File	Version	Description
template/thesis.tex	2021-02-05	PurdueThesis template file
template/PurdueThesis.cls	2021-02-05	beta Purdue University thesis document class
template/all-biblatex.bib	2021-01-11	example BibLaTeX data file
template/all-bibtex.bib	2021-01-11	example BibTeX data file
template/ametsoc2014.bst	2014-05-07	American Meteorology Society 2014 BibTeX format
template/ch-front.tex	2021-01-04	front matter chapter
template/ch-introduction.tex	2021-01-04	introduction chapter
template/ch-recommendations.tex	2021-01-04	recommendations chapter
template/ch-summary.tex	2021-01-04	summary chapter
template/ch-testing.tex	2021-01-11	testing chapter
template/ap-about-appendices.tex	2021-01-04	about the appendices appendix
template/ap-astronomy.tex	2021-01-04	astronomy appendix
template/ap-biology.tex	2021-01-04	biology appendix
template/ap-chapter-appendices.tex	2021-01-04	chapter appendices appendix
template/ap-chapter-references.tex	2021-01-04	chapter references appendix
template/ap-check-margins.tex	2021-01-04	check margins appendix
template/ap-chemistry.tex	2021-01-04	chemistry appendix
template/ap-citations.tex	2021-01-04	citations appendix
template/ap-common-mistakes.tex	2021-01-04	common mistakes appendix
template/ap-defining-commands.tex	2021-01-04	defining commands appendix
template/ap-electrical-engineering.tex	2021-01-04	electrical engineering appendix
template/ap-figures.tex	2021-02-04	figures appendix
template/ap-graphics.tex	2021-01-04	graphics appendix
template/ap-linguistics.tex	2021-01-04	linguistics appendix
template/ap-mathematics.tex	2021-02-10	mathematics appendix
template/ap-music.tex	2021-01-04	music appendix
template/ap-numbers-and-units.tex	2021-01-04	numbers and units appendix
template/ap-physics.tex	2021-01-04	physics appendix
template/ap-publications.tex	2021-01-04	publications appendix
template/ap-resources.tex	2021-01-04	resources appendix
template/ap-tables.tex	2021-01-04	tables appendix
template/ap-text.tex	2021-01-04	text appendix
template/ap-video.tex	2021-01-04	video appendix
template/ap-vita.tex	2021-01-04	vita appendix
template/graphics/gr-gridlines.pdf	2021-01-04	grid lines
template/graphics/gr-kim1.pdf	2021-01-04	graphics file
template/graphics/gr-kim2.pdf	2021-01-04	〃
template/graphics/gr-marginlines.pdf	2021-01-04	margin lines
template/graphics/gr-plot.pdf	2021-01-04	a plot
template/graphics/gr-pu-seal.pdf	2021-01-04	Purdue University seal
template/graphics/gr-uh-seal.pdf	2021-01-04	University of Hawaii seal
template/packages/pa-ditto.sty	2021-01-04	ditto mark package
template/packages/pa-figure-dash.sty	2021-01-04	figure dash package
template/packages/pa-logos.sty	2021-01-04	logos package
template/packages/pa-mismath.sty	2021-01-25	modified mismath.sty system file
template/packages/pa-repeat.sty	2021-01-04	repeat package
template/packages/pa-typographic-conventions.sty	2021-01-04	typographic conventions package

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

LaTeX information

Running LaTeX on the web
     Overleaf

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

Twitter

     doi2bib, @doi2bib, Citations in BibTeX format from DOIs

     Overleaf, @overleaf, Create, edit & publish your research - all from your browser. Our real-time collaborative LaTeX editor automatically produces & displays your typeset document.

     @PurdueThesis

TeX Stack Exchange, @StackTeX, a Q&A site for users of TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and related typesetting systems

     TeX and Typography, @TeXtip, Tweets on TeX, LaTeX, and typography.

     @TeXUsersGroup

• Cover page
  • Title page letters are different sizes

Insure you are signed up for the PurdueThesis mailing list and then follow the instructions in How to Get LaTeX Help. Overleaf does not support this software—do not contact them.

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NOTES TO SELF: LaTeX books, LaTeX web pages.

The history section is under construction.

• First public release.
• Will add more here later.

• School and department names on title page changed from, for example, “Electrical and Computer Engineering” to “School of Electrical and Computer Engineering”.

• Changed link color per Ashlee Messersmith, Manager, Thesis and Dissertation Office, Purdue University.
• Put most of the code for bibliographies in PurdueThesis.cls instead of thesis.tex.

• Titles were changed from one and a half line spacing to single spacing per Yuqing Li, Mathematics, Purdue University.

• The kvoptions-patch package allowed spaces to be used in \documentclass option values. That package is not compatible with LaTeX 2020-10-01 or newer. \documentclass option values now use an at sign ('@', ASCII 64 decimal) to represent spaces.
• Titles were changed from single spaced to one and a half line spacing per Ashlee Messersmith, Manager, Thesis and Dissertation Office, Purdue University.

• PurdueThesis used to require version 2014/09/29 of the report documentclass. It now requires version 2019/12/20—either version apparently works—just encouraging users to use modern software.

Revised: February 12, 2021
Created: February 20, 2020