Computer Science and Security 

Creating Dissertations and Theses Using LaTeX

(Important: It is your responsibility to make sure that all of the JHU dissertation requirements are met, or else it will not be accepted.)

Sample LaTeX Files -- Adapt these files for your own use.

NOTE: Make sure that your document conforms to any requirements from your academic department!

For Experts: All of the files you'll need to create a thesis document are contained within the zip file ("For Experts," below). Please read the included "README.txt" file for details.

For Beginners: Download the "For Beginners" file (below), unzip it, and put all of the files it contains into one folder. To see an example of what the thesis will look like, open "root.pdf".

To compile the included sample document from a graphical LaTeX editor, open the "root.tex" file and click the appropriate compile button in the software. To compile the included sample document from the command line, go to the document's folder and type the traditional magic sequence of commands:

latex root
bibtex root
latex root
latex root

The root.tex document is the "main" document -- this is where you specify your thesis title, your name, etc. You should not have to edit anything in this file above the "\begin{document}" line. The other files are described in more detail in the "README.txt" file that is included in the zip.

IMPORTANT NOTE: A front-end command that is "more modern" than latex is "pdflatex." The "latex" command just produces a DVI file, which then has to be converted to PDF, whereas "pdflatex" produces PDF directly. Another advantage of "pdflatex" is that when you use it, you can include PNG, JPG, or PDF files as images in your document, not just files in the the less-known EPS format.

Can anyone supply a sample file that works with the "pdflatex" command, not just with the "latex" command (see "latex root" etc)?

The files on this page were donated by Dr. R Jacob Vogelstein (BME class of 2007), who updated the old files provided by Dr. Matt Clapp and Dr. David Goldberg to conform more closely to JHU requirements. (However, it's still your responsibility to make sure all of the JHU dissertation requirements are met.)

The Haptics Lab in Mechanical Engineering created these instructions for help in formatting your document.
Thanks to Tabish Mustufa and Jake Abbott for sharing this information.
Thanks to the CS grad students who offered guidance in October 2008.