LaTeX2e Caltech Thesis Class
While writing my Ph.D. thesis, I found that there wasn't really a full-featured LaTeX2e class implementing the Caltech thesis style guidelines; the most recent one I could find was from February 1995, by a person named Michael Kelsey. However, this class had several shortcomings; most notably, it wasn't pdfTeX aware and it didn't render tables of contents properly when using the Y&Y Lucida Bright font set.
After running into a few of these problems, I decided to revise the 1995 thesis class file. I fixed the problems mentioned above, eliminated the LaTeX209 backward compatibility (who uses LaTeX209 anymore?), made it pdfLaTeX-aware, and gave it a few extra features (such as the ability to add a dedication page - thanks, Prashant and Gustavo). The bottom line is, it's very easy to get a thesis to render in accordance with Caltech thesis regulations by using the new class file and its associated files.
The current version of the thesis class is 1.2, released 10 December 2001. It is available as one big .tgz file including all necessary support files and Caltech logos. The component files are also available individually (uncompressed):
- new_cit_thesis.cls - the main class file
- setspace.sty - the style file used by the main class to set the line spacing (this may already be in your LaTeX distribution)
- ntheorem-thesis.sty - a modified version of ntheorem, corrects aesthetic problems with lists of theorems and the Lucida Bright font set (not necessary if you're not using Lucida Bright, or if you have no lists of theorems).
- cit_logo.eps - an Encapsulated PostScript version of the Caltech logo, for the front cover of the thesis (used when rendering with standard LaTeX).
- cit_logo.pdf - a Portable Document Format version of the Caltech logo, for the front cover of the thesis (used when rendering with pdfLaTeX).
Documentation is included in the main class file.
Daniel M. Zimmerman (Home Page)
dmz@cs.caltech.edu
Last Revised 25 September 2005