This repository provides a LaTeX a template for writing a master's thesis or dissertation. In particular, this document correctly adheres to all of Vanderbilt University's formatting standards for the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department as of December 2010. If you are using this template to submit a thesis to a different institution or department, please review your department's submission guidelines as this template may not be applicable.
At all times, this format is guaranteed to pass Vanderbilt University's Thesis and Dissertation formatting guidelines for the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department (last successful submission May 2012). Modifications will be made to this format if regulations change in the future.
The template is relatively robust, handling the automatic generation of the table of contents, list of figures, list of tables, bibliography, and acronyms (when appropriate). A cover page and acknowledgments section are also included.
Also included is a minimal working example of the template which illustrates several handy features that someone new to LaTeX can use for their dissertation. Among these are inserting algorithms, figures, subfigures, tables, and references. Users are encouraged to add helpful tips, tricks, and techniques to the minimum working example and submit a pull request. If I feel that the added technique is especially useful to LaTeX beginners, I will merge it into the master branch.
More than likely I will not merge in any change that impacts the overall format of the template. First and foremost, this template will adhere to Vanderbilt University's guidelines for theses and dissertations. However, feel free to fork this and modify it to meet the guidelines of your own university or academic department. At the very least it should serve as a fairly robust starting point.
Vanderbilt Univeristy's Dissertation and Thesis Guidelines can be found here.