ucthesis.readme

This is the README file for the UCTHESIS class for LaTeX.  It
corresponds to version 3.1 of the UCTHESIS class (14 July 2001).

NOTE: v3.0 is the first LaTeX2e version of UCTHESIS.  It is now a
class that runs in native LaTeX2e mode.  It is functionally identical
to UCTHESIS.STY v2.7 released on 30 October 1994 by Ethan V. Munson.
Other than changes for compatibility (mostly having to do with font
selection), and option selection, very little modification has been
done to the style.  As a result, there are probably cleaner ways to
implement a number of features.  That will have to wait for the next
release.  (BBF 10/31/94)

========================
Using the UCTHESIS class
========================

Sample File
-----------

There is a sample dissertation (by the fictitious, but very
irritating, Perry H Disdainful) in the file uctest.tex.  It also uses
uctest.bib as its bibliography database (though the contents of the
database are not important).  Mostly this is useful as an example of
how to produce the front matter.  If you don't understand LaTeX at
all, this file might help you get started, but, since you're going to
be writing a 100+ page document, you should invest the $20 in a copy
of the LaTeX manual (by Leslie Lamport the original author of LaTeX).
This has recently been updated for LaTeX2e.

The LaTeX Companion, by Goossens, Mittelbach, and Samarin (who have been
involved in developping and supporting the new version of LaTeX) is also quite
good.  It gives a lot of useful information if you are going to be writing
or modifying classes,  and gives a lot of additional information on commonly
available style packages.  It's about $35.

Choosing the UCTHESIS class
---------------------------

To use the UCTHESIS class, make sure that the ucthesis.cls file is on
your TEXINPUTS search path and use the following command at the start
of your input file:

\documentclass{ucthesis}

============================
What the UCTHESIS class does
============================

The UCTHESIS class is a port of the UCTHESIS style version 2.7 (the
final 2.09 release) to LaTeX2e.  The UCTHESIS style is a modified
version of the standard LaTeX REPORT style that is accepted for use
with University of California PhD dissertations and Masters theses.
The available commands are almost identical to those of the REPORT style,
so your best starting point for documentation is the LaTeX manual written
by Leslie Lamport.

The key features of the class are:

1) The primary modification to the REPORT style is the use of
pseudo-double-spacing, since the UC system's rules are still designed
for typewriters.  This is achieved by increasing the \baselinestretch
parameter to 1.37.  The \baselinestretch is returned to a
single-spaced value of 1.00 for elements like tables, captions, and
footnotes and for all displayed text (quote, quotation, and verse
environments).  Unfortunately, this is done with a macro called \ssp
which resets the font size to \normalsize.  In LaTeX 2.09 this seems
to be unavoidable, but it makes it very hard to create tables in
different font sizes.

2) Margins are 1.5 inches on the left, 1.0 inches elsewhere.

3) Uses 11 point by default; you can use the 10pt or 12pt options for
those sizes.

4) Page numbers are in the top right corner for all pages.

5) Complete, correct front matter for UC dissertations can be
generated.  If you are not a UC student, you should make sure that the
front matter is OK with your school.

Options
---------------

There are five primary options:

The "draft" style uses single-spacing throughout the document.

The "final" style uses the correct pseudo-double-spacing.  This option
is the default and is redundant, but is included for symmetry.

The "10pt", "11pt", and "12pt" styles set the default font size to the
obvious value.  The "11pt" option is the default and thus is
redundant, but is safe to use anyway.

The options are selected on the \documentclass line, e.g.:

\documentclass[10pt,draft]{ucthesis}

Page Headers
------------

If you want to use page headers or footers other than the default
ones, you should try using "headerfooter.sty" or "fancyheadings.sty".
The myheadings pagestyle doesn't work well and there is no workaround.
The headerfooter and fancyheadings styles are widely distributed, well
documented, and easy to use.

============
Front matter
============

The other key service provided by this class is that it generates
correct front matter (title page, approval page, abstract, etc.) with
a failrly simple set of commands.  This facility could be a little
easier, but compared to an earlier state of affairs, it's pretty
slick.  The format of the front matter is specified quite explicitly
in the document "Guidelines for Submitting a Doctoral Dissertation or
Master's Thesis" distributed by the UC Berkeley Graduate Division.
The current version of the class is based on the 2001 version of
this document.  

A complete example of the use of the front matter commands can be
found in the sample dissertation distributed with the class.

Declarations
------------

To use the front matter macros and environments, you must first
declare a number of text strings:

\title		Dissertation title
\author		Your name as registered with UC (usually w/ full
		middle name)
\degreeyear	Year your dissertation will be granted
\degreesemester	Semester (or quarter) your dissertation will be granted
\degree		The title of your degree (e.g. Doctor of Philosophy)
\chair		Title and name of your committee chair
		(e.g. "Professor Michael A. Harrison")
\othermembers	The names of the other members of your committee
		separated by linebreaks
		(e.g. "Professor Susan L. Graham\\Professor Jim Pitman")
\numberofmembers The number of members on your committee.  This defaults to
		3 (and thus is optional) and can be any value between
		3 and 6.  It affects the number of lines on the approval
		page and the space between them.
\prevdegrees	Your previous degrees
		"B.A. (University of California, San Diego) 1978\\
		B.A. (University of California, San Diego) 1986\\
		M.S. (University of California, Berkeley) 1989"
\field		The official title of your field.  This is usually
		your department's name, but at Berkeley, most
		Engineering degrees have a more complex name.
		Be sure to check the guidelines for any special
		twists on the name of your field.
\campus		The name of your UC campus.  This should be capitalized.
		(e.g. Berkeley)

Title, Approval, and Copyright pages
------------------------------------

The title, approval, and copyright pages have extremely rigid formats
that allow them to be generated automatically once the above
declarations have been made.  To generate them, invoke the macros

	\maketitle
	\approvalpage
	\copyrightpage

You should probably invoke them in that order, because that's the
order required by the guidelines.

Abstract Environment
--------------------

Because you have to provide the text of the abstract, only the title
can be generated automatically.  So, there is an abstract environment.
It generates the title and numbers the abstract in arabic numerals and
makes sure that it starts on new page.

The UC system requires that your advisor sign the last page of your
abstract.  Many students just let their advisor just sign at a random
location on the page, but you can use the \abstractsignature command
to generate a signature line with your advisor's name printed below
it.  This command generates the signature line at the point it is
invoked, so it should be placed at the end of the abstract.

Other Front Matter
------------------

The remaining front matter (dedication, table of contents, lists of
figures and tables, acknowledgements) MUST be put inside the
"frontmatter" environment, which ensures that page-numbering is
handled properly.  Within this frontmatter environment, you put the
environments and commands for the rest of the front matter.  There are
environments for "dedication" and "acknowledgements" and the standard
LaTeX commands for producing \tableofcontents, \listoffigures, and
\listoftables.  

The standard LaTeX commands are well documented in the LaTeX manual.
You will probably have to hand edit the .lof (list of figures) and
.lot (list of tables) files to make verbose captions more suitable for
this front matter.  Once you do this, remember to use the \nofiles
macro to keep them from getting overwritten.

The acknowledgements and dedication environments make their contents
start on a new page.  The acknowledgements environment also put the
word "Acknowledgements" in large, bold, centered text at the top of
the page.  For formatting the dedication page, you're on your own.
After all, the dedication is a kind of poetry and there's no
predicting the right way to format poetry.

=====================================================
Other commands not found in the standard report style
=====================================================

The "smalltabular" and "smalltabular*" environments are equivalent to
the "tabular" and "tabular*" environments, except that they use the
\small font.  The "scriptsizetabular" and "scriptsizetabular*" use the
\scriptsize font.

=============================
Installing the UCTHESIS class
=============================

To install the UCTHESIS class, you need to install four files:

	ucthesis.cls
	uct10.clo
	uct11.clo
	uct12.clo

in your LaTeX class file repository.