[TriLUG] latex & thesis prep - what am i getting into?

[Joseph Tate]

Douglas Kojetin wrote:

> thanks for all the replies!  while doing research about latex (how to 
> use it, at least the very very very minimal basics), i also learned 
> the difference between a 'thesis' and a 'dissertation' ... more lingo.
>
> anywho, thanks to Ed to providing the sample latex files, etc from UNC!
>
> jon --> i'm in the biochem department (and i'll go out on a limb and 
> say i'm the first to use latex to write a thesis, at least in long, 
> long while)
>
> i'll be writing it primarily under OS X and partly under Linux ... so 
> any tools you guys think would help me out ... please forward along!  
> so far, i'm using NEDIT ... :)
>
> also, if anyone from NCSU (presently or previously) has any sample 
> latex files or style files i can look at to compare with what I 
> already have (thanks again Ed!) ... please contact me!  it seems the 
> statistics department (including biomath, etc) and computer science 
> department uses it frequently ... so I may try to email the NCSU LUG 
> for files too (sorry in advance if you get this information twice if 
> you are subscribed to both)
>
> doug
>
The nice thing about LaTeX is that you can change the document style 
after you've written the paper.  In fact, if you write it in University 
format, but a publication wants it in a different format, you can have 
them send you the equivalent of a CSS in the web world.  (In fact I 
think it's also called a stylesheet).  Try to abstract out as much 
formatting as you can from the actual content of your document.  In the 
long run it will make publication easier.  Other than that, my best 
advice is ping a professor of CS to see if they have a NCSU stylesheet, 
or look on their web pages to see if they have .tex files of their 
research available.  You might also want to purchase a LaTeX book.  
They're very handy reference.

Joseph