An MS thesis is about an introduction stating the problem, a design to efficiently solve it, backed by proof and implementation, a discussion of other research related to it and a conclusion. But thesis is also about the administrivia and this article focuses on that.
Requirements Checklist
- Required coursework for an MS will have some changes from year to year. Verify with the department that yours is done.
- Application for degree
- Title
- Thesis
- Departmental format review
- Thesis ofiice format review
- Deposit
Application for degree
- Deicide when you want to get your thesis done. There are 4 graduation dates that you can pick from -May, August, October, December. Thisng to remember while picking a date:
- Thesis should be complete at least 2-4 weeks earlier for different reviews. In 2006, thesis review deadlines were Apr 21, Jul 21, Sept 15 and Dec 2.
- You can attend any graduation ceremony within a year. It is not dependent on thesis deposit. There are ususally two ceremonies - in May and in December. I attended the one almost a year later (hoping that my parent would get a visa to come)
- Google in "illinois.edu" for the form "Application for Degree".
- Fill it and fax it.
Title Page Check
The first official thing you need to do for thesis is to get your title page checked at the thesis office.
- From the latex template (next section) save the example thesis-ex.tex file as your-ms-thesis.tex and edit the title, name, adviser and degree year tags to match yours.
- Write your name and earlier degree exactly as it is in UIUC Banner / UI Integrate Self-Service. This is something they match very carefully in the thesis office. If you have your middlename spelled out there it sould be spelled out in your title page.
- Print a copy of the title page and get it checked at Thesis office at Coble Hall. This is a required step. They will give you few forms. Hang on to them for now.
Thesis Template - Getting it to Work
Thesis office has guidelines for for thesis on there webpage. The Physics department maintains style files which are also archived in CTAN. Though the webpage kinda threatens you that it is not responsible for any problem with those files dont worry too much about that. There office and our CS department office are very helpful about pointing out the stylistic problems. Having said that - you will need to figure out how to fix thing like where exactly to put images or how page number go. So keep some extra time in hand for those. Now to install this
- Follow instructions to unpack.
- Easy way - copy .sty and .cls files in your MS thesis directory.
- Hardway - if the easy does not work copy these files in obscure locations in texmf and localtexmf. You should easily be able to find in CTAN or Google up directions about where to copy .sty and .cls files for document and bibliography.
At this point your are ready to try to complie the example file (thesis-ex.tex) and get your title page out.
Thesis Template - Learing to Use it
Read uiucthesis.pdf to learn what each command/tag does. It is a 4-page document so not that bad to go through. If you have been working with LaTex you might be quite comfortable. If not, try to read a LaTeX tutorial. "The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeXe2" is a famous one.
Format Reviews and Deposit
When you have your thesis all ready and revised and rerevised million times for content and material you are ready for style check:
- Print a copy of your thesis in 600 dpi, single-sided, unbound.
- Get 3 copies of "Committee Approval" form signed by your adviser.
- Take them to department office for review. Be ready for the office to find some thing wrong, like a new page where it should not be or a table indexed as a figure.
- After the department is satisfied take it to the Thesis office along with the forms they gave during Title check and the "Committee Approval" forms. If they are satisfied you are ready to deposit.
- Now make two 600 dpi, single-sided, unbound copies for deposit and take it to them along with all the forms.