Latex'ing a Thesis at Drexel University

Installing the Software

  1. Install the latest version of MikTex from the MikTex web site
  2. Install the latest versions of Ghostscript and GSView from Univ. of Wisconsin web site

Download the Template Files

  1. Download the thesis template and formatting files created by Jeff Abrahamson: thesis.tex and drexelthesis.cls
  2. Download the subfigmat.sty file.

Getting Started

  1. Open up a command prompt window and navigate to the directory where the template files have been downloaded (e.g. C:/Latex).
  2. Compile the thesis template by typing latex thesis.tex at the command prompt. If this is the first time you're using the latex command, then some packages and libraries will be downloaded and installed and thus a connection to the internet is required.
  3. After the compilation has complete, several files will have been created. Most of these will be files with the .aux extension and you should also see one dvi file, thesis.dvi.
  4. Next, you will create a postscript file using the dvi file created in the previous step. At the command prompt, type dvips -R0 -Ppdf -t letter -o thesis.ps thesis.tex. The -R0 is important if your figure files (e.g. .eps extension) are not located in the same directory as your tex file. Otherwise, it can be omitted.
  5. A thesis.ps file should have been created. Open this up with GSView and go to File => Convert, select PDFWrite under Device, and then hit OK. This should generate a PDF file of your thesis.