Shanto Roy

I Explore Research, Tech, Travel, and Business. PhD Student @UHCS.

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Although I am not anywhere close to writing dissertation, I wanted to check out the PhD/MS latex template University of Houston NSM uses.

Later, I found it and modified it with a lot better organization. I also added examples of writing algorithm, creating subfigures, pgfplots, and comments, etc.

I hope, it helps the upcoming PhD/MS students of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Houston.

Please, find the template here: UH NSM Dissertation Template on Overleaf

Organization

Primary Organization

  1. main.tex $\rightarrow$ contains packages and inputs sections and intro files
  2. References.bib $\rightarrow$ contains references in bibtex format. If you don’t know how to manage references using bibtex, checkout my other post
  3. folders containing files of different type of contents

Folders

  1. algorithms $\rightarrow$ Includes algorithms in separate files.
  2. chapters $\rightarrow$ Includes separate file for each section. Final dissertations are supposed to have chapters, which have many sections. Not sure, why they used sections here. But, it what it is.
  3. data $\rightarrow$ If you have XLS or CSV files for latex graphs, put these files here.
  4. figures $\rightarrow$ Include all your figures in this folder
  5. intro_files $\rightarrow$ this folder includes the acknowledgement, cover page, dedication, and abstract.
  6. miscellaneous $\rightarrow$ You do not need to do anything here. Just keep it as it is. The document style file and bibliographic style files are included here. Just to keep the main folder clean.
  7. tables $\rightarrow$ Put your tables in this folder
  8. tex_graphs $\rightarrow$ If you have pgfplot graphs, just use different files for each graph and put those files in this folder
  9. trash $\rightarrow$ Not really important. Only in case if you want to dump unnecessary files, you can use this folder. I recommend putting these files here rather than deleting because from my experience, sometimes we may need a few deleted files back.

New Addition

I have included several packages that may or may not be necessary for you. I just included these in case you need these types of items in the document.

Algorithm

I have added the algorithm2e package for writing an algorithm. Also, added a demo algorithm in the Methodology section for your reference. For more details check out my other post:

How to write algorithm in Latex.

Subfigures

Added a few codes in the Evaluation section to show how to add subfigures in latex. For details, you can check out this post:

How to add subfigure in Latex.

PGFPlots

My professor prefers pgfplots over python generated graphs as these graphs can be easily configured if the template is changed. Here, I added necessary packages for latex graphs and provided a few examples as well. The data has been used here is located in the data folder. For details, check out my other posts:

ToDoNotes

Added the package todonotes for creating outside-margin comments. I like to use this type of comments for collaboration and for myself. There is an example as well. I just added a command under my name as \shanto{} and write contents within it.

Other Advices

  1. Use Table Generator for creating tables
  2. Use Grammarly for spell and grammar checking
  3. Check out Latex Resources
  4. Create any types of diagrams using draw.io

Please let me know, if I should include anything else.

Once again, you will find the template on Overleaf.

If you find this post helpful, and want to support this blog, you can or

You can find a comprehensive list of Latex resources in the following post:

Latex Resources in a Nutshell

If you are a new Latex user, check out this post: 20 Most Common Mistakes Made by New Latex Users

You can find all Latex oriented posts of mine in: https://shantoroy.com/categories/#latex

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