UTM LaTeX Class

LaTeX Class for University Technology of Malaysia Thesis and Dissertations

Announcement

A group of individuals including myself started a Google group and a Google code to host UTM thesis latex format. Please visit:

• UTMThesis Google Code
• UTMThesis Google Group

Page Links

• Introduction
• Versions
• Snapshots
• Unsolved Problems/Bugs
• Differences with UTM Official Thesis
• Downloads
• Links

Introduction

In approximately 10 minutes, you can completely create a blank Universiti Teknologi Malaysia thesis with the coverpage, titlepage, abstract (English and Malay version), dedications, acknowledgements, table of contents, list of figures, list of tables, list of appendices, beautifully formatted according (but not 100%) to UTM Thesis regulations. If you change the contents, your table of contents, list of figures, tables and appendices will change automatically. Interested to learn?

LaTeX is a typesetting software. This means that you type the document in a simple coding style, and upon compiling, everything comes out formatted. This allows the author, YOU, to focus on writing instead of spending precious time adjusting the margin, checking the page numbers and the table of contents, spacing the text and pictures, etc.

To use this class (equivalent to "templates" in Ms Office), you would need to know how to type in Latex language. It has its own command and syntax. "The Not So Short Introduction to LATEX2ε" by Tobias Oetiker et al. is an excellent guide for beginners and intermediate users.

After familiarizing with Latex commands, you would need to learn the commands from UTM class. These commands create custom pages which are not available in the standard Latex. You must refer to UTM-Latex class documentation to fully utilize this class.

Versions

Version 2.X

The latest versions created by UTMThesis google group is hosted at:

• http://code.google.com/p/utmthesis/
• http://groups.google.com/group/utmthesis-discuss

This version is created by a team of individuals and is dedicated to improve UTM thesis class for LaTeX. This version utilizes different packages as well as different codes while maintaining and improving some features from my basic version 1.X. For those who wish to use the version 1.1, this file is still available from my website as well as in the Google code site.

Version 1.1

This is the latest version and will be released soon. It has significant changes compared to its precedessors. So far, these are some of the changes:

1. Page number in supervisor's declaration page was removed.
2. Spacing after a figure/table was removed.
3. Adjustments were made to \baselineskip spacing.
4. List of Abbreviations was added.
5. Spacing for each new chapter-level entries in Table of Contents were added.
6. Spacing between headings and text were adjusted.
7. Labels for tables and figures were bold.
8. Indentation for sections and subsections headings was corrected.
9. Hyphenations were significantly reduced.

Version 1.0.X

English version of UTM class released.

1. Spelling Error: "Technology" changed to "Teknologi"
2. Bug: Extra page between last page of text and Appendix removed.
3. Bug: Supervisor Declaration Page.
4. Status: Solved
5. Bug: Possesive Suffix Mistake.
6. Status: Solved.
7. Explanation: "I" changed to "my" and "We" changed to "our".
8. Bug: When referring to a an appendix in the text, the word "APPENDIX" appears.
9. Status: Solved
10. Bug: In TOC, the label "APPENDIX" for each chapter is added after calling \appendix
11. Status: Removed
12. Explanation: All subsequent \addappendix entry does not contain the word "APPENDIX" in the label. This helps solving the first bug.
13. Bug: Page number appears in Supervisor's Declaration Page

UTM.cls v1.1 Snapshots

Here are some snapshots of the pdf file generated from pdfLaTeX compared with the official UTM Thesis guide using UTM.cls version 1.1. Measurements were done using Adobe Acrobat, with a ratio of 1cm:1cm. If you wish to view other parts of the thesis, drop me an email and i will post it up for you.

Left Image: Official UTM Thesis.

Right Image: UTM.cls v1.1 file generated using pdfLaTeX.

Note: The small spacing mistake in between the title of the chapter and the first text in the official UTM Thesis. With LaTeX, you won't have this problem.

Unsolved Problems/Bugs

These are some of the unsolved problems or bugs that still persist in the latest version of UTM-LaTeX class. If you have any suggestions on how to correct them or found additional bugs, please drop me an email.

1. Bug: Spacing between paragraphs are not automatic.
2. Status: Unable to Solve
3. Alternative Method: Use "\\" and skip a line. This will add sufficient spacing in between paragraphs. Remember to use this method when the sequence is a paragraph, figure/table, and followed by another paragraph.
4. Bug: The list of appendices (LOA) does not adjust the page number correctly when the appendix title is too long.
5. Status: Unable to Solve
6. Alternative Method: Use "\\" to break up the title, where and when necessary.
7. Bug: The "References" entry in Table of Contents have an indentation
8. Status: Unable to Solve
9. Alternative Method: None

Snapshots of these differences will be included later...

Differences with UTM Official

I have tried my best to create this LaTeX class, to adhere to UTM format . From time to time, i do try to correct any differences that i noticed. This class was used for my thesis and there were no issues about the format. Do remember that this is NOT an official release from UTM. It is my personal project. Here are the list of the differences (that i have found so far):

1. Spacing may not be 100% the same as in Word. Most of it are the same though. Spacing between paragraphs, between headers and text, between figures and tables, are roughly the same. If you would ask me to give a number crunch, instinctively, i would say it's about 90% similar to UTM Thesis.
1. The fonts are not entirely the same with Ms Word fonts. It is Times New Roman but its features are slightly different. I would say LaTeX's version of Times New Roman is "slimmer" compared to Ms Office's.
2. The entries for appendices in Table of Contents are slightly different compared to UTM format.
3. The label for "Figure" and "Table" are not identical with examples in UTM Thesis guide.
4. The form for Declaration of the Status of Thesis is not included in this class. I would recommend that you download from SPS or PSZ website to obtain the latest version.
5. The spacing between the last line of a text and a table, or a figure or
6. an illustration does not have a two line spacing by default. You may include the spacing using the \vspace{\baselineskip} command if you wish.
7. The spacing between a figure or table with a preset placing ([h], [b], [t]) with a new section or subsection, has larger than the normal spacing. This is not caused by UTM.cls but is instead a feature from LaTeX. This extra spacing exists even with standard/default LaTeX package.

1. Left Image: The spacing using UTM.cls, without any embedded figures/tables.
2. Right Image: The spacing after a figure using [!h] using UTM.cls

Downloads

The latest stable version is v1.1. Older versions are not provided to prevent its usage.

• UTM Latex Class v1.1 (zipped with documentation)
• Documentation for UTM Latex Class v1.1

External Links

• LaTeX Official Website
• MikTeX Official Website
• UTM SPS Website
• Crimson Editor Official Website
• Open Office.org Official Website
• Excel2LaTeX Official Website

Users' Testimonials

I welcome any testimonial about the UTM-LaTeX class that i created. Please drop me an email and i will include it here. Thank you.

From: YJ

11 June 2008

By using Latex, the most important feature is that i dont need to focus on the format for the early pages. Secondly, using Latex, we dont need to manually list out all the figures and tables. Thirdly, correction for the thesis is easier. I dont need to change the list of figures, etc after correction.

From: TH Chew

22 June 2008

Well, LaTeX may not be as easy to learn as Bill Gate's Office Suite but once you know the tricks behind it. It surely will help you in most cases. It is nice for someone who dedicated himself in creating a LaTeX class file and share it and I thank you for that, Yap. Kudos! LaTeX is about auto formatting (of course with certain class file) and with this, it really helps in preparing a thesis at minimum effort. One thing that I notice is that the spacing was not exactly those stated in UTM format when you are starting a new section immediately after you insert the pictures. Then some of the students using the class file mentioned to me that the spacing themselves was not that accurate also; the issue of double "double-spacing" or double "1.5 spacing". But I guess it's more like a personal taste. Then, they also complained about the placement of floating objects (pictures and tables) because sometimes, when you insist a "h", the float wouldn't be here. I recently found a package that might be useful a.k.a float. It has a placement argument of "H" which literally means "here and nothing but here". One noticeable difference from normal "h" is that LaTeX wouldn't try to finish filling sentences in a "partially-empty" line before putting the float there. If you use a "h" for this cases, then the spacing between sentences in that particular line will look somehow weird.