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ILLC

PhD Programme / ILLC

The ILLC Dissertation Style: Specifications

To format your dissertation in accordance with the ILLC Dissertation Style without using the ILLC Dissertation Style LaTeX package, you should make sure that your dissertation conforms to the specifications given below. The ILLC Dissertation Style LaTeX Guide (available as PDF) can serve as an example of the style.

Note that I do not use Word or Wordperfect myself, and it may be possible that in the specifications below I have left out some aspects of formatting which are crucial for non-LaTeX-users. Please look at the Guide example, and mail me at in case of omissions or doubt.

  • Page Specifications

    ILLC Dissertations should be printed on reduced B5 format (170x240 mm) paper, doublesided and single-column. Top/bottom margins should be 32 mm, left/right margins should be 24 mm.
    Except as noted below for chapter heads and the front matter, the top margin of non-empty pages should contain the page number and chapter or section title, about two-thirds of the way down. Left-hand pages should have the page-number in the upper left corner, and the italicized non-uppercase current chapter title in the upper right corner. Right-hand pages should have the page-number in the upper right corner, and the italicized non-uppercase current section title (if any) or chapter title in the upper left corner.
    Empty pages should have neither page number nor page head.

  • Font

    The customary font for ILLC Dissertations is the Computer Modern font (the font used in most LaTeX texts) at 10pt. This font is freely available from the AMS website at http://www.ams.org/tex/type1-fonts.html for both Windows and Macintosh systems. Using this font should result in about 44 lines of text on each page.
    Many mathematical symbols can be obtained from the "Symbol" font. Note that normal letters used as mathematical symbols are customarily italicized.

  • Chapter Headings

    Chapters (and equivalent structural sections in the front and end matter of your dissertation, such as appendices, table of contents, abstract etc.) should always start on a right-hand page.
    The first page of a chapter should have the pagenumber in the center of the page foot, and an empty page head. Each chapter should start with an 2 lines' worth of vertical white space, the left-aligned boldfaced chapternumber at 150% of normal font size, a horizontal line, the right-aligned boldfaced chaptertitle at 200% of normal font size, and about 10 lines' worth of vertical white space.

  • Front Matter

    The first pages of your dissertation should be numbered using lowercase Roman numerals (centered in the page footing), and contain the following material, in order:

    1. "franse pagina", containing nothing but the title of your dissertation
    2. the "ILLC page", containing the following in order:
      • the logo and address of the ILLC:

        ILLCLogo

        For further information about ILLC-publications, please contact

        Institute for Logic, Language and Computation
        Universiteit van Amsterdam
        Science Park 107
        1098 XG Amsterdam
        phone: +31-20-525 6051
        e-mail:
        homepage: http://www.illc.uva.nl/

        The ILLC Logo can be obtained as an EPS or PDF file.

      • an acknowledgement to NWO or its subfoundations (if appropriate)
      • CIP-data, cataloguing data for the National Library (optional)
      • a copyright notice
      • information containing the production of your dissertation (i.e. acknowledgement of the printer and/or the cover designer)
      • the ISBN code
    3. the title page containing the formal text prescribed by the university. (note: use your full and complete name and birthplace, and check the name of the current Rector Magnificus).
    4. this page contains the following information in the following order:
      • title, initials, last name and affiliation of your promotor(es)
      • title, initials, last name and affiliation of your (co-)promotor(es)
      • title, initials, last name and affiliation of your committee members
      • the name of your faculty
    5. Dedication section (optional, with chapter heading)
    6. Table of contents section (with chapter heading)
    7. Acknowledgements section (with chapter heading)

    The Acknowledgements section should appear in the table of contents.

  • End Matter

    The end matter should at least contain a Bibliography, a Samenvatting, an Abstract and a list of previous publications in the ILLC Dissertation Series. Note that both dutch summary and english abstract are obligatory in english dissertations, according to UvA promotion regulations. Preferably your dissertation should also contains an Index. In addition it may contain Appendices, a List of Symbols and your Curriculum Vitae. According to ILLC standards the material should be included in the following order:

    • Appendices (optional)
    • Bibliography (obligatory)
    • Index (preferred)
    • List of Symbols (optional)
    • Samenvatting (obligatory)
    • Abstract (obligatory)
    • Curriculum Vitae (optional)
    • List of previous publications in the ILLC Dissertation Series (obligatory). You can obtain this list by downloading a recent version of the ILLC Dissertation Style Guide.

    All included sections should have chapter headings and appear in the table of contents. The appendices should be numbered alphabetically; the other sections should be unnumbered.

  • Theorems

    Theorems and similar entities (lemmas, definitions, remarks etc.) should be numbered consecutively within each section (i.e. section 2.3 of chapter 2 could start with theorem 2.3.1, followed by lemma 2.3.2 and theorem 2.3.3). They should begin with the number (bold), followed by the text "Theorem" (or similar) in SMALL CAPS, and the name of the theorem (if any) in a normal font.
    The text of theorems, conjectures, lemmas, propositions and corollaries should be italicized. The text of definitions, remarks, examples, conventions, facts and questions should not, although individual phrases (such as the term being defined in a definition) may be.

    The Spine

    The spine should contain your name, the title of your dissertation and the ILLC logo (without the text). File for the logo can be downloaded in EPS and PDF formats.

  • Saving Paper

    If anything, producing a dissertation costs a lot of paper. When working on workstations you can save paper by previewing rather than making printouts. At most Unix workstations you can also save paper by using the command "mpage -2 mydissertation.ps" to print 2 pages of your dissertation on a single sheet of paper. On Windows and Macintosh platforms, the "Print Setup" dialog should offer similar options.