uva.nl
ILLC

PhD Programme / ILLC

The ILLC Dissertation Style

All ILLC Dissertations should be formatted in accordance with the ILLC Dissertation Style. This style was created in order to give the ILLC Dissertation Series a characteristic `look and feel'. The style includes such items as

  • doublesided printing with symmetrical margins
  • chapters starting on right-hand page, with the chapter title followed by a horizontal ruler and a significant amount of whitespace.
  • pageheads containing the page number and either the chapter title (on lefthand pages) or the section title (on righthand pages).
  • a `front matter' section containing a 'french page', the ILLC page (containing the ILLC logo), a title page and finally a copyright page.
  • an abstract, a summary and an `other ILLC Dissertations' section

The ILLC offers an ILLC Dissertation Style package for typesetting dissertations in LaTeX according to ILLC standards. Use of this package is described below.
If you do not use LaTeX, or you choose not to use the package, please read the specifications of the ILLC Dissertation Style, and download the ILLC Dissertation Style Guide file (PDF). This document is primarily a manual for the LaTeX package, but it also serves as an example of the ILLC Dissertation Style, and Appendix A contains detailed specifications.

ILLC promovendi are elegible for a financial compensation in order to offset increased printing costs which might result from using the ILLC Dissertation style. See 'Year 4 Procedures' for more information.

Using the ILLC Dissertation Style LaTeX package

The ILLC offers an ILLC Dissertation Style package for typesetting dissertations in LaTeX according to ILLC standards. This package defines a standard layout for the cover and spine of your dissertation, Furthermore, it redefines the layout of \chapter, page heads, and theorem-like environments, provides predefined theorem-like environments and commands for the logos and special sections such as \acknowledgements, and includes a list of previous publications in the ILLC Dissertation series. The package includes a 'guide' that serves as a user manual for the files, as well as an example of the use of the Dissertation Style, a template for your own dissertation, and (for the sake of compatibility) an old version of the ILLC Dissertation Style for use with Latex 2.09. If you are already familiar with Latex, then the ILLC Dissertation Style should not give you any difficulties.

  1. Download the files of the ILLC Dissertation Style package, and put them in the directory containing the files of your dissertation. The files may be found in the directory http://phdprogramme.illc.uva.nl/Latexhelp/illcdiss/, (also available as a Zip Archive).
  2. Begin your dissertation with the line \documentclass{illcdiss} (or \documentstyle{illc_diss} if you're using Latex 2.09).
  3. Personalize the file guide_front.tex and \include it after the \begin{document} line. All items that need to be personalized in this file may be found by searching for the string "%PERSONALIZE"
  4. The ILLC Dissertation Style is based on the standard book class provided with Latex 2e. Hence you may use all book style commands to prepare your dissertation. However, the ILLC Dissertation Style has been carefully designed to produce the right layout from your Latex input: please refrain from using commands such as \textheight that affect the layout or formatting of your document.
  5. After the last page of your dissertation, \include the most recent version of the file illcdissertations.tex.
  6. Personalize the file guide_spine.tex and use it to produce the spine of your dissertation according to ILLC standards. All items that need to be personalized in this file may be found by searching for the string "%PERSONALIZE"

The ILLC Dissertation Style package includes a 'guide' that serves as a user manual for the files, as well as an example of the use of the Dissertation Style. To view the guide, run Latex on the file guide.tex, or download the file guide.pdf and print it. The `guide' is designed in such a way that you can use it as a template for your own document. To use it in this fashion, personalize the files guide_dedication.tex, guide_samenvatting.tex etcetera, and add an '\include'-command to the file guide.tex for each of the chapters of your dissertation.