Basic Typesetting Rules in LaTeX
The language LaTeX has very few rules. It is not what you see is what you get, but rather command driven. While this may not seem as convenient intially, it is a remarkably efficient approach to typesetting the complex formulae typically found in mathematics. The implicit commands of importance are:
-
Leaving a blank space after any set of joined characters defines a
new word. Words are defined by having blanks around them. The amount
of blank spaces between words has no effect on the spacing produced
in the finished document.
-
Sentences or parts of sentences are delimited by punctuation marks
such as commas, colons, and periods which must be joined to the last
word in the phrase. Never leave a punctuation mark with any blanks
on its left.
-
New paragraphs are begun whenever an extra line is skipped from the
previous paragraph.
Note that if you do not want a new paragraph indentation to occur,
use the command
\noindent
to prevent indentation.
-
The language and its commands are case sensitive.
-
Comments are placed in the document by putting a
%
percent sign in the document. Anything to the right of percent sign is not processed.
Basic Typesetting Rules for the DISSc Package
In addition you will need to follow the rules listed in the
DISSc document in order to produce your dissertation in a manner
conistent with the requirements of the Graduate School.
For example, in the file ./chaper/DISS_chapt1, you will find
that in using the \chapter command, these instructions are given:
%
%THIS ILLUSTRATES USE OF \chapter{}.
\thispagestyle{plain}
%NOTE THAT THIS IS UPPER CASE. THIS IS REQUIRED BY THE GRADUATE SCHOOL.
\chapter{BACKGROUND}
Since the Graduate School requires chapter titles to be completely
capitalized, you must capitalize it in the document.
It is possible to automate this, but this reduces the flexibility
of the document.
These rules that apply because of requirements put forward by the Graduate School are given explicitely in each of the .tex files which you will be using. In particular, there are a few of these rules in the files in the ./preamble directory. These files define the layout of the leading pages of your dissertation. Please follow these instructions in order to maintain compliance with the Graduate School rules for producing a dissertation at USM.
