Rackham Thesis

A class file for a Rackham (University of Michigan) thesis. This file is a modification of rac.sty, which can be found in a number of different locations. This class file attempts to make it as easy as possible to write a thesis that conforms to the Rackham style guidelines, however users are advised be aware of and follow the currently published guidelines.

Notes

• This currently only supports using biblatex and is incompatible with natbib.
• There is an unknown clash with the enumitem package.

Usage

Simply include this class with \documentclass{rackham-thesis}. biblatex is enforced over natbib to make sure references conform to rackham style.

This class supports two options:

• doublespace : Double space the document instead of one and a half spacing. As of last observation, either we valid style.
• proposal : Changes the title page to reflect a proposal instead of a thesis.

Every other option will be passed to the base class report, e.g. twoside.

main.txt is an example file that details how to specify some of the front matter.

Todo

• Should orcid and email be set with frontmatter and just pulled with identifier page?
• Fix indentation.
• Add support for list of Abbreviations, List of Acronyms, and List of Symbols.
• Support for natbib and straight bibliography instead of just biblatex.
• Support printing bib after every section.
• Indent list of appendices to match other lists.
• There's a lot of redundancy in the way things are defined.
• Should front matter sections be environments instead of "start" commands?
• Ideally force all mandatory sections in proper orders and error if not provided, including lists like list of appendices
• Make errors and warning use \ClassWarning and \ClassError

Acknowledgments

This class file was mostly put together before I edited it, I could not find a license attached to any version. Most of my changes were to make it more simple to use and conform to standard latex conventions. The header from the original rac.sty is reproduced here to give credit to everyone who put effort into this file.

• Modified on 05/19/88, jj.
• Modified on 12/13/88, for "CHAPTER" in toc and \@makecaption, jj.
• Modified on 01/08/89, for sections in loap (look for \@sect), jj.
• Modified on 89/11/29 by tex
  • Removed the last three lines of file which consisted of <blank line>
  • Get something else
  • \input indent
• Modified on 07/24/1992 by Roque D. Oliveira.
  • \startappendices was modified to work
  • with the New Font Selection Scheme.
  • Further (similar) changes may be needed for other macros.
• Modified Sep. 2008 by Jason Gilbert: Obsolete code removed or updated to better conform to LaTeX2e
  • list of abbreviations added
  • made copyright page cleaner
  • fixed Appendices, Bibliography, margins, title page, frontispiece, bottom-center page numbers, two-side printing,
  • added in-dissertation abstract and abstract that prints separately at the end.