The memoir class - The UK TeX Archive

Twenty-oneAn example thesis designMany universities in the United States have strict regulations about the typography oftheses. The title and administrative pages are inherently specific to a particular university,but often the design for the body of the thesis clashes with normally accepted typographicpractice. This chapter presents fairly typical guidelines for some US universities and codeintended to meet them. Let’s call the university in question the Archibald Smythe University,or ASU for short.The requirements that are listed below are not from any single university but I have,over the years, seen each one of them. In reality there are likely to be many more nitpickingrules than I have shown.It amuses me that I have never seen a printed set of requirements that followed therules laid down therein.Universities outside the US tend to be more relaxed with the result that theses fromthese establishments are very often more attractive (certainly less bulky) and more readable.The ASU requirements lead to an exceptionally dull and unatractive appearance.21.1 EXAMPLE US THESIS TYPOGRAPHIC REQUIREMENTS21.1.1 GeneralPaper size The thesis shall be printed on 8.5 by 11 inch plain white paper.Single-sided The thesis shall be printed single-sided; that is, one side of each sheet ofpaper will be blank.Margins Every page of the document shall meet the requirements of a 1.5 inch margin onthe left and a 1 inch margin at the top, right, and bottom of the page. Nothing shallappear in any margin.Fonts The thesis may be set in 10, 11 or 12pt Arial, Century, Garamond, Lucida Bright(10pt only), Tahoma, Times, or Verdana. The same font and size shall be usedthroughout the thesis.There shall be no bold type.Italic type (or underlining) is limited to the names of species, genera, book titles,musical compositions, or foreign words.Line Spacing All text shall be double-spaced, except material in tables and the optionalbiographical sketch (which must be single-spaced). You shall single-space individualfootnotes and endnotes with a double space between each entry.359Chapter last updated 2013/04/24 (revision 442)