HMC Senior Thesis Class

The HMC Senior Thesis LaTeX class was developed by Claire Connelly, mathematics department systems administrator, and computer science Professor Melissa O'Neill. As such, it works for both departments by editing the contents of the hmcclinic.cfg file.

The configuration file will also allow other departments to use the class; so, for example, if you're writing a thesis for the physics department, you could edit hmcclinic.cfg to read

 \ProvidesFile{hmcthesis.cfg}%
   [2003/10/14 v1.0 hmcthesis configuration file]

 % Default department for Clinic reports compiled on this system.
 \AtEndOfClass{\department{Physics Thesis}}

The Code

The current release is 3.6 (2011-08-25).

We recommend that you install using the texmf packages, which provide the entire TEXMF tree that you'll need to use the class. These archives include the class and its support files, templates, and the bibliography style files you'll need to format your bibliography and citations according to the department's requirements. The files are arranged into the correct directory tree structure that TeX systems use to organize files.

If you're already familiar with installing LaTeX packages, you can also just download the class and support files without the bibliography files and TEXMF tree.

Dependencies

This class should work with any standard, fairly complete TeX system such as TeX Live, MacTeX, or ProTeXt/MikTeX.

You will also need the department's bibliography style files, available on the linked page.

Using the Class

More details about using this class are available from the senior thesis report page.

A Sample Report

We have a sample report document that works with both our thesis and Clinic classes. The source code for the sample document provides an example of “best-practices” LaTeX coding, as well as useful tips and tricks for working with LaTeX.