Contributors Wanted!!

Like any free and open source software (FOSS) project, we welcome your contributions, including bugfixes, bug reports, code sharing, helping new users, suggesting solutions, and coffee. We like hot coffee.

Your collaborative effort helps us keep this project running. Contact us anytime at utmthesis-discuss, send us an email, or drop by and visit us at the VeCAD research laboratory in P04, FKE.

We have recently released the new LyX layout, and it is now in its beta phase. Anyone with advanced experience in using LyX is welcome to contribute your code improvements. A good LyX layout file will negate the need to use ERT. Report bugs at the issues page.

If you are good at ironing out LateX bugs (see issues page), send us your bugfixes for the utmthesis.cls file, and we will merge it into the project and name you as a contributor.

The Utmthesis Project

The Utmthesis Project provides and maintains a LaTeX class and BibTeX styles (for both authordate and number citation styles) to typeset your thesis according to the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) thesis formatting rules. It is currently the most time saving and efficient way to write a UTM compliant thesis.

This is an ongoing project that has received support and official recognition by UTM for use in thesis publication. It a free software project licensed under the New BSD License.

Even though you just spent 1-2 days writing the content of your thesis (because you are lazy), you can instantly generate the entire thesis in PDF with fully formatted table of contents, references, appendix, front cover, etc. This results in a beautifully written shiny magical thesis with no errors that will bedazzle your supervisors and examiners, guaranteeing you an A+. Maybe not.

Download the latest version of utmthesis here!

There are also tutorials, tips & examples on how to use LaTeX in thesis writing provided in the downloads and wiki section.

If you need any help please discuss it at utmthesis-discuss or report a legitimate bug at the issues page.

Required Software

You will need to download and install certain software in order to start writing your thesis, journals, and papers with LaTeX:

A good LaTeX compiler. ProTeXt (download here) is highly recommended in Windows. In Linux, install TeX Live. Note: If you install a minimal/basic version of a Latex compiler, you will face problems. Go for the full download.
A good LaTeX editor such as TeXstudio or Texmaker, available for both Windows and Linux.
(Optional) A good reference managing software to manage your .bib file. Mendeley and Jabref comes highly recommended.

For Linux users, specifically Ubuntu (or Debian based distros) type the following command in your shell to auto-magically install all the above software like a boss:

sudo apt-get install texlive-full texmaker jabref

What's New?

Version 2.7 (released 2012-03-21)

Minor fixes in samples tex files.
Added ability to partition thesis title lines for a more tidier title display.

Added 2 new commands, \titletwo and \titlethree, which are the second and third lines.
These new commands are optional. User can just declare \title and LaTeX will partition accordingly.

Introduced a new LyX layout open for beta testing and contribution from students.

Core Features

Support thesis written in Malay.
Support for LyX (still in beta stages, but very functional).
Conform closely to formatting requirements in UTM Thesis Manual (July 2007).
Minimal package dependency (required packages: parskip, setspace, acronym, times).
Support BibTeX users.

Provide BibTeX styles for both UTM authordate and number citation systems.
Support natbib package.
More BibTeX entry examples in tests/bibtex/ directory.
Finally, no more referencing headaches.

Support hyperref package to generate inter-page links/bookmarks in PDF.
Support acronym package to generate List of Symbols/Abbreviations page.
Includes two thesis samples for new users:

A simple version.
A complete version.

Added an optional list of algorithms.
Includes two pages showing "insert XXX form here" for ease of replacing with official forms after printing out the thesis:

Cooperation declaration form.
PSZ 19:16 form.

Bugs/Issues

If you have any basic problems or need help, please discuss it at utmthesis-discuss group.

If you have found any legitimate bugs or issues, please report and discuss it at the issues page. We will take a look at the problem and try to fix it if possible. However, this is not the place to ask for help, use utmthesis-discuss for that.

Please also report broken links on this homepage and anything else that is inconsistent.

If you think LaTeX and the utmthesis project is full of bugs and is a waste of your time, then we apologize. Please take this free coupon for your troubles, and accept our apology.