

PSU Thesis LaTeX Class Files and
Tips for Astro Users
The LaTeX files:
- Download all class and style files (gziped
tar file) - right click to save to disk
- To "unpack" psuthesis.tar.gz:
- save gziped tar file to disk (I'm assuming it's a unix or
linux computer) by right-clicking on the download link above
- to uncompress, run: "gunzip psuthesis.tar.gz"
- to unpack files, run: "tar xvpf psuthesis.tar"
- The tar file contains the following files (if you are a glutton
for punishment, you could download each of these files individually
instead of the tar file, but be warned, I added ".txt" to
the end of each file name so it would display in the web browser):
- ayphdthesis_mod.bst -
BibTeX bibliography format file which makes bibs that look like
the psuthesis.bst format, however it allows the (Author year)
citation style**
- deluxetable.sty - allows
use of AASTeX deluxetables
- doublespace.sty - this has
something to do with allowing the thesis to be double spaced, it
is called by psuthesis.cls (double spacing is not necessary for
an eTD, but it is necessary for a paper thesis [2004
guidelines], it is also used for formatting the title page)
- mythesis.tex -
"example" thesis file
- psuthesis.bst - the
"original" bibliography format file (I never actually
used this because the alternate one ayphdthesis_mod.bst
allowed the "(author year)" citation
style, while this one does not)**
- psuthesis.cls - the actual
class file to format everything properly*
** = according to the grad school thesis guide, there is no
special formating required for the bibliography: "you
will need to follow a scholarly style manual in your field or
perhaps a recent issue of a leading journal as a guide in
compiling this section of the thesis". So, instead of
using either of these two bibliography styles, it is perfectly
OK to just use "apj" to get citations which we are
all familiar with (i.e., enter
"\bibliographystyle{apj}" in place of either of the
two styles listed above, apj should be already known to latex
so you won't have to download it specially). The apj style is
currently the one included in the example thesis file (although
the ayphdthesis_mod is written in there, but commented out, so
it is easy to switch between them). If for some reason your
computer doesn't know about "apj.bst", then save the
file apj.bst (right click, save using
the name "apj.bst") into your working directory.
Actually, I had problems with the version of apj.bst installed
on my work computer: it could not deal with two first-author
papers published in the same year. I found a slightly altered
version which actually works much better. The altered version
is what I have made available by the link (apj.bst).
* = I found an apparent "bug" in psuthesis.cls which
might have something to do with using apj.bst instead of the
original bst file. Anyway, psuthesis tries to change
"Bibliography" to "References" in both the
TOC and at the end. However, it did not work for me --- it
only changed in the TOC. So, I changed the commands in
psuthesis.cls back to print "Bibliography"
everywhere. The version currently in the big tar file has the
original version, the version I updated is available to
download separately (psuthesis.cls).
- Be sure to read through mythesis.tex, there are a lot of useful
comments and directions written into there.
- NEW: I updated psuthesis.cls a little bit to include a
"committee page", per the instructions of the Thesis
Guide. Since this is a different version than the original,
I'm keeping it separate from the original. ( get the
new class version here, get a new
mythesis.tex example ) --- Note: this version has the
"References" to "Bibliography" change mentioned
above at the *. This version also passed format review (June 1,
2005), but I'm still keeping it separate from the original.
- NEW: I also hacked a version of psuthesis.cls to have the twoside
book format (so the left-right margins alternate between odd-even
pages, and the page number appears on opposite sides on odd-even
pages). THIS FORMAT IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE FORMAT TO SUBMIT A FINAL PSU
THESIS IN! However, it is a lot nicer for making double-sided,
printed/bound copies for your own personal use. Again, I'm keeping
this separate from the original, and I've changed its name to
"psuthesis2side.cls" (so call that new name if you want to
use it). ( get
the 2-sided class version here )
Some useful tips and directions:
Other Useful Links:
E-mail to

Last Updated: Jul 19, 2011.