Since nobody else has done so, I include my own thesis template as an example of how simple it can be.
\documentclass[a4paper, 12pt]{report}
\usepackage[cmex10]{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{cite}
\usepackage[toc,xindy,nonumberlist,acronym,shortcuts]{glossaries}
\usepackage{subfig}
\usepackage[font=footnotesize,labelfont=bf]{caption}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{todonotes}
\usepackage{fixltx2e}
\usepackage{url}
%\usepackage{showframe} % use this to help visualising margins given in geometry package
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage[a4paper,left=4cm,right=2.5cm,top=3cm,bottom=3cm]{geometry}
\graphicspath{{../images/}}
\DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.pdf,.eps}
\makeglossaries
\makeatletter
\renewenvironment{titlepage}
{%
\if@twocolumn
\@restonecoltrue\onecolumn
\else
\@restonecolfalse\newpage
\fi
\thispagestyle{plain}% remove the empty page style
%\setcounter{page}\z@ %remove the counter reset
}%
\makeatother
% Example definitions.
% --------------------
\DeclareMathOperator*{\argmax}{arg\,max}
\DeclareMathOperator*{\argmin}{arg\,min}
\newcommand{\mat}[1]{\mathbf{#1}}
\renewcommand{\vec}[1]{\underline{#1}}
%
%
% Use “\cite{citation_needed}” to get Wikipedia-style “citation needed” in document
% Taken from http://www.gijsk.com/blog/2008/06/absence-citation-needed/
\usepackage{ifthen}
\let\oldcite=\cite
\renewcommand\cite[1]{\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{citation_needed}}{\ensuremath{^\texttt{[citation~needed]}}}{\oldcite{#1}}}
% See tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/todonotes/todonotes.pdf
% for documentation
\newcommand{\todoauthor1}[2][]
{\todo[size=\tiny, color=cyan, author=author1, #1]{#2}}
% End todo redefines
\begin{document}
\doublespacing
\pagestyle{plain}
\pagestyle{fancyplain}
\renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{\markboth{\thesection.\ #1}{}}
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{#1}{}}
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{4}
% acronyms go here ...
\newacronym{glo}{GLO}{glossary entries}
% end acronyms
% Title.
% ------
\begin{titlepage}
Titlepage
\end{titlepage}
%
\begin{abstract}
Abstract
\end{abstract}
\tableofcontents
\listoffigures
\listoftables
\listoftodos
\printglossaries
\include{chapter1}
%repeat for N chapter files
\bibliographystyle{bibstyle}
\bibliography{bibfiles}
\end{document}
I was motivated to make my own template from scratch because most other people I knew were using Cambridge University Engineering Department (CUED) thesis class, and quite frankly I found it unintuitive and clumsy.
In order to explain the template;
1) A base set of packages that most technical theses would require (in my opinion), including useful utility packages such as todonotes, booktabs (always a must for tables), amsmath, glossaries, caption and subfig. It is lazy with graphicx, assuming only a pdf compilation route will be used rather than DVI. Modification for this case is fairly straightforward.
2) \makeatletter
and following code is all for the purpose of setting pagenumbers from the titlepage (university requirement).
3) A section with definitions for semantic commands you will use throughout the thesis to enable consistency
4) A hack to enable insertion of citation_needed wiki style
5) A per-author definition of some inline comment commands, using todonotes. Unlikely to have multiple authors but you can create more and tailor them as needed
6) \renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{\markboth{\thesection.\ #1}{}}
and the following command is for styling the page headers in a particular way
7) Then finally title page (fairly straightforward), abstract, and main body of the document, it should probably be familiar.
For me, creating this in order to fit my needs was far more straightforward than use of any number of pre-defined templates and class files floating around out there.
classicthesis
! – Johannes_B Dec 2 '14 at 7:52KOMA
classes (scrartcl
for example). They make it very easy to customize the layout, but don't load as many packages. Also you shouldbiblatex
+biber
for your citations instead of the oldbibtex
. – Juri Robl Dec 2 '14 at 9:37