A comprehensive LaTeX template for MPhil and PhD theses following KNUST's formatting guidelines, as described in GUIDE FOR PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF GRADUATE THESIS.

This template is designed to be clean, reusable, and easily customizable for different thesis requirements.

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✅ Full Format Compliance

• A4 paper size (21.0 x 29.7 cm)
• Times New Roman 12pt font throughout
• Proper margins: 2.5cm outer, 4cm gutter
• 1.5 line spacing for main text, single spacing for special sections
• Roman numerals for front matter (starting from ii)
• Arabic numerals for main body and back matter
• Proper caption placement (tables above, figures below)
• Chapter-linked numbering for figures and tables

✅ Professional Structure

• Modular file organization for easy maintenance
• Separate files for each chapter and section
• Automatic table of contents, figures, and tables
• Multiple citation styles (Harvard, IEEE, APA) - easily switchable
• PDF bookmarks/outline for easy navigation
• Organized images folder structure

Clone this repository or download as ZIP:

git clone https://github.com/nyakotey/thesix.git
cd thesis-latex-template

Edit the thesis information in main.tex. These include:

\newcommand{\thesistitle}{Your Thesis Title Here}
\newcommand{\thesisauthor}{Your Full Name}
\newcommand{\thesisdegree}{Master of Philosopy in XXX} % or Doctor of Philosophy
\newcommand{\thesisdepartment}{Your Department}
\newcommand{\thesissupervisor}{Dr. Supervisor Name}

Replace the placeholder content in:

• frontmatter/ - Abstract, acknowledgments, etc.
• chapters/ - Your research chapters
• backmatter/ - References and appendices
• references.bib - Your bibliography entries
• images/ - All your figures and images (PDF, PNG, JPG formats)

Use your preferred LaTeX editor, vscode with Latex workshop extension or command line:

pdflatex main.tex
bibtex main
pdflatex main.tex
pdflatex main.tex

The resultant output is main.pdf. Run the above command to view the template's version.

thesis-template/
├── main.tex                 # Main document file
├── references.bib           # Bibliography database
├── images/                  # All figures and images
├── frontmatter/
│   ├── title.tex           # Title page
│   ├── declaration.tex     # Declaration of originality
│   ├── dedication.tex      # Dedication (optional)
│   ├── acknowledgments.tex # Acknowledgments
│   ├── abstract.tex        # Abstract
│   ├── table_of_contents.tex
│   ├── list_of_figures.tex
│   ├── list_of_tables.tex
│   └── list_of_abbreviations.tex
├── chapters/
│   ├── chapter1.tex        # Introduction
│   ├── chapter2.tex        # Literature Review
│   ├── chapter3.tex        # Methodology
│   ├── chapter4.tex        # Results and Analysis
│   ├── chapter5.tex        # Discussion
│   └── chapter6.tex        # Conclusion
└── backmatter/
    ├── bibliography.tex    # References formatting
    └── appendices.tex      # Appendices

To add a new chapter:

1. Create chapters/chapter7.tex
2. Add \input{chapters/chapter7} to main.tex

To remove a chapter:

1. Delete the file from chapters/
2. Remove the \input line from main.tex

Figures (captions below):

\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{images/your_figure.pdf}
\singlespace
\caption{Your figure caption here.}
\label{fig:yourlabel}
\endsinglespace
\end{figure}

Tables (captions above):

\begin{table}[htbp]
\singlespace
\caption{Your table caption}
\endsinglespace
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.5}
\label{tab:yourlabel}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{lcc}
\toprule
Header 1 & Header 2 & Header 3 \\
\midrule
Data 1 & Data 2 & Data 3 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

Harvard bibliography style is default, as in thesis guide.
IEEE and APA were added for special cases.

Citation commands:

\citet{AuthorYear}                    % Adarkwa (2011) argues that...
\citep{AuthorYear}                    % According to (Cobbinah et al., 2015)...
\cite{AuthorYear}                     % Basic citation format
\citep{Author1, Author2}              % Multiple citations (Author1, 2015; Author2, 2020)

1. Start Early: Set up the template structure before you start writing
2. Regular Backups: Use Git or cloud storage for version control
3. Reference Manager: Use Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote to manage references
4. Regular Compilation: Compile frequently to catch errors early

For MPhil theses, the limit is 60,000 words inclusive of footnotes and appendices (excluding documentary/statistical appendices and bibliography).

To count words in your LaTeX document:

texcount main.tex

This template is fully compatible with online latex editors such as Overleaf. Simply:

1. Create a new project on Overleaf
2. Upload all template files
3. Run Compile

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your improvements
4. Submit a pull request

The thesis submitted to the Board of Graduate School should normally be double-sided. The margins are to be: 2.5 cm with the gutter margin, 4 cm.

The hardbound copy of the thesis is intended for double-sided printing (text on both front and back pages). Per latex recommended typesetting, new chapters begin on a right-hand (recto) page. Therefore, blank pages are sometimes inserted when the preceding chapter ends on a right-hand page, ensuring the next chapter starts correctly. The large gutter margin provides sufficient space for binding, preventing text from being obscured by the spine. If you'd rather not have blank pages or recto behaviour, you can always customize the latex settings. This is a starter template after all.

This edge case can occur when the references section ends on a right-hand page and the appendix content follows. In such cases, LaTeX inserts an extra blank page to maintain the correct layout, sometimes resulting in a duplicate page number due to conflict with automatic appendix numbering hack.

Current workaround: Manually delete the duplicate blank page in the final PDF before printing. Community contributions to improve this behavior are welcome—feel free to submit a pull request!

This template is released under the MIT License. Feel free to use, modify, and distribute.

If you encounter issues or have suggestions:

• Open an issue on GitHub
• Check the LaTeX documentation

Good luck with your thesis! 🎓