The Academic Type offers great pricing and professional communication. They turned every wish I had into reality. I highly recommend them for the typesetting of your book!
Benedikt Schmitz
Goals
Benedikt came to us on the recommendation of a previous client. He had already prepared a tidy Word document, but he wondered whether it was professional enough for printing, and whether it could be more aesthetically pleasing. He also had some very specific wishes for the layout, for example:
- Could each chapter have its own table of contents?
- Could the headers be more informative?
- Could the tables look more polished?
As highlighted in Benedikt’s review above, we’ve realised every wish he had for his thesis layout. We’re proud to showcase the final outcome here.
Each chapter’s own table of contents
When chapters span many pages or include numerous sections and subsections, it can be practical to add a table of contents at the beginning of each chapter. These miniature tables of contents (mini-TOCs) provide a quick overview and make navigation much easier for readers. Below is an example of a mini-TOC from Benedikt’s thesis.
Informative headers
Headers are indispensable in a PhD thesis, in our point of view. They serve as reference points, like pins on a city map marking key landmarks. Benedikt wanted the headers to be even more informative. Imagine an open book: the header on the left page displays the chapter number and title, while on the right page it shows the section title. This design gives readers a clear sense of their “location” within the thesis—which “street” they’re on, so to speak.
Below is the final presentation of Benedikt’s headers:
Beautiful tables
Tables are a staple in academic theses and articles. But what makes a table look professional? According to Simon Fear, author of the paper “Publication Quality Tables in LaTeX”, two basic guidelines are:
- Never, ever use vertical rules.
- Never use double rules.
Following these principles, we recreated the tables in Benedikt’s thesis to meet high aesthetic standards. Below is an example of the refined tables:
A professional layout overall
In addition to the mini-TOCs, headers, and tables, we enhanced the overall layout of Benedikt’s thesis by refining elements such as font choices, spacing, the Table of Contents, and the Extended Table of Contents.
If you enjoyed this showcase and are looking to refine the layout design of your thesis or article, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are committed to providing efficient, responsive, and professional assistance tailored to your needs.