umat-thesis

---
name: umat-thesis
description: Write, format, and check UMaT (University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa) theses, dissertations and BSc/MSc/MPhil/PhD project reports in LaTeX, per the official "Format for the Presentation of Theses and Project Reports" (May 2011). Use when scaffolding a new UMaT thesis, writing or editing chapters, fixing title/declaration/abstract front matter, numbering headings, tables, figures or equations, formatting Harvard citations and the reference list, choosing tenses/units/numerals, or auditing a draft before submission. Triggers on "UMaT", "Tarkwa thesis", "final year project report", "thesis format", "project report format", "Harvard referencing UMaT".
---

# UMaT Thesis (LaTeX)

Authoritative formatting rules come from UMaT's *Format for the Presentation of Theses
and Project Reports* (May 2011). This skill encodes them as a LaTeX class plus reference
material. The word "thesis" below covers theses, dissertations and project reports alike.

## Ground rules

1. **The class file is the single source of truth for layout.** Never hand-tune margins,
   fonts, spacing, or heading formats in a chapter file. If layout is wrong, fix
   `umatthesis.cls` — otherwise the document drifts out of spec chapter by chapter.
2. **Never invent a rule.** If the guide is silent on something (e.g. how to typeset an
   algorithm), say so and pick a defensible convention, don't present it as UMaT policy.
3. **Content files stay semantic.** Chapters contain `\section`, `\caption`, `\label`,
   `\autoref`, `\parencite` — not `\vspace`, `\Large`, `\hspace*`, or manual numbering.

## Workflow

### Starting a new thesis
1. Copy `assets/` into the target directory (keep the tree: `main.tex`, `umatthesis.cls`,
   `umatharvard.tex`, `front/`, `chapters/`, `references.bib`).
2. Fill the metadata block at the top of `main.tex` (title, author, degree, faculty,
   department, supervisors, month/year). The class builds the title page from these.
3. Build with **XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX + Biber** (pdfLaTeX works too — see `assets/README.md`).

### Writing or editing a chapter
Read `references/structure.md` for what belongs in each chapter, then
`references/style-guide.md` before writing prose. Both are short. Key non-obvious rules
that get flagged in review:
- Chapter 1 must contain Statement of Problem, Objectives, Methods Used, and Organisation
  of the report as its own numbered sections.
- Headings are numbered to **three levels only** (`\chapter`, `\section`, `\subsection`).
  Deeper levels exist but are unnumbered and italic — use `\paragraph` / `\subparagraph`.
- **No headers or footers** other than the page number.
- British English. Past tense for work done, present tense for universal truths.
- Sentences over 25 words and paragraphs over 100 words are defects, not style choices.

### Citing and referencing
Read `references/referencing.md`. Harvard, biblatex + biber, configured in
`umatharvard.tex`. `(Kesse, 1985)`, `Mireku-Gyimah and Suglo (1993)`, four or more authors
→ `Tsidzi *et al.* (2000)`. **A bibliography section is not permitted** — only cited works
appear, under `REFERENCES`, before the appendices.

### Tables, figures, equations
Read `references/formatting-rules.md` §Tables/Figures/Equations. Summary:
- Table caption **above**, figure caption **below**; both numbered `chapter.n`
  (`Table 2.1`, `Figure 5.1`). In appendices the dot is dropped: `Table E3`.
- Pick `Figure` or `Fig.` once and never mix — set it via the class option, not by hand.
- Equations numbered `(5.1)`, `(5.2)` per chapter; follow with a `where,` symbol list.
- Inline fractions use a solidus: `(ax + b)/(cx + d)`, not a display fraction.

### Auditing a draft before submission
Run the linter, then walk `references/editing-checklist.md` (the guide's three-pass edit:
integrity → logical progression → text and language).

```bash
python3 scripts/check_format.py path/to/thesis
```

It reports spec violations it can detect mechanically (heading depth, caption placement,
long sentences and paragraphs, abstract word count, banned constructs, US spellings,
`Figure`/`Fig.` mixing, unreferenced floats). It is an aid, not a substitute for the
checklist — judgement items like "does the conclusion answer the objectives" are yours.

## Reference files

| File | Read it when |
|---|---|
| `references/structure.md` | Ordering front matter, deciding what goes in which chapter |
| `references/formatting-rules.md` | Page setup, headings, numbering, tables, figures, equations, SI units |
| `references/referencing.md` | Any citation or reference-list question |
| `references/style-guide.md` | Writing or rewriting prose; numerals, tenses, capitals, acronyms |
| `references/editing-checklist.md` | Pre-submission audit; copies and binding requirements |

## Things the guide is genuinely ambiguous about

Flag these to the user rather than silently choosing:
- **Justification.** §6.1.3 says work should be "justified to the margin" and then says to
  "avoid right justification … it reduces readability". The class defaults to ragged-right
  (left-aligned) with no paragraph indent, which satisfies the second, stronger statement.
  Pass the `justified` class option if a supervisor insists on full justification.
- **Paragraph separation.** "Use a triple space to indicate a new paragraph" with no indent.
  The class uses a blank-line-sized `\parskip` scaled to the body leading; supervisors
  differ on how literally to read "triple".
- **Footer height.** §6.1.3 lists `Footer: 0.0 cm` yet requires the page number in the
  footer. The class reserves the minimum footskip needed to print it.
- **Reference sorting.** §2.3.1 says "alphabetical order by year of publication"; the
  specimen list is alphabetical by author. The class sorts name-year-title.