Disclaimer

These notes describe the use of Scientific Workplace version 3.5, for which we have a very inexpensive perpetual site license. This version is several releases behind the current version, and does not directly support the creation of PDF files required for electronic thesis submission. We cannot get an updated version for a reasonable price. There is no active support for this product on campus. Use it at your own risk.

Theses using Scientific WorkPlace and LaTeX

What is LaTeX?

LaTeX is a markup language not unlike HTML, but for technical documents:

   \begin{document}                       <html>
     \chapter{Introduction}                 <h1>Introduction</h1>
     It was a dark and stormy night.        It was a dark and stormy night.
   \end{document}                         </html>

LaTeX can be used on it's own to create a UW thesis. All you need is a text editor and the LaTeX suite of programs to process the marked-up document.
Here are notes on how to use LaTeX.
An excellent LaTeX formatter for Windows can be downloaded for $0 from www.miktex.org.
LaTeX formatters are available on most Linux/Unix systems on campus.

What is Scientific WorkPlace?

Scientific WorkPlace (SWP) is a graphical user interface to LaTeX,
... just like Netscape Composer is a graphical user interface to HTML.
SWP is available for Windows and Macintosh in the CHIP (MC 1052). Our inexpensive site license is for version 3.5 (an older version). We have no plans to update to a newer version, since we cannot obtain an affordable license agreement.
SWP is $10 (media cost) to the UW community, and it may installed and used at home.
Installation Instructions. SWP 3.5 licenses last 12 months. After that they
can be renewed by repeating steps 8 - 12 (at no charge).
Lyx is another well-known GUI for LaTeX, expecially on Linux/Unix.
Lyx is $0, but requires more effort to get running under Windows.

SWP Template for a UW Thesis

Like SWP itself, this thesis template is not actively supported and not being mainta ined. Use it at your own risk. A supported thesis template for LaTeX is here.

Download thesis.tex, toc.tex and sample.bib to your thesis directory.
The UW Graduate Thesis Regulations change from time to time
without our knowledge, so please check your thesis against them.

Working with Scientific WorkPlace

To edit the file:
```
     Click:  [File] [Open] thesis.tex
```
To run it through a LaTeX formatter:
```
     Click:  [Typeset] [Preview]
```

Learning Scientific WorkPlace

To learn more about SWP, see: on-line videos on SWP, and accompanying handout.

On-line References for SWP and LaTeX

MacKichan (makers of SWP) - Click: Support > Knowledgebase
BibTeX and bibliography styles
MIT Answers on LaTeX
LaTeX Hypertext Help (couresy NASA)

Converting WMF to EPS

The most portable graphics format for use with LaTeX is EPS.
The most prevalent graphics format in Windows is WMF.
Unlike bitmap formats like BMP, GIF, JPG and PNG -
WMF files can be scaled up and down without "jaggies".
A program called Mayura Draw may be used to convert WMF
files to EPS.

Converting: Word to SWP

In Word, save thesis.doc as thesis.rtf.
In SWP:
```
     Click:  [File] [Open] thesis.rtf
```
Text, equations and graphics are converted.

Example:

Converting: SWP to word

(This is probably not the best or most elegant way.)

In SWP's DVI Previewer, print thesis.dvi to thesis.pdf using the Adobe Acrobat print driver.
Launch the Adobe Acrobat program and then:
```
     Click:  [File] [Open] thesis.pdf
```
Click: [File] [Save As]
Choose to save as type: Microsoft Word Document (*.doc)

Last updated Nov. 9, 2007