Yale PhD Dissertation LaTeX Template

This template provides a reusable LaTeX structure for a Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences doctoral dissertation. It is based on the yalephd.cls class and adds a modern bibliography workflow, long-table support, code-block support, and an optional manuscript citation/index system.

Students remain responsible for checking the current Yale GSAS dissertation formatting guide and any departmental requirements before submission. The current guide is available through the Registrar: https://registrar.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2026-02/Formatting%20the%20Doctoral%20Dissertation%20%282026%29.pdf.

Creator and Contact

This template was prepared by Estelle Guéville for reuse by PhD students at Yale.

For questions, corrections, or suggestions, contact:

Estelle Guéville
Email: estelle.gueville@yale.edu
Department: Medieval Studies, Yale University

Yale Formatting

The template is designed to support the Yale guide "Formatting the Doctoral Dissertation" (2025). In particular:

• The main text is double-spaced.
• Pages are single-sided.
• The page layout uses 1 inch margins.
• Preliminary pages use lowercase roman numerals where page numbers are printed; the dissertation proper begins with Arabic page number 1.
• The document uses 12 point type by default.
• The abstract appears immediately before the title page.
• Bibliography entries, captions, footnotes, tables, block quotations, and similar elements can be single-spaced.
• Tables and figures can be numbered by chapter.
• The title page, copyright page, and abstract structure are provided by yalephd.cls.
• The default order in Dissertation.tex is: abstract, title page, copyright page, table of contents, lists/front matter, body, manuscript index, bibliography.

The official Yale formatting guide should be treated as authoritative if requirements change.

Project Structure

Dissertation.tex                 Main file
yalephd.cls                      Yale dissertation class
abstract.tex                     Abstract page
acknowledgements.tex             Optional acknowledgements
dedication.tex                   Optional dedication
chapters/Introduction.tex        Sample chapter
chapters/Chapter1.tex            Sample chapter with longtable
chapters/Conclusion.tex          Sample conclusion
bibfile.bib                      Secondary-source bibliography
manuscripts.bib                  Manuscript records
manuscripts.csv                  Source CSV for manuscript records
manuscript_index_entries.tex     Generated manuscript index sorting rules
scripts/build_manuscripts.py     Regenerates manuscript files from CSV
latexmkrc                        Runs the manuscript index with latexmk/Overleaf

First Steps

In Dissertation.tex, replace:

\title{Dissertation Title: Subtitle}
\author{Full Name of Author}
\advisor{Full Name of Advisor}
\date{Month Year}

The date should be the month and year of conferral, not necessarily the month of submission.

Then replace the text in abstract.tex, acknowledgements.tex, dedication.tex, and the files in chapters/.

To add or remove chapters, edit the \include{...} lines in Dissertation.tex.

The template uses \part{...} divisions in the body, following a common humanities dissertation structure:

\include{chapters/Introduction}
\part{Part One Title}
\include{chapters/Chapter1}
\include{chapters/Chapter2}
\part{Part Two Title}
\include{chapters/Chapter3}

Introduction.tex and Conclusion.tex are intentionally unnumbered:

\chapter*{Introduction}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Introduction}

This keeps the introduction and conclusion in the table of contents without counting them as numbered chapters.

Bibliography

Secondary literature goes in bibfile.bib.

The template uses biblatex-chicago in notes mode with biber:

\usepackage[backend=biber,notes]{biblatex-chicago}

Use citations such as:

\footcite{sample_book_2024}
\footfullcite{sample_article_2023}
\cite{sample_book_2024}

The bibliography prints at the end:

\printbibliography[nottype=manuscript,notkeyword=manuscript]

This deliberately excludes manuscript records.

Manuscript References

Manuscripts are handled separately from the main bibliography. This is useful when manuscripts need consistent inline labels and a separate index of pages where they are mentioned.

Use:

\ms{ms001}

This prints the manuscript's shorthand field from manuscripts.bib and adds the current page to the Manuscripts index.

You can override the display text while keeping the same index tracking:

\ms[Beinecke MS 001]{ms001}

Manuscript records look like:

@manuscript{ms001,
  shorthand   = {New Haven, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 001},
  institution = {Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library},
  title       = {MS 001},
  location    = {New Haven, United States},
  date        = {1450/1500},
  heuristid   = {001},
  keywords    = {manuscript}
}

The key ms001 is the stable citation handle. The visible manuscript name is controlled by shorthand.

Regenerating Manuscript Files from CSV

Edit manuscripts.csv, then run:

python3 scripts/build_manuscripts.py

This generates:

manuscripts.bib
manuscript_index_entries.tex

The manuscript index sorts as:

Country > City > Manuscript

The CSV columns are:

Manuscript H-ID
Manuscript Record Title
Holding Institution Record Title
Country
Institution City
Call number
Ms Dating

Compiling

Overleaf

1. Set the main document to Dissertation.tex.
2. Use pdfLaTeX.
3. Use Biber for bibliography processing.
4. Recompile from scratch after changing .bib, manuscript CSV data, or index settings.

The template loads UTF-8 input support, so accented characters can be typed directly in chapter files and bibliography files.

The included latexmkrc tells Overleaf/latexmk how to run makeindex for the custom Manuscripts index.

Local

If latexmk is installed:

latexmk -pdf Dissertation.tex

The full workflow is:

1. LaTeX
2. Biber
3. MakeIndex for the Manuscripts index
4. LaTeX again until references settle

Figures

Use:

\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{figures/example.pdf}

LaTeX does not normally include SVG files directly with \includegraphics. Convert SVG files to PDF or PNG first.

The sample introduction includes a placeholder figure drawn directly in LaTeX:

\begin{figure}[htbp]
    \centering
    \fbox{...}
    \caption{A placeholder figure.}
\end{figure}

This is only a placeholder; no image file is required.

Tables

Use table and tabular for short tables. Use longtable for tables that may continue across pages.

For dense long tables inside double-spaced dissertations, use:

\begingroup
\small
\setstretch{1.15}
\setlength{\LTpre}{0pt}
\setlength{\LTpost}{0pt}
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{4pt}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{0.92}
...
\endgroup

Do not wrap longtable inside a table environment.

Code Blocks

Use:

\begin{lstlisting}
def hello():
    print("Hello, dissertation.")
\end{lstlisting}

Code blocks use the listings package and wrap long lines.

Common Problems

If bibliography entries do not appear, recompile from scratch and check that Biber is selected.

If the Manuscripts index is missing, recompile from scratch. On Overleaf, make sure latexmkrc is included in the project.

If an SVG image fails with Unknown graphics extension: .svg, convert it to PDF or PNG.

If a table runs off the page, use longtable instead of tabular.

If spacing inside a table is too large, wrap the table in \setstretch{1.15} or \singlespacing.

Suggested Use

Keep the template under version control. Start from the sample files, replace content gradually, and avoid editing yalephd.cls unless a Yale formatting requirement changes.