ThesIST (pronounced “desist”) is an unofficial Master’s thesis template for Instituto Superior Técnico written in Typst.
By default, this template fully meets the official formatting requirements as outlined here, and most unwritten conventions are followed. Regardless, you can be on the lookout for things you may want to see added.
PIC2 reports with a thesis-like format are also supported, with options to change or hide some parts.
Please read the “Quick guide” chapter included in this template to get set up. You can keep it as a reference if you want.
Prerequisites
If you are just using the Typst web app, you don’t need to take any extra steps.
If you want to compile your thesis offline, make sure you have the following font families installed on your computer:
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TeX Gyre Heros
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TeX Gyre Bonum
FAQ
Is this template universal?
It tries to be.
While there are general guidelines that apply to the vast majority of IST theses, and that this template respects out of the box, on some specific degrees or supervisions you may be asked to add extra content. For example, MEBiol students are typically required to include a preface before the declaration. To allow for the use in such cases, this template includes a set of miscellaneous settings that can be adjusted from main.typ.
In addition to the miscellaneous settings, main.typ also includes PIC2-related settings, since thesis-like PIC2 reports have been known to deviate from the thesis in format in various minor forms. If your report is supposed to diverge in a major form, see the next FAQ.
This template also includes the option to typeset the spine of the thesis in the rare case that it is printed as a book with cover (no other template has been known to implement this). While there are technically rules for how to do this formatting, they are contradictory on close inspection. As such this is not considered a “formal” feature, instead implementing what was perceived to be the most likely intention.
If none of the settings changes what you want: First see if you can add the code yourself (for example, a #pagebreak() inside one of your sections); if this still doesn’t solve it, feel free to open an issue or a pull request.
My PIC template looks nothing like this one!
Contrary to the thesis itself, the PIC2 doesn’t have a universal format or ruleset. Use the template you’re given (or port it to Typst yourself) if it’s too different from this one. You can then come back to this one when you’re writing your thesis document, which will have this format for sure.
Why is some of the front matter structure imported from this template’s package instead of directly editable?
To have a simple interface, in which it isn’t hard to find the variable parts. Sometimes the format is rigid, so the formatting code is not always trivial. ThesIST is intended for everyone at IST, so some flexibility was sacrificed in favor of readability. The idea is that even a person who doesn’t code often should find this easier to navigate than the LaTeX template they would normally use.
If you think something isn’t editable by the user but should, feel free to open an issue or a pull request.
Any tips?
Be sure to keep checking the quick guide and, if needed, Typst’s documentation and online help channels.
The known breaking changes introduced by any new version of this package will always be registered in its changelog, with instructions on what to change. Always check the changelogs when updating this template’s package. They are on the Releases page.
Did the author of this template write his own thesis with this?
Final remarks
This template is not necessarily a finished product. Contributions are welcome!
Thanks to the Typst online community members for the help in some of the functionalities, and for the extensions used here.
The IST logo and the default cover images used in this template are under copyright of Instituto Superior Técnico, and shall not be used for non-professional purposes or by people outside of the institution without its express authorization.
