bjnw@castle.ed.ac.uk (B Wylie) (11/21/90)
Standing centre-stage, I should admit to being the fool who had their
thesis rejected (pending appeal) through not conforming to the
University of Edinburgh formatting regulations.
That appeal was heard on Monday and the (initial) reports I've received
back have suggested that it was all a bit of a non-problem arising from
being "one step ahead of the regulations."
The Committee examined the LaTeX'd (\documentstyle[12pt,a4]{report})
thesis presented and appeared incredulous that it could possibly be
rejected on the grounds of the format being inappropriate. Their
recommendation was therefore that the thesis should not be further
impeded in its progress to examination, and that, since the formatting
regulations appeared to have lagged behind the improved typesetting
technology which is now commonly available -- and which should be used
where possible -- that, in their opinion, the matter of reviewing the
current regulations should be considered with some urgency.
There is still an outside chance that the Senatus, who control the
thesis regulations for the whole University (rather than solely the
Science Faculty) might have a different interpretation when they receive
the thesis as currently formatted after its examination; the consensus
seems to be, however, that a natural revision of the regulations is
overdue.
Although it may well be premature to claim that the University of
Edinburgh accepts "normal typeset linespacing," I feel that it can now
stand alongside the other establishments in the UK which (I am informed)
accept such output (University of Nottingham and University of Reading)
and hopefully will soon join the list which have regulations to that
effect (University of Oxford, City University (London) & Cranfield
Institute of Technology).
I'd like to thank the many people who have given freely of their time
and advised and assisted in this matter. The technical supporting
evidence accumulated was indeed impressive, though rather difficult to
present adequately in non-technical terms to laymen -- especially when
there is a "natural" interpretation of line-spacing which happens to be
technically unjustifable. However, in the end of the day the "look and
feel" of the thesis was what ultimately mattered, and there seemed to be
no doubt about the "near-professional" quality which LaTeX provides.
Rest assured that the thesis in question already contained a heartfelt
acknowledgement of the assistance provided by the folks of the 'Net in
the past, which is more than justly deserved.
Slainte, "Let he who hath understanding reckon the number of
Brian. the \baselinestretch ..." --- The Book of Lamport