PhD Thesis LaTeX Template

\documentclass[12pt, a4paper, twoside]{report}
% ── References: written to refs.bib at compile time ─────────────────────
% Replace these entries with your own, or delete this block and point
% \bibliography{} at your .bib file. Run pdflatex, bibtex, pdflatex x2
% (latexmk and Overleaf do it for you).
\begin{filecontents*}[overwrite]{refs.bib}
@article{smith2023,
  author  = {Smith, John},
  title   = {Foundational Paper},
  journal = {Nature},
  year    = {2023},
  volume  = {610},
  pages   = {1--8}
}
\end{filecontents*}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{inner=3.5cm, outer=2.5cm, top=2.5cm, bottom=2.5cm}
\usepackage{setspace}
\onehalfspacing
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{amsmath, amssymb, amsthm}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage[numbers,sort&compress]{natbib}
\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}
\pagestyle{fancy}

% Theorem environments
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}[chapter]
\newtheorem{lemma}[theorem]{Lemma}
\newtheorem{proposition}[theorem]{Proposition}
\theoremstyle{definition}
\newtheorem{definition}{Definition}[chapter]

\begin{document}

% ── Title page ──────────────────────────────
\begin{titlepage}
  \centering
  {\Large University Name}\\[1cm]
  {\Huge \textbf{Your Thesis Title}}\\[0.5cm]
  {\large Subtitle if applicable}\\[2cm]
  {\normalsize A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of\\
  the requirements for the degree of}\\[0.5cm]
  {\Large \textbf{Doctor of Philosophy}}\\[0.5cm]
  in\\[0.3cm]
  {\large Department of XYZ}\\[2cm]
  {\normalsize by}\\[0.3cm]
  {\large \textbf{Your Full Name}}\\[3cm]
  Supervisor: Prof. Supervisor Name\\[0.5cm]
  {\today}
\end{titlepage}

% ── Front matter ────────────────────────────
\chapter*{Declaration}
I hereby declare that this thesis is my own original work...
\newpage

\chapter*{Abstract}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Abstract}
Your abstract goes here (300--500 words). Summarize your research question,
methodology, key findings, and contribution to the field.

\chapter*{Acknowledgements}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Acknowledgements}
I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Name, for invaluable guidance...

\tableofcontents
\listoffigures
\listoftables

% ── Chapter 1: Introduction ─────────────────
\chapter{Introduction}
\label{chap:intro}

\section{Background and Motivation}
Introduce your research area and why it matters. Reference prior work \cite{smith2023}.

\section{Research Questions}
\begin{enumerate}
  \item RQ1: How does X affect Y?
  \item RQ2: Can Z be efficiently computed under condition W?
\end{enumerate}

\section{Contributions}
The main contributions of this thesis are:
\begin{itemize}
  \item A novel framework for...
  \item Theoretical analysis proving...
  \item Empirical validation on...
\end{itemize}

\section{Thesis Structure}
Chapter~\ref{chap:review} reviews related work.
Chapter~\ref{chap:method} describes our methodology.

% ── Chapter 2: Literature Review ────────────
\chapter{Literature Review}
\label{chap:review}

\section{Overview}
\subsection{Prior Work on Topic A}
\subsection{Prior Work on Topic B}

% ── Chapter 3: Methodology ──────────────────
\chapter{Methodology}
\label{chap:method}

\section{Research Design}

\section{Mathematical Framework}
Let $\mathcal{X}$ denote the input space. We define:
\begin{definition}
  A function $f: \mathcal{X} \to \mathbb{R}$ is \emph{Lipschitz continuous}
  with constant $L$ if for all $x, y \in \mathcal{X}$:
  \[
    |f(x) - f(y)| \leq L\|x - y\|
  \]
\end{definition}

\begin{theorem}
  State your main theorem here.
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
  Proof details here. $\qed$
\end{proof}

% ── Chapter 4: Results ──────────────────────
\chapter{Results}
\label{chap:results}

\section{Main Findings}

\begin{table}[htbp]
  \centering
  \caption{Comparison of methods on benchmark datasets.}
  \begin{tabular}{lccc}
    \toprule
    Method & Dataset A & Dataset B & Runtime (s) \\
    \midrule
    Baseline & 0.75 & 0.71 & 12.3 \\
    Method X & 0.84 & 0.82 & 15.1 \\
    Ours & \textbf{0.92} & \textbf{0.89} & 18.4 \\
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}
  \label{tab:results}
\end{table}

% ── Chapter 5: Discussion ───────────────────
\chapter{Discussion}
\label{chap:discussion}

\section{Interpretation}
\section{Limitations}
\section{Future Work}

% ── Chapter 6: Conclusion ───────────────────
\chapter{Conclusion}
\label{chap:conclusion}

\section{Summary of Contributions}
\section{Future Directions}

% ── Appendices ──────────────────────────────
\appendix
\chapter{Supplementary Proofs}
\chapter{Dataset Details}

% ── Bibliography ────────────────────────────
\bibliographystyle{plainnat}
\bibliography{refs}

\end{document}

Is the PhD Thesis template free?

Yes. Every latexci template is free and needs no signup: the full source is on this page, free to copy and use in your own documents, including academic and commercial work. Open it in the browser editor or paste it into any TeX editor.

How do I use this template?

Click “Open in editor” to load it straight into the live LaTeX preview, or copy the source into Overleaf or your local TeX editor (TeX Live, MiKTeX).