Stanford Thesis Template for Typst and Quarto

A template for Stanford PhD dissertations and theses, available as both a pure Typst template and a Quarto custom format. Based on the official Stanford formatting requirements and the suthesis-2e.sty LaTeX template.

Disclaimer: The Office of the University Registrar does not endorse or verify the accuracy of any dissertation or thesis formatting templates. Always check your output against the current requirements before submitting.

Quarto Usage

Installing

quarto use template StanfordHPDS/typst-stanford-thesis

This will install the format extension and create a Quarto Book project with example chapter files that you can use as a starting place for your dissertation.

Setup

The template uses a Quarto Book project. Thesis metadata goes in _quarto.yml:

project:
  type: book

book:
  title: "Your Dissertation Title"
  author:
    - name: Your Name
  chapters:
    - index.qmd
    - chapters/chapter-2.qmd
    - chapters/chapter-3.qmd

bibliography: references.bib

department: Your Department
degree: Doctor of Philosophy
department-prefix: "Department of"
submission-month: June
submission-year: "2026"
abstract: |
  Your abstract text here.
acknowledgments: |
  Your acknowledgments here.
dedication: |
  *To someone special.*
show-toc: true
show-lof: true
show-lot: true

format:
  stanford-thesis-typst: default

Each chapter is its own .qmd file. Add or remove chapter files and update the chapters: list in _quarto.yml to match.

Render with:

quarto render

YAML Options

Option	Default	Description
title	(required)	Dissertation title
author	(required)	Author name
department	(required)	Department or program name
degree	"Doctor of Philosophy"	Degree name
department-prefix	"Department of"	Use "Program in" or "Committee on" as needed
submission-month	—	Month of submission to the Registrar
submission-year	—	Year of submission
abstract	—	Abstract text
acknowledgments	—	Acknowledgments text
dedication	—	Dedication text (centered on its own page)
preface	—	Preface text
show-toc	true	Show table of contents
show-lof	true	Show list of figures
show-lot	true	Show list of tables
section-numbering	"1.1"	Heading numbering format
chapter-prefix	"Chapter "	Label before chapter numbers
appendix-prefix	"Appendix "	Label before appendix letters

Book Structure

The template supports the standard Quarto Book structure features:

Unnumbered chapters — Add {.unnumbered} to a chapter heading to omit the "Chapter N" prefix and numbering:

# Introduction {.unnumbered}

Parts — Organize chapters into parts. Part divider pages are centered with Roman numeral labels (Part I, Part II, etc.):

book:
  chapters:
    - index.qmd
    - part: "Theory"
      chapters:
        - chapters/background.qmd
        - chapters/methods.qmd
    - part: "Applications"
      chapters:
        - chapters/results.qmd
    - references.qmd

References page — Control bibliography placement with a references.qmd file containing the {#refs} div. The bibliography renders at this location instead of being appended at the end:

# References {.unnumbered}

::: {#refs}
:::

Appendices — List appendix files under appendices:. Quarto generates a centered "Appendices" divider page and switches to A, B, C numbering:

book:
  appendices:
    - chapters/appendix-a.qmd
    - chapters/appendix-b.qmd

Configurable prefixes — Customize the "Chapter" and "Appendix" heading labels:

chapter-prefix: "Ch. "
appendix-prefix: "App. "

Fonts

The template defaults to Times New Roman (with Libertinus Serif as fallback). See the Stanford formatting requirements for the full list of acceptable fonts.

Override via the standard Quarto mainfont option:

format:
  stanford-thesis-typst:
    mainfont: "New Computer Modern"

Pure Typst Usage

You can also use the template directly with Typst, without Quarto. See sample-thesis/ for a complete example.

#import "stanford-thesis.typ": thesis, part

#show: thesis.with(
  title: "Your Dissertation Title",
  author: "Your Name",
  department: "Your Department",
  degree: "Doctor of Philosophy",
  submission-month: "June",
  submission-year: "2026",
  abstract: [
    Your abstract here.
  ],
  acknowledgments: [
    Your acknowledgments here.
  ],
)

// Unnumbered intro
#heading(level: 1, numbering: none)[Introduction]

Your intro here.

#part("Theory")

= Methods

Your methods here.

#bibliography("your-references.bib")

Compile with:

typst compile sample-thesis/main.typ --root .

The --root . flag is needed so Typst can access stanford-thesis.typ from the project root.