abnt

Overview

abnt is a format in the Quarto system specifically tailored for the creation of theses and dissertations that align with the guidelines established by the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT). It’s based on the abntex2 class in the LaTeX framework, which belongs to the memoir class type.

This format also includes a dedicated Quarto book template designed for use with the R programming language. Although it is possible to employ other programming languages supported by Quarto with this format, some adjustments may be required.

It’s worth noting that ABNT standards are not publicly accessible. They can be acquired here. If you are affiliated with a federal or state university in Brazil, you may have access to Target GEDWeb, a service for managing standards and other regulatory documents. Members of the University of São Paulo (USP) can access ABNT standards on GEDWeb here.

You can view a sample of the printed output in the pdf folder or by visiting the repository website.

For a practical demonstration of this Quarto format in use, you can refer to the example repository.

Prerequisites

To effectively use `abnt, it’s important to have some familiarity with the tools and languages involved. This includes the R programming language and the LaTeX framework, as well as being acquainted with the Quarto system and abntex2, memoir, and biblatex LaTeX packages.

It’s crucial to understand that, while this Quarto format allows for the integration of other programming languages, its core structure is based on R and LaTeX. Therefore, if you wish to make any customizations, you’ll need to work within these languages. Additionally, although not mandatory, we recommend using the free and open-source reference manager Zotero.

For those less familiar with R, we strongly encourage you to explore resources such as Hadley Wickham and Garrett Grolemund’s free and online book, R for Data Science, and consider the Coursera course from John Hopkins University, Data Science: Foundations using R (free for audit students).

To become well-versed in LaTeX, we suggest reading Tobias Oetiker’s et al. free and online book, The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX. You can also explore other excellent and free resources for learning LaTeX, such as Learn LaTeX.org and Winston Chang’s LaTeX Cheat Sheet.

Lastly, if you’ve opted for a Quarto format, you likely values open science and reproducibility. In this case, we recommend implementing this format in a research compendium online repository. For guidance on this, please refer to the article by Ben Marwick, Carl Boettiger & Lincoln Mullen, Packaging Data Analytical Work Reproducibly Using R (and Friends).

Installation

While Quarto provides various features for customization, they still do not suffice to seamlessly adapt to ABNT standards. Some formatting adjustments required the use of unconventional methods and multiple layers of processing.

A convenient way to begin using abnt is by cloning this repository and building upon its Quarto book. By doing so, make sure to install the renv R package and run renv::restore() afterward. This will ensure that you have all the necessary package dependencies ready for use.

Usage

To render your thesis, you can use the format name followed by a dash and the desired output type:

quarto render --to abnt-pdf

Alternatively, you can utilize the quarto R package’s quarto_render() function as an interface.

Currently, abnt offers two output formats: pdf (the default format) and an html template for publishing a web-based thesis book in addition to the print version.

You can also specify the format in your document’s yml configuration as follows:

format:
  abnt-pdf

Formating options

Most customization options available in the Quarto system are compatible with this format. For more details, refer to the extension YAML file and the PDF Options section in the Quarto guide.

For additional formatting information, see Appendix _Settings__ of abnt print output and the web output.

Please note that some documentation may still be missing. We are actively working to provide complete documentation. If you have questions, ideas to share, or need assistance, feel free to use the GitHub discussion tab. We and the community will do our best to assist you.

Citation

If you choose to utilize the abnt format in your research, we kindly request that you consider citing it. Building and maintaining this free and open-source Quarto format has required substantial effort, and your citation is appreciated. The citation details are provided below.

APA style:

Vartanian, D. (2023). {abnt}: Quarto format for ABNT theses and dissertations.
https://github.com/danielvartan/abnt/

BibTeX entry:

@unpublished{vartanian2023,
  author = {Daniel Vartanian},
  title = {{abnt}: Quarto format for ABNT theses and dissertations},
  url = {https://github.com/danielvartan/abnt/},
  year = {2023}
}

Contributing

We warmly welcome contributions from the community, which includes bug reports and other enhancements to improve the abnt format.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our Guidelines for Contributing.

Acknowledgments

This Quarto project owes its existence to the contributions of dedicated developers from the abntTeX community.

The initial development of abnt was made possible through a scholarship generously provided by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the University of São Paulo (USP) (Grant number: 88887.703720/2022-00) (❤️).

You can become a supporter of abnt too!

Click here to make a donation. When making your donation, please specify your support for the abnt format in the donation message.