LaTeX Thesis Template with incredible documentation and concatenation of files and packages, etc.

latexthesistemplate-2014-07-11.zip

This will take you down the rabbit hole, but it's written more like a choose-your-own-adventure.  You know where you're going and why, and when you get there, it's clear what the next turns are.

There's 63 files in 7 folders, but LaTeXtemplate.tex explicitly states which file is being called from where, so it's easy to pop that one (and any subsequent ones) open to read what's going on.  Yes, I said read as in it's well-documented so you can read most of it in English; you don't have to interpret, infer, and research each term.  In many cases most options are included and documented for each package, even the 'unnecessary' ones, which are commented out.  This makes for easy switching between document styles, for instance.

There's excellent documentation included in a separate PDF that even includes some analysis on compilation time depending on what parts are used and discussion about package incompatibilities and loading orders.

I won't pretend to comprehend it all; it won't immediately run on my computer (it seems to be calling files I don't have, and I've not tried to fix it), but for explanation, this is an excellent resource I'll be saving.

A multi-TeX-file thesis template with some introduction to simpler elements.

University of Oregon's Thesis and Dissertation LaTeX site.

It might be a bit under-automated, or a bit over-divided, as I'm not sure the abstract and the dedication need separate files.

A marvelously detailed, well-commented thesis package (even if it is in one document): "Using LaTeX for thesis writing..."

Using LaTeX for thesis writing at the University of Washington.

The author mentions he set it up as a single file in order to make file-sharing simpler, but it doesn't seem entirely clear how to set it up in the multiple-TeX-file format he suggests.

The Best Introductory Overview to LaTeX (so far) "LaTeX Your Document"

LaTeX Your Document by Reed College's CIS Help Desk

While I don't have access to their Thesis documents, this has been the best overview and step-by-step introduction yet.  It does not address using LaTeX on different operating systems (Mac at home and Windows in the lab, for example).