I have two .tex documents I'm editing on Overleaf, the main body of my thesis and one .tex file for scratch work/initial write-up. The scratch work file shows paragraph indents as normal, but the main body has absolutely no paragraph indent. I want to get the paragraph indents to show up in my main body as well. The problems seems to be in the personalized title page, copyright and abstract pages. Also, my abstract page does not automatically indent either; I've resorted to manually adding $\>$$\>$$\>$$\>$$\>$$\>$ to make the paragraphs indent.
I've tried all the fixes I've found online so far, such as \setparaindent{1.5em}, \usepackage{indentfirst}, \hspace{\parindent}, etc. \hspace{\parindent} seems to indent a little bit, but it's barely noticeable.
I've edited the following to be a minimum working example:
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage[dvips]{graphicx}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{times}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{amsmath}
% For better tables
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\setlength{\heavyrulewidth}{1.5pt}
\setlength{\abovetopsep}{4pt}
\usepackage[
breaklinks=true,colorlinks=true,
%linkcolor=blue,urlcolor=blue,citecolor=blue,% PDF VIEW
linkcolor=black,urlcolor=black,citecolor=black,% PRINT
bookmarks=true,bookmarksopenlevel=2]{hyperref}
\usepackage{geometry}
% PDF VIEW
% \geometry{total={210mm,297mm},
% left=25mm,right=25mm,%
% bindingoffset=0mm, top=25mm,bottom=25mm}
% PRINT
\geometry{
left=20mm,right=20mm,
bindingoffset=10mm, top=25mm,bottom=25mm}
%%% CHAPTER'S STYLE
\chapterstyle{bianchi}
%\chapterstyle{ger}
%\chapterstyle{madsen}
%\chapterstyle{ell}
%%% STYLE OF SECTIONS, SUBSECTIONS, AND SUBSUBSECTIONS
\setsecheadstyle{\Large\bfseries\sffamily\raggedright}
\setsubsecheadstyle{\large\bfseries\sffamily\raggedright}
\setsubsubsecheadstyle{\bfseries\sffamily\raggedright}
\newcommand{\fakesection}[1]{%
\par\refstepcounter{section}% Increase section counter
\sectionmark{#1}% Add section mark (header)
\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{\protect\numberline{\thesection}#1}% Add section to ToC
}
%%% STYLE OF PAGES NUMBERING
%\pagestyle{companion}\nouppercaseheads
%\pagestyle{headings}
%\pagestyle{Ruled}
\pagestyle{plain}
\makepagestyle{plain}
\makeevenfoot{plain}{\thepage}{}{}
\makeoddfoot{plain}{}{}{\thepage}
\makeevenhead{plain}{}{}{}
\makeoddhead{plain}{}{}{}
\maxsecnumdepth{subsection} % chapters, sections, and subsections are numbered
\maxtocdepth{subsection} % chapters, sections, and subsections are in the Table of Contents
\usepackage{lipsum}
%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%
\begin{document}
%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%
% TITLEPAGE
%
% due to variety of titlepage schemes it is probably better to make titlepage manually
%
%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%
\thispagestyle{empty}
{%%%
\sffamily
\centering
\Large
~\vspace{\fill}
{\huge
Title here
}
\vspace{2.5cm}
{\LARGE
Name
}
\vspace{1.5cm}
A thesis\\
submitted in partial fulfillment of the\\
requirements for the degree of\\
\vspace{2.5cm}
Masters of Science\\
\vspace{2.5cm}
University Name\\%[1em]
2025
\vspace{2.5cm}
Committee:\\
Committee Member 1\\
Committee Member 2\\
\vspace{2.5cm}
Program Authorized to Offer Degree:\\
%in the\\[1em]
Department of Academia\\
\vspace{\fill}
%%%
}%%%
\clearpage
%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%
%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%
\fakesection{Copyright page}
\centering
\textcopyright 2025 %\vspace{.5 cm}
Name here
\clearpage
%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%
\tableofcontents*
\clearpage
%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%
%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%---%%%
\fakesection{Abstract}
{\centering
University Name
\vspace{.5cm}
\textbf{Abstract}
\vspace{.5cm}
Thesis Title
\vspace{1cm}
Name
\vspace{1cm}
Chair of the Supervisory Committee:
Committee Member
Department of Academia \vspace{1cm} \par
}
\raggedright
\begin{Spacing}{2}
$\>$$\>$$\>$$\>$$\>$$\>$ \lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\end{Spacing}
\clearpage
\section{Dedication}
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\section{List of Figures Used}
\begin{enumerate}
\item Title and cross-reference here
\end{enumerate}
\section{List of Tables}
\begin{enumerate}
\item Table and reference here
\end{enumerate}
\chapter{Introduction}\label{Introduction}
\lipsum[1]
\section{Introduction subsection}
\hspace{\parindent}
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\chapter{Additional Resources}
\lipsum[1]
\lipsum[1]
\appendix
\bibliographystyle{unsrt}
\bibliography{references}
\end{document}
How can I get the paragraph indentation in my main body and the abstract, like the manual indentation but without doing that by hand?
\usepackage[dvips]{graphicx}? do you not use pdflatex or lualatex, why latex/dvips ?\documentclass{memoir}and affixing\usepackage{lipsum} \begin{document} \lipsum[1-3] \end{document}, the first lines of each of the three paragraphs of filler text begin with indented lines. Put differently, the code you've reported does not generate the problem behavior you wish to fix. Please clarify your document setup. (to be continued)