3. Managing References Using BibTeX

Document Database

When writing papers, reports, or essays, you’ll inevitably encounter something called a “reference.” There always comes a moment when you need to organize the sources you cited while writing your document. And this organizing process can be more tedious than you might think.

What is BibTeX?

Are you surprised to see another unfamiliar term like LaTeX?

Think of BibTeX as a tool that helps you manage citations more easily in LaTeX. In short, it acts like a manager that organizes your bibliography.

BibTeX is a combination of Bibliography (references) and TeX, which is why it’s pronounced “BibTeX.”

It’s easy to use. You collect your references in a .bib file, and when needed, you cite them in your document. The LaTeX engine then automatically organizes and formats them according to citation style.

However, you might wonder, “Why do I even need this?” or “Can’t I just write citations manually?”
To answer that, let’s first take a look at how people managed citations before BibTeX.

How References Were Managed Before BibTeX

In the early days of LaTeX, you had to manually write out each reference using the thebibliography environment and the \bibitem command, like in the example below.

\begin{thebibliography}{9}
\bibitem{murfy2025} Murfy Team. (2025). *LaTeX Editor for Collaboration*. Murfy Docs.
\end{thebibliography}

At a glance, it might not seem too inconvenient,
but what if the number of references increases to dozens or even hundreds?

To change the order, you’d have to manually adjust each citation’s position one by one.
And every time you submit to a journal or conference with different citation styles (like APA, IEEE, etc.),
you’d have to rewrite everything to match the required format—over and over again.

This kind of repetitive work wastes time and increases the likelihood of errors.
Surely no one wants to spend extra time on such tasks while writing important documents.

That’s why BibTeX was created—based on the idea:
“Wouldn’t it be great if references could be managed like a database, and everything automatically handled when citing them in the document?”

Using BibTeX for Citations and References

When using BibTeX, there are two main things you need to prepare:

1. A .bib file to store your references

2. A command to call those references in your document

1. Creating a .bib File and Storing References

First, create a BibTeX file with the .bib extension and give it a filename.
It’s best to use a meaningful and straightforward name like references.bib.

Then, within that file, you can store the reference information for books, reports, and other sources used in your writing.

⚠️ Important: Be careful when writing!
Even though BibTeX files are plain text, they need to follow a specific format to work correctly.
So when writing them, make sure to follow these three essential components:

• Entry type:
  Use types like @article, @book, or @inproceedings to indicate what kind of source it is. This helps BibTeX categorize the reference correctly.

• Citation key:
  This is an identifier you’ll use in your document when you want to cite the reference.
  It should be something memorable and unique to make reuse easy.

• Fields:
  These are where you put the actual details like the author, title, and year.
  The required fields may vary depending on the entry type.

@ENTRYTYPE{CITATIONKEY,
  FIELD1  = {value1},
  FIELD2  = {value2},
  FIELD3  = {value3},
  ...
}

When these three components come together, a single BibTeX entry is complete.
Each of these is called an "Entry."

@article{murfy2025,
  author  = {Murfy Team},
  title   = {AI LaTeX Editor for Collaboration},
  journal = {Murfy Docs},
  year    = {2025}
}

Looking at an example, you might see an entry with the type article and the citation key murfy2025.
It includes details like the author, title, journal, and year of publication.

Is it starting to make a bit more sense?

Refer to the table below for more types of entries and their descriptions.

2. Connecting the Main Document and the .bib File

Once your references are well-organized, the next step is to connect your TeX file with the .bib file and specify the citation style to be used.

You can place these commands anywhere within the document environment, but
typically, they are written at the end of the document.

% ✅
\bibliography{file1, file2, file3...}

% ❌
\bibliography{file1}
\bibliography{file2}
\bibliography{file3}         

However, if you declare the command multiple times, the reference list may be generated anew each time, which can cause confusion—so please be careful!

Knowing the reference format or style required by each journal or conference can help you complete your references more efficiently.
Here are some commonly used BibTeX reference styles:

💡

Try writing by referring to the code examples for each environment.

plain
unsrt
alpha
abbrv
ieeetr
apalike
acm
siam

3. Citing in the Main Document

Now that you’ve written your references, linked the main document, and specified the citation style, it’s finally time to use them.

To cite, simply call the citation key defined in the .bib file.

For example, let’s assume your .bib file contains an entry like the following.

@article{murfy2025,
  author  = {Murfy Team},
  title   = {AI LaTeX Editor for Collaboration},
  journal = {Murfy Docs},
  year    = {2025}
}

In the main document, you can simply use the \cite command like below to easily insert a citation.

\begin{document}

The LaTeX Basics Guide was written by Murfy.\cite{murfy2025}

\bibliography{references}
\bibliographystyle{plain}

\end{document}

As a result, in the main document, you’ll see something like [1], and the citation format will be automatically applied according to the style you selected.

Let me introduce a few of the most commonly used citation commands.

Besides these, there are many other citation commands available—feel free to explore them!

💡

Try writing by referring to the code examples for each environment.

\cite
\citet
\citep
\citeauthor
\citeyear

Referencing Internal Elements in a Document

While writing a document, you’ll often need to reference parts like
“See Figure 2 below.”
You’ll frequently encounter situations where you need to refer to different locations in your document.
Each time, manually checking and inserting the number is inefficient.
Worse, if the document is edited, all the numbering changes and you’d need to update them manually—very inconvenient.

LaTeX provides a way to reference internal elements of a document to handle exactly this kind of situation.

1. Naming Reference Points

\label is the command used to assign a label to a reference point.

Think of it like putting a tag at a specific location and naming it—this will help you understand it more intuitively.

It is typically placed right after sections, figures, tables, or equations.

\section{데이터 분석 방법}\label{sec:analysis}

\includegraphics[width=0.3\linewidth]{result}\label{fig:result}

2. Calling a Reference Location

The \ref command is used to automatically retrieve the number of the location assigned by the \label command.

For example, if you previously wrote \label{fig:result}, you can refer to it like this:

or more details, see Section \ref{sec:analysis}.

The result can be found in Figure \ref{fig:result}.

When used this way, the actual document will automatically reflect section or figure numbers.
Even if the document is edited later, there’s no need to manually update the numbers—LaTeX will always display the latest number, making your document much more efficient and easier to maintain.

Here's a tip! 🍯

\label and \ref only return the number of the referenced item—they don’t specify whether it's a figure, section, etc.
So, like in the example above, it’s a good idea to include context like “Section” or “Figure” in the sentence to make the reference more natural and readable.

Want to memorize the commonly used internal reference commands?

All of these commands reference a target defined with \label,
but depending on what kind of information you want to display, the command you use may vary.

Refer to the examples and use the appropriate one according to your needs!

\section{Introduction}\label{sec:intro}
\section{Methods}\label{sec:method}

\begin{equation}\label{eq:einstein}
E = mc^2
\end{equation}

Example references in the document:

\begin{itemize}
  \item default number: Section~\ref{sec:intro}
  \item page number: Page~\pageref{sec:intro}
  \item formula number: Equation~\eqref{eq:einstein}
  \item auto type: \autoref{sec:intro}
  \item title text: \nameref{sec:intro}
  \item cleveref (small letter): \cref{eq:einstein}
  \item cleveref (capital letter): \Cref{eq:einstein}
\end{itemize}

Today, we explored how to manage references in LaTeX and improve the completeness of your documents.
Well-organized references not only enhance the credibility of your writing but also help convey accurate information to readers—making them incredibly valuable.

By practicing directly with Murf, you’ll become more familiar with writing references.
As you continue, you’ll be able to create documents with richer, more complete content than ever before.

This article marks the end of the Murf LaTeX Beginner Guide series.
If you’ve made it this far, you’ve likely already mastered the fundamentals of LaTeX!

Even if LaTeX still feels unfamiliar or a bit complex, just becoming a little more comfortable with it is more than enough.
From here, you’ll be able to solve problems on your own and create impressive documents.

I hope this guide has served as a meaningful starting point for your document writing journey. 🚀

Murf will continue to grow to support easier and more convenient writing experiences for everyone.
We’ll keep bringing you more stories and practical guides—so please stay tuned!

Thank you for reading through the beginner’s guide!