Creating BibTeX Bibliographies with Scientific Word/WorkPlace

''The power of the BibTeX bibliography is that, once the bibliographic references have been added to a database (a one-time-only task), every instance of citing them in every paper thereafter is a matter of seconds; and the bibliography is constructed by the software according to the citations included in the document''

Creating typeset bibliographies is straightforward in Scientific Word/WorkPlace using BibTeX:

If the Scientific Word/WorkPlace shell document you're using supports bibliographies, you can use a special program called BibTeX to generate an automatic bibliography.

When you compile the document, the program passes the document through BibTeX, which automatically generates the bibliography by extracting the cited references from a specified database and placing them in a file with the same name as your document but with a .bbl extension. The next time you typeset the document, LaTeX or pdfLaTeX includes the .bbl file in the document. The bibliography list is formatted according to the BibTeX bibliography style, which you can change. The formatter also creates the cross-references for the citations in the body of the document and formats the citations according to the typesetting specifications.

Note: You must typeset compile the document to generate the bibliography and the citation cross-references to it. If you don't typeset, the bibliography and citations aren't generated and don't appear on the preview screen or in print.

Follow these instructions to create a BibTeX bibliography.

1. Create or obtain a BibTeX database

2. Specify a BibTeX bibliography and style

3. Include the bibliography

4. Create the citations

5. Generate the bibliography

To create or obtain a BibTeX database

BibTeX bibliographies are generated from databases of bibliographic items in BibTeX form. Several sample databases are provided with the program; you can add others. The databases have a .bib file extension and are located in the \TCITeX\bibtex\bib subdirectory or one of its subdirectories.

Each record in a BibTeX database contains the information necessary to create a bibliographic entry in a document. The records are stored in a logical format with no formatting information. The bibliography style files, which have the extension .bst, are stored by default in the TCITeX\bibtex\bst subdirectory or one of its subdirectories. You can specify a different directory for .bib and .bst files if you prefer. However, changing the directory affects your program installation as a whole. We recommend that the directory locations remain unchanged.

Here we see the supplied utility BibDB being used to add bibliographic data to the camel database.

To specify a BibTeX bibliography

1. From the Typeset menu, choose Bibliography Choice then BibTeX.
   
   
    
2. Choose OK.

To include the bibliography

1. Move the insertion point to the end of the line that is to precede the bibliography.
2. Press Enter.
3. From the Insert menu, choose Typeset Object, and then choose Bibliography.
   
   
    
4. From the BibTeX Bibliography dialog box, select the BibTeX database(s) containing your references.
5. Select a BibTeX style for formatting the references.
   
   
    
6. Choose OK.

   The program inserts a grey box like this in your document:
    

To create a citation for a BibTeX bibliography item

1. Place the insertion point where you want the citation to appear.
2. From the Insert menu, choose Typeset Object, and then choose Citation.
3. In the Key box, enter the key for the item you want to cite.
   
   

   or

   Select the key directly from a database:

   1. Select a database from the list.
   2. Select View Keys to display a dialog box showing the keys that satisfy the search criteria you set.
      
      
       
   3. Scroll to select the item you want. If the item doesn't appear on the list, change the search criteria.
   4. Click on View entry to check the details of a bibliographic reference
      
      
       
   5. Choose OK.
4. Choose OK.
   
   

To generate the bibliography

1. Save the document.
2. From the Typeset menu, choose Compile.
3. Select Generate a Bibliography.
   
   
    
4. Choose OK.
   
   

This document can be seen at demobibliography.pdf .

To change the BibTeX bibliography style

1. Select the grey box.
2. Choose Properties.
3. Scroll through the Style list to select the style you want and choose OK.

If you add the authordate1-4, chicago, or harvard package to your document, you can create author/date citations for BibTeX bibliographies:

This document can be seen at demobibliography2.pdf .

Why not download the free 30-day demo of Scientific Word or WorkPlace, and see for yourself how easy it is to create professional typeset bibliographies using BibTeX?

For further information on how to make the most of Scientific Word, Scientific WorkPlace and Scientific Notebook, please visit our "How To" pages.

Last Updated: 22nd. April 2008