Making a Bibliography in LaTeX Manually
Manually
If you prefer manually typing everything, then you can make your own .bib file from scratch. Unlike a manual bibliography as described here, you can still change your bibliography style without having to edit every single entry.
- Open a text editor. (like TeXShop, TextEdit, Simple Text or Notepad).
- You will need to enter your bibliographic information in a form that BibTeX will understand. The following formats include the required fields only. You can always add extra fields for needed information. Be sure to check out the tips if you have not yet done so.
- Save the file in BibTeX format, or just change the file extension to .bib (instead of .txt or .rtf). Continue on to the next step: setting up your LaTeX file to use your .bib file.
The format for a book is:
| @book{DoyleOwl:2004, |
<--This is the cite key, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}, |
<--Author Field |
| Title = {My Life}, |
<--Title Field |
| Publisher = {Reed Press}, |
<--Publisher Field |
| Year = {2004}} |
<--Year Field |
For a Journal Article:
| @article{DoyleOwl:2003, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}, |
<--Author Field |
| Title = {The Honor Principle}, |
<--Title Field |
| Journal = {The Quest}, |
<--Journal Field |
| Year = {2003}} |
<--Year Field |
For a booklet (unpublished books):
| @booklet{DoyleOwl2002, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}} |
<--Author Field |
For a chapter or part of a book:
| @inbook{DoyleOwl:2003a, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}, |
<--Author Field |
| Title = {Reed in Space}, |
<--Title Field |
|
Chapter={Chapter 7: New Frontier},
AND/OR
Pages={350-450},
|
<--Chapter Title and Page Number Field
|
| Publisher = {Macmillan} |
<--Publisher Field |
| Year = {2003}} |
<--Year Field |
For a edited volume of articles or a collection:
| @incollection{DoyleOwl:1998, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}, |
<--Author Field |
| Title = {Owls and Inflation}, |
<--Chapter or Article Title Field |
| BookTitle = {Economics of Lawn Ornaments}, |
<--Title Field |
| Publisher = {Reed Press}, |
<--Publisher Field |
| Year = {1998}} |
<--Year Field |
For an article in a book of conference proceedings:
| @inproceedings{DoyleOwl:2000, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}, |
<--Author Field |
| Title = {Owls and the US Debt}, |
<--Chapter or Article Title Field |
| BookTitle = {Lawn Ornaments Conference}, |
<--Title Field |
| Publisher = {Reed Press}, |
<--Publisher Field |
| Year = {2000}} |
<--Year Field |
For a technical manual or documentation:
| @manual{Popular, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Title = {How to Become Popular}} |
<-- Title Field |
For a Master's thesis:
| @mastersthesis{DoyleOwl:1990, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}, |
<--Author Field |
| Title = {My Life}, |
<--Title Field |
| School = {Reed College}, |
<--Publisher Field |
| Year = {1990}} |
<--Year Field |
For a source that does not fit into any particular category:
| @misc{DoyleOwl:2004,} |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| none |
<--no Fields required |
For a PhD thesis,
| @phdthesis{DoyleOwl:1990, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}, |
<--Author Field |
| Title = {My Life}, |
<--Title Field |
| School = {Reed College}, |
<--Publisher Field |
| Year = {1990}} |
<--Year Field |
For a conference proceedings,
| @proceedings{Mascots:1990, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Title = {School Mascots}, |
<--Title Field |
| Year = {1990}} |
<--Year Field |
For a report published by a university or other institutions, usually as part of a series,
| @techreport{DoyleOwl:1980, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}, |
<--Author Field |
| Title = {Sociology of Mascots}, |
<--Title Field |
| Institution= {Reed College}, |
<--Institution Field |
| Year = {1990}} |
<--Year Field |
For unpublished sources,
| @unpublished{DoyleOwl:1970, |
<--This is the Label, and type of citation |
| Author = {Doyle Owl}, |
<--Author Field |
| Title = {My Life}, |
<--Title Field |
| Note = {Reed College}} |
<--Note Field |
There are many other optional fields that you can use in each database entry, such as Volume=, Number=, Abstract=, Series=, Month= . All of the acceptable fields and entry types are listed below.
| address |
Address of Publisher |
| author |
Names of Authors |
| booktitle |
Book Title when part of book is cited |
| chapter |
Chapter Number |
| edition |
Book Edition |
| editor |
Book Editor or translator |
| howpublished |
States anything unusual about how it was published |
| institution |
Sponsoring Institution of Technical Report |
| journal |
Journal Name |
| key |
Addition for alphabetizing if author missing |
| month |
Month Published |
| note |
Any more Info? |
| Number |
Number of Journal |
| Organization |
Organization that sponsors a conference |
| pages |
Page range |
| publisher |
Publisher's Name |
| school |
Name of school for thesis |
| series |
Book Series Name |
| title |
Title of work |
| type |
Type of Technical Report |
| url |
Website Address |
| volume |
Volume Number of Book or Journal |
| year |
Year of publication |
|