BibTex using LaTeX2e in WinEdt (for Morons like myself)

I had the most unfortunate time trying to figure out how to use BibTex in WinEdt. Websites were great (for example, check outGetting to Grips with Latex - Bibliography Management), but none specifically dealt with how to use WinEdt.

If you want to run this with a specific example download these into a dummy folder:

• bibfile.bib
• example.tex

The file "bibfile.bib" contains a list of entries. To make an entry, you.ll need a type (article, book, etc.) followed by a bunch of information about it. Examples are in "bibfile.bib" or you can check out almost any other page on BibTex. A list of all types of entries is downloadable as a pdf here.

Once you have your bibliography file in order, you can move on to working in your actual TeX file. The TeX file is an example that has citations and uses BibTex. (this is what I was working on when I need to use BibTex, sort of a list of everything I needed to know about Minimal Surfaces.) At the end (where you want your bibliography to go) you.ll need to insert the following two commands:

      \bibliographystyle{plain}
      \bibliography{bibfile}

\bibliographystyle{plain} specifies the type of style you want (in this case plain). Click here for examples of styles. In the \bibliography slot, you want to enter the file name of your BibTex file without the .bib at the end. You'll also need to add citations to your document. In the example, the command is "\cite{citation}" . The entry citation should be the citation your using, for example, my first citation is in the form "\cite{coldingminicozzi1999}"

We're almost done. Now that everything is set up to render, while you're in the TeX file, hit the following key combinations:

1. CTL-SHIFT-L
2. CTL-SHIFT-B
3. CTL-SHIFT-L
4. CTL-SHIFT-L

And you're done! Here's what happened:

1. CTL-SHIFT-L runs LaTeX2e. Since the program is designed to work with BibTeX, and you have used the code in your TeX file, it generates a file called "example.aux" which contains all of the citations which you used in the document.
2. CTL-SHIFT-B runs BibTeX. This searches for the ".aux" file, searches your BibTeX file for the relevant citations, and creates a file called "example.bbl". This file contains all needed information for the works you cited in the TeX file.
3. Runs LaTeX2e again. With the bibliography file (example.bbl) in the directory, LaTeX can correctly create the bibliography inside the document.
4. Runs LaTeX2e once more to make sure all of the references match up.

Files

• bibfile.bib
• example.tex
• bibentries.pdf

Links

• Getting to Grips with Latex - Bibliography Management
• Different Bibliography Styles