Citations and references

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For anyone adding sources to a thesis or dissertation that already compiles (get started if not). List each source once in references.bib, cite it with a command such as \parencite{key}, and LaTeX builds the reference list for you.

Try the sample citation

Try it on the source already in the starter; leave references.bib alone. \parencite{key} cites in brackets in this numbered style, and \textcite{key} puts the author in your sentence (all the commands).

1. Open chapters/01-introduction.tex.

2. Add this as a new paragraph:

   This example cites the sample book~\parencite{lamport1994}.

3. Compile main.tex and find the new sentence in your PDF. You should see another [1] pointing to Lamport's book, already listed under REFERENCES.

That is a working citation. Ready for your own sources? Pick a style below, then collect them with Zotero or paste an entry by hand.

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In words: a source's key goes into references.bib and into \parencite{key} in your chapter. When you compile, the bibliography step (a program called Biber) turns that into [1] and a full reference-list entry.

Step 1: Agree on a style with your advisor

Fields differ: the humanities often use Chicago or MLA, the social sciences APA, and engineering IEEE. The sample's numbered style only shows citations working; it is not a department's style. RPI's citation guidance is under Additional Resources on the OGE submission page (opens in a new tab). Use one style throughout (change the citation style).

Step 2: Collect and cite sources with Zotero

This guide suggests Zotero (opens in a new tab), a free citation manager that keeps your papers together and shares libraries with co-authors. It is a convenience, not an OGE requirement.

1. Install Zotero and its browser connector (Zotero quick start (opens in a new tab)). Optionally add Better BibTeX (opens in a new tab), which keeps citation keys stable between exports.

2. Save sources while you read with the connector button, into one thesis collection. Check each item; imported details are often incomplete.

3. Export to references.bib. Do these three things:

   1. Export the collection in BibLaTeX (or Better BibLaTeX) format to references.bib in your thesis folder, replacing the sample (Zotero: exporting (opens in a new tab)).
   2. Replace or remove the sample citations lamport1994 in chapters/01-introduction.tex and rpi-submission in appendices/additional-material.tex, so every citation uses a key from your file.
   3. On Overleaf, upload the new file over the old one, and again whenever it changes. Auto-export keeps the file on your computer current; you still upload it to Overleaf.

4. Cite with \parencite{your-key} (or \textcite). The key is the word after @article{ (or @book{, ...) in the exported entry; Better BibTeX also shows it in Zotero.

5. Compile. Only sources you cite appear in the reference list.

A key in bold? Compile again, then check its spelling (bold keys). The style chosen inside Zotero does not affect your PDF.

Where Zotero keeps your library

Never put the Zotero data folder in OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, or Google Drive; it can corrupt the database (Zotero: syncing (opens in a new tab)). Use Zotero sync plus your computer backup. references.bib is safe in a synced folder, but it is not a library backup.

If you can't use Zotero: paste an entry by hand

Paste a BibTeX entry from the publisher, a library database, or Google Scholar. They are often slightly wrong, so check each one.

1. Copy the source's BibTeX or BibLaTeX entry. It looks like:

   @book{lamport1994,
     author    = {Leslie Lamport},
     title     = {{LaTeX}: A Document Preparation System},
     edition   = {2},
     publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
     date      = {1994}
   }

   This example is already in the starter; do not add it twice.

2. Paste your source's entry into references.bib. The word after @book{ is the key, here lamport1994. Every key must be unique.

3. Cite it with \parencite{key}, using your entry's key, and compile.

Wrap capitals that must stay capitalized in braces, like {RPI}. Two more things to get right in the author field:

• Several people: join the names with the word and, typed literally: author = {Alice Smith and Bob Jones}. Commas and semicolons do not separate authors.
• An organization: use double braces so it is not read as a person's name: author = {{Example Research Institute}}.

Only have a messy reference? An AI chat can turn it into a BibTeX entry. Then compare every field with the source, and paste only published references, never confidential material.

Web sources need an access date

OGE requires an access date for every reference with a URL, even if your style would normally leave it out. Add urldate with the date you read it (year-month-day).

If the entry came from Zotero, fill in the item's Accessed field in Zotero and export again; Zotero writes it as urldate. Do not type it into an exported file, because the next export replaces it. Edit the entry directly only in a file you maintain by hand, like this one:

@online{rpi-submission,
  author  = {{Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute}},
  title   = {Submit Your Thesis / Dissertation},
  url     = {https://graduate.rpi.edu/academic-progress/submit-your-thesis-dissertation},
  urldate = {2026-10-14}
}

Check that the date prints in your PDF; some styles hide it. Check your references lists any url without a urldate, in your browser. DOIs need no access date.

Change the citation style

Four parts work together: the class sets the page layout, biblatex provides the citation commands, the style decides what they print, and Biber (the bibliography step) processes references.bib. In preamble.tex (the file for the citation style and extra packages), find this line:

\usepackage[backend=biber,style=numeric,sorting=none]{biblatex}

Replace style=numeric,sorting=none with a starting point from this table. An extra package is an add-on; the ones listed are included in full TeX Live and Overleaf. Do not also load natbib; it is a separate system.

Whatever the style, the class keeps the reference list single-spaced with one blank line between entries, as OGE asks, and lets long web addresses wrap. It replaces the style's own spacing, so leave \bibitemsep out of preamble.tex; a setting there, below the biblatex line, would override the class.

These are starting points, not validated department presets; see each package's manual. After changing the style, check what the citation commands print, and choose the command by what you want to read:

\parencite and \textcite are the usual choices in biblatex styles. Look at what your style prints before relying on them. A paper template that uses classic BibTeX with natbib has the matching commands \citep (like \parencite) and \citet (like \textcite); see turn a chapter into a paper.

Print a full reference in the text

Chapter attribution and reproduced figure captions need the whole reference where it is cited. \fullcite{key} does this in the styles below. It was tested with compiled examples (pdfLaTeX and Biber) of a journal article, books, and web pages, with personal and organization authors, in a chapter attribution, a figure caption, the list of figures, and after ordinary citations of the same source. Check your own entries.

If your style or a source does not print right, type the full reference into the caption or attribution by hand, copied from your reference list, in your style's wording.

\usepackage[authordate,backend=biber]{biblatex-chicago}
\DeclareCiteCommand{\fullcite}{\usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\usedriver{\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{default}}{\thefield{entrytype}}}
  {\multicitedelim}{\usebibmacro{postnote}}

\DeclareCiteCommand{\fullcite}{\usebibmacro{prenote}}
  {\csgundef{bbx@lasthash}%
   \usedriver{\DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{default}}{\thefield{entrytype}}%
   \csgundef{bbx@lasthash}}
  {\multicitedelim}{\usebibmacro{postnote}}

Check the output yourself

Citation managers handle journal articles well but are far less reliable for websites, reports, theses, datasets, software, standards, and archival sources. Compare every reference in the PDF with your style guide.

Optional: check your references in your browser before compiling. It looks for common key, field, name, and date problems; nothing is uploaded.

Numbered styles: check delayed figures and tables

In a style numbered in order of first citation (such as IEEE, or the sample), OGE's formatting checklist expects reference 1 to be the first citation in Chapter 1, and a caption's citation to be numbered where its figure or table appears in the body. The abstract has no citations (OGE manual §1.8).

LaTeX numbers citations in the order they appear in your .tex files, not where they land in the PDF. A figure that floats to a later page can show [2] after text that already shows [3]. Check each figure and table that moved away from its first mention. To fix one:

• move its whole figure or table block (\begin to \end) to directly after the paragraph that first mentions it, then compile; or
• cite the same source in that paragraph, before the figure.

Never renumber by hand.

Not every style numbers in order. SIAM, for example, numbers from an alphabetical reference list (OGE manual §3.3), and author–year styles have no numbers. Use the style you agreed with your advisor (step 1).

If co-authors use Word

A Zotero group library lets Word users (with the Word plugin (opens in a new tab)) cite the same sources, but citations do not convert between Word and LaTeX. Agree on one main copy (co-authors).

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