[OS X TeX] problems with bibliography

[David Watson]

On Dec 13, 2008, at 9:26 PM, Laura Bradbury wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am new to LaTeX and I am trying to create a reference using BibTeX  
> and TexShop.  I am trying to use the IEEE format for this and I have  
> downloaded the files from the IEEE website and copied them to ~/ 
> Library/texmf/bibtex/bib and ~/Library/texmf/bibtex/bst.  I created  
> a file called reference.bib that contains references in what I  
> believe to be the correct format.
>
> I then tried to use the commands
>
> \bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}
> \bibliography{IEEEabrv,reference}
>
> just before the command
> \end{document}
>

I think you should run bibtex, and then rerun latex. You should be  
able to do this in TeXShop by going to the dropdown menu right next to  
the "Typeset" button, choosing "BibTeX" and then press the "Typeset"  
button.

If that fails, please place your \bibliographystyle{} command before  
the \begin{document} in your input file, then try again.

Note: you will need to go back to your ".tex" source window in TeXShop  
and choose "LaTeX" from the dropdown menu and then press the "Typeset"  
button twice before everything falls into place correctly.

To reiterate, follow this procedure to see all of your references in  
the correct places:
latex laurasfile.tex
bibtex laurasfile
latex laurasfile.tex
latex laurasfile.tex

TeXShop is designed to make the whole process less formidable, and  
there are others on this list who have made extensions to TeXShop that  
automate this process, but that is another subject.

> This failed to produce a bibliography when I hit typeset.
>
> I then tried with the commands
>
> \bibliographystyle{plain}
> \bibliography{reference}
>
> This also failed to produce a bibliography.
>
> The rest of the article is generate, there is just no bibliography  
> and the cite command doesn't do anything.
>
> I am sure I must be missing a step, and any help to correct this  
> would be very much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Laura