Can't get references sorted alphabetically with BibTeX

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around sorting references alphabetically in a LaTeX document using BibTeX. Participants explore various packages and settings to achieve the desired formatting for their bibliographies.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Márcio seeks assistance with sorting references alphabetically using the natbib package and mentions specific settings and styles he has tried.
  • Some participants suggest checking external resources for guidance on BibTeX styles.
  • One participant claims that no additional package is necessary and suggests using only the bibliographystyle command.
  • Another participant notes that the styles require the 'sort' option in the natbib package to function correctly.
  • Márcio reports that despite trying multiple styles, the output includes all authors' names in citations, which he finds undesirable.
  • A participant requests more details, such as a minimal example file and information about the LaTeX distribution being used.
  • Later, Márcio confirms that adding the 'sort' option resolved his issue when he switched to a different bibliographystyle.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on whether additional packages are necessary, and there is no consensus on the best approach to achieve the desired citation format.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention the possibility of missing bibstyles in the LaTeX distribution, which could affect the outcome. There are also unresolved details regarding the specific configurations that lead to the desired citation format.

marcio
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Hi all,

Could you help me figure out what packages I should use to get all references sorted alphabetically?

These are the packages and settings I'm using... I've tested many without success:

\usepackage{natbib}
\bibpunct{(}{)}{;}{a}{,}{,}
%...
\bibliographystyle{plainnat}
\renewcommand{\bibname}{Referências}
\bibliography{Referencias}


Thank you in advance

Márcio
 
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Do have a look here:
http://amath.colorado.edu/documentation/LaTeX/reference/faq/bibstyles.pdf
 
DrDu said:
Do have a look here:
http://amath.colorado.edu/documentation/LaTeX/reference/faq/bibstyles.pdf

Do you know what package I must use in order to these styles work?

I tried 'biblatex' instead of 'natlib' with a few of those styles you showed me, none of them worked.

Very much appreciated

Márcio
 
You don't need any package at all. I would try it out
using only

\bibliographystyle{plainnat} %or whatever style you chose
\renewcommand{\bibname}{Referências}
\bibliography{Referencias}

However it may be that you don't have all of the bibstyles installed on your computer although most of them should come with any modern tex-distribution.
 
DrDu said:
You don't need any package at all. I would try it out
using only

\bibliographystyle{plainnat} %or whatever style you chose
\renewcommand{\bibname}{Referências}
\bibliography{Referencias}

However it may be that you don't have all of the bibstyles installed on your computer although most of them should come with any modern tex-distribution.

Hi DrDu,

I tried with 4 packages (abbrvnat, plainnat, unsrtnat and apasoft, but the later didn't work at al) which seemed to work for my PhD thesis. All of them showed the references like this:

[Zhu et al.(2005)Zhu, Zheng, Guo, and Zhu]


and not like this:

Zhu et al.(2005)


meaning they all put the names of all authors after they are cited.

Any help will be very much appreciated.
 
Maybe you can show us a small example file and some information about what distribution you are using on which platform?
 
I could reproduce this. The styles you tried require
\usepackage[sort]{natbib}
\bibpunct{(}{)}{;}{a}{,}{,}

\bibliographystyle{plainnat}
\renewcommand{\bibname}{Referências}
\bibliography{Referencias}
 
DrDu said:
I could reproduce this. The styles you tried require
\usepackage[sort]{natbib}
\bibpunct{(}{)}{;}{a}{,}{,}

\bibliographystyle{plainnat}
\renewcommand{\bibname}{Referências}
\bibliography{Referencias}

It worked like a charm after your suggestion of adding 'sort' and after I replaced 'plainnat' with 'ametsoc'.
I'm using MikTeX on Windows 8.

Thank you very much

Márcio
 

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