Can't get references sorted alphabetically with BibTeX

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To sort references alphabetically in BibTeX, using the package 'natbib' with the option 'sort' is essential. The correct settings include \usepackage[sort]{natbib}, \bibpunct{(}{)}{;}{a}{,}{,}, and \bibliographystyle{plainnat}. If references are still not displaying correctly, ensure that all necessary BibTeX styles are installed with your LaTeX distribution. A user successfully resolved their issue by switching from 'plainnat' to 'ametsoc' and confirming the use of MikTeX on Windows. Proper configuration of these elements is crucial for achieving the desired alphabetical sorting of references.
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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