Bibliography & Citations

BibTeX vs BibLaTeX: Which Should You Use?

BibTeX is the classic bibliography tool, while BibLaTeX is the modern replacement with more features.

BibTeX (Classic)

Simple and widely supported:

% In your document
\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{references}

% Compile with:
% pdflatex → bibtex → pdflatex → pdflatex

BibLaTeX (Modern)

More flexible and powerful:

% In your preamble
\usepackage[backend=biber, style=apa]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

% At end of document
\printbibliography

% Compile with:
% pdflatex → biber → pdflatex

Key Differences

Comparison of main features:

% BibTeX
- Simpler, older
- Limited citation styles
- .bst files for styling
- 8-bit encoding (ASCII)

% BibLaTeX
- Modern, flexible
- Many built-in styles
- Configure in LaTeX
- Full Unicode support
- Better date handling
- More entry types

💡 Tips

•Use BibLaTeX for new projects—it's the modern standard
•Use BibTeX if your journal template requires it
•BibLaTeX uses Biber (not bibtex) for processing

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