5.2.2 Troubleshooting

BibTeX writes the thebibliography environment to a .bbl file, which is then input into the document by \bibliography. If you have made a LaTeX error in the .bib file, this error will be copied to the .bbl file. If you have corrected the error in the .bib file, but you are still getting an error when you LaTeX your document, try deleting the .bbl file. (In TeXworks, you can use the menu item File→Remove Aux Files.)
Remember to use double quotes or braces to delimit the field names in your .bib file.
Remember to put a comma at the end of each field entry (except the last).
It is better to only use alphanumerical characters in the keywords. Some punctuation characters such as . (full stop) should be fine (unless you're using a package such as babel that makes them active), but spaces are not recommended, and commas should definitely be avoided.
If you have entered a field in the .bib file, but it doesn't appear in the bibliography, check to make sure that the field is required or optional for that type of entry, and check the spelling. (You can avoid this problem by using a bibliography management system such as JabRef.)
Check the BibTeX log file (.blg) for messages.
If you get an error that looks something like:
```
ERROR - Cannot find control file 'thesis-ref.bcf'! - did you pass
the "backend=biber" option to BibLaTeX?
```
then you have inadvertently used biber (see below) instead of bibtex.

If you get an error that looks something like:

I found no \citation commands---while reading file thesis1.aux
I found no \bibdata command---while reading file thesis1.aux
I found no \bibstyle command---while reading file thesis1.aux

then you probably forgot to use the \bibliography and \bibliographystyle commands in your document.

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