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How-to: Bibliography (biblatex + biber)

ModernDoc uses biblatex with biber, which is the modern, flexible approach.

1) Enable biblatex

In your preamble:

\usepackage[doctype=article,biblatex=true,citestyle=numeric]{moderndoc}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

2) Cite in text

\textcite{bringhurst2004elements} argues typography exists to honor content.
Parenthetical: \parencite{bringhurst2004elements}.

At the end:

\printbibliography

3) Build

latexmk -lualatex --shell-escape main.tex

If doing it manually:

lualatex --shell-escape main.tex
biber main
lualatex --shell-escape main.tex
lualatex --shell-escape main.tex

Numeric (clean + compact)

Recommended for papers/reports:

  • numeric-comp (compress ranges like [1–3])

Author-year (theses/books)

Recommended for long-form:

  • authoryear-comp

5) Don’t hallucinate bibliography data (AI-safe rule)

If using AI to generate .bib, always provide at least one of:

  • DOI
  • arXiv ID
  • ISBN
  • publisher URL

Then verify the metadata before you ship.

Common problems

Citation undefined

  • check key matches .bib
  • run biber and compile twice

Biber not found

tlmgr install biber

Version mismatch

tlmgr update --self
tlmgr update biblatex biber
latexmk -C
latexmk -lualatex --shell-escape main.tex