How to Create Numeric, Author-Year, or Footnote Citations in LaTeX

Different journals and disciplines require different citation styles. Here's how to set up the three most common styles in LaTeX.

1. Numeric style [1, 2, 3]

With natbib

\\usepackage[numbers]{natbib}
\\bibliographystyle{unsrtnat}  % unsorted = order of appearance

With biblatex

\\usepackage[style=numeric, sorting=none]{biblatex}
\\addbibresource{refs.bib}

2. Author-year style (Smith, 2024)

With natbib

\\usepackage{natbib}
\\bibliographystyle{plainnat}
% Use \\citep{key} for parenthetical: (Smith, 2024)
% Use \\citet{key} for textual: Smith (2024)

With biblatex

\\usepackage[style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\\addbibresource{refs.bib}
% \\parencite{key} → (Smith 2024)
% \\textcite{key} → Smith (2024)

3. Footnote style

Footnote citations are common in humanities and law. biblatex handles this natively:

\\usepackage[style=verbose]{biblatex}
% or for Chicago-style footnotes:
\\usepackage[style=chicago-authordate]{biblatex}

\\autocite{key}  % automatically creates a footnote

Quick reference

Style	natbib option	biblatex style
Numeric [1]	numbers	numeric
Author-year	default	authoryear
Footnote	Manual	verbose / footnote-dw
Alphabetic [Smi24]	N/A	alphabetic

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