Org-ref & Org-roam-bibtex Citation Workflow

* tech organization workflow independent
[2025-10-09 Thu]

1. Overview

  • This note outlines a writing workflow that combines:
    • org-ref for inserting/managing citations
    • biblatex for formatting and storing the citations ../biblio.bib
    • org-roam-biblatex (ORB) for linking references

The focus is on the writing process inside Org mode — from choosing sources, to citing them while drafting, to exporting a polished PDF with correct MLA formatting

2. Starting a writing session

When beginning a paper/essay:

  1. Press C-c n c to create a new node for your project.
  2. Add standard export options and headers. Link bib-setup.org to setup biblatex export options

2.1. Example bib-setup.org

  • This is the one i use right now.
  • authoryear-comp automatically compresses repeated author names.
  • bibstyle=mla is self-explanatory–It sets the works-cited format to MLA style
  • hyperref makes citations hyperlinks–clicking a citation jumps to the bibliography entry
  • backend=biber tells latex to use biber instead of bibtex
#+latex_header: \usepackage[citestyle=authoryear-comp,bibstyle=mla, hyperref=true,backref=true,maxcitenames=3,url=true,backend=biber,natbib=true] {biblatex}
#+latex_header: \addbibresource{/home/erel/Documents/org/roam/biblio.bib}

3. Linking Sources to Notes (org-roam-bibtex)

  1. Before writing, you can explore your reading notes with org-roam-bibtex
  2. Choose a bibtex entry(eg; &dickinson-hope-feathers)
  3. Run orb-insert-link
  4. ORB will create(or open) an org-roam note dedicated that reference
  5. Add your own reading notes, summaries, commentary ..
  6. Later when writing , you can quickly pull these notes up using. org-roam-node-find or org-roam-ref-find

4. Inserting Citations During Writing

  1. Use org-ref-insert-cite-link to insert citations
  2. Choose your bibtex key interactively

4.1. Adding a citation to biblatex

  • Google scholar has an easy 'copy bibtex' thing for citations, but when you need to do it manually you can use bibtex-entry and fill out the field

4.2. Example biblatex Entry

@report{NTSB-2024-TITAN,
  author =       {NTSB},
  title =        {Materials Investigation of the Experimental OceanGate Submersible Titan} ,
  institution =  {National Transportation Safety Board},
  date =         {2024-09-25},
  number = {Report Number CG-107},
  url = {https://media.defense.gov/2024/Sep/25/2003553505/-1/-1/0/CG-107%20NTSB%20TITAN%20MATERIAL%20ANALYSIS.PDF_REDACTED.PDF}
}

4.3. Example In-Text Citation

As shown in the NTSB report, the submarine had a 100% pre-preg construction carbon fiber hull citep:&NTSB-2024-TITAN

  • You can also insert page numbers 

    As shown in the NTSB report, the submarine had a 100% pre-preg construction carbon fiber hull citep:&NTSB-2024-TITAN;11

5. Drafting with Context

  • Use org-roam to connect arguments, quotes, or conceps to other notes.

6. Exporting/Publishing

  • Obviously, my teachers cannot read these org-mode notes, i have two seperate publishing processes. This digital garden(https://tweetor-garden.pages.dev, or https://garden.tweetor.org) that youre probably reading right now. The navigation and UI are very similar to how I edit, and it automatically a bibliography/attachment index
  • For submitting school assignments and formal papers, i use org-latex-export-to-pdf
    • Make sure to add print_bibliography to the end to print the works cited.

6.1. CDL Script

  • I have written a script to automate creating pdfs of notes with the tag GEOGRAPHY . I then upload them via the

7. Elsewhere

7.1. References

Recent changes. Attachment Index Tag Index Bibliography Index Source.