What Bibtex Produces

In the preceding example, the file paper.bbl might contain

\begin{thebibliography}{CZ83}

\bibitem[BL80]{lampson}
Ed. B.W.~Lampson.
\newblock {\it Distributed Systems: Architecture and Implementation}.
\newblock Springer-Verlag, 1980.

\bibitem[CZ83]{cheri83}
D.R.~Cheriton and W.~Zwaenepoel.
\newblock The distributed v kernel and its performance for diskless
  workstations.
\newblock In {\it Proceedings of the 9th Symposium on Operating System
  Principles}, ACM, 1983.

\end{thebibliography}

If you don't have bibtex, this file could be produced by hand. However, bibtex should be part of the LATEX package.