Adding a <section id="references"> lets you add custom content to the references section. ReSpec appends the auto-generated normative and informative references after any custom content.

<section id="references">
  <p>Unless otherwise specified, all references are to the
  latest published version of the respective specification.</p>
  <!-- Normative and informative references follow automatically -->
</section>

• If you don't add <section id="references">, ReSpec still generates the references section automatically
• Custom content is placed before the auto-generated reference lists
• References are generated from [[CITE]] usage throughout the document plus any localBiblio entries