diff --git a/fix_tei.py b/fix_tei.py
index 8d18495..3563135 100644
--- a/fix_tei.py
+++ b/fix_tei.py
@@ -79,6 +79,18 @@ def fixup(m):
     return re.sub(r"&#?\w+;", fixup, text)
 # def unescape ends here
 
+def convert_references(string):
+    """Find reference markers (#) in the text"""
+
+    references_pattern = re.compile(r"(#)(?P<reference>.+?)(#)")
+    references = re.findall(references_pattern, string)
+    logging.info("Found %s references" % len(references))
+    for reference in references:
+        string = re.sub(references_pattern, r"<ref><![CDATA[\g<1>]]></ref>", string)
+
+    return string
+# def convert_references ends here
+
 def convert_citations(string):
     """Find citation shorthand using regex.
 
@@ -384,11 +396,15 @@ def main():
     xml_cleaned = cleanup_xml(xml_tree)
     cleaned_path = TMP_DIR + os.path.sep + args.teifile.replace(".xml", "-cleaned.xml")
     xml_cleaned.write(cleaned_path, pretty_print=True, xml_declaration=True, encoding="utf-8")
-    logging.info("Wrote cleanup.xml")
+    logging.info("Wrote %s." % cleaned_path)
 
     # first some modifications on a string object
     xml_string = etree.tostring(xml_cleaned).decode('utf-8')
-    mod_string, cited = convert_citations(xml_string)
+
+    # the '#' sign is a bad choice!
+    # mod_string = convert_references(xml_string)
+
+    mod_string2, cited = convert_citations(xml_string)
 
     used_citekeys = [unescape(c) for c in cited]
     not_cited = validate_citations(used_citekeys, bibdata)
@@ -396,16 +412,16 @@ def main():
     report["len_citekeys"] = len(used_citekeys)
     report["not_cited"] = not_cited
 
-    mod_string2 = convert_figures(mod_string)
+    mod_string3 = convert_figures(mod_string2)
 
     debug_output = TMP_DIR + os.path.sep + args.teifile.replace(".xml", "-modified.xml")
     with open(debug_output, "w") as debugfile:
-        debugfile.write(mod_string2)
+        debugfile.write(mod_string3)
     logging.info("Wrote %s." % debug_output)
 
     # check for wellformedness, read again as xml
     try:
-        xml_tree2 = etree.fromstring(mod_string2)
+        xml_tree2 = etree.fromstring(mod_string3)
     except etree.XMLSyntaxError:
         print("\nXML syntax error when trying to parse modified tree. Dumped it to %s." % debug_output)
         print("-"*60)