diff --git a/chertex.sh b/chertex.sh
index 99ef117..0289561 100755
--- a/chertex.sh
+++ b/chertex.sh
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ if [ $# -eq 1 ]; then
             fi            
             echo "<thesis> Copying $asset to $assetpathtarget"
             # cp but don't overwrite existing files
-            cp --preserve=timestamps --no-clobber $asset $assetpathtarget
+            cp --preserve=timestamps --no-clobber --recursive $asset $assetpathtarget
             # except we want to overwrite the BibTeX library files (inside the assets/references/ directory), we'll do that by checking the target dirname and only running the destructive cp operation if its "references"
             assetdirnametarget=$(basename "$assetpathtarget")
             if [[ $assetdirnametarget == "references" ]]; then