This is completely dependent on your citation style. Two examples: Show
As you can see there are wild variations. Check which style you're supposed to use, and check how multiple authors should be cited with that style. As a general rule of thumb, maybe use "et al." when there are too many authors. As another user pointed out it's also dependent on your field, and it's even possible that author names shouldn't be cited in every reference (just a numeric reference like [42]) -- I just checked a math journal at random and this was like that. PS: If you're writing something in LaTeX and are using biblatex, I
want to advertise the commands You’ve done your research, you’ve made your bibliography, and you’re ready to write. But after a short time, you find yourself stuck. In-text citations are driving you crazy! Do you really have to list all six authors of the paper you are referencing? What if the first two authors are the same on two different papers? Is it the same regardless of citation style? Read on to remove your confusion about multiple authors in-text citations. Single Author In-text Citations: A RefresherThere are three major styles of citation: APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian. APA is used most often by Education, Psychology, and Sciences, MLA is favored by the Humanities, and Chicago by Business, History, and Fine Arts. As the guidelines for author in-text citations vary slightly among the three, it is important to know the difference. APA requires two types of information: the author’s last name and the date of publication of the work you are citing. If you are citing a direct quote, you must also add the page number. There was no direct causal relationship found between the two events (Burnett, 1995) Burnett (1995) noted that “Subsequent investigation revealed that the two events had no direct causal relationship to one another,” (p.147). MLA style requires only the author and page number, as seen in the example below. There is no difference in citation style between a direct quote or a paraphrase. It is still unknown whether caffeine delays the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (Grant, 204). Chicago style requires all three whether you are paraphrasing or not. A daily serving of broccoli was found to help patients recover more quickly from scurvy (Poblanski 2015, 99-100). Citing Multiple Authors: How should you use “et al.”?
MLA uses “et al.” for works with three or more authors, while Chicago calls for using it with four or more authors. APA format requires that you cite all of the authors at the first mention if there are three, four, or five, and use “et al.” afterward. If there are at least six authors, then you may use “et al.” from the first mention. In all cases, you should use the last name of the first author followed by “et al.” in your in-text citation. For a paper written by Henderson, Watts, and Kirkland, the MLA citation would look like this: Peanut butter is a rich source of protein (Henderson, et al. 328). According to Henderson et al., peanut butter is a rich source of protein (328). For a paper written by Rhyu, Lee, McSnyder, and Xi, the Chicago citation would look like this:
According to Rhyu et al. (2012), Japanese wartime aggression remains a controversial topic in much of East Asia (45). For the same paper cited in APA format, the first citation would be as follows:
Additional in-text citations of the same paper in APA format would look like this: South Korea’s state history textbook controversy of 2014 is a good example of this debate (Rhyu et al. 2012). Same Authors, Same Year, Different Article“Et al.” can create ambiguity in some situations. Take the following example of two publications.
Each citation style solves this problem a little differently. MLA adds the name of the text in parentheses, while APA and Chicago recommend adding a letter after the year to distinguish between the works. MLA: Lee et al. point out that FTA negotiations have gone far beyond the original scope of goods and services trade to incorporate regulatory measures (“Intellectual Property Law in FTA Negotiations,” 20). APA/Chicago: Lee et al. (2000a) point out that FTA negotiations have gone far beyond the original scope of goods and services trade to incorporate regulatory measures. Note that in the bibliography of your paper, if you are using APA or Chicago style and you distinguish two papers this way, your bibliography should reflect this. For example:
Et al. is Always PluralOne last thing to note about “et al.” is that it is plural: it can never refer to only one author. What should we do in the following situation? We are citing the following two papers in APA format.
The first in-text citation of these two papers would be as follows.
However, if we write (Lee et al., 2000), we are left with two identical citations. We cannot use (Lee, Lebowski, & Ryan et al. 2000), because “et al.” should refer to two more people. So, we must write all four names each time we cite it. How do you make sure to use et al. correctly? What else confuses you about citations? Let us know in the comments! How do you cite an article with multiple authors?A Work by Three or More Authors
List only the first author's name followed by “et al.” in every citation, even the first, unless doing so would create ambiguity between different sources. In et al., et should not be followed by a period. Only "al" should be followed by a period.
How do you cite more than 3 authors in an essay?If there are three or more authors, list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names. (Note that there is a period after “al” in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”).
How do you inFor a source with three or more authors, list only the first author's last name, and replace the additional names with et al.
How do you cite a scholarly article in MLA with multiple authors?For a work with three or more authors, include only the first author, followed by a comma, and the words et al and ending ith a period. Woks Cited List: Author Surname, First Name, et al. "Article Title: Subtitle." Journal Title, vol., issue no., page range.
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