When there are three to five writers, use all of their last names in the initial citation, followed by the first author's name followed by et al. Separate the names using commas, use an ampersand (&) instead of "and," and put a comma before the date. The reference list should include only these authors' works.
Et al. is the abbreviation for et alii, which means "and others." It is used when you are referring to more than five authors. Like with three- or four-author groups, list all their names in order of appearance, then add et al. before the word alias.
Comma before et al.? Yes, a comma is required before et al. in APA citations. If you omit it, the journal will assume that you are trying to create a new entry for the same person in the references section. This violates standard citation style guidelines and could result in your paper being rejected during review.
The period (full stop) also separates each name in the group; it cannot be left out.
Journal of Climate, vol. 31, no. 12, pp. 3555-3567. 2013. Et al.
For works with three or more authors, the in-text citation is now abbreviated beginning with the first citation. Only the first author's name and "et al." are included. In the reference entry, surnames and initials for up to 20 writers (rather than 7) should be supplied. For example, (Etzioni et al. 1975) would be entered as Etzioni and J. A. on page 559. Author names beyond the first two are not listed.
Citing articles that have no author named in the byline or that have only one author is now simplified. You can simply type the first word or phrase of the article title in the in-text citation (e.g., "The New York Times" or "NFL football"). If the work has multiple editions, you must use this abbreviation for each version. In the reference list, include the full name of the publication if it is different from the one used in-text. For example, (The New York Times 1968) would be entered as Etzioni et al. in text but The New York Times in the reference list.
Here are some examples: "In-Text Citation: Etzioni et al. (1968). Abbreviations after the first word or phrase of an article title."
A work written by three or more authors In every reference, including the first, use simply the first author's name followed by "et al." unless doing so would cause uncertainty between various sources. Et should not be followed by a period in et al. Only the word "al" should be separated by a period. Authors' last names do not appear after et al.
In every reference, including the first, use simply the first author's name followed by "et al." unless doing so would cause uncertainty between various sources. Authors are referred to as either "author" or "authors"; there is no such thing as an "i-th author".
Introduction pages should include a short biography of the author. If possible, include information on the author's life and work that may not be apparent from the citation alone.
It is customary to list authors in alphabetical order, although this is not required by any particular style. The exact order of authors on a page is up to the writer; often there are more than six or seven authors, so it is best to list them in a way that makes sense to the reader.
If an author has the same last name they will usually be listed in alphabetical order, with the first name following after a comma. For example, Michael Crichton and John Grisham have the same last name and so would be listed in alphabetical order under J. K. Rowling would be listed under J.
If the author has a different last name, then they will be listed according to the names they give in their publication credits (also called bibliographies).
When referring to a paper having 3-5 authors, provide all of their last names. For all following references, use the Latin abbreviation "et al." only for the first author. Jones, Chavez, Jackson, and Chen (2010), for example, replicated some of the findings from Myers (1995). For papers with more than five authors, list the authors alphabetically. Myers (1995) and Jones et al. (2010) would then be cited as follows: Myers (1995) and Jones et al. (2010). When writing your own work, include page numbers in your citation. These can be found via Google using the site: keyword plus page number format.
For sources with three or more authors, always use "et al." in MLA format. This holds true for both in-text and Works Cited citations. If you are using a library that requires page numbers in the text of your paper, then you will need to include them after et al.
Et alia is also acceptable language to use instead of et al., but only if there are only two authors. With fewer than three authors, it is not appropriate to use et al. ; instead, list all the authors' names followed by the word "and others".
Et cetera is an alternative form of et al. that is correct when citing multiple sources. It is used like et al., but includes additional phrases such as "etc.", "furthermore", or "moreover" to indicate that what follows is an additional explanation of the topic discussed in the first citation.
Etc. is an abbreviation for et cetera that is used in place of et al. When referring to many things, etc. can be helpful because it gives credit to the other items being cited while still avoiding repetition.
In conclusion, etc. is an acceptable replacement for et al. when citing multiple sources.
If you are using a library to search for articles, the database will usually provide clear instructions on how to use its et al. function correctly. If not, contact the library directly to get this information.
In general, use et al. when there are three or more authors involved. This includes cases where the authors have the same first name, last name, and middle initial as well as situations where they do not. Also remember that abbreviations such as III, IV, V, and VI work fine with et al.
An example of an article with four authors is "Smith, J., Jones, T., Et Al. (2014). An analysis of the relationship between author productivity and career advancement opportunities within ten high-profile research groups." If you were citing this article, you would write: Smith, J., Jones, T., et al. (2014). An analysis of the relationship between author productivity and career advancement opportunities within ten high-profile research groups. Journal of Research Analysis, 2(1), 7-57.
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