How To Use Et Al In Reference List
For parenthetical citation of a work with 6 or more authors.
How to use et al in reference list. Any time you have more than two authors the potential for using et al. In apa 7 for a work with three or more authors list the first author and et al for all citations including the first citation unless doing so would create ambiguity. Always write et al in lowercase unless it begins a sentence and include a period after al even when it appears in the middle of a sentence. For example props f. With in text citation is there.
Use the lead author s name and et al. After the first author. The term al is an abbreviation of alii and the entire phrase et al always follows at least one person s name job position or title. And articles with six or more authors are abbreviated to the first author name plus et al. Encyclopedia of halloween costumes.
In your reference list citation of a major reference book with a large editorial board. In citing such papers using the name and date system also known as the harvard system a long string of names proves awkward which is why most journals recommend the use of et al which is latin for et alii or et aliae and means and others. For all in text citations. Note that this rule has changed from apa 6 guidelines on using et al which recommend listing all author names in the first citation up to five authors but then using et al for the second and subsequent citations. For sources with six or more authors use et al from the first citation.
Where a source document has been written by more than two authors some guidelines say more than three authors then you should replace all but the first author surname with et al. Modern language association mla style manual. Et al is simply a way of making your in text reference more concise and unobtrusive. On the subsequent citations for three four or five authors. As such the first citation should spell out all their names and any subsequent citation can include et al.
Use the lead author s surname and et al. Articles with three four or five authors include all names in the first in text citation but are abbreviated to the first author name plus et al. For research papers having three or more authors mla states that for the reference list the first author s surname should be cited followed by a comma then the rest of the name followed by et al for in text citations the first author s surname is followed by et al.