Use Et Al For How Many Authors
If there are at least six authors then you may use et al from the first mention.
Use et al for how many authors. If there are fewer than three authors. Always refers to plural authors and dalton et al 1989 would indicate two authors aside from dalton. Should be avoided because et al. Is a latin abbreviation for and others for a reference list entries list the first 20 author names. In all cases you should use the last name of the first author followed by et al in your in text citation.
This article focuses on how to name the authors of cited works including when to use the abbreviated latin term et al as with all advice please make sure to follow the relevant journal guidelines concerning punctuation citation style etc. For in text citations cite only the first author followed by et al. Use an ampersand before the last author s name. Is plural it should always be a substitute for more than one name. For a work with one or two authors include the name s in every citation.
Correctly in terms of context but make italicization or punctuation errors. For both the first and subsequent in text citations both the authors should be listed out as dalton wade 1989. Dusek bakke 2019 or. According to lai and sookochoff 2018 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. Berry henson et al 2006 berry et al 2006a berry shanks et al 2006 berry et al 2006b a final note.
If the work does not have an author cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Here is how this could look. For sources with three to five authors list all the authors the first time and use et al only in subsequent citations. Cairns et al 2019 or cairns et al. I have italicized et al.
Despite gaining an understanding of the meaning of et al authors are often still confused about how to write et al. If it happens that all the author names are exactly the same and the studies were published in the same year as well the method of citation described in the reference twins post applies. Once an in text citation has been mentioned one time all subsequent citations to a work with three or more authors should consist of the surname of the first author followed by et al. The usage of et al. The rules above apply to the 7th edition of the apa manual if you re instructed to follow the 6th edition the use of et al is slightly different.