How To Use Et Al In Reference List

And articles with six or more authors are abbreviated to the first author name plus et al.

How to use et al in reference list. For sources with three to five authors list all the authors the first time and use et al only in subsequent citations. 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. Any time you have more than two authors the potential for using et al. As such the first citation should spell out all their names and any subsequent citation can include et al.

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. For example props f. With in text citation is there. In your reference list citation of a major reference book with a large editorial board. For example blythe et al 2003.

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. 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. After the first author. For all in text citations. Specifically articles with one or two authors include all names in every in text citation.

Use the lead author s surname and 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. For sources with six or more authors use et al from the first citation. 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 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.

Use the lead author s name and et al. Encyclopedia of halloween costumes. 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.