How To Use Et Al Mla

This resource updated to reflect the mla handbook 8 th ed offers examples for the general format of mla research papers in text citations endnotes footnotes and the works cited page.

How to use et al mla. Aside from authors this can also apply to characters in a book or novel. 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. You can use et al. In general it s used in academic situations or when writing very formally such as in text citations and parenthetical remarks. The intention is to make references shorter and easier to absorb.

When there are more than 3 authors only list the last name of the first one and type et al. If there are at least six authors then you may use et al from the first mention. Notes and bibliography and author date style. Works with three or more editors. Works with three or more writers.

For example suppose you were using a book as a source that was written by severus snape minerva mcgonagall and horace slughorn. In chicago style chicago style has two systems of citation. 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. In both the in text citation and in the works cited page. Everything comes back like the moon king steven and straub 78.

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. Mla uses et al for works with three or more authors while chicago calls for using it with four or more authors. Mla in text citation example. Collections of of essays stories or poems with three or more contributors. 2001 modern language association mla style manual.

In mla style always use et al for sources with three or more authors. Then type their first name. Six or more authors. 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. This applies both to in text citations and in the works cited list.