Citation Et Al

Sometimes however space issues limit the recognition you give to the authors of your sources.

Citation et al. Sources with 3 5 authors are written in full the first time and shortened from the second citation onwards. Only al should be followed by a period. 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.

If you re citing multiple works with similar groups of authors and the shortened et al citation form of each source would be the same you ll need to avoid ambiguity by writing out more names. On the subsequent citations for three four or five authors. Academic writing is full of little conventions that may seem opaque to the uninitiated. One of these is the latin phrase et al an abbreviation meaning and others it is used to shorten lists of author names in text citations to make repeated referencing shorter and simpler.

If you cited works with these authors. 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. In et al et should not be followed by a period. This is the reason for scholarly citation.

As such the first citation should spell out all their names and any subsequent citation can include et al. Depending on the number of authors a source has an apa in text citation is shortened by using et al meaning and others after the first author s name. Just as athletes receive trophies and politicians win accolades scholars get citations. Pay tribute where tribute is due.

After the first author.