How to cite a book with multiple authors in text

Figuring out how to format your work with just one author was hard enough. Now, you have a book that has three different authors and one with eleven different authors. You know all those names are just going to clutter up your APA 7 essay. Learn the right way to source multiple authors using APA citations.

How to cite a book with multiple authors in text

Creating a Parenthetical Citation

Whether you have a book or magazine with multiple sources, the way that you cite them in your essay in an in-text or parenthetical citation is the same.  The only thing you really need to know is how many authors there are. Examine how APA 6 breaks down multiple authors.

Two Authors

A source with only two authors will list both sources’ last names in the text. You’ll also list them every time you discuss the source. For example:

  • Beetle & Bard (2010) stated…

Three or more authors

Now things are getting crazy. You’ve found yourself with a book that has 11 authors. Just because the book is getting complicated doesn’t mean your citation needs to be. Use the first author’s last name followed by et al. from the beginning to the end.

  • Johnson et al. (2010) stated …

Two of the Same

In the instance that two different sources with more than six authors shorten to the same parenthetical citation, you’ll need to differentiate. To do this, you can add a, b, c, etc.

  • Johnson et al. (2010a) once described…
  • Johnson et al. (2010b) showed…

APA Reference List Entries for Multiple Authors

How to cite a book with multiple authors in text

Now comes the time for creating your References page. Reference citation a bit different than the parenthetical citations. You can list all the authors unless you have more than twenty. In addition to the last name, you’ll include the first and middle initial and separate the names by commas.

2 to 19 Authors

If you have fewer than twenty authors, add the names with a comma before the ampersand (&). This will look like:

Bard T. S., & Petty, R. S. (2010). Mood management. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1034-1048.

Bard T. S., Turner R. V., Kelly S. Q., & Petty, R. S. (2010). Mood management. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1034-1048.

Twenty or More Authors

It might not seem possible, but some large studies or scholarly books can have 27 different authors. Listing all of them would take up your entire reference page. Instead of spending 20 minutes typing out all those names, APA format has simplified it for you. You’ll follow the same format as twenty or less but after the nineteenth name you include ellipses and then list the last author’s name, like so:

Brown, C., Johnson, A. N., Bold, T. P., Fairy, N., Cann, L. J., Leland, K., Fran, J., Ritz, R. B., Burger, B. C., Gold, N. D., White, R. E., Brown, F. T., Smith, J. M., Johnson, H. H., Stevens, N., Williams, S. T., Terry, N., Jones, T. R., Garrett, J.,…Wirta, N. (2017). Technical issues for MP software. Technical Communication, 51, 210-223.

Note: The names are all that change. The rest of the formatting will be the same as usual.

A Multitude of Writers

Trying to remember all the rules for citing one author can make your eyes cross, but now there are two or six. Citing those authors doesn’t need to induce panic. Just count them up and follow the rules. And if you have no author, you’re covered there too.

Related Articles:

Referencing works with multiple authors

  • Reference list entries for books, journal articles, or any resource with multiple authors can include up to 20 authors' names before it is necessary to abbreviate.

  • For resources with 21+ authors, use the names of the first 19 authors, followed by ellipsis (...) and the name of the final author (i.e., there should be a maximum of 20 authors included in the reference list entry). 


Number of authors to include in text

In-text citations for works with three (3) or more authors can be shortened to the name of the first author and 'et al.' (and page/para. number as usual). 


Important
When abbreviating in-text citations with the use of et al., take care to avoid ambiguity. For example:

(Smith, Jones, & Brown, 2018).
(Smith, Jones, Brown, Anderson, Williams, Wilson, & Andrews, 2018).

Both citations above refer to different works published in the same year. Both could be shortened to simply (Smith et al., 2018), thereby creating confusion as to which work is being cited. To avoid ambiguity, the names of as many authors as necessary to distinguish the sources should be used in each citation before abbreviation with et al. For example:

(Smith, Jones, & Brown, 2018).
(Smith, Jones, Brown, Anderson et al., 2018).


Examples

Referencing a book with two authors

The example below shows how to reference a book with two authors and indicates the different elements needed.

Author, A., & Author, A. (Copyright date). Title: Subtitle in italic sentence case (edition number if applicable.). Publisher.

Dawson, J., & Lucas, R.(1993).Lifestyles of New Zealand forest plants (4th ed.). Victoria University Press. 

Example

Reference list entry

Dawson, J., & Lucas, R. (1993). Lifestyles of New Zealand forest plants. Victoria University Press.

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
Dawson and Lucas (1993) argue that ... (p. 67).

Parenthetical
... (Dawson & Lucas, 1993, p. 67).


Referencing a work with three or more authors

In-text citations for works with three (3) or more authors can be shortened to the name of the first author and 'et al.' (and page/para. number as usual). 

Reference list entry

Stillings, N. A., Weisler, S. E., Chase, C. H., Feinstein, M. H., Garfield, J. L., & Rissland, E. L. (1995). Cognitive science: An introduction (2nd ed.). The MIT Press.

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
Stillings et al. (1995) argue that ... (p. 67).

Parenthetical
... (Stillings et al., 1995, p. 67).


Referencing a work with 20+ authors

List the first 19 authors in correct APA style, followed by an ellipsis (three consecutive dots), then the last author's name in APA style.

Reference list entry

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A., ... Joseph, D. (1999). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meterological Society, 77(3), 437–471. https://doi.org/fg6rf9 

In-text citations

Page/paragraph numbers are optional for paraphrased information.

Narrative
Kalnay et al. (1996) outline ... (p. 438).

Parenthetical
... (Kalnay et al., 1996, p. 438).

How do you in text cite a book with multiple authors APA?

APA in-text citations with multiple authors If a work has two authors, separate their names with an ampersand (&) in a parenthetical citation or “and” in a narrative citation. If there are three or more authors, only include the first author's last name followed by “et al.”, meaning “and others”.

How do you cite multiple authors in text MLA?

When mentioning the authors in the text, give all of the authors' names or list the first author and write "and others". For the parenthetical citation and Works Cited citation, give the first author's name followed by et al.

How do you cite 3 authors in text MLA?

For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author's last name, and replace the additional names with et al.

How do you in text cite APA 7 with multiple authors?

Number of Authors to Include in In-text Citations For a work with one or two authors, include the author name(s) in every citation. For a work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus "et al." in every citation, including the first citation, unless doing so would create ambiguity.