In many of the disciplines of the social sciences, you will use the American Psychological Association (APA) citation method to identify the references you have used in your article. When writing a research paper, you may come across works that have more than one author. To cite multiple authors in APA style, include all of their names unless there are more than seven.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Cite 2 to 6 authors
Step 1. List all authors by last name and first initial
In general, if a work has multiple authors, you should refer to all of their names in the citation entry of your reference list. In APA style, the last name is listed followed by a comma and then the author's initial or initials.
Separate author names with commas. Make sure there is a comma after each last name and each set of initials. For example: "Sunshine, S. J., Summers, P. T., and Autumnwood, S."
Step 2. Order the names of the authors as they appear on the cover
When you have multiple authors, it is common for the order of their names to have been negotiated by them. Keep the order that the authors have chosen intact.
Sort the entries in your reference list alphabetically by the last name of the first author cited
Step 3. Include a “y” before the last author's name
In your list of references, use a "and" to indicate the end of your list. If all those listed are editors, insert a comma after the last name and the abbreviation "eds."
The "and" is always preceded by a comma. For example: "Sunshine, S. J., and Davis, T."
Step 4. Indicate the year of publication in parentheses
The year the work was published is in parentheses immediately after the list of names. Next, you should close this part of the quote with a period, before moving on to the next part of it.
- For example: "Sunshine, S. J., Summers, P. T., and Autumnwood, S. (2010)".
- There is no comma between the last author's initial and the opening parenthesis.
Step 5. Include the full title of the work
After the date, the citation should allow the reader to know the full title of the work. Capitalize the title as if it were a sentence, which means that generally only the first word should go like this.
- If the work also contains a subtitle, include it after a colon, and capitalize the first word as well.
- The title can be in italics depending on the type of work you are going to cite, and it is always like this regardless of the number of authors. For example, the title of a book would be italicized, but an article in an academic journal would not.
Step 6. Provide publication information
The rest of the quote tells your readers where the work was published. The type of information included depends on the nature of the source and the search method.
For example, if you are citing a book written by three authors, your citation should be: "Calfee, R. C., and Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. Washington D. C.: American Psychological Association"
Method 2 of 3: Cite 7 or more authors
Step 1. List the last names and initials of the first 6 authors
An appointment should never have more than 7 names. If you are citing a work by 7 or more authors or editors, you will have to omit some of the names in an APA-style citation.
Keep the authors' names in the order they appear on the cover of the book
Step 2. Place an ellipsis after the name of the sixth author
Insert a comma after the sixth author's name, followed by an ellipsis to indicate that there are more authors. Make sure to include a comma after the sixth author's name, and don't insert this sign after the ellipsis.
Check that your text editing app contains an ellipsis styling feature. Although they only look like a chain of three points, they are further apart than normal points
Step 3. Close with the name of the last author
Follow the general rules for including the last author's name after the ellipsis. Insert a comma after the last name, followed by the author's initial.
Put a period after the closing parenthesis to close this part of the quote
Step 4. Add the year of publication in parentheses
The next information to include is the year the work was published. Put it in parentheses and add a period after the closing of the brackets.
For example: "Sunshine, S. P., Brown, J. B., Honey, T., Smith, R., Grandin, T., Petty, L.,… Sullivan, T. D. (2015)"
Step 5. Write the full title of the work
Capitalize the first letter of the title. If necessary, add a subtitle after the colon.
For example: "Sunshine, SP, Brown, JB, Honey, T., Smith, R., Grandin, T., Petty, L.,… Sullivan, TD (2015). Cite multiple authors in APA format"
Step 6. Include the rest of the appointment information as usual
The general purpose of a citation is to inform readers of who wrote the cited work, its content, when it was written, and where it was published.
For example, a quote from a two-author work would read like this: "Wegener, DT, and Petty, RE (1994). Mood management across affective states: The hedonic contingency hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 1034- 1048 "
Method 3 of 3: Write in-text citations
Step 1. List the last names of 2 to 5 authors
For in-text citations, you need to list each name the first time you cite that particular source. Separate the authors' names with commas, and include this sign before the “y” that follows the penultimate author's name.
- Use the "and" before the name of the last author if you are going to make a quotation in parentheses, or if you are going to incorporate the names of the authors into the text. For example: "(Sunshine, Clark, and Lane, 2010)" or "This truth is reflected in the work of Sunshine, Clark, and Lane".
- If the work has more than 5 authors, simply add the last name of the first author, followed by the Latin abbreviation "et al.". For example: "(Lane et al., 2014)".
Step 2. Write the year of publication after the names
Like any APA-style citation, the year of publication always follows the names of the authors or editors. The year of publication is not italicized.
For example, a quotation in parentheses within the text could read: "(Sunshine, Summers, and Autumnwood, 1984)"
Step 3. Use the abbreviation "et al" in subsequent citations
Once you've listed the authors' names once, you don't need to repeatedly continue the relationship. The Latin abbreviation "et al" allows the reader to know that there is more than one author of the work.
For example: "(Sunshine et al., 2010)"
Step 4. Include the page number for direct dating
If you are only paraphrasing a reference, the authors' last names and the year of publication are required. However, for direct quotes, you should point the reader to the exact place where those words appear.
For example: "(Lane, Clark, and Winters, 2016, p. 92)"
Step 5. Insert the date in parentheses when the authors' names appear in the sentence
At some point, you'll want to list the authors' names directly in a sentence. In the case of several authors, list all their surnames separated by commas, and then add the year of publication in parentheses.
- Use the "y" immediately before the last author's name. Make sure to also put a comma after the name of the penultimate authors.
- For example: "According to Sunshine, Summers, and Autumnwood (2010), pizza is a great afternoon snack."
- If there are more than 5 authors, use the name of the first followed by the Latin abbreviation "et al.", When mentioning them in your text, as if it were a quotation in parentheses. For example: "Sunshine et al. (2010) also described the value of pizza."