How To Use Et Al Mla

Mla modern language association style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities.

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. 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. When to use et al. In mla style always use et al for sources with three or more 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 using et al for the second and subsequent citations.

In chicago style chicago style has two systems of citation. Et al is an abbreviation for the latin phrase et alia which means and others for 3 or more authors type the first author s last name followed by a comma. Harris et al 2001 or harris et al. Aside from authors this can also apply to characters in a book or novel. In both the in text citation and in the works cited page.

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. When there are more than 3 authors only list the last name of the first one and type et al. There are many places in mla citation style where you can use et al. Collections of of essays stories or poems with three or more contributors. If there are at least six authors then you may use et al from the first mention.

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 example suppose you were using a book as a source that was written by severus snape minerva mcgonagall and horace slughorn. Add the abbreviation et al with no intervening punctuation. This applies both to in text citations and in the works cited list. 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. In all cases you should use the last name of the first author followed by et al in your in text citation. 2001 modern language association mla style manual. Everything goes away jack sawyer like the moon. Works with three or more writers.