how to write mla citation with multiple authors

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MLA Works Cited Page: Books

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MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9 th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

When you are gathering book sources, be sure to make note of the following bibliographic items: the author name(s), other contributors such as translators or editors, the book’s title, editions of the book, the publication date, the publisher, and the pagination.

The 8 th  edition of the MLA handbook highlights principles over prescriptive practices. Essentially, a writer will need to take note of primary elements in every source, such as author, title, etc. and then assort them in a general format. Thus, by using this methodology, a writer will be able to cite any source regardless of whether it’s included in this list.

Please note these changes in the new edition:

• Commas are used instead of periods between Publisher, Publication Date, and Pagination.
• Medium is no longer necessary.
• Containers are now a part of the MLA process. Commas should be used after container titles.
• DOIs should be used instead of URLS when available.
• Use the term “Accessed” instead of listing the date or the abbreviation, “n.d."

Below is the general format for any citation:

Author. Title. Title of container (do not list container for standalone books, e.g. novels), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs URL or DOI). 2 nd  container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).

Basic Book Format

The author’s name or a book with a single author's name appears in last name, first name format. The basic form for a book citation is:

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book . City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.

* Note: the City of Publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown in North America.

Book with One Author

Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science . Penguin, 1987.

Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House . MacMurray, 1999.

Book with More Than One Author

When a book has two authors, order the authors in the same way they are presented in the book. Start by listing the first name that appears on the book in last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in normal order (first name last name format).

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring . Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

If there are three or more authors, list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names. (Note that there is a period after “al” in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”).

Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition . Utah State UP, 2004.

Two or More Books by the Same Author

List works alphabetically by title. (Remember to ignore articles like A, An, and The.) Provide the author’s name in last name, first name format for the first entry only. For each subsequent entry by the same author, use three hyphens and a period.

Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism . St. Martin's, 1997.

---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History . Southern Illinois UP, 1993.

Book by a Corporate Author or Organization

A corporate author may include a commission, a committee, a government agency, or a group that does not identify individual members on the title page.

List the names of corporate authors in the place where an author’s name typically appears at the beginning of the entry.

American Allergy Association. Allergies in Children . Random House, 1998.

When the author and publisher are the same, skip the author, and list the title first. Then, list the corporate author only as the publisher.

Fair Housing—Fair Lending. Aspen Law & Business, 1985.

Book with No Author

List by title of the book. Incorporate these entries alphabetically just as you would with works that include an author name. For example, the following entry might appear between entries of works written by Dean, Shaun and Forsythe, Jonathan.

Encyclopedia of Indiana . Somerset, 1993.

Remember that for an in-text (parenthetical) citation of a book with no author, you should provide the name of the work in the signal phrase and the page number in parentheses. You may also use a shortened version of the title of the book accompanied by the page number. For more information see the In-text Citations for Print Sources with No Known Author section of In-text Citations: The Basics .

A Translated Book

If you want to emphasize the work rather than the translator, cite as you would any other book. Add “translated by” and follow with the name(s) of the translator(s).

Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason . Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988.

If you want to focus on the translation, list the translator as the author. In place of the author’s name, the translator’s name appears. His or her name is followed by the label, “translator.” If the author of the book does not appear in the title of the book, include the name, with a “By” after the title of the book and before the publisher. Note that this type of citation is less common and should only be used for papers or writing in which translation plays a central role.

Howard, Richard, translator. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason . By Michel Foucault, Vintage-Random House, 1988.

Republished Book

Books may be republished due to popularity without becoming a new edition. New editions are typically revisions of the original work. For books that originally appeared at an earlier date and that have been republished at a later one, insert the original publication date before the publication information.

For books that are new editions (i.e. different from the first or other editions of the book), see An Edition of a Book below.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble . 1990. Routledge, 1999.

Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine . 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.

An Edition of a Book

There are two types of editions in book publishing: a book that has been published more than once in different editions and a book that is prepared by someone other than the author (typically an editor).

A Subsequent Edition

Cite the book as you normally would, but add the number of the edition after the title.

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students . 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.

A Work Prepared by an Editor

Cite the book as you normally would, but add the editor after the title with the label "edited by."

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre,  edited by Margaret Smith, Oxford UP, 1998.

Note that the format for citing sources with important contributors with editor-like roles follows the same basic template:

...adapted by John Doe...

Finally, in the event that the source features a contributor that cannot be described with a past-tense verb and the word "by" (e.g., "edited by"), you may instead use a noun followed by a comma, like so:

...guest editor, Jane Smith...

Anthology or Collection (e.g. Collection of Essays)

To cite the entire anthology or collection, list by editor(s) followed by a comma and "editor" or, for multiple editors, "editors." This sort of entry is somewhat rare. If you are citing a particular piece within an anthology or collection (more common), see A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection below.

Hill, Charles A., and Marguerite Helmers, editors. Defining Visual Rhetorics . Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004.

Peterson, Nancy J., editor. Toni Morrison: Critical and Theoretical Approaches . Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.

A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection

Works may include an essay in an edited collection or anthology, or a chapter of a book. The basic form is for this sort of citation is as follows:

Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection , edited by Editor's Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.

Some examples:

Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One , edited by Ben Rafoth, Heinemann, 2000, pp. 24-34.

Swanson, Gunnar. "Graphic Design Education as a Liberal Art: Design and Knowledge in the University and The 'Real World.'" The Education of a Graphic Designer , edited by Steven Heller, Allworth Press, 1998, pp. 13-24.

Note on Cross-referencing Several Items from One Anthology: If you cite more than one essay from the same edited collection, MLA indicates you may cross-reference within your works cited list in order to avoid writing out the publishing information for each separate essay. You should consider this option if you have several references from a single text. To do so, include a separate entry for the entire collection listed by the editor's name as below:

Rose, Shirley K, and Irwin Weiser, editors. The Writing Program Administrator as Researcher . Heinemann, 1999.

Then, for each individual essay from the collection, list the author's name in last name, first name format, the title of the essay, the editor's last name, and the page range:

L'Eplattenier, Barbara. "Finding Ourselves in the Past: An Argument for Historical Work on WPAs." Rose and Weiser, pp. 131-40.

Peeples, Tim. "'Seeing' the WPA With/Through Postmodern Mapping." Rose and Weiser, pp. 153-67.

Please note: When cross-referencing items in the works cited list, alphabetical order should be maintained for the entire list.

Poem or Short Story Examples :

Burns, Robert. "Red, Red Rose." 100 Best-Loved Poems, edited by Philip Smith, Dover, 1995, p. 26.

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories , edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.

If the specific literary work is part of the author's own collection (all of the works have the same author), then there will be no editor to reference:

Whitman, Walt. "I Sing the Body Electric." Selected Poems, Dover, 1991, pp. 12-19.

Carter, Angela. "The Tiger's Bride." Burning Your Boats: The Collected Stories, Penguin, 1995, pp. 154-69.

Article in a Reference Book (e.g. Encyclopedias, Dictionaries)

For entries in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works, cite the entry name as you would any other work in a collection but do not include the publisher information. Also, if the reference book is organized alphabetically, as most are, do not list the volume or the page number of the article or item.

"Ideology." The American Heritage Dictionary.  3rd ed. 1997. 

A Multivolume Work

When citing only one volume of a multivolume work, include the volume number after the work's title, or after the work's editor or translator.

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria . Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.

When citing more than one volume of a multivolume work, cite the total number of volumes in the work. Also, be sure in your in-text citation to provide both the volume number and page number(s) ( see "Citing Multivolume Works" on our in-text citations resource .)

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria . Translated by H. E. Butler, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980. 4 vols.

If the volume you are using has its own title, cite the book without referring to the other volumes as if it were an independent publication.

Churchill, Winston S. The Age of Revolution . Dodd, 1957.

An Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword

When citing an introduction, a preface, a foreword, or an afterword, write the name of the author(s) of the piece you are citing. Then give the name of the part being cited, which should not be italicized or enclosed in quotation marks; in italics, provide the name of the work and the name of the author of the introduction/preface/foreword/afterword. Finish the citation with the details of publication and page range.

Farrell, Thomas B. Introduction. Norms of Rhetorical Culture , by Farrell, Yale UP, 1993, pp. 1-13.

If the writer of the piece is different from the author of the complete work , then write the full name of the principal work's author after the word "By." For example, if you were to cite Hugh Dalziel Duncan’s introduction of Kenneth Burke’s book Permanence and Change, you would write the entry as follows:

Duncan, Hugh Dalziel. Introduction. Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose, by Kenneth Burke, 1935, 3rd ed., U of California P, 1984, pp. xiii-xliv.

Book Published Before 1900

Original copies of books published before 1900 are usually defined by their place of publication rather than the publisher. Unless you are using a newer edition, cite the city of publication where you would normally cite the publisher.

Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions . Boston, 1863.

Italicize “The Bible” and follow it with the version you are using. Remember that your in-text (parenthetical citation) should include the name of the specific edition of the Bible, followed by an abbreviation of the book, the chapter and verse(s). (See Citing the Bible at In-Text Citations: The Basics .)

The Bible. Authorized King James Version , Oxford UP, 1998.

The Bible. The New Oxford Annotated Version , 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2001.

The New Jerusalem Bible. Edited by Susan Jones, Doubleday, 1985.

A Government Publication

Cite the author of the publication if the author is identified. Otherwise, start with the name of the national government, followed by the agency (including any subdivisions or agencies) that serves as the organizational author. For congressional documents, be sure to include the number of the Congress and the session when the hearing was held or resolution passed as well as the report number. US government documents are typically published by the Government Printing Office.

United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearing on the Geopolitics of Oil . Government Printing Office, 2007. 110th Congress, 1st session, Senate Report 111-8.

United States, Government Accountability Office. Climate Change: EPA and DOE Should Do More to Encourage Progress Under Two Voluntary Programs . Government Printing Office, 2006.

Cite the title and publication information for the pamphlet just as you would a book without an author. Pamphlets and promotional materials commonly feature corporate authors (commissions, committees, or other groups that does not provide individual group member names). If the pamphlet you are citing has no author, cite as directed below. If your pamphlet has an author or a corporate author, put the name of the author (last name, first name format) or corporate author in the place where the author name typically appears at the beginning of the entry. (See also Books by a Corporate Author or Organization above.)

Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System . American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2006.

Your Rights Under California Welfare Programs . California Department of Social Services, 2007.

Dissertations and Master's Theses

Dissertations and master's theses may be used as sources whether published or not. Unlike previous editions, MLA 8 specifies no difference in style for published/unpublished works.

The main elements of a dissertation citation are the same as those for a book: author name(s), title (italicized) , and publication date. Conclude with an indication of the document type (e.g., "PhD dissertation"). The degree-granting institution may be included before the document type (though this is not required). If the dissertation was accessed through an online repository, include it as the second container after all the other elements.

Bishop, Karen Lynn. Documenting Institutional Identity: Strategic Writing in the IUPUI Comprehensive Campaign . 2002. Purdue University, PhD dissertation.

Bile, Jeffrey. Ecology, Feminism, and a Revised Critical Rhetoric: Toward a Dialectical Partnership . 2005. Ohio University, PhD dissertation.

Mitchell, Mark. The Impact of Product Quality Reducing Events on the Value of Brand-Name Capital: Evidence from Airline Crashes and the 1982 Tylenol Poisonings.  1987. PhD dissertation.  ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

List the names of corporate authors in the place where an author’s name typically appears at the beginning of the entry if the author and publisher are not the same.

Fair Housing—Fair Lending. Aspen Law & Business, 1985.

MLA Citation Style, 9th Edition

• MLA Style, 9th Edition
• In-text citations
• Books - Multiple Authors
• Books - with editors, translators, etc.
• Book - Essay, Short Story, Poem, etc
• Books - later editions
• Articles - Multiple Authors
• Articles - from scholarly journals
• Articles - from newspapers
• Articles - from magazines
• YouTube Video
• Television Shows
• Images from the Web
• Works Cited: Websites
• Works Cited: Social Media / Informal Communication
• Don't See an Example for Your Source?!
• Report an Error / Question

Two Authors

When a work has two authors, include them in the order they appear on the work, and invert the first author's name but write out the second author's name normally.

Works Cited Format:

In-Text Citation Examples:

Author within the text, direct quote:

Authors not in the text, direct quote:

Three or More Authors

Invert the first author's name add a comma and "et al."

In-text Citation Examples:

Authors within the text, direct quote:

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Citation guides

All you need to know about citations

How to do in-text citations with multiple authors in MLA

The format of MLA's in-text citations varies depending on the number of authors. In the following sections you will learn how to format in-text citations in MLA style, with one author, two authors, and multiple authors.

One Author in-text citation in MLA

To format an in-text citation of a source with one author, include the author’s last name, and the page number or page range in parentheses. For example:

• (Wollstonecraft 26)

If the author’s name is already stated in the sentence, give only the page number or page range in parenthesis at the end of the sentence, or at the next natural pause. For example:

• As Wollstonecraft stated, “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.” (26).

Two authors in-text citation in MLA

To format an in-text citation of a source with two authors, include the authors' last names separated by the word and , and the page number or page range in parentheses. For example:

• (King and Straub 93-101)

If the authors' names are already stated in the sentence, give only the page number or page range in parenthesis at the end of the sentence, or at the next natural pause. For example:

• Stephen King and Peter Straub shared the same opinion (93-101).

Three or more in-text citation in MLA

To format an in-text citation of a source with three or more authors, include the first author's last name followed by et al., and the page number or page range in parentheses. For example:

• (Sumantran et al. 106-114)
• Sumantran et al. carried out a research about the future of the car (106-114).

This citation style guide is based on the MLA Handbook (9 th edition).

More useful guides

• MLA Style Guide, 8th Edition: In-text Examples
• MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics
• How do I cite a source with multiple authors in MLA style (in-text)?

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MLA 8 Citation Guide

• TITLE of SOURCE
• TITLE of CONTAINER
• OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
• PUBLICATION DATE
• Works Cited
• Journal Article with One Author
• Journal Article with 2 Authors
• Journal Article with 3 or more Authors
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• One Author or Editor
• Two Authors or Editors
• Three or More Authors
• Article or Chapter in an Edited Book
• Article in a Reference Book
• Reference Work
• Basic Web Page
• Entry in a Reference Work
• Government or Agency Document
• YouTube Video
• Electronic Image
• Figures and Charts
• Class Lecture/Notes
• Secondary Sources

MLA Works Cited Page: Books

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Book with Three or More Authors

      (Author Surname, et al. page number)

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• How to cite a journal article in MLA style

How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA | Format & Examples

Published on April 16, 2019 by Courtney Gahan . Revised on June 16, 2022.

An MLA Works Cited entry for a journal article contains the author(s); article title; journal name; volume and issue; month and year; page range; and a DOI if accessed online. In the in-text citation, include the author’s last name and the page number.

Generate accurate MLA citations with Scribbr

Table of contents, citing an online journal article, articles with multiple authors, articles in special issue journals, frequently asked questions about mla style.

When citing an online journal article, first look for a DOI , as this is more stable and less likely to change than a URL. A DOI should be formatted as a full link beginning with “https://”, even if not listed as such on the page with the article.

If there is no DOI, you can add a URL instead. If the article is in PDF form, you can optionally note this in your reference .

Citing an article in a database

For sources that you accessed via a database, include the database name along with the DOI or permanent URL.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

In MLA style, up to two authors are included in citations. List them in the order they appear in the source, separated by commas, and don’t invert the second author’s name.

If an article has three or more authors, include only the first author’s name, followed by  “ et al. ”

Special issue journals focus on a specific theme, are written by a specific group of authors, or are compiled from a special event.

In these cases, include the special issue name, the phrase “special issue of,” and the journal’s regular name. If the special issue lists editors or other contributors, their names should also be included.

The title of an article is not italicized in MLA style , but placed in quotation marks. This applies to articles from journals , newspapers , websites , or any other publication. Use italics for the title of the source where the article was published. For example:

Use the same formatting in the Works Cited entry and when referring to the article in the text itself.

If a source has two authors, name both authors in your MLA in-text citation and Works Cited entry. If there are three or more authors, name only the first author, followed by et al.

In MLA style citations , format a DOI as a link, including “https://doi.org/” at the start and then the unique numerical code of the article.

DOIs are used mainly when citing journal articles in MLA .

Some source types, such as books and journal articles , may contain footnotes (or endnotes) with additional information. The following rules apply when citing information from a note in an MLA in-text citation :

• To cite information from a single numbered note, write “n” after the page number, and then write the note number, e.g. (Smith 105n2)
• To cite information from multiple numbered notes, write “nn” and include a range, e.g. (Smith 77nn1–2)
• To cite information from an unnumbered note, write “un” after the page number, with a space in between, e.g. (Jones 250 un)

You must include an MLA in-text citation every time you quote or paraphrase from a source (e.g. a book , movie , website , or article ).

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How to Cite Multiple Authors

Last Updated: July 4, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff . Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 67,722 times. Learn more...

All of the 4 popular citation styles have slightly different rules for citing multiple authors. In order to reference these sources properly, you’ll need to know how to cite them in bibliographies (also called Works Cited or reference lists), as well as parenthetical in-text citations or footnotes. Once you’ve reviewed the guidelines created by the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Psychological Association (APA), the editors of the Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago), or the American Medical Association (AMA), you’ll be ready to create citations using whichever style you need.

Template and Examples

Following Modern Language Association (MLA) Guidelines

• For example: “Cannella, Gaile S., and Radhika Viruru. Childhood and Post colonization: Power, Education, and Contemporary Practice . RoutledgeFalmer, 2004.”
• Unlike most other citation styles, MLA doesn’t require that you include the publisher’s location for books published after 1900. [2] X Research source

• For example: Cottrol, Robert J., et al. Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution . University Press of Kansas, 2003.

• For example: “(Cannella and Viruru 111).”

• For example: “(Cottrol et al. 50).”

Using the American Psychological Associate (APA) Format

• For example: “Cannella, G. S., & Viruru, R. (2004). Childhood and postcolonization: Power, education, and contemporary practice . New York: RoutledgeFalmer.”
• All of the authors’ names should be inverted.
• Always capitalize proper nouns in titles and subtitles. [7] X Research source

• For example, the in-text citation for Childhood and postcolonization: Power, education, and contemporary practice would look like: “(Cannella & Viruru, 2004)” for the first citation and: “(Cannella et al., 2004)” for every subsequent citation.

Referencing the Chicago Manual of Style

• For example: “Robert J. Cottrol, Raymond T. Diamond, and Leland B. Ware, Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003).”
• If you’re citing particular page numbers, these will go at the end of the citation. Add a comma after the parentheses, type out the page numbers, and then close the citation with a period.
• For Chicago style, you’ll use footnotes instead of in-text citations. These are full bibliographic citations that appear at the bottom of the page where you’ve referenced a text. [12] X Research source

• For example: “Cottrol, Robert J., Raymond T. Diamond, and Leland B. Ware. Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution . Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003.”

Citing According to American Medical Association Guidelines

• For example: “Cottrol, RJ, Diamond, RT, and Ware, LB. Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution . Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas; 2003.”
• The author and title should both be followed by periods. The publication location needs to include the city and state (or city and country if it’s outside the U.S.), and it should be followed by a colon. Use a semicolon to separate the publisher’s name and the date of publication.
• Article titles aren’t italicized, and they don’t appear within quotation marks. Only the first word should be capitalized.

• For example: Fauci, AS, Braunwald, E, Kasper, DL, et al., eds. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine . 17th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill; 2008.
• The rules are the same for authors and editors, except that a list of editors is followed by the abbreviation “eds.”

Expert Q&A

You might also like.

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_books.html
• ↑ https://uri.libguides.com/cite/mla8th
• ↑ https://utica.libguides.com/c.php?g=703243&p=4991645
• ↑ https://libanswers.snhu.edu/faq/102973
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_author_authors.html
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/capitalization/proper-nouns
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
• ↑ https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
• ↑ https://politics.ucsc.edu/undergraduate/chicago%20style%20guide.pdf
• ↑ https://libguides.tru.ca/chicago/books-4plusauthors
• ↑ https://library.ulethbridge.ca/chicagostyle/books/multiple
• ↑ https://guides.library.sc.edu/citation/ama
• ↑ https://guides.lib.uw.edu/hsl/ama/intext

About This Article

To cite multiple authors using the MLA format, separate two authors with a comma and the word “and,” and do not invert the second author’s name. For the APA format, separate 2 to 7 authors with commas and “&,” listing their last names and the initials of their first and middle names. To reference 2 to 3 authors for the Chicago Manual of Style, list the authors first and last names, separate with commas, and type “and” before the last author. For more guidance, including how to properly list in-text citations, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Last Updated: Jun 22, 2023 Views: 1070758

Each citation style handles this situation a little bit differently! Here are specific examples of how it works in the three major citation styles:

In-Text Citations:

When an author or author(s) published multiple sources in the same year, include a lowercase letter immediately following the date. Begin this lettering with "a" and continue in alphabetical order.

In the Works Cited (Per the MLA Handbook (9th edition), p. 221: To cite two or more works by the same author, give the name in the first entry only. Thereafter, in place of the name, type three hyphens, followed by a period and the title. The three hyphens stand for exactly the same name as in the preceding entry. This sort of label does not affect the order in which the entries appear; works listed under the same name are alphabetized by title.

For in-text citations (Per the MLA Handbook (9th edition), p. 235: Including only the author name and page number in a parenthetical citation is insufficient if more than one work appears under that author's name in the work cited list.  In that case, include a shortened version of the source's title.

For example

In-text citations, works cited.

Haynes, Stephen R. The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign for Southern Church Desegregation . Oxford University Press, 2012.

---. Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery . Oxford University Press, 2007.

NOTE: When alphabetizing by title ignore articles like A, An, and The. This is why The Last Segregated Hour is listed before Noah's Curse .

For additional examples and tips on multiple sources by the same author in MLA Style, check out the MLA Style Center's " How do I distinguish works by an author that have the same title? " 

Chicago Style

Per the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition):

Notes and Bibliography method (see section  14.68 : The 3-em dash for one repeated name  for caveats please refer to 14.67 ).

For successive entries [in a bibliography] by the same author, editor, translator, or compiler, a 3-em dash (followed by a period or comma, depending on the presence of an abbreviation such as ed.) replaces the name after the first appearance.

For example: (don't forget to indent the second and subsequent lines):

Judt, Tony. A Grand Illusion? An Essay on Europe . New York: Hill and Wang, 1996.

———. Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century . New York: Penguin Press, 2008.

In a bibliography, titles by the same author are normally listed alphabetically.

Author-Date References (see section 15.18 : Chronological order for repeated names in a reference list ) 

For successive entries by the same author(s), translator(s), editor(s), or compiler(s), a 3-em dash replaces the name(s) after the first appearance. The entries are arranged chronologically by year of publication in ascending order, not alphabetized by title. Undated works designated n.d. or forthcoming follow all dated works.

For example: (don't forget to indent the second and subsequent lines):

Schuman, Howard, and Jacqueline Scott. 1987. “Problems in the Use of Survey Questions to  Measure Public Opinion.” Science 236:957-59.

———. 1989. “Generations and Collective Memories.” American Sociological Review 54:359-81.

Two or more works by the same author in the same year must be differentiated by the addition of a, b, and so forth (regardless of whether they were authored, edited, compiled or translated), and are listed alphabetically by title. Text citations consist of author and year plus letter.

Fogel, Robert William. 2004a. The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

———. 2004b. ”Technophysio Evolution and the Measurement of Economic Growth.” Journal of Evolutionary Economics 14 (2): 217-21. Doi:10.1007/s00191-004-0188-x.          

(Fogel 2004b, 218)

(Fogel 2004a, 45-46)

For additional information on citing multiple sources by the same author in Chicago style, please refer to the Chicago Manual of Style . 

More information:

• Citing Your Sources  (Shapiro Library)

Further Help

This information is intended to be a guideline, not expert advice. Please be sure to speak to your professor about the appropriate way to cite multiple sources by the same author in your class assignments and projects.

Campus Students

To access academic support, visit your Brightspace course and select “Tutoring and Mentoring” from the Academic Support pulldown menu.

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American Psychological Association. (2010).  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association . Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

The Modern Language Association of America. (2016).  MLA Handbook . New York: Modern Language Association of America.

University of Chicago. (2017).  The Chicago Manual of Style . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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MLA & APA Style Guide

• Setting Up Your Paper
• MLA In-Text Citations
• MLA Works Cited Page

APA In-Text Citations

• APA Reference Page
• Annotated Bibliography
• Helpul Resources

Anytime you quote OR use information from an outside source, you include an in-text citation, or sometimes referred to as a parenthetical citation, at the end of that sentence to signify where that information came from.

Basic APA In-Text Format

Paraphrasing Information: (Author(s) last name, year published) ⮕ (Fisher & Bishop, 2015).

Direct Quote: (Author(s) last name, year published, page number)  ⮕ (Fisher & Bishop, 2015, p. 21)

I'm Citing A. . .

• Source With One Author
• A Source With Two Authors
• A Source With Three or More Authors
• A Source With a Group of Authors

Use the author’s last name, a comma, and the year published.

(Guo, 2020).

Connect both authors' last names with & (ampersand), a comma, and the year.

(Dresang & Koh, 2009).

If there are 3 or more authors, use just the last name of the first author, use et al. in place of other authors, a comma, and the year.

(Vardell et al., 2020).

If you are using a source that has a group as an author, like the CDC, the first time you cite them, use the entire group name, the abbreviated name in brackets, a comma, and the year.

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019).

All subsequent citations will look like this:

(CDC, 2019).

• << Previous: MLA Works Cited Page
• Next: APA Reference Page >>
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Citing sources in other styles

MLA and APA are the most common citation styles, but there are many others. Below are brief descriptions and links to helpful guides to a few styles that you may see or use in some of your classes.

Chicago style

Chicago style is most commonly used in history and the sciences. It includes two systems for documenting sources: the Notes-Bibliography system and the Author-Date system.

• The Notes-Bibliography system uses footnotes or endnotes after the cited material in the text, which then list the citation and any commentary either at the bottom of the page or at the end of the publication. The NB system is preferred in historical research.
• The Author-Date system uses parenthetical citations, where abbreviated citation information, such as the author, date of publication, and page range directly follows the referenced material.

 A reference list is then found at the end of the document to provide the full citation for anything referenced in text. This system is preferred in the sciences.

Details about how to use Chicago style can be found in the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide , The Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) , or Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL). The University Libraries History Guide also has information on Chicago style.

Associated Press (AP) style

AP style is used for writing in journalism. Sources are typically cited within the story or narrative, instead of in an official bibliography or footnotes, so there is no one format used to cite information. Details about writing in AP style can be found at the AP Stylebook Online . The Stylebook contains information about how to write about a variety of topics, and also includes guidelines for grammatical questions, like abbreviations or punctuation.

American Medical Association (AMA) style

The American Medical Association has its own manual of style, used in its publication, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Citations consist of both an in-text reference using a superscript and a reference page at the end for full citation information. You can cite multiple sources at one time. For details on this citation and writing style, consult the AMA Manual of Style online or the Purdue Online Writing Lab AMA page .

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has set guidelines for writing within the fields of engineering, computer science, and similar technological fields. Citations consist of an in-text reference, usually a number surrounded by brackets, e.g., [1], that correspond to a reference page at the end of the paper. More details can be found at the Purdue Online Writing Lab IEEE page , including the general format for an IEEE paper as a whole and information on formatting tables, figures, and equations.

Council of Science Editors (CSE)

The Council of Science Editors has set guidelines for writing within the life sciences, including biology, biochemistry, environmental science, neuroscience, and agriculture. There are three main styles.

• The Citation-Name system uses numbers as an in-text citation, either as a superscript, in parentheses, or in brackets, after the content being referenced. These numbers correspond to a reference list at the end of the document. The reference list is organized alphabetically by the name of the author.
• The Citation-Sequence system also uses numbers as an in-text citation, like the Citation-Name system. The only difference between the two is that the reference list is organized numerically. The references are listed sequentially, by the order they are used in the document.
• The Name-Year system uses parenthetical in-text citations that reference the author’s name and the year of publication, with an alphabetical reference list at the end of the document.

More information about the three CSE styles can be found at this guide from the University of Wisconsin-Madison .

How do I cite multiple works by the same author from the same collection?

If you are citing multiple works by the same author from a collection that includes contributions by other authors, create a works-cited-list entry for each work you are citing: 

Works Cited Milton, John.  Areopagitica .  The Norton Anthology of English Literature , edited by E. Talbot Donaldson et al., 4th ed., vol. 1, W. W. Norton, 1979, pp. 1399-1409.  ———. Samson Agonistes.   The Norton Anthology of English Literature , edited by E. Talbot Donaldson et al., 4th ed., vol. 1, W. W. Norton, 1979, pp. 1540-83. 

You may also provide a main entry for the collection and create cross-references to it:

Works Cited Donaldson, E. Talbot, et al., editors.  The Norton Anthology of English Literature , 4th ed., vol. 1, W. W. Norton, 1979.  Milton, John.  Areopagitica . Donaldson et al., pp. 1399-1409. ———. Samson Agonistes.  Donaldson et al., pp. 1540-83.

If you are citing multiple works by the same author and using a single collection of that author’s works—edited or not—then you may generally cite the collection as a whole in your works-cited list and refer to the individual works in your text:

Whereas in  Areopagitica Milton praises those who would “advance the publick good” by publishing their thoughts (997), in  Samson Agonistes he constructs a much more complicated portrait of a man whose worthy actions proceed from “intimate impulse” unknown to others (line 223). Work Cited Milton, John.  The Riverside Milton . Edited by Roy Flanagan, Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

If, however, you cite just one work from the collection, you could create an entry for it in your works-cited list:

Milton’s  Areopagitica  is an eloquent plea for citizens to join in a common cause to “unite those dissever’d peeces which are yet wanting to the body of Truth” (1018).  Work Cited Milton, John.  Areopagitica.  The Riverside Milton , edited by Roy Flanagan, Houghton Mifflin, 1998, pp. 987-1024.

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / Harvard Referencing / Harvard Referencing Style Examples / Referencing multiple authors in Harvard style

Referencing multiple authors in Harvard style

Referencing allows you to acknowledge different ideas and materials that you borrow from other authors’ works. Harvard style referencing has two parts:  

• In-text citation – A citation that’s provided in your work (in-text) that indicates where a stated idea or direct quotation comes from.
• Reference list – A list of references that correspond to all in-text citations in the text. Each reference is longer than the in-text citation and contains details like the author’s name, publisher name, year published, place of publication, volumes, and other source information.

Below we will cover how to cite multiple authors in both an in-text citation and a reference.

Two authors are provided

When referencing a source that has two authors, the reference should have the names of both the authors.  

For in-text citations, include the surnames of both authors and the year published.

For references, the surname and first-name initial of each author is listed with “and” between them.  

In-text citation structure:

“Quote” or paraphrase (Surname 1 and Surname 2, Year published)

Surname 1 and Surname 2 (Year published)

In-text citation example:

“Ridley noticed that the ornament from Lena’s graduation had already joined her charm collection” (Garcia and Stohl, 2015).

Garcia and Stohl (2015) noticed that…

Example reference structure (book):

Surname 1, Initial(s). and Surname 2, Initial(s). (Year published) Title in Italics . Place of publication: Name of publisher.

Reference example:

Garcia, K. and Stohl, M. (2015) Dangerous creatures. London: Penguin Books.

Three authors are provided

A reference for a source with three authors will have the names of all three authors. List the authors in the order they are presented in the source (not in alphabetical order).  

For in-text citations, include the surnames of all authors and the year published.

For references, the surname and first-name initial of each author is listed. A comma separates the first and second author names; the word “and” separates the second and third author names.  

“Quote” or paraphrase (Surname 1, Surname 2 and Surname 3, Year published)

Surname 1, Surname 2 and Surname 3 (Year published)

“The parts of the brain are the cerebral hemispheres, the cerebellum, and the brainstem” (Drake, Vogl and Mitchell, 2015).

Surname 1, Initial(s)., Surname 2, Initial(s). and Surname 3, Initial(s). (Year published) Title in Italics . Place of publication: Name of publisher.

Drake, R.L., Vogl, A.W. and Mitchell, A.W.M. (2015) Gray’s anatomy for students . 3 rd rev. edn. Philadelphia, PA: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier.

Four or more authors are provided

When referencing a source that has four or more authors, use “ et al.” to shorten your list of authors mentioned.  

For in-text citations, use “ et al.” in italics after the surname of the first author. The meaning of “et al.” is ‘and others’. See this guide on when to use et al. in Harvard style for more details.

References can also use “ et al. ” to shorten the list of authors. However, if your institution prefers to have all names listed in a reference, list all the authors by surname and first-name initial. A comma separates the all author names except for the last two names. The word “and” separates the last two author names.  

“Quote” or paraphrase (Surname 1 et al. , Year published)

Surname 1 et al. (Year published)

“Normal ventricular depolarization proceeds as a rapid, continuous spread of activation wave fronts” (Jameson et al., 2018, p. 1676).

Example reference structures (book):

Surname 1, Initial(s). et al . (Year published) Title in Italics . Place of publication: Publisher.

Surname 1, Initial(s)., Surname 2, Initial(s)., Surname 3, Initial(s)., and Surname 4, Initial(s). (Year published) Title in Italics . Place of publication: Name of publisher.

Example references (book):

Jameson, J.L. et al. (2018) Harrison’s principles of internal medicine . New York: McGraw Hill Education.

Jameson, J.L, Fauci, A.S., Kasper, D.L., Hauser, S.L, Longo, D.L. and Loscalzo J. eds. (2018) Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine . New York: McGraw Hill Education.

Published October 29, 2020.

Harvard Formatting Guide

Harvard Formatting

• et al Usage
• Direct Quotes
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Page Numbers
• Writing an Outline
• View Harvard Guide

Reference Examples

• View all Harvard Examples

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