Most areas of the social sciences require that you use the American Psychological Association (APA) citation format to identify the references used. When writing a scientific paper, you may have to cite sources from more than one author. To cite more than one author using the APA format, list all authors if the number is less than six.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Citing 2 to 6 Authors
Step 1. List the entire surname, first initial and middle initial of the author
Generally, if the paper you are citing is written by more than one author, include all the authors' names in your citation. For APA format, write the last name, add a comma, then include the initials of the first and middle names.all authors.
- For example, a writer named Francis Leanne Montgomery should have written “Montgomery, F. L.”
- If the author's middle name is not listed, simply write the initials of his first name. For example, "Powell, J."
- Separate author names with commas. Make sure you include a comma after each author's last name and initial. For example: "Sunshine, S. J., Summers, P. T., & Autumnwood, S."
Step 2. List the authors' names in the same order as on the source title page
When citing more than one author, the order of the authors' names is generally determined by agreement of all authors. Sort the author's name according to what has been determined.
Sort the list of references starting with the last name of the first author
Step 3. Add an ampersand (&) before the last author's name
In reference lists, use ampersand (&) instead of and, to indicate the end of the quote. If all authors are listed as editors, add a comma and the abbreviation “eds.” after the editor's last name.
The ampersand is always placed after the comma. For example: "Sunshine, S. J., & Davis, T."
Step 4. Add the year of publication of the source in parentheses
The year of publication of the source is always listed in parentheses and is placed after the entire author's name. Add a period after the closing parenthesis.
- For example: "Sunshine, S. J., Summers, P. T., & Autumnwood, S. (2010)."
- You do not have to add a comma between the initials of the last author and the opening parenthesis.
Step 5. Write the full title of the source
After the year of publication, the citation must contain the full title of the source so that readers can identify it. Use capital letters for the first word of the source title as when writing sentences. Therefore, only the first word is capitalized.
- If the source contains a subheading, put it after the colon. You must capitalize the first word of the title.
- The title of the source may be italicized, depending on the type of paper you are citing. The title of the source is still written in the same way even though the number of authors is more than one. For example, a book title should be italicized, but a journal article should not be italicized.
Step 6. Include publication information at the end of the citation
The end of the citation contains where the source paper was published. The information to include depends on the type of source cited and how you obtained it.
For example, if you were citing a book by 3 authors, the citation might be something like this: "Calfee, RC, & Valencia, RR (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publications. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association."
Method 2 of 3: Citing 7 or More Authors
Step 1. List the last names and initials of the first 6 authors
Citation should not contain more than 7 author names. If you are citing sources with 7 or more authors or editors, you must set aside some of the names of authors and editors in APA format citations.
Make sure the order of writing the author's name is as stated on the title page of the source
Step 2. Add an ellipsis after the sixth author's name
Add a comma after the sixth author's name, then include an ellipsis to indicate that there are more than six authors. Make sure you write a comma after the sixth author's name. You do not need to include a comma after the ellipsis.
Check the word processing program you are using for how to include the ellipsis. The ellipsis looks like three dots, but the distance between the dots is wider
Step 3. End the citation by writing the last author's name
Write the last author's name after the ellipsis in the same way you normally would. Place a comma after the last author's name, then add the author's initials.
For example: "Sunshine, S. P., Brown, J. B., Honey, T., Smith, R., Grandin, T., Petty, L.,… Sullivan, T. D."
Step 4. Add the year of publication in brackets
For the next step, you must write the year of publication of the source. Write the year of publication in brackets and add a period after the closing parenthesis.
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 source
Write the title of the source and capitalize the first word. In other words, only the first word is capitalized. If there is a subheading, place it after the colon.
For example: "Sunshine, S. P., Brown, J. B., Honey, T., Smith, R., Grandin, T., Petty, L.,… Sullivan, T. D. (2015). Creating APA citations for multiple authors."
Step 6. Add publication information at the end of the citation
Conclude the citation by writing where the source paper was published and the publisher. Add a colon between the place of publication and the publisher. Add a period at the end of the quote.
For example: "Sunshine, SP, Brown, JB, Honey, T., Smith, R., Grandin, T., Petty, L.,.. Sullivan, TD (2015). Creating APA citations for multiple authors. London: Johnson Publishing Group."
Method 3 of 3: Writing Quotes in Text
Step 1. Write down the last names of all authors
When citing in-text citations, you should include the full name of the author when you first cite the source. Separate author names with commas. Add a comma before the ampersand (&) followed by the penultimate author's name.
- Add the ampersand before the last author's name if you are going to write a citation in brackets. If the author's name is included in the text, you must write the word "and." For example: "(Sunshine, Clark, & Lane, 2010)" or "This fact is based on a book written by Sunshine, Clark, and Lane."
- If the source is written by more than 5 authors, simply list the first author's last name and add the Latin abbreviation “et al.” For example: "(Lane et al., 2014)".
Step 2. Add the year of publication after the author's name
Like APA citations in general, the year of publication is always written after the name of the author or editor. The year of publication is not italicized.
For example, an in-text quote that uses parentheses is written like this: "(Sunshine, Summers, & Autumnwood, 1984)."
Step 3. Use the abbreviation “et al” in follow-up quotes
Once you've written the entire author's name in the citation, you don't have to do it again. The Latin abbreviation “et al” informs the reader that the quote contains more than one author.
For example: "(Sunshine et al., 2010)."
Step 4. Add page numbers for direct quotes
If you are rewriting information from the source paper, simply add the author's last name and year of publication. However, for direct quotes, you must tell the reader what page the quote was taken from.
For example: "(Lane, Clark, & Winters, 2016, p. 92)."
Step 5. Write the year of publication in brackets when the author's name appears in the sentence
Sometimes, you have to write the entire author's name in the sentence directly. If there is more than one author, write the last names of all authors, separate them with commas, then add the year of publication in brackets.
- Use the word "and" before the last author's name. Make sure you add a comma after the penultimate author's name.
- For example: "According to Sunshine, Summers, and Autumnwood (2010), pizza is an excellent midday snack."
- If there are more than 5 authors, write the name of the first author and add “et al.” when the author is mentioned in the text, the same as when writing quotations in brackets. For example, "Sunshine et al. (2010) then describe the factors that make pizza so important"
