Here’s the golden rule: when you have three or more authors, you use et al.—Latin for “and others.” In your in-text citation, just write the first author’s last name, then “et al.” For instance: (Johnson et al. 112). No comma before “et al.,” okay? It’s a small detail, but crucial.
On your Works Cited page, same deal: list the first author, then “et al.” So it looks like: Johnson, Mark, et al. That’s it. No need to name the other 47 researchers who helped write that massive textbook. They’ll get their fame elsewhere—maybe in a footnote in heaven.
Pro tip: Don’t be that person who writes “and others” instead of “et al.” It’s incorrect and screams “I winged it.” Stick to the Latin, and you’ll look like a citation ninja.
But wait—what about corporate authors?
Yes, that’s a thing. Sometimes the “author” is a group, like the American Medical Association or a government agency. Treat it like a single author, but use the full name. In-text: (American Medical Association 22). If the name is long, you can abbreviate it after the first mention. Just be clear—your reader isn’t a mind reader.
And if the corporate author is the same as the publisher? Drop the author altogether. Example: MLA Handbook. The MLA knows how to cite itself—how meta is that?
