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ENGL 1302 (English Composition II) - Dr. P. Henry

MLA In-text Citations for Sources with Multiple Authors

This information has been copied and adapted from the Purdue OWL, an excellent resource on citation. Visit their website for more information.

For a source with two authors, list the authors' last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:

Best and Marcus argue that one should read a text for what it says on its surface, rather than looking for some hidden meaning (9).

The authors claim that surface reading looks at what is "evident, perceptible, apprehensible in texts" (Best and Marcus 9).

This is what the corresponding Works Cited entry should look like:

Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. "Surface Reading: An Introduction." Representations, vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21. JSTOR, doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1 

For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author's last name, and replace the addition names with et al.

According to Franck et al., "Current agricultural policies in the U.S. are contributing to the poor health of Americans" (327).

The authors claims that one cause of obesity in the United States is government-funded farm subsidies (Franck et al. 327).  

MLA CITATIONS

Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook

Need help understanding MLA's citation style? 

The links below lead to useful MLA information.