how to in text cite multiple authors apa

You cite multiple authors in APA in-text by changing the format depending on how many authors there are and whether the citation is parenthetical (in brackets) or narrative (in the sentence).

Quick Scoop

1. Basic rule (APA 7th edition)

• 1–2 authors: Always write all authors’ last names every time you cite.

• 3 or more authors: Use only the first author’s last name + “et al.” from the very first citation.

2. Parenthetical vs narrative

Parenthetical citations (in brackets)

• One author:
  • Format: (Smith,2023)(Smith,2023)(Smith,2023)

• Two authors:
  • Format: (Smith&Jones,2023)

• Three or more authors:
  • Format: (Smithetal.,2023)

Narrative citations (in the sentence)

• One author:
  • Format: Smith (2023) argues that…

• Two authors:
  • Format: Smith and Jones (2023) found that…

• Three or more authors:
  • Format: Smith et al. (2023) reported that…

3. Different numbers of authors

Here’s a compact overview of the core patterns.

[4] [4] [2][5] [5][4] [1][7][4] [7][1][4]

Number of authors	First & every citation (parenthetical)	First & every citation (narrative)
1 author	(Walker, 2023)	Walker (2023)
2 authors	(Walker & Allen, 2023)	Walker and Allen (2023)
3+ authors	(Walker et al., 2023)	Walker et al. (2023)

Key details: use “&” inside parentheses, but write “and” in the sentence; use “et al.” (with a period after “al”) and keep the comma before the year.

4. Special situations with multiple authors

a) Multiple works in one citation

• Same authors, different years:
  • Example: (Smith&Jones,2020,2023)

• Different authors in one set of brackets:
  • Example: (Smith&Jones,2020;Leeetal.,2022)

b) Same first author, same year, different teams

If two different sources would both shorten to “Smith et al., 2023”, you expand the author list until they differ.

• Example (to avoid confusion):
  • (Smith,Lee,etal.,2023) and (Smith,Brown,etal.,2023)

5. Tiny example “story”

Imagine you’re writing about online learning:

Online courses improved student flexibility (Garcia & Patel, 2021) but raised concerns about motivation (Hughes et al., 2020). Garcia and Patel (2021) also noted that structure mattered, while Hughes et al. (2020) emphasized social presence.

This short paragraph shows two authors with “&” in parentheses, “and” in narrative form, and “et al.” for three or more authors.

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Learn how to in text cite multiple authors in APA with clear parenthetical and narrative examples for two authors and three or more authors, plus tips for tricky “et al.” situations.

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