MLA In-Text Citation for Two or Three Authors With Examples

In MLA 9th edition, a work with two authors uses both surnames joined by and: (Garcia and Lee 42). A work with three or more authors normally uses the first surname followed by et al.: (Garcia et al. 42). The number is the page of the passage you used, not the year, and there is normally no comma between the author element and the page number.

These are hypothetical examples that demonstrate citation formatting. The rules are confirmed by Purdue OWL's MLA in-text citation guide. The examples below cover parenthetical citations, author names in sentences, sources with no printed page numbers and the matching Works Cited entries.

MLA Multiple-Author Citations at a Glance

The names and page number in the table are illustrative. Use the actual page number when the original source is paginated. Notice what MLA does not include in these ordinary formats: no author's first initials, no publication year and no comma before the page number.

How to Cite Two Authors in MLA 9

Write the last name of the first author, the word and, and the last name of the second author. Preserve the order printed on the source. This rule applies to books, academic articles, reports and other works with two credited authors.

Parenthetical citation with two authors

For a fictional book authored by Garcia and Lee, suppose a particular passage is on page 42:

A fictional study offers a contrasting interpretation (Garcia and Lee 42).

Don't replace and with &: APA often uses an ampersand inside parentheses, but MLA uses the word and. Also, do not write (Garcia, Lee, 2024) because that follows neither MLA's author–page system nor its two-author joining rule.

Narrative citation with two authors

If you introduce both names in the sentence, the authors need not be repeated in parentheses:

Garcia and Lee outline two perspectives on the fictional issue (42).

The parenthetical citation then supplies just the needed page locator. When naming authors in prose, it's natural to use their full names at the first substantive introduction if that improves clarity, but the basic parenthetical surname-and-page rule is unchanged.

A second citation to the same two-author source

Retain both surnames every time you give a parenthetical author element, regardless of how many times the paper already mentioned them. MLA does not shift from two authors to et al. after the first citation. A repeat can still be (Garcia and Lee 57) if it points to a different verified page of the same work.

Three or More Authors: Using Et Al. Correctly

When a work has at least three authors, the normal concise MLA citation names the first author followed by et al., which means “and others.”

Imagine a published author list reading Garcia, Lee and Patel. The standard citation of a passage on page 42 is:

A hypothetical interpretation appears in the discussion (Garcia et al. 42).

For four, six or many authors, the same basic form works. Unlike a two-author citation, you do not list multiple surnames separated by and inside the parentheses.

Does MLA use et al. in the sentence itself?

MLA learning resources sometimes present the first surname with et al. in prose, and Purdue OWL includes that form. A particularly natural option is to write “Garcia and colleagues” or “Garcia and coauthors” in the sentence, then give the page in parentheses:

Garcia and colleagues discuss the fictional finding (42).

You can also name all three authors in prose if appropriate: Garcia, Lee, and Patel argue ... (42). When writing the actual parenthetical reference, (Garcia et al. 42) remains the expected abbreviated format. The Normandale College MLA 9 quick guide specifically describes “and colleagues” in narrative prose; this keeps a clear distinction between prose wording and bibliographic abbreviation.

How do you punctuate et al. in MLA?

Use et al. with a space and a period after al.—not et. al, et al, or etal. Do not insert a comma before a simple MLA page number:

• Correct: (Morgan et al. 18)
• Incorrect: (Morgan et al., 18)
• Incorrect: (Morgan & others, 18)

The period after al. is part of the abbreviation, so it stays even when the entire citation appears inside parentheses.

Real MLA Examples From a University Citation Guide

Not all useful examples need to be fictional. The University of Lethbridge MLA 9 guide provides this genuine two-author book pair:

In text: (Dobson and Kamboureli 89)

Works Cited: Dobson, Kit, and Smaro Kamboureli. Producing Canadian Literature: Authors Speak on the Literary Marketplace. Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2012.

It also gives a genuine three-plus-author example:

In text: (Bennett et al. 303)

Works Cited: Bennett, Tony, et al. New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Blackwell, 2005.

These show a crucial distinction: a two-author Works Cited entry identifies both creators, with the first name inverted (Dobson, Kit) and the second written in normal order (Smaro Kamboureli). For three or more, MLA commonly lists the first author and et al. in the Works Cited entry, in addition to abbreviating the parenthetical citation.

Does MLA make you list every author in Works Cited?

Not normally for a standard three-plus-author entry: the first author plus et al. is the conventional MLA 9 pattern. This differs sharply from APA, where in-text citations shorten to et al. but the reference list generally includes up to 20 author names. Avoid assuming one system's bibliography rules automatically apply to the other.

What If the Source Has No Page Numbers?

Many webpages, streaming videos and other digital sources do not have reliable printed page numbers. Do not invent page numbers or use your browser's scrolling position.

For a two-author webpage, a basic example is (Garcia and Lee). For a three-author webpage, use (Garcia et al.). If you already introduce the authors in your sentence and there is no meaningful page or other locator, a trailing parenthetical citation may be unnecessary; the prose can identify the source.

If the source supplies a stable labeled division—such as actual numbered paragraphs, line numbers or chapter/section markers—you may be able to use that locator as appropriate under MLA guidelines. But creating your own paragraph numbers from a visually unnumbered web article is not supported.

Compare these scenarios:

A PDF can have both a viewer page index and page numbering printed inside the article. Prefer the meaningful source page number, not automatically the PDF reader's file-position count if it differs.

Where Does the Period Go in an MLA Quotation?

For a normal short quotation enclosed in quotation marks, the sentence punctuation generally follows the parenthetical citation:

“Fictional quotation supplied only to illustrate formatting” (Garcia and Lee 42).

That sentence is a placeholder, not a quotation from a real source. You must replace it with an exact, checked quotation from the original and use its genuine page number. For block quotations, MLA has special layout and punctuation rules; follow your instructor's MLA handbook examples if quoting a longer passage.

Should the publication year go in the in-text citation?

Ordinarily, no. MLA is an author–page style. The year generally appears on the Works Cited page, not in every parenthetical citation. A useful contrast is:

• MLA 9: (Garcia and Lee 42)
• APA 7: (Garcia & Lee, 2024)

The names, page and year above are hypothetical but the structural difference is fundamental. Swapping the comma or ampersand without changing the whole citation does not convert a paper correctly between styles.

Handling Confusing Author Names and Multiple Works

Two authors share the same surname

When your paper cites works by different writers who have the same surname, a bare surname may be ambiguous. MLA can require first initials—or full first names if the initials also match—to identify which writer you mean. This is an identification rule, separate from the ordinary two-author count.

You cite two works by the same author team

If two sources would produce the same author text, add a shortened title to distinguish the specific work. A fictional comparison might look like (Garcia and Lee, *Digital Reading* 18) versus (Garcia and Lee, *Campus Writing* 26) for book titles, but the title and page in those examples must correspond to the actual sources in your Works Cited page. For article titles, use quotation marks instead of italics.

An editor, translator or organisation appears on the source

Identify who is credited as author of the work you are citing. Do not assume a book's editor is one of its authors or that the publisher is always a group author. The author element of the Works Cited entry determines the main parenthetical citation cue. When citing a chapter written by someone else in an edited collection, you normally use the chapter author's name.

MLA In-Text and Works Cited Cross-Check

The quickest way to make the citations reliable is to trace each one to its bibliography entry. For (Bennett et al. 303), find the Works Cited source beginning Bennett, Tony, et al. and verify that page 303 exists in the work you consulted. For (Dobson and Kamboureli 89), find the Dobson, Kit, and Smaro Kamboureli entry and verify page 89.

A source title in the Works Cited list isn't a substitute for checking the passage. A correct author name attached to a wrong page still misleads the reader. In collaborative research projects, confirm that your citation manager imports the correct first author and doesn't silently replace a source with a similarly named paper.

Common MLA Multiple-Author Errors

• Using & instead of and: MLA ordinarily uses (Garcia and Lee 42), not (Garcia & Lee 42).
• Adding the year as in APA: (Garcia and Lee, 2024) is not the standard MLA author–page form.
• Adding a comma before the page: (Garcia et al., 42) mixes MLA with author–date punctuation.
• Using et al. for exactly two: Two credited authors keep both surnames.
• Listing every author in a short three-plus-author parenthetical citation: Use the first surname plus et al. as the normal form.
• Inventing a page for a website: Omit unavailable page numbers.
• Ignoring Works Cited: Every citation needs a recoverable matching entry for the work actually cited.

Conclusion

For a two-author work in MLA 9, join the surnames with and in a parenthetical citation. For three or more authors, use the first surname plus et al. and add a real page number when the source provides one. When the author names appear naturally in your sentence, you can put the page number alone in parentheses. Check the corresponding Works Cited record so that the reader can follow each citation back to a specific book, article or webpage.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you cite three authors in MLA 9 in text?

Normally write the first author's surname followed by et al., plus the page number if available: (Garcia et al. 42). This rule also covers four or more authors. In natural prose, you can introduce “Garcia and colleagues” and provide only the page number in parentheses. The example is hypothetical.

Do you use an ampersand for two authors in MLA?

No. MLA uses the word and: (Garcia and Lee 42). APA uses an ampersand in a two-author parenthetical citation, which is a common source of confusion when students switch styles. Keep the author order shown on the publication.

Does et al. appear in the MLA Works Cited list too?

Yes, typically. When a source has three or more authors, the standard MLA entry generally uses the first listed author followed by et al.. For exactly two authors, list both. This differs from APA's reference-list rule, which retains more named contributors.

What if my MLA source has three authors but no page numbers?

Use the first surname plus et al. without an invented page: (Garcia et al.). If you name the source authors clearly in prose, an extra parenthetical citation may not be required when no valid locator exists. Check whether the source offers a genuine numbered section or paragraph marker before adding one.

Do I include the year in an MLA citation with two authors?

Not in the ordinary author–page citation. Write (Garcia and Lee 42) if citing page 42. Put the publication year in the matching Works Cited entry, along with the title, container and other needed publication details. Don't confuse MLA's page number with APA's year element.