7th Edition MLA Citation Style Guide: In-text: Advanced

Citing a Work by Multiple Authors

 If you cite a work written by three or fewer authors, include all of the authors' last names either in the text or in the parenthetical citation.

(Author, author, and author page number)

Example: Smith, Thomas, and Kinkade... (133).

                   or

     The trees...growing forever (Smith, Thomas, and Kinkade 133).

If you cite a work with more than three authors, you may list all of the authors' last names or list the first author's last name follwed by et. al.  

Citing Multiple Works by the Same Author

If you cite more than one work by the same author, add a shortened title for the source you are referencing within the parentheses. 

(Author, Shortened Title page number)

Example: Shakespeare's King Lear has been called a "comedy of the grotesque" (Frye, Anatomy 237).

If the author is listed in the text, only (Shortened Title page number) is needed.

Example: For Northrop Frye, one's death is not a unique experience, for "every moment we have lived through we have also died out of into another order" (Double Vision 85).

MLA Handbook pg. 225, Section 6.4.6

Citing More than One Work in a Single Parenthetical Reference

If you cite multiple works by different authors in one parenthetical reference, cite each work as you normally would and use semicolons to separate the citations.

Example: (Fukuyama 42; McRae 101-33)

MLA Handbook pg. 229-230, Section 6.4.9

When using parenthetical documentation for in-text citations, remember two key points:

• References referred to in the text must point to specific sources in the works cited list.
• Be as specific as possible when identifying the original location of the cited material.

MLA Handbook pg. 214-215, Section 6.2

Basics of In-text Citations