Skip to Main Content

APA: D. Six or More Authors

About Citing Books

For each type of source in this guide, both the general form and an example will be provided.

The following format will be used:

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase) - entry that appears in the body of your paper when you express the ideas of a researcher or author using your own words.  For more tips on paraphrasing check out The Owl at Purdue.

In-Text Citation (Quotation) - entry that appears in the body of your paper after a direct quote.

References - entry that appears at the end of your paper.

Information on citing and several of the examples were drawn from the APA Manual (6th ed.).

Numbers in parentheses refer to specific pages in the manual.

Book with Six or More Authors or Editors (pp. 175, 177)

The general format below refers to a book with six or more authors.
 
If you are dealing with a book that has six or more editors instead of authors, you would simply insert the names of the editors into the place where the authors' names are now, followed by "(Eds.)" without the quotation marks (as per the example).  The rest of the format would remain the same.
  
General Format 
 
      In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 
      (First Author Surname, et al., Year)
 
      NOTE: For all in-text citations for a work with six or more authors/editors, 
      include only the name of the first listed author, followed by et al. and the year.
 
      In-Text Citation (Direct Quote):
      (First Author Surname, et al., Year, page number)
 
      References:
      Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., Author Surname, First Initial.
            Second Initial., Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., Author
            Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., Author Surname, First Initial.
            Second Initial., Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial.,& Author
            Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Book title: Subtitle. Place of
            Publication: Publisher.
             
              NOTE: APA allows for up to seven authors' names in a reference list citation.
              If there are eight or more authors, list the first six, followed by three ellipses
              then the last author's name.
  
Example 
 
      In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 
      (Johnson, et al., 1999)
 
      NOTE: A subsequent citation would appear as (Johnson et al., 1999)
 
      In-Text Citation (Direct Quote):
      (Johnson, et al., 1999, p. 72)
 
      References:
      Johnson, N. G., Roberts, M. C., Smith, R. E., Mitchell, D. E., Jones, H. B.,
            Pickens, G. S., & Worell, J. (Eds.). (1999). Beyond appearance: A new
            look at adolescent girls. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

      Rosenbloom, M. J., Sullivan, E. V., Sassoon, S. A., O'Reilly, A., Fama, R., Kemper,
           C. A.,...Pfefferbaum, A. (2007). Alcoholism, HIV infection, and their comorbity:
           Factors affecting self-rated health-rated quality of life. Journal of Studies on Alcohol
           and Drugs, 68(1), 115-125.

Printable handouts

More information about changes in citing multiple authors.