HI609{"id":599,"date":"2021-07-09T12:20:57","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T12:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/?p=599"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:26:00","slug":"how-to-use-et-al-in-academic-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/how-to-use-et-al-in-academic-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use \u201cEt al.\u201d in Academic Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wondered what \u201cet al.\u201d means in a citation? Abbreviations like \u201cetc.,\u201d \u201cet al.,” “e.g.,” i.e.,” and “ibid.” are seen very often in academic writing, but many people still don\u2019t know what they mean or how and when to use them correctly. In this article, we will focus on the abbreviation \u201cet al.\u201d to learn what it means, when to use it, and how it should not be used.<\/p>\n

Table of Contents<\/p>\n

What Does \u201cet al.\u201d Mean?<\/a><\/li>
How Do I Use \u201cet al.\u201d in APA Style Citation?<\/a><\/li>
How Do I Use \u201cet al.\u201d in MLA Style Citation?<\/a><\/li>
How Do I Use \u201cet al.\u201d in Chicago Style Citation?<\/a><\/li>
Common Mistakes to Watch Out for<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n
<\/span>What Does \u201cet al.\u201d Mean?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
If you think that the abbreviation \u201cet al.\u201d doesn\u2019t even sound like English, you\u2019re right. It\u2019s not English, but Latin. Latin terms are often used in English writing, especially academic writing. \u201cet al.\u201d is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase \u201cet alia.\u201d \u201cEt alia\u201d literally translated means \u201cand others.\u201d \u201cEt al.\u201d is therefore most frequently used to indicate multiple authors of a cited work.<\/p>\n
\u201cEt al.\u201d has some strong similarities to other Latin abbreviations, namely \u201cetc.\u201d \u201cEtc.\u201d is an abbreviation of another Latin phrase \u201cet cetera.\u201d \u201cEt al.\u201d and \u201cetc.\u201d are easily confused because \u201cetc.\u201d also means \u201cand others.\u201d However, English writers distinguish clearly between \u201cet al.\u201d and \u201cetc.\u201d using one simple rule<\/a>. \u201cEt al.\u201d is used for people, while \u201cetc.\u201d is used for things or animals. For example, we could say \u201cJinkyung et al. went to the grocery store to buy ice cream, cookies, etc.\u201d \u201cEt al.\u201d lets us know there are additional people besides Jinkyung, while \u201cetc.\u201d lets us know that they bought other items in addition to ice cream and cookies. \u201cEtc.\u201d is used widely in both formal and informal situations, while \u201cet al.\u201d is generally limited to formal academic writing.<\/p>\n
One lesser known use of \u201cet al.\u201d is as an abbreviation of \u201cet alibi.\u201d \u201cEt alibi\u201d translates to \u201cand elsewhere.\u201d It is used in academic writing to indicate locations that do not appear in a list. For example, we could write \u201cMagpies of the genus Pica are found in temperate regions of Europe, Asia, et alibi.\u201d However, \u201cet al.\u201d is not used in this way very often, and for the rest of this article, we will focus on how to use \u201cet al.\u201d as a short form of \u201cet alia.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span>How Do I Use \u201cet al.\u201d in APA Style Citation?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Each citation style uses \u201cet al.\u201d a bit differently. In the 7^{th<\/sup> edition of APA citation, any work with one or two authors should use the names of all authors in the in-text citation. For example, an article written by MacKenzie and Yun in 2019 would be cited as:<\/p>\n}
(MacKenzie & Yun, 2019).<\/p>\n
If a work has three or more authors, \u201cet al.\u201d should be used after the name of the first author in the in-text citation, unless doing so would cause confusion. An article written by MacKenzie, Yun, and Washington in 2019 would be cited as:<\/p>\n
(MacKenzie et al., 2019)<\/p>\n
When listing the article in the References section of the paper, all authors are listed <\/strong>unless there are more than 20 authors.<\/p>\n
<\/span>How Do I Use \u201cet al.\u201d in MLA Style Citation?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Like APA, MLA uses in-text citations. We use \u201cet al.\u201d in MLA in-text citations when there are three or more authors<\/strong>, just like APA style. However, unlike APA citation, we also use \u201cet al.\u201d in the Works Cited section when there are three or more authors.<\/p>\n
Let us imagine we have the same article written by MacKenzie and Yun in 2019. The in-text MLA citation will look like this:<\/p>\n
(MacKenzie & Yun, 2019)<\/p>\n
However, the in-text citation of the article written by MacKenzie, Yun, and Washington in 2019 would be cited as:<\/p>\n
(MacKenzie et al. 2019)<\/p>\n
You will note that there is no real difference between in-text citations using \u201cet al.\u201d with regard to APA and MLA.<\/p>\n
What will the Works Cited section look like? If you guessed that we are using \u201cet al.\u201d again, you are correct. We will list the first<\/strong> author<\/strong> before writing \u201cet al.\u201d So, the entry in the Works Cited section will appear as:<\/p>\n
MacKenzie “et al.” 2019<\/p>\n
<\/span>How Do I Use \u201cet al.\u201d in Chicago Style Citation?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
There are two different ways to cite sources in a Chicago style paper: author-date or footnotes. However, the way we use \u201cet al.\u201d will not change regardless of whether we are using author-date or footnote citations. The way that \u201cet al.\u201d is used in the reference list or bibliography also stays the same.<\/p>\n
In Chicago style, we use \u201cet al.\u201d only when there are four or more authors<\/strong>. List the first author and then write \u201c\u201cet al.\u201d<\/p>\n
A source with three authors<\/strong>, like an article written by MacKenzie, Yun, and Washington in 2019, will be cited as follows.<\/p>\n
Author-date<\/strong>: (MacKenzie, Yun, & Washington, 2019)<\/p>\n
Footnote<\/strong>: Lilac MacKenzie, Ling Yun, and Rebecca Washington\u2026<\/p>\n
An article with four or more authors<\/strong>, like an article written by MacKenzie, Barber, Yun, and Washington in 2019, will be cited as follows.<\/p>\n
Author-date<\/strong>: (MacKenzie et al., 2019)<\/p>\n
Footnote<\/strong>: Lilac MacKenzie et al., …<\/p>\n
In the bibliography section, a source with up to ten authors will list all of the authors. If a source has more than ten authors, then you will only list the first seven and then write “et al.”<\/p>\n
Therefore, a source written by MacKenzie, Barber, Yun, Washington, Ryan, Jacobson, Grant, Rucker, Sohn, and Ling will be cited in the bibliography section using all ten author names.<\/p>\n
10 or fewer authors:<\/strong> MacKenzie, Barber, Yun, Washington, Ryan, Jacobson, Grant, Rucker, Sohn, and Ling, 2019.<\/p>\n
But a source written by MacKenzie, Barber, Yun, Washington, Ryan, Jacobson, Grant, Rucker, Sohn, Ling, and Lee will be cited in the bibliography section only using seven names plus “et al.”<\/p>\n
11 or more authors: <\/strong>MacKenzie, Barber, Yun, Washington, Ryan, Jacobson, Grant, et al., …<\/p>\n
<\/span>Common Mistakes to Watch Out for<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\nThe most common error in using \u201cet al.\u201d besides citation style is punctuation<\/a>. There is a period only after \u201cal\u201d in \u201cet al.,\u201d and additional punctuation such as a comma should follow that period. There is no period after \u201cet.\u201d<\/p>\n
X<\/strong><\/span> et al<\/p>\n
X<\/strong><\/span> et. al.<\/p>\n
X <\/strong><\/span>et. al<\/p>\n
\u2714 <\/span>et al.<\/p>\n
If you are worried you might still mix up the correct use of \u201cet al.\u201d or other similar terminology when writing, you can always take advantage of an AI grammar<\/a> and\/or spelling check<\/a> service. These days, AI is quickly advancing and there are many helpful resources available for academic writers. Whether or not you choose to use such a service, now you will always know how to use \u201cet al.\u201d!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have you ever wondered what \u201cet al.\u201d means in a citation? Abbreviations like \u201cetc.,\u201d \u201cet al.,” “e.g.,” i.e.,” and “ibid.” are seen very often in academic writing, but many people still don\u2019t know what they mean or how and when to use them correctly. In this article, we will focus on the abbreviation \u201cet al.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[14,29,32],"acf":[],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Trinka-Blog-Banners-9.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4819,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions\/4819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}