Helpful Tips: DOI: If a journal article has a digital object identifier DOI, you will always include that identifier in your reference as a URL. Online Database: For works from databases that publish limited release works such as the ERIC Database or original, proprietary material available only in that database, such as UpToDate, list entries reference without author are classified in alphabetical order of the first significant word of the title. Ignore the words “A,” “An,” and “The” when organizing your reference list. Start the entry with the word "Anonymous" only if the work is signed "Anonymous." If the reference has no author and is not signed. Reference in the text. Format. Author Last Name, Author Last Name, Author Last Name et al. Year Author Name, Author Name, Author Name et al. Year Include the last name of the first author and as many last names of subsequent authors to distinguish them. For other authors, replace with et al. If it is only the final author's name, the APA format requires that you cite all authors at first mention if there are three, four, or five, and use "et al." " After. If there are at least six authors, you can use "et al." » from the first mention. In all cases, you should use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in your in-text citation. When citing a source with up to three authors, cite the names of all authors. For four or more authors, indicate first name only, followed by ' et al. ': Number of authors. Example of in-text citation. Davis, 2019 Davis and Barrett, 2019 3, citing three or more authors. When a source with three or more authors is cited, list only the first author's last name plus "et al." an abbreviation of "et alia" which means "and others" in each quotation. Consider the following example: Number of authors. Quote in parentheses. Narrative quote. more. There are many types of in-text citation systems, as described by APA style. Some of these include the following scenarios: When citing a work by two authors. When you cite a work by three or more authors. When citing a work by an unknown author. When you cite an organization as the author.