First, forget everything you know about one or two authors. Three is a magic number.
MLA has a weird crush on the word “and.” Not an ampersand (&). Not a comma. The full, three-letter word: and.
Why? Because murder mystery novels taught them it looks more dramatic. “Smith, Jones, and Brown.” See? It’s a team!
Your In-Text Citation (The Sneaky Nod)
Imagine you’re at a party. You have to mention three friends without shouting. You whisper: “(Smith, Jones, and Brown 42).”
That’s it. The last name, a comma, the next last name, the word “and,” the last last name, a space, and the page number. No fancy footwork.
Fun fact: If you name them in your sentence itself, ditch the parentheses. Write: Smith, Jones, and Brown argue that cats are plotting world domination (42). Smooth, right?
The Works Cited Entry (The Full Blown Confession)
Now the real fun begins. This is where you write out their whole life story—just the academic parts, anyway.
Here’s the skeleton: LastName1, FirstName, FirstName2 LastName2, and FirstName3 LastName3. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
In Text Citation Multiple Authors Mla Example at Margaret Burgin blog
See that period after the first author’s name? That’s a tiny full stop. It separates the first name from the second. Then you only use “First Name Last Name” for authors number two and three. Weird, but true.
