MLA Style Citations : Authors & Editors

• The rules for authors are the same for all formats (books, periodical articles, etc.)
• A citation always begins with the author (unless no author is listed; see No Author below)
• Transcribe the author's name exactly as it appears on the title page of the work
• Use the authors in the order in which they are listed on the source
• Do not include titles such as Mr., Ms., MD, PhD, etc.
• Always end the author section with a period

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One Author
Two Authors
Three Authors
More than Three Authors
One Editor
Two Editors
Three Editors
More than Three Editors
Corporate or Organization as Author
No Author Listed

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One Author

• Use author's last name first.
  
  Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Initial [if given].
  
  

Example:
Jaeger, Warren V.

Two Authors

• Two authors are connected with a comma and the conjunction "and"
• The second author's name is not inverted
  
  

Author #1 as above, and Author #2 First Name Middle Initial Last Name.

Example:
Lester, Kent, and Dave McGuerty.

Three Authors

• With three authors, only the first name is inverted
• A comma separates the first and second authors as well as the second and third
  
  Author #1 as above, Author #2 as above, and Author #3 First Name Middle Initial Last Name.
  
  

Example:
Kardon, Richard, Michael Casey, and Douglas Hansen.

More Than Three Authors

• List the first author and the Latin abbreviation et al which means and others
  
  

Author #1 as above, et al.

Example:
Reilly Ann, et al.

Editor

• This only applies to editors of books -- not to editors of periodicals or reference sources, which are not used
• Everything remains the same except follow the author's name with a comma and ed.
• An editor is treated the same as an author unless there is both and author and an editor listed
  
  

Editor's Last Name, First Name Middle Initial, ed.

Example:
Mulvin, Paulette, ed.

Two Editors

• Same as two authors
• After both names and a comma, add eds.
  
  

Editor #1 as above and Editor #2 First Name Middle Initial Last Name, eds.

Example:
Ferguson, Myron E., and Linda West, eds.

Three Editors

• Three editors is the same as three authors with eds. after their names

  Editor #1 as above, Editor #2 as above, and Editor #3 First Name Middle Initial Last Name, eds.

Example:
Mirabella, Grace Newton, Judith Warner, and Daniel P. Dern, eds.

More than Three Editors

• More than three editors is the same as more than three authors with eds. after et al

  Editor #1 as above, et al.

Example:
Hobson, Fred, et al, eds.

Corporate Author

• Used when an entity, not a person, is responsible for the content of the work
• For use when a personal author is listed but a company or government agency is
  
  

Name of company or agency.

No Author

• Common in newspaper articles and Web sites
• Omit the author and go directly to the title

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For situations not covered by these examples,
see the MLA Style Manual at the library Reference Desk.