First, let’s get the big secret out of the way: when you have two authors, you always link them with the word “and.” No ampersand (&), no slash mark, no complicated handshake. Just plain, friendly “and.” For example, if J.K. Rowling and Stephen King wrote a book together (imagine the horror and the magic!), you’d list them as Rowling, J.K., and Stephen King. See? Easy peasy. The first author gets their last name first, then a comma, then their first name. The second author gets their first name first, then last name. It’s like a polite introduction: “Allow me to present Ms. Rowling, and also Mr. King.”
What About the Book Title? (The Fun Part)
Now, after the authors come the book title. And here’s where things get a little “designer chic.” You italicize the full title, because it’s the star of the show. No need for quotation marks—those are for articles or chapters, not for entire books. So your citation would look like this: Rowling, J.K., and Stephen King. The Cursed Potter and the Shining Quill. (I made that up, but wouldn’t that be a bestseller?) Follow the title with a period, then the publisher, and a year. Easy, right? Your Works Cited entry is almost done.
But wait—what about in-text citations? That’s the part where you quote or paraphrase inside your essay. For two authors, you use their last names and the page number, all in parentheses. Like this: (Rowling and King 42). Notice it’s “and” again, not a comma. If you mention their names in the sentence itself, you can just put the page number at the end. For example: As Rowling and King argue, “Voldemort never saw a chainsaw coming” (142). Boom. You’re citing like a pro.
