How do I correctly format MLA in-text citations for a peer-reviewed journal article when there are four different authors?

For a source with four authors in MLA style, you should use the first author’s last name followed by "et al." in your in-text citation. It’s totally normal to feel tripped up by this; formatting rules can feel like a secret code sometimes, especially when you’re staring down a 2,000-word deadline. Think of it like trying to fit a whole group of friends into a single booth at a diner—you only need to mention the person at the head of the table and then acknowledge the rest of the group as a whole. So, if your authors are Smith, Jones, Brown, and Davis, your parenthetical citation would simply look like (Smith et al.). You don’t need to list every single name in the text, which definitely saves you some precious space and keeps your sentences flowing much better. Since you’re working on a sociology paper, keep in mind that these formatting guidelines are meant to make your research easier for your professor to track, not to make your life harder. If you’re ever worried about whether a specific source follows these rules or if there’s a weird exception, your school’s writing center or the official MLA Handbook are your best bets for the most accurate, up-to-date guidance. Just remember that everyone feels that pre-deadline stress, but you’ve clearly put in the work to get your research started, so just take it one citation at a time. You’ve got this, and you’re going to do a great job finishing that paper by Friday!