How to Cite Multiple Sources in One Citation

Applies to: Documents editor

Academic writing often requires citing several sources in a single bracket — for example, when a claim is supported by multiple studies. The result looks like (Smith, 2019; Jones, 2020; Brown, 2021) in APA style.

Adding multiple sources to one citation

1. 1

   Insert the first citation

   Open the citation dialog and add your first reference as usual.

2. 2

   Add another source to the same citation group

   Inside the citation dialog, look for an "Add source" button or a "+" action. This adds a second reference to the same citation rather than creating a new separate citation.

3. 3

   Search for the additional reference

   Look up the second source by title, author, DOI, or identifier, and add it to the group.

4. 4

   Repeat for further sources

   You can add as many sources as needed to a single citation group.

5. 5

   Insert the citation

   All sources are combined into one bracket in the output. The ordering (alphabetical, chronological) follows your active citation style automatically.

Ordering within the citation

Most citation styles specify a particular ordering for grouped citations — APA uses alphabetical order by first author; Chicago uses chronological order. MonsterWriter applies the correct ordering automatically based on the style you have selected. You don't need to arrange the sources manually.