A Work by One Author:
As Ahmed (2016) mentions...
(Ahmed, 2016)
A Work by Two Authors:
Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports...
(Wegener and Petty, 1994)
A Work by Three or More Authors:
Kernis et al. (1993) suggests...
(Kernis et al., 1993)
In et al., “et” should NOT be followed by a period. Only "al" should be followed by a period.