Citing papers in Statement of purpose I am citing papers in Statement of Purpose.
I am only using - &quot;first author et al&quot;. instead of the recommend cite as per the paper's norms.
Would that be okay or should I just use the normal reference which goes into writing papers?
If your Statement of Purpose is self-contained (in particular, it includes a list of references), you're free to pick your own citation format. Otherwise, you need to pick a format that allows the reader to identify the work you're citing. Using first author et al. probably doesn't help, because that author will likely have written many papers, moreover, their name is not likely unique. Using

author et al. (venue, year)

should suffice.