Last Updated: 25 Jun, 2020     Views: 246832

So, you have a book/article/etc by Brown, and he has cited a work by Smith.  You want to use that information, but who do you cite?

If you are just paraphrasing the information, and you don't need to mention the original author, you can just cite the work you have in front of you without worrying about the original author.

However, if you actually want to cite the original author (because you are drawing attention to the fact that they said it, or because it's a direct quote), then you would use a secondary citation.

In text, you say:

Smith (as cited in Brown, 2009) noted that "..." (p. 6).

Or

It was noted that "..." (Smith, as cited in Brown, 2009, p. 6).

In the reference list you only mention Brown's work (because you only reference what you actually read).

Remember, you don't have to use a secondary citation for every piece of information your author got from another source - you only need to use a secondary citation if you are using Smith's exact words, or referring to her work or theories, but you have only read Brown's work (where he cited her).

The APA Guide has more information on this under the ‘What if. . . ?’ tab.

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Comments (12)

  1. How to I cite direct quotes from a speech document not written by the speaker
    by Jolene on 22 Apr, 2019
  2. Hi, Jolene,

    In APA, you don't cite live speeches, you cite the work that contains the speech (or the transcript). So if you found the transcript on a webpage, and you know who wrote the speech (and you know it wasn't the person who delivered the speech), you would cite it as a web page, but use the speech writer as your author. You may include [Speech written for That Person] after the title of the speech, if you feel it needs clarification.

    For example:

    Smith, J. (2019). This is just where we came in [Speech written for Harry Brown]. Retrieved from http://www.harrybrownspeaks.com

    In text, you would write something like this:

    In a speech delivered by Harry Brown it was suggested that we are all responsible for fixing problems even if we were not responsible for creating them (Smith, 2019).

    Similary, if you found the speach on YouTube, you would cite the YouTube clip as per normal and use your text to clarify who was speaking and/or who the speech writer was.

    Actual live speeches are treated as personal communication, if your only source was attending the speech yourself.
    by Sharon Bryan on 26 Apr, 2019
  3. Can I use this method for a website citation? The secondary author was citing the original author in his article.
    by Student on 30 Apr, 2019
  4. You use secondary citations for any instance in which you didn't see the work you are citing directly, but read it via a citation in another source. So it's the same for websites as it is in books and journal articles.

    However, this is only true when the person who is being quoted was *cited* by the work that you have in front of you. That is, Brown published a work which was cited by Smith, and you are citing Brown as cited by Smith. If you are citing an interview (as in, Smith spoke to Brown, and you are referring to something Brown said to Smith) then you would simply make it clear who is speaking, and cite the work as normal, as this is not a secondary citation but original work/research by the author.

    For example:

    Harry Brown pointed out that this has caused confusion in the past (Smith, 2018).
    by Sharon Bryan on 15 May, 2019
  5. Hi, Does this apply to APA 7th edition too? Thank you. Hi, yes it does apply to APA 7th too.
    by Tangerine on 15 Oct, 2020
  6. If the author’s article was medically reviewed by someone else, do you include that person as well? How would you write that on the reference page?
    by Kim on 29 Oct, 2020
  7. Hi, Kim. The reviewer isn't responsible for the information, so you don't need to mention them in your citation. Authors often acknowledge people who help them, but if they weren't given a co-creator credit in any way, they aren't included as being "authors". This is different for people like translators, who are partly responsible for the information you are reading.
    by Sharon Bryan on 13 Nov, 2020
  8. Hi I'd like to use a direct quote from an article I read but it is essentially a summary of another article. How do I go about doing that? E.g. This paragraph is from Rohit Varman (2018) Violence, markets and marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, 34:11-12, 903-912, DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.2018.1537659 In the final commentary, Bouchet delves into the question of normalisation of violence. Accordingly, to normalise does not mean to render something commonplace. Bouchet suggests that norms determine the roles and expectations that regulate the interaction between individual members of society and they are strengthened by the sanctions arising from the judgements of other members of society or from the institutions responsible for making sure that norms are adhered to. Normalisation of violence is not so much about the physical effect that it can have, but has more to do with its acceptance as natural to a social order. Therefore, Bouchet insightfully argues, it becomes necessary to see the role of marketing in not exacerbating violence but in naturalising it in everyday practices. I would like to directly quote "Normalisation of violence is not so much about the physical effect that it can have, but has more to do with its acceptance as natural to a social order." as I like the phrasing and clarity of it, but this is essentially a summary of Bouchet's article (which I have also read). In this case, how do I cite for my quotation? Do I attribute only Varman (2018) even though he was just talking about Bouchet's arguments?
    by Tiara on 27 Nov, 2020
  9. Hi, Tiara. When it comes to direct quotes, the question always comes down to "who's words are you quoting?" For a direct quote, you always cite the person you are quoting (in this case, Varman). But this is also an opprotunity to bring both authors into the sentence. If you have read the original work, then you can construct the sentence to read like this: In discussing Bouchet's (????) analysis of violence, Varman (2018) notes that "normalisation..." This gives you two entries in your reference list, and showes that you are thinking about how the work are related to each other.
    by Sharon Bryan on 03 Dec, 2020
  10. i would like to quote one of Stephen Hawking's famous lines but i dont know how to put it into in-text citation and reference list
    by Shy on 05 Feb, 2021
  11. To know how to construct in-text quotations or formatting your references, please look at the appropriate page on the Guide for your style (for example, to see more about in-text quotations for APA, go here: https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/apa/in-text). If you have trouble figuring out how to follow the instructions on the Guide, use the Chat service to ask one of our librarians, and we will follow up with you.
    by Sharon Bryan on 09 Feb, 2021
  12. what about in MLA format? In MLA it would be: Smith noted that "..." (qtd. in Brown, 2009, 6).
    by Mark Collins on 15 Mar, 2022

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