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APA 7th Referencing Guide

What is an indirect citation or secondary source?

An indirect citation or secondary source is when the ideas of one author are published in another author’s text but you have not read or accessed the original author’s work.

  • Include both the original author and year and the author and year of the work where quote/idea was found in the in-text reference.
  • Add "as cited in" before the author in the in-text reference. For example - (Harris, 2009, as cited in Lewis, 2019).
  • In the reference list, provide the details of the work in which you found the quotation or idea.

Citing a secondary source (indirect citation)

Elements of the reference
Follow the format of the reference in which you found the indirect citation.
In-text citation
(Original author last name, Year of original work, as cited in Author last name of work where quote found, Year)
Miller (1953, as cited in Agrios, 2005) found … OR … as was found (Miller, 1953, as cited in Agrios, 2005).
Reference list
Agrios, G.N. (2005). Plant pathology (5th ed.). Elsevier Academic Press.
EndNote reference type
  • Use the relevant reference type for the item you are citing.
  • Add “cited in” manually in the "Prefix" box, using “Edit Citation” option