Citing indirect quotes: APA (7th ed.) citation guide

 

This guide is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. It provides selected citation examples for common types of sources. For more detailed information consult directly a print copy of the style manual.

Check out APA's Guide to what's new for APA 7.

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Consult SFU's customised APA citation guides with examples for business sources,  Canadian government documents and legal citation.

Indirect quotes (i.e. a source quoted within another source)

Refer to APA's Secondary sources or consult the guide directly for more information (Section 8.6, Primary and Secondary Sources, p. 258).

Reference list example:

Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud: Dual-route and parallel-distributed-processing approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589-608. https://doi-org./10.1037/0033-295X.100.4.589

Reference in text example:

Seidenberg and McClelland's study showed (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993) that [...]

Comments:

  • What you have consulted, in hand, (Coltheart) is "the secondary source," and the original work that has been cited in that source (Seidenberg) is "the primary source."
  • For the in-text citation, name the primary source (Seidenberg), and give the citation to the secondary source using the format: ("as cited in...") see highlighted section in above example.
  • In the reference list give the secondary source according to its category type (the one you have in hand; the one you consulted).
  • Scholars are recommended to find the original work to read and cite, if possible.