Secondary citation is needed when you want to mention information referred to in
another source.
For example:
- you read Source A, published in 2008;
- you found on p.14 information about Source B;
- you want to use this information about Source B in your academic term paper.
You cannot refer directly to Source B because you have not read Source B. What
should you do?
You should try to find Source B and read it.
If you cannot find Source B, you will need to include a
secondary citation.
How do you make a secondary citation?
For example:
- Source A is a book written by Lee and Fung;
- Source B is a 2006 journal article written by McKenzie;
then your in-text secondary citation can be:
According to McKenzie (2006, cited in Lee and Fung, 2008, p.14), …
How about your end-of-text reference list? Should you include McKenzie’s book or
Lee and Fung’s?
The answer is Lee and Fung’s. Your end-of-text reference list should include
only those sources that you have read yourself. That is why McKenzie (2006)
should not appear on that list.
