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APA 6th Edition: Secondary Sources

Utica College Library Guide to APA Citation Style

About Citing Sources

For each type of source in this guide, both the general form and an example will be provided.

The following format will be used:

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase) - entry that appears in the body of your paper when you express the ideas of a researcher or author using your own words.  For more tips on paraphrasing check out The OWL at Purdue.

In-Text Citation (Quotation) - entry that appears in the body of your paper after a direct quote.

References - entry that appears at the end of your paper.

Information on citing and several of the examples were drawn from the APA Manual (6th ed.).

Numbers in parentheses refer to specific pages in the manual.

Secondary Sources (p. 178)

Sometimes an author writes about research that someone else has done, but is unable to track down the original research report.

In this case, because you did not read the original report, you will include in your References only the source you did consult.

The words “as cited in” in the parenthetical reference indicate you have not read the original research.

In-Text citation:
 
(Author Surname, Year, as cited in Author Surname [of the source you read], Year, page number)
 
Example:
Fong’s 1987 study (as cited in Bertram, 1996) found that older students’ memory can be as good as that of young people, but this depends on how memory is tested.
 
References:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial [of the source you read]. (Year). Book title: Subtitle. Place of Publication: Publisher.
 
Do not include Fong (1987) in your References; do include Bertram (1996).
 
NOTE: If you are using an indirect source from an article, refer to the journals section of this guide.

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