Research articles often contain references to other resources. The following excerpt is from a journal article titled "Food, aid, and education in East Africa: repackaging the conversation" written in 2016 by Amy Stambach. In the highlighted content below, Stambach is referring to a document published in 1972 by Mary Douglas. This is an example of a secondary source.
According to APA guidelines, citing a secondary source is only recommended when all efforts for finding the original work have been exhausted; however, if you can't find an original copy of the resource, you are permitted to include an in-text citation referring to the original and secondary sources.
Select a tab above for examples of formatting an in-text citation and reference for this highlighted example.
Remember: only create a reference list entry for the source you consulted in your research.
In this example, the source we are referencing is a Journal Article from Website or Library Database with DOI. Click on the referencing tabs to the left to find the appropriate format for other item types.
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EXAMPLE:
In-text citations must name the original source and the secondary source.
In-text Citation Guidelines |
Example |
Include the author of the quoted source in the body of the text. Include the author and date of the source on hand in brackets, preceded by 'as cited in'. |
According to Mary Douglas (1972, as cited in Stambach, 2016), the food people eat can tell us a lot about social relations, including different degrees of hierarchy and boundaries. |
In brackets at the end of the sentence, include the author of the quoted source and the author and date of the source on hand, preceded by 'as cited in'. | The food people eat can tell us a lot about social relations, including different degrees of hierarchy and boundaries (Douglas,1972, as cited in Stambach, 2016). |
If there is no known date, exclude it from the citation in-text. | According to Mary Douglas (as cited in Stambach, 2016), the food people eat can tell us a lot about social relations, including different degrees of hierarchy and boundaries. |
Remember, in-text citation formatting changes depending on a number of factors.
See Number of Authors, Publication Date, and Page/Paragraph Number or Heading for more information.