MLA Style Guide: 8th Edition: Indirect Quote ‘ As a general rule, you should try to avoid using indirect sources. If there is a quote in a source from another book or article that you want to use, find the original source of that quote and cite it.

For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list. APA in-text citation style uses the author’s last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14).

What is an indirect citation or secondary source?

1. 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.
2. Add “as cited in” before the author in the in-text reference.

Your in-text citation should include both authors: the author(s) of the original source and the author(s) of the secondary source. For example: (Habermehl, 1985, as cited in Kersten, 1987). In your reference list you should provide the details of the secondary source (the source you read).

Indirect quotations are not exact wordings but rather rephrasings or summaries of another person’s words. In this case, it is not necessary to use quotation marks. However, indirect quotations still require proper citations, and you will be committing plagiarism if you fail to do so.

Periods and commas ALWAYS go inside quotation marks. Examples: The sign said, “Walk.” Then it said, “Don’t Walk,” then, “Walk,” all within thirty seconds.

Order the citations of two or more works by different authors within the same parentheses alphabetically in the same order in which they appear in the reference list (including citations that would otherwise shorten to et al.). Separate the citations with semicolons.

When citing an article, you usually need:

1. author name(s)
2. article title.
3. title, volume, and issue number of the journal it appears in.
4. date of publication.
5. page numbers (ie, 347 – 355)
6. DOI for electronic versions of articles (when available)

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Take a look at your citation and identify the journal, magazine or newspaper title.
2. Take your article citation and go to the library homepage:
3. Click on the ‘e-Journals’ link to access our searchable list of online periodicals.
4. If you have a DOI, click on ‘Search by Citation’ at the top of the page.