Documenti di Didattica
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APA Style
Date published October 6, 2016 by Bas Swaen. Date updated: March 27, 2019
If you want to refer to a source that you have found in another source, we recommend that you
actually look at the original or primary source. You can then just use the regular APA rules to
cite it.
If you cannot find the original source, you should cite it through the source that led you to it.
This is called citing an indirect or secondary source.
In the in-text citation, you should include both authors. Note the original source first, followed
by “in” or “as cited in” and the source where you found it.
Example: Source to another source
You consult a book written by Swaen in 2014. In this book, Swaen mentions something from a 2003 book by
Driessen. You now want to include a point about Driessen’s work in your dissertation, but you cannot find this book
yourself. You thus have to refer to it indirectly.
Example: When the more recent author has paraphrased the earlier author
In the reference list, mention only the source that you actually consulted (not the original source
that you could not track down). In the above example, this would mean including Swaen’s book
(but not Driessen’s).
Out of print
Unavailable through the usual sources
Not available in English
In these cases, you would list the secondary source in the reference list, name the
original work and use an in-text citation for the secondary source.
Here are some examples:
Citing an original work from a secondary source:
a. Secondary citation within the text:
According to Freud (as cited in Skinner, 1923), the characteristics ….
b. The document used is cited in the reference list:
Skinner, B. F. (1974). About behavioralism. New York, NY: Knopf.
Notice that Freud is mentioned in the body of the paper so the reader would understand
that any ideas being cited even though the actual book that discussed Freud's ideas
was actual written by Skinner.