Online Learning Support

According to the American Psychological Association, "in scholarly work, a primary source reports original content; a secondary source refers to content first reported in another source (p. 258).

• Cite secondary sources sparingly— save for out of print or otherwise unavailbable publications.
• It is better to read the primary source than to rely on a second hand account of events.

&For example, if you read a work by Lyon et al. (2014) in which Rabbitt (1982) was cited, and you were unable to read Rabbitt’s work yourself, cite Rabbitt’s work as the original source, followed by Lyon et al.’s work as the secondary source. Only Lyon et al.’s work appears in the reference list. See the examples below.

For a narrative citation use this example:

(Rabbitt, 1982, as cited in Lyon et al., 2014)

For a parenthetical citation use this example.

Allport’s diary (as discussed the cited in Nicholson, 2003)