A secondary source is where you wish to cite information from one author – the primary source – that has been cited in another author’s work – the secondary source that you have access to. Effectively, this is when you wish to cite information that you have found in someone else’s citations.
It is best to try and track down the primary source yourself and cite it directly; however, this is often not possible. In these cases you need to cite it as a secondary source.
Paraphrase
Secondary sources should be formatted as below, with page number used where necessary.
Template:
(Original author, Year, as cited in Current author, Year, p. x)
OR
Original author (Year, as cited in Current Author, Year, p. x)
Example:
While the ZPD is often positioned as central to Vygotskyian thought, Vygotsky’s own writing devoted minimal attention to the concept (Smagorinsky, 2007, as cited in Howard & Walton, 2015).
OR
Smagorinsky (2007, as cited in Howard & Walton, 2015) noted that Vygotsky devoted minimal attention to the ZPD.
Direct Quote
Template:
(Original author, Year, as cited in Current author, Year, p. x)
OR
Original author (Year, as cited in Current Author, Year) – page number normally follows quote
Example:
While the ZPD is often positioned as central to Vygotskyian thought, Vygotsky’s own writing devoted just “a few sentences … on only a handful of pages” (Smagorinsky, 2007, as cited in Howard & Walton, 2015, p. 64) to the concept.
OR
Smagorinsky (2007, as cited in Howard & Walton, 2015) noted that Vygotsky devoted minimal attention to the ZPD, being restricted to “a few sentences … on only a handful of pages” (p. 64).
Example:
Howard, S., & Walton, R. (2015). Educational psychology: Foundations of learning and development. David Barlow.
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