The Writing Center’s Quick Guide to Quotes within Quotes, or the Indirect Quote

There are several ways to handle a quote within a quote. APA, MLA, and Chicago style all give slightly different directions for how to cite in the case of a so-called indirect quote.

The best thing to do

Go find the original book or article in which the quoted material appears. Quote from that, cite that, and put that in your reference list.

MLA style

If you are writing a paper in MLA style, you may use the abbreviation qtd. in in your citation. Of course only do this if you can’t find the original source.

Example: As Arthur Miller says, “When somebody is destroyed everybody finally contributes to it, but in Willy’s case, the end product would be virtually the same” (qtd. in Martin and Meyer 375).

Since you don’t have the original Arthur Miller material, you cite Martin and Meyer, and Martin and Meyer go in your reference list. 

Chicago style

Chicago style will let you use “quoted in” (not abbreviated) only as a last resort. The book says: 

To cite a source from a secondary source (“quoted in…”) is generally to be discouraged, since authors are expected to have examined the works they cite. If an original source is unavailable, however, both the original and the secondary source must be listed.

For the in-text citation, you use the original author and date, that is, you would cite Arthur Miller if you were using the example listed under MLA above.

Under references, you list the original author and date with a note adding the “quoted in” data. 

Example: Zukofsky, L. 1931. Sincerity and objectification. Poetry 37 (February 1931): 269. Quoted in B. Costello, Marianne Moore: Imaginary possessions (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981), 78.

APA style

To cite something you found embedded in another source, you can use the phrase “as cited in….” 

Example: Seidenberg and McClelland’s study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993)

You have to compose your sentence carefully in order to make clear that you are referring to material found in another source. Do this rather than trying to put parentheses inside parentheses. 

For the reference list, you put only the work you actually read. In this case, that’s the Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller. Seidenberg and McClelland do not go in the reference list.

No matter what citation style you are using, your best bet is always to try to find the original source.

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