Sources: FAQ: Secondary Source

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(Dartmouth only)

What do you do when you find a quote you want to use, but the text you are using isn't the text in which the quote originally appeared?

MLA style The MLA Handbook advises students, whenever possible, to use an original source, not a secondhand one. When, however, the original source is not available, reference the material according to the source you are using: Ernest Hemingway said in a letter to Scott Fitzgerald that "life without fishing is a life not worth living" (qtd. in Simon 223). On your List of Works Cited page, list the source that you used, not the original source. (If you like, you can make a supplemental note within your text, referring to the original source of your quotation.)

APA style The APA advises you to name the original work in the text and to provide a parenthetical citation for the secondary source. For example: "This hypothesis was proven by Brown and Clark (as cited in Harris, 1995)." On your References Cited page, list the source that you actually used.