Skip to Main Content
Douglas College Library About Us Articles & Databases Research Guides Services Faculty News Events Learning Centre

MLA (9th ed.) Citation Style: Citing Indirect Sources

Citing Indirect Sources

"Whenever you can, take material from the original source and not a secondhand source. But if you quote an author's quotation of a source you did not personally consult, put the abbreviation qtd. in (for quoted in) before the indirect source you cite in your parenthetical citation (otherwise, you can clarify the relation between the original and secondhand source in a note)"  (MLA Handbook, 9th ed. p. 284).

 

Quoted in your work:

Lawrence Christy remarked that Lindsay Ryan had a "unique style of debate" (qtd. in Anderson 107).

 

For your list of works cited, give the indirect source (Anderson) not the source quoted (Christy).

"The abbreviation qtd in is not needed if your prose makes it clear the source is secondhand" (MLA Handbook, 9th ed. p. 284).

 

Quoted in your work:

In a speech urging listeners to reject physical destruction and to seek mutual understanding, Robert F. Kennedy quoted Aeschylus: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

 

Once again, for your list of works cited, give the indirect source (Kennedy) not the source quoted (Aeschylus).