Secondary referencing

Sometimes you may wish to cite a source you have read within another source.

For example:

You are reading – Smith, S. (2010). A modern history of the British diet. London: Tasty Press.

Page 19: “There is no doubt that the British love fish and chips. Fish and chips shops are to be found on most high streets in the UK and around 60% of Britons eat fish and chips at least once a week (Webster, 2008). However, Mathers (2009) notes that this trend is declining, having fallen from 75% in 1990.”

In-text citation

The in-text citations would look like this:

Fish and chips are clearly popular in the UK, as about 60% of the population eat them at least once a week (Webster, 2008, cited in Smith, 2010, 19).

However, fish and chips are less popular than they used to be; in 1990 this figure was as high as 75% (Mathers, 2009, cited in Smith, 2010, 19).

Reference list

Put the source which you have actually read in the reference list, e.g.:

Smith, S. (2010). A modern history of the British diet. London: Tasty Press.

However…

• It’s better to find the original article and read it
• This also saves your word count

Synthesising

Synthesising is bringing together different authors’ ideas and is good practice.

If you are synthesising sources into one sentence, simply list them all, separated by semi-colons, e.g:

Online resources offer opportunities for people living with disabilities but also create challenges (McAndrew et al., 2012, 345; Seale et al., 2015, 127).