Quote in a Quote
MLA will always encourage writers to find the primary source (the original source where the idea or data came from). However, you can cite in your text from the secondary source by using an abbreviated form of the term ‘Quoted In.’ The abbreviation is qdt. in. When completing the in-text citation, MLA also encourages writers to give the author’s name from the primary source. A primary source will not be in the Works Cited, only the secondary source the writer actually read.
Example in the text:
In “The Confessions,” Elizabeth Olbon lemments over the challenges Puritans faced after migrating to the Americas, saying that “she hath found her heart more dead and dull” (152-53) since traveling to the New World (qdt. in Rivett and Van Engen 675).
On the Works Cited Page:
Rivett, Sarah and Abram Van Engen. “Postexceptionalist Puritanism.” American Literature, vol. 90, no. 4, Duke University Press, December 2018, https://doi.org/10.1215/00029831-7208500
APA will always encourage writers to find the primary source (the original source where the idea or data came from). If you must cite from the secondary source, APA wants you to give the primary sources citation and secondary sources citation using the following format:
(PrimarySourceAuthor, Date, p. #, as cited in SecondarySourceAuthor, Date, p. #)
The in-text citation can be broken up by narratively citing the primary source’s author and then placing the ‘as cited in’ and secondary source citation in parentheses. On the references page, however, only the source you read (the secondary source) needs to be listed.
Example in the text:
In “The Confessions,” Elizabeth Olbon (1994) lamented over the challenges Puritans faced after migrating to the Americas, saying that “she hath found her heart more dead and dull” (pp.153-54) since traveling to the New World (as cited in Rivett & Van Engen, 2018, p. 675).
On the Works Cited Page:
Rivett, S., & Van Engen, A. (2018, December). Postexceptionalist puritanism. American Literature, 90(4), https://doi.org/10.1215/00029831-7208500
APSA follows the Author-Date style guidelines of the Chicago Style Manual with parenthetical in-text citations rather than footnotes or endnotes. In the official APSA Style Guide, there is no guidance on citing information from secondary sources. It is highly suggested that materials used should come from the primary source unless that source is unavailable to the writer.
Following Chicago Style Manual’s Author-Date format for Primary and Secondary sources is recommended, however, the format has been adapted to meet the parenthetical standard of APSA. The format for in-text citations of a primary source from the perspective of a secondary source is as follows:
(PrimarySourceAuthor Date, Page, quoted in SecondarySourceAuthor Date, Page)
Example in the text:
In “The Confessions,” Elizabeth Olbon lemments over the challenges Puritans faced after migrating to the Americas, saying that “she hath found her heart more dead and dull” since traveling to the New World (Olbon 1994, 153-54, quoted in Rivett and Van Engen 2018, 675).
On the Works Cited Page:
Rivett, Sarah and Van Engen, Abram. 2018. “Postexceptionalist Puritanism.” American Literature 90 (4): 675-692, https://doi.org/10.1215/00029831-7208500
Regardless of the variation of Turabian (Chicago Style) you are using, it is highly recommended that the writer look for the original source of the information they are citing and to only cite a primary source in a secondary source is the primary source is not available. If the primary source is unavailable, both the primary and secondary sources are cited with the terminology of ‘quoted in’ added.
In the following examples, Elizabeth Olbon is being by Rivett and Van Engen. The writer has read the Rivett and Van Engen source and is unable to access the original Elizabeth Olbon quote.
Notes Bibliography Style Examples
Note: 10. Elizabeth Olbon, “The Confessions,” in God’s Plot: Puritan Spirituality in Thomas Shepard’s Cambridge, ed. Michael McGriffert (Amherst: Univ. of Massachusetss Press, 1994), 152-53, quoted in Sarah Rivett and Abram Van Engen, “Postexceptionalist Puritanism,” American Literature 90, no. 4 (December 2018): 675-692. https://doi.org/ 10.1215/00029831-7208500 (accessed September 16, 2025).
Bibliography: Olbon, Elizabeth. “The Confessions.” In God’s Plot: Puritan Spirituality in Thomas Shepard’s Cambridge, edited by Michael McGiffert, 152-53. Amherst: Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1994. Quoted in Rivett, Sarah and Abram Van Engen. “Postexceptionalist Puritanism.” American Literature 90, no. 4 (December 2018): 675-692. https://doi.org/ 10.1215/00029831-7208500 (accessed September 16, 2025).
Parenthetical Reference Style Examples
Parenthetical: (Olbon 1994, 152-53).
References: Olbon, Elizabeth. 1994. The confessions. In God’s Plot: Puritan Spirituality in Thomas Shepard’s Cambridge, ed. Michael McGiffert, 152-53. Amherst: Uni. of Massachusetts Press. Quoted in Rivett, Sarah and Abram Van Engen. 2018. Postexceptionalist puritanism. American Literature 90, no. 4 (December): 675-692. https://doi.org/ 10.1215/00029831-7208500 (accessed September 16, 2025).