You're reading a textbook and the author mentions a fascinating study by someone else. You want to cite that original study — but you haven't actually read it. You only know about it because the textbook described it.
This is a secondary source situation, and APA has a specific format for it: the "as cited in" citation. It's straightforward, but there are rules about when you should use it (rarely) and how to format it correctly.
What Is a Secondary Source?
A secondary source is a work that discusses, summarizes, or references another work. When you cite the original work based on what the secondary source says about it, you're making a secondary citation.
Here's the relationship:
- Primary source (original work): The study, theory, or data you actually want to reference
- Secondary source (the work you read): The textbook, review article, or other publication where you learned about the primary source
Example scenario:
You're reading a health psychology textbook by Straub (2019). In Chapter 5, Straub discusses a classic study by Holmes and Rahe (1967) on stress and illness. You want to cite the Holmes and Rahe finding — but you've only read Straub's description of it. You haven't read the original 1967 paper.
In this case:
- Holmes and Rahe (1967) = primary source (the one you want to reference)
- Straub (2019) = secondary source (the one you actually read)
When Secondary Citing Is Acceptable
APA considers secondary citations a last resort. The Publication Manual advises you to locate and read the original work whenever possible. Use "as cited in" only when:
- The original work is out of print and you can't access it through your library, interlibrary loan, or online databases
- The original work is in a language you can't read and no translation is available
- The original work is unpublished and not available through any repository
- You have a genuine access barrier — you've tried to find the original and can't
When It's Not Acceptable
Don't use secondary citations out of convenience. These situations don't qualify:
- You're too busy or too close to your deadline to find the original
- The original is available in your university database but you haven't looked
- The original is in a different database and you'd need to request interlibrary loan
- You assume the secondary source's summary is accurate enough
Why does this matter?When you cite something "as cited in," you're trusting the secondary author's interpretation. If they misrepresented the original finding — through simplification, selective quoting, or error — you'll repeat that mistake in your own paper. Reading the original is always more reliable.
If your instructor sees heavy use of "as cited in" throughout your paper, it signals that you haven't done thorough research. Reserve it for genuine cases where the original is truly inaccessible.
In-Text Citation Format
The in-text citation for a secondary source names the original author and uses "as cited in" to identify the secondary source you actually read:
Parenthetical
(Holmes & Rahe, 1967, as cited in Straub, 2019)
Narrative
Holmes and Rahe (1967, as cited in Straub, 2019) developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale…
Key details:
- Name the original author(s) and their date (if known)
- Follow with "as cited in" and the secondary source author and date
- "As cited in" is not italicized, not capitalized (unless it starts a parenthetical)
- If you don't know the year of the original work, omit it: (Holmes & Rahe, as cited in Straub, 2019)
What Goes in the Reference List
Here's the part that surprises most students: only the secondary source goes in your reference list — the source you actually read.
Reference list:
Straub, R. O. (2019). Health psychology: A biopsychosocial approach (6th ed.). Worth Publishers.
Do not create a reference entry for Holmes and Rahe (1967). You didn't read the original, so you can't verify its publication details. The only work you can vouch for is the secondary source.
This is the core logic: your reference list should only contain works you have personally read and can verify. The in-text citation tells readers about the original work; the reference list directs them to the source where they can find the discussion of it.
Examples
Textbook Citing an Original Study
You read a developmental psychology textbook by Berger (2020). She discusses Vygotsky's (1978) zone of proximal development.
In-text:
Vygotsky (1978, as cited in Berger, 2020) introduced the concept of the zone of proximal development to describe the gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can accomplish with guidance.
Reference list:
Berger, K. S. (2020). Invitation to the life span (5th ed.). Worth Publishers.
Review Article Citing Data
You read a meta-analysis by Roberts et al. (2022). They cite a finding from a smaller study by Tanaka and Yamamoto (2015).
In-text:
Tanaka and Yamamoto (2015, as cited in Roberts et al., 2022) found that bilingual participants showed a 15% improvement in task-switching speed compared to monolingual controls.
Reference list:
Roberts, A. L., Chen, M. K., & DeLuca, S. (2022). Bilingual advantages in executive function: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 148(5–6), 301–340. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/bul0000391
Classic Work That's Difficult to Access
You read a neuroscience textbook by Gazzaniga (2018). He discusses Broca's (1861) original observations about language localization.
In-text:
Broca (1861, as cited in Gazzaniga, 2018) documented that damage to the left inferior frontal gyrus produced specific language deficits, establishing one of the first links between brain structure and function.
Reference list:
Gazzaniga, M. S. (2018). Cognitive neuroscience: The biology of the mind (5th ed.). W. W. Norton.
Original Date Unknown
If the secondary source doesn't provide a publication year for the original work:
In-text:
Bartlett (as cited in Anderson, 2021) proposed that memory is reconstructive rather than reproductive.
Reference list:
Anderson, J. R. (2021). Cognitive psychology and its implications (9th ed.). Worth Publishers.
How to Track Down the Original Source
Before resorting to "as cited in," try these strategies to find the original work:
Check the secondary source's reference list. Look up the full citation for the original work — then search for it.
Search your university library database. Use the author, title, and year from the secondary source's reference list. Try databases like PsycINFO, JSTOR, PubMed, or Google Scholar.
Use Google Scholar. Paste the original work's title in quotes. Google Scholar often finds PDFs, preprints, or cached versions.
Request interlibrary loan. If your library doesn't have access, interlibrary loan can usually get you a copy of a journal article within a few days.
Email the author. For recent works, researchers often share copies of their papers if you email them politely.
Check ResearchGate or Academia.edu. Many researchers upload preprints or accepted manuscripts to these platforms.
If none of these work, then "as cited in" is appropriate.
Common Mistakes
These are the secondary source citation errors we see most frequently:
Listing the original source in the reference list. Only the work you actually read goes in the reference list. If you didn't read Holmes and Rahe (1967), it shouldn't have a reference entry.
Using "as cited in" for sources you have access to. If the original work is available through your library or online, read it and cite it directly. "As cited in" is for genuinely inaccessible works.
Getting the order backwards. The format is "Original Author (Year, as cited in Secondary Author, Year)" — not the other way around. You're citing the original finding; the secondary source is just where you found it.
Overusing secondary citations. If your paper has more than one or two "as cited in" citations, it raises questions about the depth of your research. Track down the originals when you can.
Forgetting "as cited in." If you cite Holmes and Rahe (1967) without the "as cited in" qualifier — but you didn't actually read their paper — you're implying you read the original work. That's a misrepresentation.
Using secondary citations for famous theories. If you're citing a foundational theory (Piaget, Vygotsky, Maslow), the original works are almost certainly available. Look for them before defaulting to "as cited in."
What's Next
Now that you know how to handle secondary sources, explore these related topics:
- APA In-Text Citations — the complete guide to in-text citation formatting
- APA Reference List — how to format and organize your reference entries
- How to Cite a Book in APA Format — the most common secondary source is a textbook
Archivero helps you build accurate reference lists from the sources you've actually read — and flags when a secondary citation might be appropriate, so you always know exactly what goes in your references.
