Holmesglen Harvard Referencing

Secondary sources are when authors refer to other authors in their works. This means that when you use a citation provided by a secondary source author, you are citing the original author indirectly.

Use secondary sources wisely. 

Be aware that when you cite a secondary author, the original information may have been taken out of context.  This is why you should always seek out the original author's work where possible. 

Only cite secondary sources if the original source is:

• Out of print,
• Unavailable,
• Or not published in English

The citation should include:

• The surname of the author(s) and year of publication in the original source
• The surname of the author(s) and year of publication in the secondary source
• Page number(s) in the secondary source if you are citing direct quotes

Secondary source citations can be positioned in the text as follows:

• At the start of the sentence
  e.g. Hagan (1987 cited in Passarelli 2024) explains ...

• At the end of the sentence
  e.g. It was found to be the most effective technique (Hagan 1987 cited in Passarelli 2024). 

Secondary citation elements

Date unknown of original source

If the year of the original source is unknown/unavailable, leave it out of the citation: 

e.g. (Allport’s diary cited in Nicholson 2003)

Further citation examples

See in-text citations for information and examples of other types of citations. 

Reference list

Reference the secondary source (whether that is a book, journal article, webpage etc) in which you found the original author.