Unit 4: Common Problems and FAQs
Secondary Referencing
Secondary referencing may happen when a source we are using cites something else.
You should try to avoid secondary referencing. You can usually either reference what you have read, or the original source if you can find and access it.
However, if you wish to credit the originator of the idea and it is not possible to access their source, see the example below.
Note that the reference list should only include the source you have read.
Examples
In this example, we have read a piece of information in Pederzani et al. (2024), which includes a citation to an earlier source (Hajdinjak et al., 2021).
If we cannot access the article by Hajdinjak et al. and cite it directly, we can do the following:
Citations
Research into the Neanderthal genome convincingly demonstrates that they coexisted with Homo sapiens (Hajdinjak et al., 2021 cited in Pederzani et al., 2024).
Research into the Neanderthal genome by Hajdinjak et al. (2021 cited in Pederzani et al., 2024) convincingly demonstrates that they coexisted with Homo Sapiens.
Reference List Entry
Pederzani, C. et al. (2024) ‘Stable isotopes show Homo sapiens dispersed into cold steppes ~45,000 years ago at Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany’, Nature Ecology and Evolution, 8, pp. 578–588. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02318-z
Downloads
If you would like to download a copy of this section, a PDF version is available below: