Secondary source


You may need to consult more than one section to accurately represent the source used (eg. number of authors and source descriptions)


The Chicago Manual of Style advises against citations taken from secondary sources (i.e. “quoted in”), as writers are expected to consult the resources they cite. This is to ensure the accuracy of the quotation or statement and also maintain its original intent. The examples here are provided for circumstances where the original source is unavailable to consult. Check with your lecturer or tutor if you are in doubt.

For more information refer to Chicago Manual of Style (14.260) or Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations - eighth edition (17.9.3).

Elements, punctuation & capitalisation

2. Author, "Title of chapter/article," Title of Book/Journal (publication details): page number(s), quoted in Author, "Title of chapter," in Title of Book, ed. Editor (Place of publication: Publisher, year), page number(s).

Footnote example

First entry:

2. Rosalind Krauss, A Voyage on the North Sea: Art in the Age of the Post-Medium Condition (London: Thames & Hudson, 1999), 31, quoted in Sven Lutticken, "Media Memories//2005," in Moving Image, ed. Omar Kholeif (London: Whitechapel Gallery, 2015), 47.

Second and subsequent entries:

22. Krauss, Voyage, 43.


Format for bibliography entries

Elements, punctuation & capitalisation

Author. "Title of chapter/article." Title of Book/Journal (publication details), page number(s). Quoted in Author. "Title of Chapter." In Title of Book, edited by Editor, page numbers. Place of publication: Publisher, year.

Bibliography entry example

Krauss, Rosalind. A Voyage on the North Sea: Art in the Age of the Post-Medium Condition (London, Thames & Hudson, 1999), 31. Quoted in Sven Lutticken. "Media Memories//2005." In Moving Image, edited by Omar Kholeif, 46-49. London: Whitechapel Gallery, 2015.


Style notes for this reference style

  • See Manual 14.260 and Turabian 17.9.3.
  • The use of secondary citations is not recommended. You should seek out the original source wherever possible.
  • Where the original source cannot be consulted, you must list both the original and the secondary source in your citation.
  • The format of the citations may differ depending on the type of documents you are consulting.
  • Specify the edition if it is not the first edition.
  • Editor's name(s) should be followed with the abbreviation ed. (or eds.). Use the same format where there is a translator or compiler instead of an editor.
  • In the footnotes, do not use ‘p’ or ‘pp’ before the page numbers.
  • In the bibliography, works without an author should appear alphabetically by the main word of the title (ignore ‘the’, ‘a’ and ‘an’).
  • In the bibliography (but not the footnotes), invert the name (i.e. surname, given name).
  • In the bibliography, no page numbers are given for books. Give beginning and ending page numbers for book chapters.
  • Use the shortened form for second and subsequent footnotes.
  • For online books, include the DOI (or URL) as the last part of the citation and refer to section headings in lieu of page numbers.


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