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MLA 9th referencing style

A guide to using MLA 9th referencing style

What is an indirect citation?

An indirect citation is when the ideas of one author are published in another author’s text but you have not read or accessed the original author’s work. MLA Handbook 9th edition advises using the material from original sources wherever possible. This may mean that you will have to use the citation from the secondary source to find the original source.

To reference an indirect quotation:

  • Include both the original author and the author of the work where the quote/idea was found in the in-text reference with the abbreviation qtd. in. 
  • In the reference list, provide the details of the author of the work in which you found the quotation or idea.
  • You may use a note to clarify the relationship between the original and second-hand sources.

One author

Reference Example
In-text

(Leonard qtd. in Clark)

OR

Leonard offers this advice about the use of exclamation points "..." (qtd. in Clark 94).
Reference list

Clark, Roy Peter. The Glamour of Grammar. Little, Brown and Company, 2010.
Endnote reference type The reference type you choose will be dependent on the source you indirectly quoted from.