In academic writing it is important to acknowledge where the ideas and information you are writing about comes from. That’s why we give citations. For example, if I wrote “Humankind’s central problem is the question of how to become fully human”, I’d need to acknowledge that this isn’t my original idea (although I have expressed it in my own words) by adding a citation showing where I got the idea from, like this:
“Humankind’s central problem is the question of how to become fully human (Friere, 1972)”
I’d include an entry with the full details of Friere’s book in my References section, so the reader could find the same source I used.
But what if I want to cite a scholar I’ve only read about in a textbook? For example, if I was reading about Piaget’s stage theory in a psychology textbook, should I cite Piaget, even if I haven’t read his work myself? Or should I cite the textbook author, even though it’s not her theory? In that situation, I need to give a secondary citation, like this:
(Piaget, 1954, cited in Gjersoe, 2020)
What this means is the idea I’m writing about is Piaget’s, but I read about it in a book chapter by Gjersoe. I would not include an entry in my References list for Piaget, but I would include an entry for Gjersoe’s chapter so the reader could find the same source I used.
References
Freire, P., (1972). Pedagogy of the Oppressed, tr. Myra Bergman Ramos. Penguin Modern Classics.
Gjersoe, N., (2020). ‘Chapter 3: Representation in the early years’, in E219 Psychology of childhood and youth: A reader. The Open University, Milton Keynes
Melanie Rimmer 