Answered By: Josh Weber Last Updated: Feb 14, 2024 Views: 24
MLA encourages one to cite the original source as opposed to the secondhand source. If that isn't an option, use the abbreviation qtd in (for quoted in) before the indirect source your parenthetical citation.
Example of an indirect parenthetical citation:
James Franklin felt the economic policy was "sound and sustainable" (qtd. in Hoffman 410).
Here is what the full citation looks like in the works cited page
Hoffman, Tim. History of American Economic Policy. Harvard University Press, 2012.
The abbreviation qtd. in is not needed if your prose makes it clear that the source is secondhand.
Example of where a second hand citation doesn't need to be quoted
In a Ted Talk about the social safety net, philanthropist Noah Flats quoted Mahatma Gandhi, "Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow men."
Work cited
Fields, Noah. "The Only Net that Matters." TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Feb. 2018, https://www.ted.com/talks/noah_fields_the_only_net_that_matters.
