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I have found the following quote of Weston Walch on https://philosophy.lander.edu:

It cannot be proved that government ownership of railroads has succeeded in other countries. Therefore, government ownership of the railroads should not be adopted in this country.

The website itself gives a reference to his book "On Conception". I would like to use this quote, but don't know how to reference it, should I just reference the original work?

Another example that is even trickier is the following quote of William Harvey:

[W]hat I shall state I wish not to be taken as if I thought it a voice from an oracle … I claim, however, that liberty … to put forward as true such things as appear to be probable, until proved to be manifestly false.

It is not a full quote, but a modified version of the original made by the author of the article on the https://philosophy.lander.edu. If I were to use the quote in this form should I also only reference the source which the author used without mentioning the website from which I took it?

spacemonkey
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1 Answers1

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In scientific and academic writing, you must attempt to obtain the original source and quote from that. Quoting from secondary sources is reserved for cases in which the original source no longer exists (e.g. lost ancient texts quoted in preserved ancient texts) or available only in a language you don't understand (e.g. a foreign language text quoted in your language in another text).

I assume that both the original texts by Weston Walch and William Harvey are available to you, for example through interlibrary loan. So quote from those original sources, according to the recommendations in the style guide you use (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

If you need to cite from a secondary source:

  • List the secondary source that you used in your reference list.
  • In text, give the primary source and write "as cited in" and give the secondary source.

The exact formatting will depend on your style guide.

Ben
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