LETTER #2 - Another dear reader writes:

Dear Miss Communication,
I have a couple of questions regarding the synthesis paper.  While I have been writing my paper, I have come across a lot of significant information, that I would like to include in my paper, but I'm not quite sure if I can use it, because the authors of each journal article I have read use ideas and explain issues by using another author's research.  They cite another author within their article (the ones I am reading).  I was just wondering if I can still use that information in my own paper, and how I go about doing it. I mean, how do I document it or cite it within my paper?  Also, how do I put that in my reference pages? or don't I need to?
Signed,
Citeless
 

Dear Citeless,

It is perfectly proper to use information cited "second-hand," if you are careful about how you do this.  Depending on the situation, you would do one of the following:

1. If you want to talk extensively about research by Author X, who is cited in an article by Author Y, the best choice is to go get the original article by Author X.  The reason to do this is because you want to make sure you are reading X's words exactly as they were written, not as they were discussed by Y.  (It can happen that Y actually misinterpreted what X said).  This is not always possible though, since maybe you can't get your hands on the original article.  Then what do you do?

2. You could say something like, "Author X (as cited in Author Y, 1997) found that 3 things happen when...."  OR "Author X (1956) states 'communication is a complex process'" (quoted in Author Y, 1997, p. 23).  In the reference section you would then cite the article you read by Author Y.  There is no citation of Author X on your reference page.

3. On the other hand, if Y is summarizing/paraphrasing information that s/he read from various authors, it is okay to cite the information as coming from Y, because it is (i.e., it is Y's interpretation of what Y has read).  An example would be: "Author Y (1997) states that conflicts can be difficult to resolve if both
partners..."-->  This might have come from Y reading something written by X, that basically argues the same thing, but the claim is now being made Y.  There is no citation of Author X on your reference page.

Here's an actual example from a paper I wrote in 1995:

"Studies of other media (e.g. television, magazines) suggest that non-Anglos and the elderly are often represented in numbers less than their true proportions in society (Atkin, 1992; Dodd, Foerch, & Anderson, 1988; Moore & Cadeau, 1985; Riffe, Goldson, Saxton, & Yang-Chou, 1989)."

If you read my paper, you wouldn't want to cite all the researchers I list, you could simply state: "Miss Communication (1995) claims that minorities and the elderly are underrepresented in various forms of media."

Set your cites high,
Miss Communication
 
 

See Miss Communication's other responses to letters: Letter #1 -- the difference between "affect" and "effect"

 
 
 

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