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APA, IEEE & AMA citation styles

These guides provide guidance on how to cite sources using APA, IEEE & AMA citation styles; including examples for print and electronic sources.

Primary and Secondary Sources

primary source presents information in its original form;

Some examples of Primary Resources

  • Artifacts: clothing, coins, furniture, pottery, etc.
  • Audio/Visual recordings
  • Autobiographies
  • Census and demograpic records
  • Diaries
  • Dissertations
  • Experiments, clinical trials
  • Government documents
  • Interviews
  • Journal articles/original research
  • Legal documents
  • Letters and correspondence
  • Manuscripts
  • Maps and atlases (contemporary)
  • Memoirs
  • News footage
  • Official records
  • Pamphlets
  • Papers delivered at conferences
  • Photographs
  • Posters
  • Speeches

secondary source refers to content first reported in another source. They draw upon and interpret primary sources. A secondary source allows you to understand what scholars and other experts know about your topic.

Some examples of Secondary Resources

  • Biographies
  • Books that discuss or analyze a topic
  • Commentaries
  • Criticisms
  • Encyclopedias
  • Indexes and abstracts
  • Journal or magazine articles from previous research
  • Newspaper articles
  • Reviews of art, books, movies, etc.
  • Textbooks

Citing Secondary Sources

Cite secondary sources only when the original work is out of print, unavailable, or only available in a language you do not understand. Whenever possible, you should always aim to access the original sources.

If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase then write "as cited in" the secondary source in parentheses. List only the secondary source in your reference list.

Example of in-text citation:

According to a study by Salavou (as cited in Robbins & Coulter, 2021) ...

Example of Reference list citation:

Robbins, S.P. & Coulter, M. (2021). Management (Fifteen edition). Pearson.