: Re: Who do I cite as my source? When you have multiple sources for information like a quote, which source do you use in your book or essay. The one you may have gotten from an authors work

@Hamaas631

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You cite the (or a) source that you used. If you read it in Book A and that book says it came from Book B, you cite Book A because that's your source. If you choose to follow the reference and see it in Book B yourself, then you could cite either A or B (you used both). In that kind of situation, it's generally best to cite the source that's closest to the source -- why cite A who cites B if you can cite B directly?

Why shouldn't you cite B if you read it in A and you think A is reliable? Well, partly because sometimes sources get it wrong -- B might not really say what A says it does. But, more broadly, any author who's found to do this sort of thing -- citing a source that he didn't actually verify directly -- calls into question all of his citations. If you think A is reliable then either (a) your readers probably do too, so citing A means something, or (b) you can explain why A is reliable.

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