: Re: If I quote part of an article that itself contains a quote, what do I cite? In an article I'm writing, for a conference in engineering education, I would like to quote the following:

@Deb2945533

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According to CMU, you should include the name of the original source in or next to the quote, but "On your references page, you will only list the source you actually read". The MLA, saying "The basic rule is that in both your Works Cited list and in-text citation you will still cite [the author of the direct quote]. [the author of the direct quote] will appear in your Works Cited list – NOT [the author of the quote within the quote]."

Note that there's a difference between attribution and citation. Attribution is merely giving credit. Citation is a more formal process in which you give the reader references to follow up on the information given. If you are including the quote within the quote just because it's in the quote, then attribution is sufficient. But if your quote within a quote includes a claim that is important for your own paper, and the original paper is needed for substantiation or understanding, I recommend that you include a citation in your references page. A common theme in many Snopes articles is "We found an article by Adams claiming this is true that cited Brock. We looked up the article by Brock, and that article cited an article by Cook. We looked up the article by Cook ..." Citations shouldn't be treasure hunts.

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