How to Quote a Quote: Punctuation and Citations (APA, MLA)

To quote a quote, put the full quotation in double quotation marks and change the quotation marks inside it to single ones: She wrote, "My grandmother always said 'measure twice.'" If you're quoting someone you only found inside another source, cite the source you actually read: APA 7th edition uses "as cited in" and MLA 9th edition uses "qtd. in." Whenever you can, find the original and cite it directly instead.

"Quote a quote" covers two separate problems: punctuation and citation. We'll take them in turn. All sources here are fictional.

Part 1: Punctuating a quote within a quote

The basic rule (American English)

• Outer quotation: double marks (" ").
• Inner quotation: single marks (' ').
• A third level, which is rare, goes back to double.

Original source text: The coach told reporters, "We're not rebuilding."

Your sentence: Tanaka reports that "the coach told reporters, 'We're not rebuilding,' even after losing four starters" (2021, p. 88).

Where the other punctuation goes

In American style, periods and commas go inside the closing quotation marks, both single and double:

"She called it 'the long winter.'"

Question marks and exclamation points go inside only if they belong to the quoted material:

Did the report really call it "the long winter"?

The report asked, "Who remembers 'the long winter'?"

When single and double marks end together, keep both, in order: the single closes first, then the double, as in 'the long winter.'" above.

British English

British publications often use single marks outside and double inside, and place punctuation by meaning rather than always inside. If you're writing for a UK course, check the style guide your department uses. For APA and MLA, follow the American rules above.

Block quotations

Long quotations (40 or more words in APA, more than four lines of prose in MLA) go in an indented block without outer quotation marks. Because there are no outer marks, the inner quote uses ordinary double marks:

Tanaka describes the press conference this way:

The coach stood at the podium for less than five minutes. Asked about the roster, he said, "We're not rebuilding," and left before the follow-up questions. Reporters spent the next week trying to work out what he meant. (2021, p. 88)

Part 2: Citing a source you found in another source

Say you're reading a 2021 book by Tanaka, and Tanaka quotes a 1998 interview with a coach named Rivera. You haven't read the 1998 interview. This is a secondary source citation.

APA 7th edition: "as cited in"

Name the original author in your sentence or citation, then credit the source you read:

Rivera described the team as "tired but not finished" (as cited in Tanaka, 2021, p. 90).

Or, narratively:

Rivera (1998, as cited in Tanaka, 2021, p. 90) described the team as "tired but not finished."

APA advises including the year of the original when you know it, as in the second example. In the reference list, include only Tanaka's book, because that's the source you consulted.

Tanaka, H. (2021). Seasons of the coastal league. Harbor Press.

MLA 9th edition: "qtd. in"

MLA uses "qtd. in," short for "quoted in":

Rivera described the team as "tired but not finished" (qtd. in Tanaka 90).

The works-cited list includes only Tanaka's book.

Tanaka, Hiro. Seasons of the Coastal League. Harbor Press, 2021.

Name the original speaker in your sentence so the reader knows whose words they are. "Tanaka says the team was tired" would wrongly credit the words to Tanaka.

Comparison

Part 3: Quoting a quote in the source you're reading

There's one more case. Sometimes you want to quote a passage from Tanaka that itself contains a quotation, and you're crediting Tanaka's sentence, not Rivera's words alone. Then you only need the punctuation rule, plus a normal citation to Tanaka:

Tanaka argues that the team "outlasted its own reputation, living up to Rivera's description of 'tired but not finished'" (2021, p. 90).

You are quoting Tanaka, so Tanaka gets the citation.

When to track down the original

Secondary citations are allowed, but most instructors prefer the original, because:

• The secondary author may have quoted selectively or out of context.
• Small transcription errors can creep in.
• Reading the original often gives you more material to work with.

Check the secondary source's reference list for the original, then try your library, interlibrary loan or the publisher's website. If you find and read it, cite it directly and drop the "as cited in."

A citation generator can format both the secondary and original references once you have the details. Always double-check the output against your style guide.

Common mistakes

1. Two sets of double marks. "He said "no" twice" is confusing; the inner pair should be single marks.
2. Citing the original you never read. Listing Rivera's interview in your references implies you consulted it.
3. Dropping the original speaker. Without naming Rivera, the words look like Tanaka's.
4. Using single marks for scare quotes inside your own sentence. In American style, scare quotes take double marks unless they sit inside another quotation.

Key takeaways

• Double marks outside, single marks inside (American English, APA and MLA).
• Periods and commas go inside the closing marks in American style.
• Block quotes have no outer marks, so the inner quote uses double marks.
• Cite what you read: "as cited in" for APA, "qtd. in" for MLA.
• Read the original when you can.

See also how to include a page number in a citation.