Knowing how to cite an interview in APA format correctly is essential for maintaining academic integrity and ensuring your work meets the rigorous standards of scholarly writing. Whether you are conducting a personal correspondence or referencing a professional conversation, the accurate documentation of these sources prevents plagiarism and allows readers to verify your information. This guide provides a detailed walkthrough of the specific rules, practical examples, and common pitfalls to help you master this citation style with confidence.
Understanding the Basics of APA Interview Citations
The American Psychological Association (APA) style prioritizes the retrieval date for electronic sources and the identification of the interviewee as the author. Because interviews are considered personal communications, they are typically listed only in the in-text citations and not in the reference list, unless you have obtained formal permission to publish them. This distinction is crucial for determining how you format the entry depending on the source type and accessibility of the interview.
Citing a Personal Interview in Text
Personal interviews, such as face-to-face conversations, email exchanges, or phone calls, are cited only within the text of your paper. You do not include these in the reference list at the end of your document. The citation requires the last name of the interviewee and the specific year of the conversation. This format ensures that the reader understands the context of the information without needing to locate a physical record of the exchange.
Format and Punctuation Rules
When writing the in-text citation for a personal interview, follow a specific structure to maintain clarity. You should place the interviewee’s last name, the word "personal communication," and the date of the interview inside parentheses. It is important to note that you should not italicize or place quotation marks around this phrase, as it is a standard identifier for this type of source.
In-text citation structure: (Last Name, Year, personal communication)
Example of a narrative citation: Smith (2023) emphasized the importance of the methodology.
Example of a parenthetical citation: The study results were inconclusive (Smith, 2023, personal communication).
Citing Published or Archival Interviews
If the interview has been published in a journal, book, magazine, or a reputable online platform, it is treated as a standard source rather than a personal communication. In these cases, you must include the interview in your reference list. This allows readers to locate the exact publication where the interview appears, providing them with the full context of the conversation.
Formatting Print and Online Interviews
The general format for a published interview requires the author’s last name and initials, the publication year in parentheses, the title of the interview in sentence case, the publication name in italics, the volume and issue number for journals, and the page numbers or URL. For online interviews, you replace the page numbers with the direct URL to ensure the reader can access the source directly.
Source Type | Format
Print Interview | Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of interview. *Publication Name*, volume(issue), page range.
Online Interview | Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of interview. *Publication Name*. URL
Examples of Published Interview References
Reviewing concrete examples is the most effective way to understand how to structure these references correctly. Below are models for both a magazine interview and a journal interview. These examples demonstrate the precise punctuation, capitalization, and ordering of elements required by the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual.
