How to cite interviews and personal communications in APA 7

Before citing an interview

Interviews do not all follow the same citation format. First determine who can retrieve the information and why the conversation took place.

APA Style distinguishes three cases:

1. Published interview: appears in an accessible magazine, newspaper, podcast, video, program, or archive.
2. Personal interview: you conducted it to obtain information supporting a point in your paper, but readers cannot retrieve it.
3. Research participant interview: you conducted it as part of the study's data collection.

This distinction determines whether you need a reference, a personal communication citation, or a presentation of research findings without a citation.

How to choose the format

Situation	Treatment in the text	Reference list
Published, recoverable interview	Citation for the publication type	Yes
Unrecoverable personal interview	Personal communication	No
Interview with your research participant	Identify it as research data	No
Classroom or intranet material available to your readers	Cite and reference the material type	Yes
Restricted material readers cannot retrieve	Personal communication	No

Published interviews

Treat a published interview as the work in which it appears. It may be a magazine article, podcast episode, video, or archived recording. Use the author that applies to that publication type, which is not always the person being interviewed.

When an archived radio interview identifies the interviewee as the author, follow the archived radio interview example. For an interview published in an article or video, use the guide for the relevant reference type.

When quoting exact words from a recording, include the timestamp where the passage begins:

Mendoza (2022) explained that “curiosity points us toward the questions worth investigating” (14:32).

The details are illustrative.

Personal interviews and communications

Emails, private messages, telephone calls, conversations, personal interviews, live speeches, and unrecorded lectures are personal communications when readers cannot retrieve them.

Include the following information in the text:

• the person's initials and surname;
• the words personal communication;
• the most exact date available.

Narrative citation:The author is part of the sentence and the year appears in parentheses: Perez (2024).

P. R. Gomez (personal communication, March 12, 2024) explained that the program began with two pilot groups.

Parenthetical citation:The source is identified in parentheses, normally with the author and year: (Perez, 2024).

The program began with two pilot groups (P. R. Gomez, personal communication, March 12, 2024).

Do not include personal communications in the reference list because readers cannot retrieve them. Use them only when no published source can support the information.

Interviews with research participants

Interviews conducted as part of your own study's method are not personal communications. They also do not need an in-text citation or reference entry because they are original data being reported in the study.

State in the text or method that the passage comes from a participant, and use the name, pseudonym, or code selected to protect the person's identity:

Participant P04 described revision as “the moment when I finally understand what I was trying to prove.”

Exact words of fewer than 40 words appear in quotation marks. Passages of 40 words or more use block quotation formatting, but they do not receive an author-date citation. Do not include details that could reveal a participant's identity when the study requires confidentiality.

Classroom, intranet, and learning management materials

A file stored in Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, a company intranet, or another restricted platform may receive a reference when the people reading the work can also access it.

When readers have access

Cite the item according to its type, such as slides, a recorded video, or a report. Name the learning management system or intranet in the source element, and use the login or home page URL when a direct link requires authentication.

Illustrative example of slides in a learning management system:

Rojas, L. (2024). How to narrow a research question [PowerPoint slides]. Central University Learning Portal. https://campus.example.edu

Parenthetical citation: (Rojas, 2024)

When readers do not have access

If your work is intended for an audience that cannot enter the platform, treat the information as a personal communication. For an unrecorded lecture, first try to cite the research or published source on which the instructor based the explanation.

Epigraphs

An epigraph is a quotation placed before the text to introduce, summarize, or offer a counterpoint to its theme. Indent it 0.5 in. from the left margin and do not use quotation marks.

An epigraph's source does not usually appear in the reference list unless you also cite the work elsewhere or it is important to your topic. In that case, use a parenthetical citation with the author, year, and page. If you do not add the work to the reference list, APA Style places a credit line below the passage, beginning with an em dash and followed by the person's full name and the title of the work.

Include a full reference for an epigraph from an academic source or for one used with permission. When your institution provides a different layout for a thesis or dissertation, follow those instructions.

Checklist

Before finishing, check that:

• you determined whether the interview is published, personal, or part of your research;
• you added a reference only when readers can retrieve the work;
• personal communications include initials, surname, and an exact date;
• you did not add personal communications to the reference list;
• you identified participant quotations without treating them as outside sources;
• you protected the agreed identity of research participants;
• you checked whether readers can access the learning management system or intranet;
• you chose a published source instead of a personal communication when one was available.