Cite an interview in APA style

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As per Sections 8.7 of the APA Publication Manual, there are three types of interviews:

  • Personal interviews: Interviews that you personally conducted. This could be an interview you conducted in person or even questions you sent via email. You may include an in-text citation, but there is no reference list entry.
  • Research participant interviews: Interviews conducted for and are first mentioned in the paper you are writing. Since your paper will become the “primary source” for the interview information, no citations are needed.
  • Published interviews: Interviews that have been published should be cited using the source type’s format (e.g., newspaper, video, podcast, etc.). You should include both an in-text citation and a reference list entry.

Below is a template and example of a personal interview.

For a published interview, visit the publication type’s specific guide OR use our APA Citation Generator to cite it. Get help with other source types, like books, PDFs, or websites, check out our other guides. To have your reference list or bibliography automatically made for you, try our free citation generator.

Reference list

Personal interviews do NOT need a reference entry since it is considered “personal communication” and is not easily accessible by the general public. This means that readers cannot reference the interview on their own so no reference list entry is needed.

In-text citation

Place this part right after the quote or reference in your assignment.

Templates:

(Interviewer First initial and Surname, Month Day, Year)
Interviewer First initial and Surname (personal communication, Month Day, Year)

Examples:

(Author Surname, Month Day, Year)
Author Surname (personal communication, Month Day, Year)

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How do I format a narrative in-text citation for an interview in APA style?

In APA, there are three types of interviews:

  • Personal interviews: Interviews that you personally conducted. This could be an interview you conducted in person or even questions you sent via email. You may include an in-text citation, but there is no reference list entry.
  • Research participant interviews: Interviews conducted for and are first mentioned in the paper you are writing. Since your paper will become the “primary source” for the interview information, no citations are needed.
  • Published interviews: Interviews that have been published should be cited using the source type’s format (e.g., newspaper, video, podcast, etc.). You should include both an in-text citation and a reference list entry.

Let’s review the in-text citations for personal interviews and published interviews.

Personal Interview

Personal interviews ONLY need to be referenced in the text as “personal communication.” Since personal interviews are not “recoverable” sources of information, no reference list entry is needed.

Templates:

Interviewer Initial and Surname (personal communication, Month Day, Year)

(Interviewer Initial and Surname, personal communication, Month Day, Year)

Examples:

A. B. O’Connor (personal communication, July 23, 1976)

(A. B. O’Connor, personal communication, July 23, 1976)

 

Published Interview

Use the citing format for the source type. For example:

  • Interview in a newspaper –> Cite the source as a newspaper article
  • Podcast interview –> Cite source as a podcast
  • YouTube interview –> Cite source as a video

The individual(s) placed as the “author” are usually the creator of the work. This person is typically the interviewer. The interviewee (person who was interviewed) is usually mentioned when you write, but is not part of the citation itself.

General In-text Citation Templates:

Author Surname (Year Published)

(Author Surname, Year Published)

(Author Surname, Year Published, page number or timestamp) – Use this if it’s after a quotation.

Examples:

Ms. Alma stated that, “He was a very stoic, solitary man who did not speak much to anyone” (Brizbee, 2016, p. 22).

In Brizbee’s (2016) interview, Ms. Alma stated that, “He was a very stoic, solitary man who did not speak much to anyone” (p. 22).

“Nobody will ever think that” (Ching, 1998, 10:09)

How do I format a parenthetical citation for an interview in APA style?

Interviews can be of two types: public and personal. According to the APA handbook, public and published interviews like TED Talks are to be handled and cited both in-text and at the reference level; personal interviews are treated like personal communication since they cannot be accessible to one and all. The published interview is to be treated as you see below, when it is a newspaper interview (person’s name), or podcast interview (person’s name) , or a YouTube interview (organization name).

Template for Published Interviews

(Last Name, Year) [for newspaper interviews and podcast interviews]

(Organization Name, Year) [for YouTube interviews]

Example for Published Interviews

(Smith,  2002)

(BBC, 2003)

Template for Private Interviews

(Initials and Last Name, Personal communication, Date)

Example for Private Interviews

(G. Davidson, personal communication, May 7, 1991)