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In APA 7th edition, an interview you conducted yourself is cited in the text only, as a personal communication, and gets no entry in the reference list. An interview someone else published (a newspaper article, podcast or video) is cited as that published source and does appear in the reference list. Which of the two you have decides everything else, so start with the fork below.
This guide uses the APA 7th edition (2020), the current edition at the time of writing (October 2026).
Which kind of interview are you citing?
| Your situation | Reference list entry? | What you write |
|---|---|---|
| You interviewed someone by email, phone or in person, outside a formal study | No | In-text personal communication citation |
| The interview was published (newspaper, magazine, podcast, video) | Yes | A reference for the medium where it appeared |
| The interviewee is a participant in your own research (individual or focus group) | No | Report the data in your own work and quote anonymously, for example “Participant A said” |
Swansea University’s library guide adds a limit on the first row: “Use a personal communication citation only when a recoverable source is not available.” If the same information is available in a published, retrievable source, cite that instead.
The format for a personal interview
A personal communication is cited in the text only. The elements, in order, are:
- the communicator’s initials and surname;
- the words “personal communication” in lowercase;
- as exact a date as possible.
Swansea University’s guide explains why there is no reference entry: personal communications “do not provide recoverable data”, so a reader cannot retrieve them. The CSS Library guide gives the same reason for interviews you conduct yourself: the reader cannot recover the interview, so it is cited as a personal communication.
Examples of citing an interview in APA
All names, titles and dates below are fictitious examples, not real people or interviews.
Personal interview, parenthetical
Staff turnover was highest in the first year of the programme (A. Moreno, personal communication, March 14, 2026).
Personal interview, narrative
A. Moreno (personal communication, March 14, 2026) described the first year as the point where most staff left.
Published interview in a podcast
Follow the podcast episode pattern from the APA reference examples, with the host in the author position:
Host, A. (Host). (Year, Month Day). Title of episode (No. #) [Audio podcast episode]. In Podcast title. Producer. URL
Example: Smith, J. (Host). (2024, March 5). Writing well (No. 12) [Audio podcast episode]. In The example show. Example Audio. https://example.com/ep12
Published interview on video
Follow the video pattern: Channel or Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. URL. Our guide on citing a YouTube video in APA covers that pattern in more detail.
Example: Example Channel. (2024, October 18). How examples work [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXXXXXXXX
Published interview in an online newspaper
Follow the online newspaper pattern: Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Newspaper Name. URL
Example: Smith, J. (2024, May 30). Interview with a research director on funding cuts. Example Daily. https://example.com/interview
For published interviews, the CSS Library and Southern Cross University guides give the same instruction: build the reference from the source that published the interview, using the reference type of the place where you found it.
In-text citation version
For a personal communication, the in-text citation is the whole citation. Use initials and surname, “personal communication” and the date, in parentheses or built into the sentence as shown above. For a published interview, cite it in the text like any other source, with the author and year of the reference entry you created, for example (Smith, 2024).
For direct quotations from a published source, the APA in-text citation checklist asks for author, year and page: (Author, year, p. 20). Quotations under 40 words go in double quotation marks; longer ones use block format.
Interviews in a thesis or manuscript
This is where interview citation most often goes wrong. If you interviewed people as part of your own study, those interviews are your data, not a source you cite. Report them in your methods and findings, and refer to participants anonymously, for example “Participant A said”. Southern Cross University’s guide says not to cite participants individually, because this could compromise confidentiality, and the CSS Library guide likewise treats participant interviews as part of your methodology rather than as personal communications.
For handling the recordings themselves, see our guides on transcription conventions in qualitative research and informed consent in research, which cover what participants agree to before you quote them. For other kinds of source, see quoting and citing sources correctly, and for the list itself, the APA reference page layout.
Common errors
- Adding a personal interview to the reference list. Personal communications are in-text only.
- Writing the interviewee’s full first name instead of initials.
- Capitalising “personal communication”.
- Giving only a year or a vague date, when the guides ask for as exact a date as possible.
- Citing a published interview as a personal communication instead of citing the podcast, article or video where it appeared.
- Citing your own research participants as personal communications.
Style-guide edition
Patterns here follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition (2020), the current edition as of October 2026. The podcast, video and newspaper patterns come from the APA reference examples handout (last updated March 3, 2026); the personal communication rules follow the university library guides listed under Sources. If your journal or department publishes its own variant, follow its instructions.
FAQ
Do I put an interview in the reference list in APA?
Only if it was published. An interview you conducted yourself is cited in the text as a personal communication and is not listed. A published interview is listed under the source that published it.
How do I cite an interview I conducted in APA?
Use the in-text format (A. Moreno, personal communication, March 14, 2026) with no reference entry. If the interviewee is a participant in your own study, report the data instead and quote them anonymously.
How do I cite an online or published interview in APA?
Create a reference for the medium: podcast episode, video or newspaper article, using the pattern for that medium with the host or interviewer in the author position as the pattern directs.
What is the in-text citation for an interview in APA?
For a personal interview: (J. Doe, personal communication, May 14, 2026). For a published interview: the author and year of the reference entry, for example (Smith, 2024).
Sources
- American Psychological Association, Publication Manual (7th ed., 2020), reference examples handout, https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/reference-examples.pdf (last updated March 3, 2026; date checked 2026-10-28).
- American Psychological Association, in-text citation checklist, https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/in-text-citation-checklist.pdf (date checked 2026-10-28).
- CSS Library, “APA 7th Ed: Personal Communication”, https://libguides.css.edu/APA7thEd/PersonalCommunication (date checked 2026-10-29).
- Southern Cross University Library, “APA: Personal communication”, https://libguides.scu.edu.au/apa/personal-communication (date checked 2026-10-29).
- Swansea University Library, “APA 7 Referencing: Personal Communication”, https://libguides.swansea.ac.uk/APA7Referencing/PersonalCommunication (date checked 2026-10-29).
