Interviews are common sources for academic research. While writing a research paper, you do not need to write references for interviews you conducted. However, if you use published interviews, you must include their sources in the reference list, depending on a specific citation style. This post discusses APA interview citation according to the 7th edition of the APA style and will include APA examples to assist you in accurately citing these types of sources.
In a nutshell: APA interview citation
- APA interview citation refers to the basic format for citing interviews, according to the American Psychological Association.
- The APA interview citation formats depend on the nature of the interview. For instance, your interviews should be cited as personal communications, while published interviews should appear in your citation or reference list.
- APA interview citation formats for published interviews also differ depending on the source, like podcasts, newspapers, and YouTube videos.
Definition: APA interview citation
APA is a common formatting style for references in academic writing. Therefore, APA interview citation is the standard format for citing published interviews. It is worth noting that publicly accessed or published interviews should be cited differently than the ones you conduct yourself.
Note that: You should not cite the interviews you conduct as personal communication in the text. In contrast, all published interviews should be included in the reference list and follow standard format rules.
APA interview citation: Interviews you conducted
The interviews you conducted should not appear in your paper’s reference list because your readers cannot access them publicly. However, you may refer to them in your text by quoting your interviewees or including their transcripts in an appendix.
In contrast, you do not need to include transcripts of informal personal interviews in an appendix. Instead, you may use an APA personal communication citation (interviewee’s initial and last name, “personal communication,” interview date).
Quoting interview participants: Formal interview
- If your research technique includes formal interviews with subjects, then your paper should consist of the discussions in an appendix.
- However, you need not add citations when quoting your interviewees.
- Instead, all you need to do is mention where your reader can find the transcripts.
- Furthermore, you should only mention the transcript once, even if you quote from it severally.
Quoting interview participants: Personal interview
- In APA interview citation, if your research includes personal, informal interviews that help you support your arguments, you do not need an appendix.
- Since these interviews are not published, you may cite them as personal information and not mention them on the reference list.
- When citing them as personal information, you should include the following information: the interviewee’s initial and last name, personal communication, and interview date.
Example
A key participant, Michael, explained that the experience was “novel and challenging” (full interview transcripts presented in Appendix D).
Example
Via phone call, one of the key scholars in the project explained that the impacts were “still present” (K. Micheal, personal communication, January 16, 2002).
APA interview citation: Published interviews
The basic APA interview citation instructions for published interviews depend on the source format in which it was published. Note that the interviewer is usually the interviewer, and the interviewee’s name is not usually included in the reference list.
Additionally, it would be wise to clarify the precise speaker when quoting from an interview you did not conduct. This helps clarify if the interviewer or interviewee speaks the words.
Example
The Department of Justice aims to reinstate its laws regarding immigrant lawbreaking, as highlighted by the head of the department, Nathaniel Dunphy, in a recent interview with CNN: “Our objective is to create precise policies for a just legal system” (Davenport, 200, para. 16).
Podcast interview
When citing an interview from a podcast, you must list the host as the author following the APA interview citation format below.
| Format | Host’s name, Initials. (Host). (date in YMD format). Episode title (No). (Audio podcast episode). In podcast Name. Production Company. URL |
| Reference list entry | Amanda, O. (Host). 2018, April 12). Kimberly Noel. (Audio podcast episode). In Hold your horses with Kamanda. LBC. http://spotifypodcast.com.amandak/1119 |
| In-text citation | Amanda,2018) |
Newspaper interview
Regarding APA interview citation for newspaper interviews, you should follow the standard newspaper format with the interviewer as the author.
| Format | Interviewer’s name, Initials. Date (YMD). Interview title. Newspaper Name. URL |
| Reference list entry | Dunphy, K. (2006, August 12). Matthew Perry on the state of the American justice system: “unless you understand the system, you cannot see the injustices.” The Daily Post. Thedailypost.co.uk. |
| In-text citation | (Dunphy, 2006) |
Interview on YouTube
In APA interview citations for YouTube interviews, the person or company that uploaded the video appears as the author instead of the interviewer. Below is the standard format for citing YouTube interviews in academic research papers.
| Format | Author’s name, Initials. (date). Video title (video). YouTube. URL |
| Reference list entry | The Daily Entertainer. (2021, March 23). Addison Rae discusses her relationship with her estranged father (video). YouTube. https://youtu.be/thedailyentertainer/zi18k |
| In-text citation | (The Daily Entertainer, 2021) |
FAQs
The format you use depends on the formatting style you apply in your paper, like APA interview citation. Furthermore, the interviews you conduct should be cited in-text as personal communication, while published interviews should appear in the list of references.
You can cite interviews you conducted by referring to them in the text. For instance, you can include a transcript of the discussions in an appendix or by quoting research participants.
The basic rules for APA interview citation include the interviewee’s last name and first initial, date, and type of interview. So, the basic structure is:
- First name initial, last name, interview type, interview date.
APA interview citation helps you give your sources credit for the data. It also explains your data source for your readers and enables you to avoid plagiarism.
