How you cite an interview depends on two things: the citation style you’re using (APA, MLA, or Chicago) and whether the interview is one you conducted yourself or one you found in a published source. That distinction matters because personal interviews you conducted often don’t appear in your reference list or bibliography at all. Here’s how each major style handles it.
The Key Distinction: Personal vs. Published
Every citation style treats these two types of interviews differently. A personal interview is one you conducted yourself, whether in person, by phone, over email, or through video chat. A published interview is one that already exists in a recoverable format: a magazine article, a book, a podcast episode, a YouTube video, or a broadcast transcript.
Personal interviews are tricky because your reader has no way to look them up. That’s why most styles either limit them to in-text citations or handle them through footnotes rather than giving them a full entry in your references. Published interviews, on the other hand, get cited like any other source in that format.
APA Style (7th Edition)
Personal Interviews
APA classifies interviews you conducted as “personal communications,” a category that also includes emails, text messages, phone calls, and letters. Because your reader can’t retrieve them, personal communications are cited in the text only. They do not get an entry in your reference list.
Use the communicator’s initials and last name along with the phrase “personal communication” and the date:
- Parenthetical: (T. Nguyen, personal communication, February 24, 2020)
- Narrative: E.-M. Paradis (personal communication, August 8, 2019)
One important note: if you interviewed participants as part of your own original research study, APA says not to use the personal communication format. Instead, quote those participants directly in your text as part of your methodology and results.
Published Interviews
If the interview exists in a recoverable form, cite it based on the format where you found it. A YouTube interview gets cited as a YouTube video. A transcript published in a magazine gets cited as a magazine article. APA doesn’t have a special “interview” category for published sources; you simply match the format to the medium.
For a video interview on YouTube, for example, use the name of the account that uploaded the video as the author, provide the upload date, italicize the video title, include “[Video]” in square brackets, and end with the site name and URL.
MLA Style (9th Edition)
Personal Interviews
Unlike APA, MLA does give personal interviews an entry in the works-cited list. List the interviewee as the author, use the generic description “Interview” (since it has no title), and include the interviewer’s name and the date:
Walcott, Derek. Interview. Conducted by Susan Lang, 22 Oct. 2002.
Published Interviews
Follow the standard MLA format template. Treat the person being interviewed as the author and provide the title of the interview. If the interview appears inside a larger work (a book, a journal, a magazine), include the container information as you normally would:
Saro-Wiwa, Ken. “English Is the Hero.” No Condition Is Permanent: Nigerian Writing and the Struggle for Democracy, edited by Holger Ehling and Claus-Peter Holste-von Mutius, Rodopi, 2001, pp. 13–19.
You can optionally add the interviewer’s name as a supplemental element after the interview title, followed by a period:
Saro-Wiwa, Ken. “English Is the Hero.” Interview conducted by Diri I. Teilanyo. No Condition Is Permanent, edited by Holger Ehling and Claus-Peter Holste-von Mutius, Rodopi, 2001, pp. 13–19.
Chicago Style (17th Edition)
Personal and Unpublished Interviews
Chicago recommends citing unpublished interviews in footnotes or endnotes rather than in the bibliography. Your note should include the interviewee’s name, a brief description, and the date:
1. Alex Smith (retired plumber) in discussion with the author, January 2017.
For more formal or archived interviews, you can include additional detail about where the recording or transcript is held:
2. Frederick L. Hovde, interview by Robert B. Eckles, July 23, 1972, interview 8, transcript and recording, Purdue University Archives and Special Collections.
Published or Broadcast Interviews
Published interviews get both a note and a bibliography entry. The note format lists the interviewee first, followed by “interview by,” the interviewer’s name, the program or publication title, the publisher or network, and the date:
N: 5. Carrie Rodriguez, interview by Cuz Frost, Acoustic Café, 88.3 WGWG FM, November 20, 2008.
The bibliography entry flips the interviewee’s name to last-name-first and moves the interviewer’s name after the title with “By”:
B: Rodriguez, Carrie. Acoustic Café. By Cuz Frost. 88.3 WGWG FM, November 20, 2008.
For a print interview with a title, include the title in quotation marks:
N: 4. Natasha Trethewy, “Dissection and Other Kinds of Love,” interview by Lindsey Alexander, Sycamore Review, no. 24 (Winter/Spring 2012): 35.
Citing Interviews From Podcasts and Videos
Digital interviews follow the same logic as any published interview: cite based on the platform and format. For a podcast episode, you’d include the host or interviewee (depending on your style), the episode title, the podcast name, the date, and a URL or platform name. For a YouTube video, include the channel name, video title, upload date, and URL.
When you’re quoting or paraphrasing something a specific person said during a video, name or describe that individual in your sentence and then cite the video itself. If the interview is lengthy, including a timestamp helps your reader find the relevant passage, though not all styles formally require one.
When the Interviewee Is Anonymous
If your interview subject needs to remain confidential, don’t include identifying details in your works-cited list or bibliography. In MLA, you can instead include the relevant information in a footnote indicating the source is a personal interview without naming the person. In APA, you’d still use the personal communication format in-text but could use a pseudonym or descriptor (like “Participant 3”) instead of a real name. Chicago handles it similarly through a footnote. Whatever style you use, the goal is the same: give enough context for credibility without compromising the person’s identity.
Quick Reference by Style
- APA: Personal interviews go in-text only (no reference list entry). Published interviews are cited by their format (video, article, etc.).
- MLA: Personal interviews get a works-cited entry with “Interview” as the description. Published interviews follow the standard template with the interviewee as author.
- Chicago: Personal interviews go in footnotes/endnotes, not the bibliography. Published interviews get both a note and a bibliography entry.
If you’re unsure which style to use, check your assignment guidelines or your publication’s submission requirements. The style choice determines everything else about the format.