Most private interviews are cited only in the text; published interviews get a normal reference entry.
An interview can be a strong source in a paper, but APA treats it differently based on one plain question: can your reader find it? If the answer is no, the interview stays out of the reference list and appears only as an in-text personal communication citation. If the answer is yes, cite the public source type, not just the act of interviewing.
That split saves you from the most common mistake: adding a private conversation to the reference page. APA references are for sources readers can retrieve. A private Zoom call, email reply, phone chat, or face-to-face interview usually cannot be checked by a reader, so APA gives it a lighter citation form in the sentence or parentheses.
Citing An Interview In APA Style Without Reference Errors
Start by sorting the interview into one of three buckets. This step matters more than memorizing punctuation, because the bucket decides whether the source belongs in the reference list.
- Private interview: You conducted it, or it was sent only to you. Cite it as personal communication in text.
- Published interview: It appeared in a magazine, newspaper, podcast, video, book, website, or broadcast. Cite the container where readers can find it.
- Archived interview: It sits in a library, database, transcript collection, museum, or archive. Cite the retrievable record.
The APA Style page lists personal interviews under personal communications, along with emails, phone conversations, private messages, and similar private material. That means a private interview can still strengthen your point, but it should not pretend to be a source the reader can open later.
Private Interview Citations
For a private interview, give the interviewee’s initials and surname, the phrase “personal communication,” and the full date. Use a parenthetical citation when the source detail fits at the end of a sentence:
(R. Patel, personal communication, March 12, 2026)
Use a narrative citation when the interviewee’s name belongs in the sentence:
R. Patel (personal communication, March 12, 2026) said the pilot group finished two rounds of testing.
Do not add this interview to the reference list. Since readers cannot retrieve the conversation, the in-text citation carries the credit and the date trail.
Name Permission And Field Notes
Private interviews can contain remarks the speaker did not plan to share publicly. Ask how the person wants to be named before you cite them. Some projects allow initials, a role label, or a pseudonym. APA citation form tells readers who supplied the detail, but your course, ethics board, or workplace may require tighter handling.
Save your notes, recording consent, transcript, or email trail outside the paper. Those records protect your wording if a question comes up. Add a file name, date, and interviewee label to your notes so you can trace each quote later. They do not belong on the reference page unless readers can access them through a stable archive or database.
| Interview Source | In-Text Form | Reference List? |
|---|---|---|
| Private in-person interview | (A. Lewis, personal communication, April 4, 2026) | No |
| Private video call | (M. Chen, personal communication, January 9, 2026) | No |
| Email reply sent only to you | (T. Gomez, personal communication, February 18, 2026) | No |
| Phone interview | (D. Singh, personal communication, May 1, 2026) | No |
| Magazine interview | Author and year of the article | Yes |
| Podcast interview | Host or creator and year | Yes |
| YouTube interview | Channel or creator and year | Yes |
| Archived oral history | Interviewee or archive record and year | Yes |
Published Interview Citations
A published interview follows the format of the place where it appeared. If it is in a newspaper, use the newspaper article pattern. If it is a podcast episode, use the podcast episode pattern. If it is a video, use the video pattern. APA’s reference examples page groups these source types so you can match the container before writing the entry.
This detail trips up many writers: the person being interviewed is not always the author of the source. A reporter may write the article. A host may publish the episode. A channel may post the video. The reference entry should name the creator of the retrievable work, while the sentence in your paper can still name the interviewee if that helps the reader follow the point.
Magazine Or Web Article Interview
Use the author of the article, date, title, site or publication name, and URL. If the article title names the interviewee, that title gives readers the trail. Your in-text citation uses the article author and year.
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Site Name. URL
Podcast Or Video Interview
For a podcast interview, cite the episode as audio. For a video interview, cite the video. Purdue OWL’s page on audiovisual media is useful when the interview is watched or heard not read.
Host, H. H. (Host). (Year, Month Day). Episode title [Audio podcast episode]. Podcast Name. Publisher. URL
Channel Name. (Year, Month Day). Video title [Video]. YouTube. URL
| Citation Problem | Better Choice | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Adding a private interview to references | Use in-text personal communication only | The reader cannot retrieve it |
| Naming only the interviewee for a podcast | Cite the host, episode, podcast, and URL | The episode is the source |
| Leaving out the date | Add the full date for private interviews | APA personal communication citations need it |
| Using “interview” for each public source | Match the article, video, audio, or archive format | The container controls the entry |
| Quoting without consent in sensitive cases | Paraphrase or get clear permission | It protects the source and your paper |
APA Format- How To Cite An Interview In Your Paper
Once you know the source type, write the citation in the sentence where the borrowed detail appears. For private interviews, place the citation close to the fact or quote. For published interviews, cite the retrievable work the same way you would cite any other source in APA.
Here are clean sentence patterns you can adapt:
- Private parenthetical: The design team changed the intake form after the trial session (L. Moreno, personal communication, February 2, 2026).
- Private narrative: L. Moreno (personal communication, February 2, 2026) said the trial session changed how the team wrote intake questions.
- Published interview: Cite the article, episode, or video by its author or creator and year, then place the full entry in the reference list.
If your instructor asks for a transcript appendix, that does not automatically turn a private interview into a reference list source. The appendix may help graders inspect your method, but APA still treats the interview as personal communication unless the material is retrievable by the intended reader.
Final Checks Before You Paste The Citation
Before submitting the paper, run through a short check. Ask whether the reader can open the interview source. Check the author element against the source container. Verify the date. Then make sure private interview citations appear only in the body of the paper.
A good APA interview citation is not fancy. It is honest about access. Private material gets named in the text. Public material gets a full trail. That one choice keeps your paper clean, readable, and easy to verify.
References & Sources
- APA Style.“Personal Communications.”Explains that private interviews count as personal communications and are cited only in text.
- APA Style.“Reference Examples.”Lists source-type patterns used for reference entries in APA Style.
- Purdue Online Writing Lab.“Reference List: Audiovisual Media.”Shows APA patterns for audio and video materials, useful for published interview recordings.