APA Format:Interviews

The Center for Writing Studies, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Interviews used as sources may be published or unpublished, and the format for listing an interview will differ according to the type.

A reference entry for a published interview should use the following format:

Archer, N. (1993). [Interview with Helen Burns, author of Sense and Perception]. Journal of Sensory Studies, 21, 211-216.

In this example, the interview lacks a title, so a description of the interview is given in brackets. If the interview has a title, include the title (without quotation marks) after the year, and then give a further description in brackets if necessary. The entry should follow the format of the original source of the interview (in this case, a journal article with one author).

Unpublished interviews do not need a reference page entry because they are what the Publication Manual of the APA calls "personal communications" and so "do not provide recoverable data." Include these references in the text of your document, according to the following format:

(N. Archer, personal communication, October 11, 1993)

Here, the entry consists of the first initial and last name of the interviewee, the words "personal communication," and the date of the interview.

For more specific information, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Fifth Edition) or see the APA style website.