Scientific articles in the social sciences are usually formatted in the American Psychological Association (APA) citation style. Essays or theses that mention or include information paraphrased from the source text must be properly attributed in the text and reference list/bibliography to avoid plagiarism. When citing personal interviews, pay close attention when you are making internal citations. For interviews that have been published or in audio form, the citation details usually contain all the information needed for the other person or the reader to find the relevant source.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Quoting Personal Interview Results
Step 1. Determine if your interview is categorized as an example of “personal communication”
If you are the one conducting the interview, the results of the interview are considered a form of “personal” communication. On the other hand, if someone else conducts the interview and publishes it for public use, the results of the interview are “published”. Personal interviews are cited internally (using in-text citations/brackets) within the text, but not listed in the bibliography or references.
- This “private communication” status also applies to other documents that cannot be searched by others (eg private email).
- For personal interviews, you will also need to include a transcript of the typed questions and answers. This transcription needs to be included as an appendix, right after the bibliography/reference page.
Step 2. Paraphrase or quote information from the interview in person
Use the information you usually include when you write. However, keep in mind that you will also need to include internal citations if you mention anything beyond common knowledge that is part of the interview.
- The internal citation format is always the same, whether you are citing information or paraphrasing it. There are no changes to this format.
- For example, let's say you wrote, "The people in the command room cheered after the incident." If you know the information because it was mentioned by the source, and this information is not yet available in printed books (or other sources), you need to mention or quote it. If you do not include it, your writing will be considered as academic cheating.
Step 3. Continue the information from the interview with in-text citations (bracketed citations)
Immediately after a sentence containing paraphrased or quoted information from the interview, include the quote in the text. This quote is basically a full quote entry enclosed in brackets.
- You must insert a period for the sentence after the quote in the text. For example, in the text you might write something like this: “The people in the command center cheered the event (R. Smith, personal communication, October 15, 2000).” Your citation is considered a continuation of the sentence written for reference purposes.
- For Indonesian: “People at the command center cheered the incident (R. Smith, personal communication, October 15, 2000).”
Step 4. Begin the citation with the name of the source
Enter the initials of the first name, followed by a period, then insert a space and continue with the last name (in full). Capitalize the initials of the informant's first name and last name. Place a comma after the full last name.
- For research interviews, interviewees may wish to remain anonymous. Therefore, his full name should not be shown in the citation. Instead, if you have multiple interview participants and want to be able to “tag” each participant, you can assign a code to each interviewee (eg “Male participant 23” or “Participant 23”).
- For Indonesian: “23rd male participant” or “23rd participant”.
- The code name will replace the “regular” name in internal/in-text citations. For example, your quote entry would look like this: “(Participant 23, personal communication, October 15, 2000)."
- For Indonesian: “(23rd participant, personal communication, 15 October 2000).”
Step 5. Add the phrase “personal communication” or “personal communication”
Insert a space after the comma and type the phrase after it. Phrases must be written in lowercase. Continue with a period and a single space.
Phrases should not be abbreviated so make sure you present them consistently in every internal quote
Step 6. End the quote entry with the date of the interview
Insert one space after the comma. Write the full name of the month, followed by the date. Place a comma after the date, insert a space, and type the year of the interview in four-digit number format.
- For example, your date information needs to be typed as “October 15, 2000” instead of “Oct. '00" or "October 15".
- For Indonesian, you can use a date-month-year format, such as “15 October 2000”.
Step 7. Enter the quote in parentheses
Add an opening parenthesis at the beginning of the quote (just before the initials of the author's first name) and a closing parenthesis at the end (after the year of the interview). Don't forget to insert a period for the sentence after the closing parenthesis.
Step 8. Mention the name of the source directly in the sentence/text
You may mention the name of the source in the text in the space right before the quote. If so, you can use a shortened version of the internal quote. Simply remove the name of the source from the quote and quote the information as usual.
- This is done because the reader feels they can know the name of the source from the previous sentence. If not, mentioning the name of the source twice close together actually makes the sentence or writing feel difficult to read or long-winded.
- You could write it like this: “Robert Smith describes how the people in the command room cheered after the event (personal communication, October 15, 2000).”
- For English: “Robert Smith explains how people cheered in the command room after the incident (personal communication, October 15, 2000).”
Method 2 of 3: Quoting Published Interview Results
Step 1. Include interview results in internal citations and reference lists
If included in a magazine or other publication, the results of the interview must follow these guidelines or directions. Reference information will be displayed throughout the text (as usual), as well as at the end of the posts in the reference list.
Step 2. Go to the bibliography/reference page
This page is at the end of the article and lists all the sources used in the article. Citation entries should be arranged alphabetically so that readers can find citation information quickly.
Step 3. Begin the reference entry with the source's last name
Continue with a comma and one space. After that, state the initials of the source's first name, capitalize it, and continue with periods and spaces.
Step 4. Enter the publication date
Continue the name with the publication date in four-digit format and enclose it in parentheses. Place a period right after the closing parenthesis and add a space.
- The date will look like “(2000)” instead of “('00)”.
- If you can't find the date/year of publication, replace the year with the abbreviation “n.d” (without the quotes).
Step 5. State the title of the interview
Continue the date with the full interview title. If the interview is not titled, include a one-line description. The description must be enclosed in square brackets. Usually, the description also includes the phrase “Interview with”, followed by the full name of the respondent in a comma, and a few words regarding the biographical information of the informant.
- If you're using a description (in square brackets), add a period right after the closing bracket. For example, the description would look like this: “[Interview with James Michael, author of Reality].” The description could also be written like this: “The Most Amazing Interview Title.”
- For Indonesian: “[Interview with James Michael, author of Reality].” or “The Most Interesting Interview Title.”
- If you include a published work in a short bio, make sure you type the title in italics.
- Include the title as it appears on the issue.
Step 6. Follow the original source format
At this point, your entry will look different, depending on the style of the original publication. If you are using a journal entry written by a single author, you need to follow a general citation style. This citation style determines what additional information is included in the entry.
- For example, when using a journal entry by a single author, the entry needs to display the full journal title, volume number, and page number containing the results of the interview. This information will look like this: “Word, J. (2000). [Interview with James Michael, author of Reality]. Journal of Writing Studies, 20, 400-411.” Keep in mind that journal titles also need to be typed in italics.
- For Indonesian: “Word, J. (2000). [Interview with James Michael, author of Reality]. Journal of Wrigin Studies, 20, 400-411.”
- If the volume number is not available, you do not need to mention it. Keep in mind that the page numbers showing the results of the interviews sequentially are separated by hyphens. To list "jumping" page numbers, you need to separate them with commas. Always end entries with a period.
Step 7. Continue with the DOI number if available
The DOI number or Digital Object Identifier is a new element in the sixth edition of the APA citation style manual. This element allows interested parties to trace the source of the information digitally. You can find the DOI number on a database record for a digital magazine or perhaps at the top of a downloaded PDF document. Include the DOI number right after the page number.
- For example, a citation entry with a DOI number for a published interview might look like this:”Word, J. (2000). [Interview with James Michael, author of Reality]. Journal of Writing Studies, 20, 400-411. doi:453432342342.”
- For Indonesian: “Word, J. (2000). [Interview with James Michael, author of Reality]. Journal of Wrigin Studies, 20, 400-411. doi:453432342342.”
Step 8. Create internal/in-text citations
Since complete source information is included in the reference list, you are free to use short in-text citations. Right after the paraphrased information, state the last name of the source, followed by a comma and the year of publication. Both of these information are enclosed in parentheses.
- If you are quoting the interview directly, you will need to include the page numbers as part of the internal citation. Add a comma after the year/date of publication and write the page number, starting with the abbreviation “p.” or "thing.". An in-text quote would look something like this: “(Wood, 2000, p. 402)” or “Wood, 2000, p. 402)". "Wood" is the last name of the source, "2000" is the year of publication, and "p. 402” or “p. 402” indicates that the citation is found on page 402 of the source text.
- On the other hand, if you mention the name of the source in your writing, you can follow a specific style of in-text citation. In this format, you only include the year of publication in parentheses right after you mention the last name of the source. Also add the page number at the end of the sentence (in brackets). For example: “Wood (2000) stated that “reality is subjective” (p.402).” By reading this sentence, you can tell that the interviewee's last name is Wood, the interview was published in 2000, and the quote can be found on page 402 of the text. This technique can be a good approach if you want to avoid heavy citations.
- For Indonesian: “Wood (2000) suggests that “reality is subjective” (p. 402).”
Method 3 of 3: Quoting Interview Results from Audio Files
Step 1. Create internal citations and reference list entries
Since audio files are traceable/findable sources, you will need to present the citation in two parts of the text, just as for published interviews. You must include alphabetized entries in the reference list. In addition, you should also follow special rules when creating internal/in-text citations.
Step 2. Pack your reference list entries
Begin the entry with the speaker's last name, followed by a comma and the initials of his first name, then add a period. Place the date in parentheses. Type the year first in four-digit format, then insert a comma and add the full month name and date. For Indonesian, you can use the “date-month-year” or “year, month-date” format.
- Continue date information with interview title if available. The title must be typed in italics. After that, in brackets state the initials of the interviewer's first name and last name (in full), followed by a comma and the label "Interviewer" or "Interviewer". State the phrase “Audio file” or “Audio file” and enclose it in brackets. Add a period after the closing parenthesis.
- If you got the audio file from a website, at the end of the quote entry write the phrase “Retrieved from”, followed by the website URL. You can also include a DOI number if available.
Step 3. Follow the standard internal citation generation rules
When you add an internal quote to an interview in an audio file, you need to include the same information as the published interview information, without the page numbers (unless you're using transcription). Use the last name of the source, followed by a comma and the date. Put all this information in parentheses.
Tips
- Keep an eye out for updates that apply as the APA citation style changes occasionally in new editions of the style guide. Currently, the applicable edition is the sixth edition.
- Make sure you include the typical APA title page and abstract to follow this citation style thoroughly. The reference page should be a continuation of the main text and continue the use of headers and page numbers. Place the word “References” or “References” at the top center of the page and use double-digits for the reference page. In addition, this page also uses hanging (indented) indentation.
- Make sure that the teacher or lecturer wants you to use your citation style. If your teacher or professor prefers another citation style (eg MLA, Chicago, or Harvard), you will need to cite interviews in that style.
