Interview You Conducted Citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard
Style rules checked October 23, 2026 · Next check by January 21, 2027 · AI-assisted source and citation checks; not human review
The short answer: To cite this interview you conducted in APA 7, list the unrecoverable interview: in-text only, communicator initials and surname, personal communication designation and exact date, in that order. Every citation below comes from a real citation engine, in APA Style 7th edition, MLA Handbook 9th edition, Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition (notes and bibliography) and Cite Them Right 12th edition (author-date/Harvard).
Examples in every style
Real archived interview as a recoverability contrast
John R.Lewis's oral-history transcript was created from an interview by Vicki Daitch on March 19,2004. It is a recoverable JFK Library archival item, not an interview conducted by this website or an unrecoverable private conversation.
| Style | Form | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| APA | Reference list entry | Lewis, J. R. (2004, March 19). John R. Lewis Oral History Interview - JFK #1 (V. Daitch, Interviewer) [Oral history interview transcript]. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. https://static.jfklibrary.org/cvx5mopj7f60i3jres6b48k4g057r3l6.pdf?odc=20231115181119-0500 |
| APA | In text | (Lewis, 2004) |
| APA | In text, narrative | Lewis (2004) |
| MLA | Reference list entry | Lewis, John R. “John R. Lewis Oral History Interview - JFK #1.” Interview by Vicki Daitch, Oral history interview transcript. 19 Mar. 2004, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, static.jfklibrary.org/cvx5mopj7f60i3jres6b48k4g057r3l6.pdf?odc=20231115181119-0500. |
| MLA | In text | (Lewis) |
| MLA | In text, narrative | Lewis |
| Chicago | Bibliography entry | Lewis, John R. “John R. Lewis Oral History Interview - JFK #1.” Oral history interview transcript by Vicki Daitch. March 19, 2004. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. https://static.jfklibrary.org/cvx5mopj7f60i3jres6b48k4g057r3l6.pdf?odc=20231115181119-0500. |
| Chicago | First note | John R. Lewis, “John R. Lewis Oral History Interview - JFK #1,” Oral history interview transcript by Vicki Daitch, March 19, 2004, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://static.jfklibrary.org/cvx5mopj7f60i3jres6b48k4g057r3l6.pdf?odc=20231115181119-0500. |
| Chicago | Short note | Lewis, “John R. Lewis Oral History Interview - JFK #1.” |
| Harvard | Reference list entry | Lewis, J.R. (2004) “John R. Lewis Oral History Interview - JFK #1.” Available at: https://static.jfklibrary.org/cvx5mopj7f60i3jres6b48k4g057r3l6.pdf?odc=20231115181119-0500. |
| Harvard | In text | (Lewis, 2004) |
| Harvard | In text, narrative | Lewis (2004) |
Synthetic private interview with no public transcript
Illustrative private conversation with Nina Patel on March 6,2025, conducted by Alex Rivera. It has no recoverable recording or transcript. APA therefore needs a personal-communication in-text citation, not a reference-list entry. The source details in this example are made up to show the format.
| Style | Form | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| APA | Reference list entry | Not displayed: APA expressly excludes unrecoverable personal communications from the reference list. |
| APA | In text | (N. Patel, personal communication, March 6, 2025) |
| APA | In text, narrative | N. Patel (personal communication, March 6, 2025) |
| MLA | Reference list entry | Patel, Nina. Interview by Alex Rivera, Personal interview. 6 Mar. 2025. |
| MLA | In text | (Patel) |
| MLA | In text, narrative | Patel |
| Chicago | Bibliography entry | Not displayed: Personal communications normally belong in text/notes; a routine bibliography entry is inappropriate for this illustrative private conversation. |
| Chicago | First note | Nina Patel, Personal interview by Alex Rivera, March 6, 2025. |
| Chicago | Short note | Patel, Personal interview. |
| Harvard | Reference list entry | Not displayed: Current generic personal_communication output is only Patel,N.(2025) and loses interview description, interviewer and exact date required by checked RGU template. Do not display as complete interview reference. |
| Harvard | In text | (Patel, 2025) |
| Harvard | In text, narrative | Patel (2025) |
How the styles differ for this source
| Style | Order of elements | What is different | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| APA Style 7th edition | unrecoverable interview: in-text only, then communicator initials and surname, then personal communication designation, then exact date | APA distinguishes unrecoverable personal communication, recoverable archived interviews and quotations from one's own research participants; these are not one interchangeable format. | Style guide |
| MLA Handbook 9th edition | interviewee, then interview description or title, then interviewer, then date, then recoverable container and location when applicable | MLA's current core-element system applies to identifying an interview. Its dedicated oral-interview post is explicitly eighth-edition background, not a new ninth-edition ruling. | Style guide |
| Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition (notes and bibliography) | communicator or interviewee, then communication description, then date, then text or note rather than routine bibliography | Chicago says personal communications are normally cited in text or notes and rarely in a bibliography. | Style guide |
| Cite Them Right 12th edition (author-date/Harvard) | interviewee, then year, then interview title if any, then interviewer, then day and month | RGU's public Harvard guidance provides an interview-conducted-by-you format and separate anonymous-research guidance; the generator remains pinned Cite Them Right 12th. | Style guide |
Edge cases
- Readers cannot recover your interview. APA treats this as personal communication and excludes it from the reference list. Do not display a generated bibliography entry for the synthetic private example as an approved APA reference. Style guide. Applies to APA Style 7th edition.
- An archive makes the interview recoverable. Use the actual archived source, not the private-communication shortcut. The JFK transcript identifies Lewis, Daitch and the interview date in its first-page metadata. Style guide. Applies to APA Style 7th edition, MLA Handbook 9th edition, Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition (notes and bibliography), Cite Them Right 12th edition (author-date/Harvard).
- The interviewee is a participant in your own study. APA distinguishes research-participant quotations from personal communications. Do not automatically put every participant's name and date into a public reference list. Style guide. Applies to APA Style 7th edition.
- You protect an anonymous interviewee. RGU's institutional Harvard guidance describes designated interviewees and appendix-based research records separately from an ordinary named interview reference. Style guide. Applies to Cite Them Right 12th edition (author-date/Harvard).
Common mistakes
Putting an unrecoverable private conversation into APA's reference list
APA directs readers to an in-text personal communication instead.
Not this: A public reference with a made-up interview URL
Do this (APA Style 7th edition, in text): (N. Patel, personal communication, March 6, 2025)
Saying this website conducted the archived Lewis interview
The source explicitly credits interviewer Vicki Daitch.
Not this: PCO substituted as interviewer
Do this (MLA Handbook 9th edition, reference list entry): Lewis, John R. “John R. Lewis Oral History Interview - JFK #1.” Interview by Vicki Daitch, Oral history interview transcript. 19 Mar. 2004, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, static.jfklibrary.org/cvx5mopj7f60i3jres6b48k4g057r3l6.pdf?odc=20231115181119-0500.
Treating a repository transcript as unrecoverable
The actual archive provides a recoverable document and descriptive metadata.
Not this: Personal communication used for the public JFK transcript
Do this (Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition (notes and bibliography), reference list entry): Lewis, John R. “John R. Lewis Oral History Interview - JFK #1.” Oral history interview transcript by Vicki Daitch. March 19, 2004. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. https://static.jfklibrary.org/cvx5mopj7f60i3jres6b48k4g057r3l6.pdf?odc=20231115181119-0500.
Check before you cite
- Decide whether readers can recover a recording or transcript.
- Record interviewee, actual interviewer and exact date.
- Distinguish your private interview from an archived interview by someone else.
- For research participants follow the relevant anonymity and reporting rules.
- Do not invent a public URL for private material.
- Keep permission and research-ethics obligations separate from formatting.
Is this the right source type?
Ask whether the reader can recover the interview before choosing a reference format. An interview you conducted privately is not the same source as an interview whose transcript is preserved in a public archive. APA directs unrecoverable communications to an in-text citation rather than a reference-list entry, and it separately addresses quotations from participants in your own research. The real example is deliberately a contrast: the JFK Library transcript names John R.Lewis as creator and Vicki Daitch as interviewer and supplies a March 2004 date. This website did not conduct that conversation. The synthetic example represents a private interview without a public recording or transcript, so a generated bibliography line must not be mistaken for an approved APA reference. Chicago likewise normally handles personal communications in the text or notes rather than a routine bibliography. If your interview forms part of a study, preserve the anonymity and reporting arrangements that apply to that research; citation formatting does not decide them for you. Record the exact date and who actually asked the questions before trying to complete any template.
Frequently asked questions
No, when readers cannot recover it APA treats it as personal communication, cited in text rather than in the reference list.
No. The archived transcript names Vicki Daitch as interviewer. It illustrates recoverable archival material, not a PCO interview.
APA distinguishes quotations from your own research participants from personal communications. Use the appropriate research-reporting approach rather than automatically publishing names in a reference list.
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