To cite an interview transcript, you must first determine if the interview is published or unpublished, as this dictates the specific formatting rules for your in-text citations and reference list.
How you format your citation depends largely on whether your reader can access the transcript themselves. Here is a practical breakdown of how to cite interview transcripts across different scenarios and common style guides.
Citing Unpublished Interviews (Personal Communication)
If you conducted an informational interview yourself or the transcript is not publicly available, most academic style guides classify it as "personal communication." Because your readers cannot independently retrieve the source document, the formatting rules are unique.
- APA Style: Do not include unpublished personal interviews in your reference list. Instead, cite them exclusively in the text. You must include the interviewee’s first initial, last name, the phrase "personal communication," and the exact date.
- In-text example: (J. Smith, personal communication, August 14, 2023).
- MLA Format: Unlike APA, MLA requires you to include unpublished interviews in your Works Cited page.
- Works Cited example: Smith, John. Personal interview. 14 Aug. 2023.
- Chicago Style: Unpublished interviews are typically cited only in footnotes or endnotes, rather than in the formal bibliography.
Citing Published Interview Transcripts
If the interview transcript is published—such as in a journal, magazine, podcast archive, or website—you must cite it like any other recoverable academic source. You will need the interviewee’s name, the publication date, the title of the interview, a description of the medium (like [Interview transcript]), the publisher, and the URL.
- APA Format: Interviewee Last, F. M. (Year, Month Day). Title of the interview [Interview transcript]. Publication Name. URL
- MLA Format: Interviewee Last, First. "Title of Interview." Title of Publication, Publisher, Date, URL.
Keeping track of varying formats for published materials can be tedious, but using WisPaper's TrueCite automatically finds and verifies your citations, ensuring your APA or MLA references are accurate while eliminating the risk of hallucinated or broken sources.
Citing Research Participant Interviews
If you are writing a qualitative research paper and quoting participants from your own study, you do not need to cite these transcripts in your reference list or treat them as personal communication.
Instead, you should thoroughly describe your interview and transcription process in your methodology section. When quoting participants in your results or discussion sections, use pseudonyms or participant codes (e.g., "Participant 4" or "Teacher B") to maintain ethical confidentiality, and weave their quotes directly into your text without a formal citation bracket.
