how to cite interviews in thesis

APA Citations (7th ed.)

• General Formatting
• Professional Paper Elements - Title Page
• Student Paper Elements - Title Page
• In-text Citation Basics
• In-text Citation Author Rules
• Citing Multiple Works
• Personal Communications
• Classroom or Intranet Resources
• Secondary Sources
• Periodicals
• Books and Reference Works
• Edited Book Chapters and Entries in Reference Works
• Reports and Gray Literature
• Conference Sessions and Presentations
• Dissertations and Theses
• Data Sets and Software
• Tests, Scales, & Inventories
• Audiovisual Works
• Audio Works
• Visual Works
• Social Media
• Webpages & Websites
• Basics & Formatting
• Avoiding Plagiarism

What is an Interview?

An interview is a dialogue or exchange of information between people.

There are three types of interviews as sources:

• Published interviews
• Personal interviews
• Research participant interviews

Published interviews may appear in magazines, newspapers, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc.

Personal interviews  are those you conduct as a means of obtaining information to support a point in your paper. These types of interviews cannot be recovered.

Research participant interviews  are those you conducted as part of your methodology.

See p. 259 of the manual for more information.

How to Cite Published Interviews

To cite a published interview, follow the format for the reference type (e.g., magazine article, podcast episode). 

In-text citation:

     (Roberts & Lee, 2017)

How to Cite Personal Interviews

Readers cannot recover personal interviews. Because of this, cite a personal interview as a personal communication.

     (J. Vargas, personal communication, November 20, 2012)

How to Cite Research Participant Interviews

Research participant interviews do not require a citation in APA because your do not cite your own work in the paper in which it is first being reported.

Information gathered from participants can be presented in discussed in a paper according to these guidelines:

• Present a quotation of fewer than 40 words in quotation marks within the text
• Present a quotation of 40 words or more in block quotation
• State in the text that the quotations are from participants
• Abide by the ethical agreements regarding confidentiality and/or anonymity. Obtain consent from your participants to include their information in your report. You may need to assign participants a pseudonym, obscure identifying information, or present information in the aggregate. See p. 278 of the manual for more information and examples.
• << Previous: Citing Multiple Works
• Next: Personal Communications >>
• Last Updated: Oct 26, 2022 10:46 AM
• URL: https://morningside.libguides.com/APA7

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

• Exhibitions
• Visit and Contact
• UCD Library
• Current Students
• News & Opinion
• Staff Directory
• UCD Connect

Harvard Style Guide: Interviews

• Introduction
• Harvard Tutorial
• In-text citations
• Book with one author
• Book with two or three authors
• Book with four or more authors
• Book with a corporate author
• Book with editor
• Chapter in an edited book
• Translated book
• Translated ancient texts
• Print journal article, one author
• Print journal article, two or three authors
• Print journal article, four or more authors
• eJournal article
• Journal article ePublication (ahead of print)
• Secondary sources
• Generative AI
• Images or photographs
• Lectures/ presentations
• Film/ television
• YouTube Film or Talk
• Music/ audio
• Encyclopaedia and dictionaries
• Email communication
• Conferences
• Official publications
• Book reviews
• Case studies
• Group or individual assignments
• Legal Cases (Law Reports)
• No date of publication
• Personal communications
• Repository item
• Citing same author, multiple works, same year

Back to Academic Integrity guide

Interviews (television)

Reference : Last name, Initials of person interviewed. (Year of interview) ‘Title of the interview (if any)’. Interview by/with Interviewer’s First name Last name, Title of publication , Day Month of Publication, page numbers if present.

Example : Kenny, E. (2013) ‘Ireland’s lost generation’. Interviewed by Miriam O’Callaghan,  Prime Time , RTE One Television, 15 March.

In-Text-Citation :

• Interviewee(s) Last name (Year)
• (Interviewee(s) Last name, Year)
• Kenny (2010) claimed in an interview….
• In an interview on RTE (Kenny, 2010)….

Still unsure what in-text citation and referencing mean? Check here . 

Still unsure why you need to reference all this information? Check here . 

Interviews (newspaper)

Reference : Last name, Initials of person interviewed. (Year of interview) ‘Title of the interview (if any)’. Interview by/with Interviewer’s First name Last name, Title of publication , Day Month of Publication, page numbers if present.  

Example : O’Brien, M. (2014) ‘Achieving success in parenting’. Interview by Siobhan Moynihan,  Irish News Weekly , 6 June, p. 56.

• O’Brien (2014) outlined honesty as key to parenting……
• Honesty is seen as key to parenting through the teenage years (O’Brien, 2014).

Interviews (in person or virtual)

Reference : Last name, Initials of person interviewed. (Year of interview) ‘Title of the interview (if any)’. Interview by Interviewer’s First name Last name [virtual medium if appropriate], Day Month of interview.  

Example : O'Nally, S.. (2020) ‘Working from home experiences’. Interview by Sorcha Mulryan [Skype], 6 June.

• O’Nally (2020) talked about the importance of a quiet space……
• Having a designated quiet space was very important to the interviewee (O'Nally, 2020).

• << Previous: Group or individual assignments
• Next: Legal Cases (Law Reports) >>
• Last Updated: Mar 22, 2024 9:51 AM
• URL: https://libguides.ucd.ie/harvardstyle

APA Referencing 7th Edition

• In-text citations
• Journals, newspapers & magazines
• Books & eBooks
• Video & audio
• Figures, images & tables
• Internet & social media
• Religious & classical works
• Other sources
• Reference list
• Printable quick reference guides

Interviews and Personal Communications  [8.7, 8.9, 8.36]:   An interview is a dialogue or exchange of information between people and can be either a published interview, personal interview or research participant interview.  P ersonal interviews are treated as personal communications because they cannot  be retrie ved. 

Personal communications are generally unpublished and includes emails, text messages, online chats, personal interviews, telephone conversations, live speeches, unrecorded classroom lectures, memos, letters, messages from discussion groups or online bulletin boards.

Published interviews can appear in many places: magazines; newspapers; a radio broadcast or podcast episode; YouTube video; TV show or transcript of a video or audio recording. To cite a published interview, refer to the format for that type of reference for example a YouTube video or radio broadcast. The person being interviewed will not necessarily appear as the author of the reference. Where this is the case, integrate the person's name into the narrative of the sentence if needed.

Personal interviews are those conducted by yourself to obtain information and to support a key point in your paper, for example, an email requesting information. As readers cannot retrieve this type of interview, cite it as a  Personal communication.  Personal interviews are not included in the reference list; only cited as in-text references. Give the initial(s) and surname of the communicator and provide an exact a date as possible using the format given below. 

Research participant interviews are those conducted as part of your methodology in your own research. They do not require a citation because you do not cite your own work in the paper in which it is first being reported. However, information and quotations taken from research participant interviews can be included in your paper, following the formatting guidelines for a  Direct quote .

Personal communications  are not included in your final reference list, however, you may still refer to them in your text.

Published interviews

(Goldwater, 2020 )  OR  Goldwater  (2020)

Reference list 

Goldwater, M. (2020, February 23).  Dr Micah Goldwater discusses pseudoscience  [Interview].  All  in the mind with Sana Qadar: Suckers for pseudoscience . ABC Radio National. https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/suckers-for-pseudoscience/11976394

Personal interviews

(T. Nguyen, personal communication, February 24, 2020)  OR  T. Nguyen (personal communication, February 24, 2020) 

Research participant interviews

Participant "Ruohong", for instance, best exemplified how the museum restaurant could fit the context of the museum and thus create a coherent food experience in the museum restaurants.  

I suppose, to feature the same characteristics of the museum, the menu [and dishes] would be special and refer to the history of each dish presented in the museum. The decoration can also be improved. The visual elements, such as the entire design of the restaurant, the styles of the tables and chairs, and the waiters’ dresses, need to be uniquely and consistently related to the ones of the museum. Perhaps hang some introductions of the Hangzhou signature dishes on the wall in the restaurant, as if it is a small scale of museum.

• << Previous: Religious & classical works
• Next: Other sources >>
• Last Updated: Apr 16, 2024 4:18 PM
• URL: https://library.nd.edu.au/instruction/referencing/apa7

Want to Get your Dissertation Accepted?

Discover how we've helped doctoral students complete their dissertations and advance their academic careers!

Join 200+ Graduated Students

Get Your Dissertation Accepted On Your Next Submission

Get customized coaching for:.

• Crafting your proposal,
• Collecting and analyzing your data, or
• Preparing your defense.

Trapped in dissertation revisions?

How to cite an interview in apa 7, published by steve tippins on july 1, 2020 july 1, 2020.

Last Updated on: 2nd February 2024, 05:52 am

If you’re wondering how to cite an interview in APA, there are really just two answers. The most common type of interview provided in papers is the personal interview, which is obtained from a source that is not recoverable by the reader. These include face-to-face interviews, letters, and email messages. Published interviews are those obtained from the Internet, a newspaper, magazine, or other printed sources. 

How to Cite an Interview in APA: Personal Interview

Before conducting an interview, make sure that the information you need is not already in published sources. When you cite an interview that you personally obtained, you will need to adhere to the APA guidelines for citing personal communications. An APA interview citation goes as follows.

In-text citation

(Interviewee’s First Initial. Last Name, personal communication, Month Day, Year)

(A. Vaughn, personal communication, May 14, 2020)

Because girls have traditionally not been encouraged to obtain a degree or career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), more programs and initiatives should be implemented to bridge the gender gaps (A. Vaughn, personal communication, May 14, 2020).

When mentioning the interviewee as part of the narrative, provide the person’s first initial and last name, but do not include his or name in the in-text citation. 

A. Vaughn recommends starting “STEM activities for girls in preschool by having them conduct simple experiments that are fun” (personal communication, May 14, 2020).

Reference list

A personal interview is not from a recoverable source, so you are not required to put it in the list of references. 

How to Cite an Interview in APA : Published Interviews

How to cite an interview in APA if it’s already been published?

When you cite an interview that has been published, follow the appropriate guidelines for the specific reference (e.g. Internet, magazine, journal). The author will be the interviewer. The name of the interviewee is not included in the in-text citation or reference list. However, when you quote what the interviewee said, provide his or her name.

You will need to follow the guidelines for paraphrases and quotations according to the guidelines for the source it is published in, such as journal, book, blog, social media, or public or personal website. The following are some examples of the citation and reference list for published interviews on the Internet and in a magazine.

(Interviewer’s Last name, Year)

(Stevenson, 2020)

When providing the URL from a source, you no longer have to write “Retrieved from” before it. 

Interviewer’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month and/ or Day, if known). Title of interview. Title of webpage. Webpage. URL http://www.url.com

(Stevenson, S. (2020). Profile of a civil engineer: An interview with James Hall. All Engineering Schools. https://www.allengineeringschools.com/engineering-careers/article/civil-engineering-interview/

Interviewer’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month and/ or Day, if known). Title of interview. Title of Magazine, Volume (Issue), page number. 

Gallacher, J. (2004, October 21). How CryptoCycle is using blockchain to prevent fraud: An interview with Duncan Midwood. Recycling and Waste World , 20 (4), 4-5. https://www.recyclingwasteworld.co.uk/interviews/how-cryptocycle-is-using-blockchain-to-to-prevent-fraud/219919/

Citing Interviews With Study Participants in APA Style

You may interview participants as part of your thesis or dissertation. You do not have to cite them in your list of references. When using participants’ statements, you will need to ensure their anonymity for ethical reasons. When you refer to a participant, do not provide any identifying information. You can identify them by using a code, such as Participant A, Student 1. 

APA Interview Citation: Final Thoughts

For more information about how to cite an interview, refer to Sections 6.20 and 8.8 of the APA Manual 7 th edition. 

If you need assistance with APA style or any other aspect of your dissertation, take a look at our Dissertation Editing and Dissertation Coaching services. Or feel free to book a free 30-minute consultation .

Steve Tippins

Steve Tippins, PhD, has thrived in academia for over thirty years. He continues to love teaching in addition to coaching recent PhD graduates as well as students writing their dissertations. Learn more about his dissertation coaching and career coaching services. Book a Free Consultation with Steve Tippins

Related Posts

How to Create a Table of Contents for a Dissertation (APA)

In your dissertation, you will need to have a table of contents. The table of contents should contain all the headings, subheadings, preliminary pages, and supplementary pages in the body of your paper. APA does Read more…

APA Numbers

APA uses the American style imperial standard system of measurement, although it does allow the use of the metric system of measurement if there is a need for it. If you need it, the APA Read more…

APA Paragraph Format

To format your text paragraphs in your papers, you will need to follow a few APA guidelines so that their appearance will be consistent. Consistency in size of paragraphs means that paragraphs are more than Read more…

Make This Your Last Round of Dissertation Revision.

Learn How to Get Your Dissertation Accepted .

Discover the 5-Step Process in this Free Webinar .

Almost there!

Please verify your email address by clicking the link in the email message we just sent to your address.

If you don't see the message within the next five minutes, be sure to check your spam folder :).

Hack Your Dissertation

5-Day Mini Course: How to Finish Faster With Less Stress

Interested in more helpful tips about improving your dissertation experience? Join our 5-day mini course by email!

Incorporating Interview Data

Introduction

When you incorporate original interview data into your writing, you are developing new ideas by using quotations and often sources that no one else has accessed. Drawing from interviews can liven up your writing, ground your big concepts within the specific circumstances of particular individuals, and introduce you to insights you might never have considered on your own. Additionally, interviews are an exciting way for you to provide a larger audience for people who might not otherwise have opportunities to share their stories, perceptions, and experiences.

There are lots of good reasons to incorporate original interview data into your writing. But doing so also involves making many, specific writing decisions. On this page we explore some of those decisions by considering: 1) the process by which interview data is gathered; 2) models for interview incorporation; and 3) identification of ways that writing with interview data can be like writing with information from any other source (as well as some of the unique writerly considerations that interviews raise).

Contents       Before You Write       Different Models of Incorporating Interview Data       Summarizing, Paraphrasing, or Quoting       Referring to your Interviewees       Using Verbatim or Non-Verbatim

Before You Write

Of course, before you can incorporate interview data into your writing, you need to plan and conduct your interviews and begin to analyze your findings.

Interviewing is a common form of research and information gathering in many different fields and across many different genres. In order to develop and actualize a plan for why interviews will help you answer the questions you’re asking, whom you’ll interview, and what you’ll ask these subjects, you’ll want to consult a range of resources. Talk with your instructor, mentor, or advisor about common ways of approaching interviews for this assignment or in this discipline. Additionally, many undergraduate textbooks about research in the social sciences and humanities offer introductions to interviewing. We’ve listed a few great resources to help you learn more.

For comprehensive introductions to research methods used in the writing research that include some information about interviews, consider:

• Jackie Grutsch McKinney’s book Strategies for Writing Center Research —especially pages 55-69. While Grutsch McKinney’s is focused on writing center research, her close consideration of the different ways to structure interviews as well as how to plan and conduct them can be applied to all interview contexts. Additionally, her treatment of data analysis in chapter 8 provides a step-by-step guide for coding qualitative data—one of the approaches you might use to make sense of what your interview data means.
• Joyce Kinkead’s Researching Writing: An Introduction to Research Methods —especially pages 37-39. This is a potential textbook for that could be used for a class specifically about the formal study of writing. However, its direct and specific information about interviewing is applicable for any social science researcher preparing to use interviews for research.

These resources focus more specifically on qualitative research methods in particular and interviewing in particular:

• Robert Bogdan and Sari Knopp Biklen’s Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theories and Methods —especially pages 103-109. Bogdan and Knopp Biklen’s treatment of interview practices provides a brief overview of how to approach and implement this research methodology.
• Irving Seidman’s Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences —especially pages 78-94. This entire book explores interview practices, logistics, and applications, but chapter six in particular usefully details particular interviewing techniques and provides transcripted examples of some of these strategic techniques in action.

The rest of the information on this page assumes that you have learned to develop and implement your interview plan, that you’ve analyzed the information you’ve gathered, and that you’re now ready to start weaving that information into your writing.

Different Models for Incorporating Interview Data

You can use interview data in many different ways. Most often, you will probably be making an argumentative or analytical point and illustrating and supporting it with evidence from your interviews. For example, in the following passage from the book Booty Capitalism: The Politics of Banking in the Philippines , Paul D. Hutchcroft, a political science professor at Australian National University, begins with an original claim, follows that with a quotation from an interview subject that exemplifies that claim, and then offers additional commentary on that issue. Note how the quotation from the interview both connects the concepts of banking and politics and introduces the prism metaphor that Hutchcroft continues into the next sentence.

The major focus of this [book] is two arenas that offer particular insights into the nature of relations between state and oligarchy in the banking system: bank supervision and selective credit allocation. “Banking,” observes one former bank president, “is a prism through which to understand power politics in the Philippines.” A study of the banking system highlights larger patterns at work within the political economy: how a predatory oligarchy extracts privilege from a patrimonial state, and how developmental policy objectives are continually choked out by a clamor of particularistic demands made by those who currently enjoy proximity to the political machinery. (7)

Generalizing about a Trend or Theme

Using information from an interview to support your claim is the primary purpose for incorporating interview data into your writing, but how you do this may change according to your specific intent. In what follows, we explore different models for weaving interview data into your writing and provide examples of what this looks like.

It is important to consider the politicization of the nationality responses in context. On the whole, the vast majority of republican executives did not try to influence the process, and the nationality question was a non-issue in the predominantly ethnically Russian regions. In my regional interviews I found that in the oblasts and krays, there were almost no reports of difficulty with the nationality question. Officials in those areas reported that respondents who were not ethnically Russian had no difficulty citing a different nationality. This finding corresponded with my observations of the enumeration process in Moscow. There were sporadic cases of respondents in ethnically mixed marriages registering one child as of one parent’s ethnic group and the other child as of the other parent’s ethnic group. However, this is a conceptual issue rather than a problem of politicization. ( 367-8 )

Quoting to Illustrate a Trend or Theme

Sometimes interviewees say things that are so strikingly similar that it is useful to draw attention to these complementary concepts and word choices by putting them together. In the following passage, Jane Calvert, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, and Joan Fujimura, a sociology professor at UW-Madison, use this strategy while writing about scientists’ responses to the new and developing field of systems biology. Note that these authors carefully tie quotations to specific anonymized interviewees through parenthetical citations.

In another US university, the decision to build an interdisciplinary research centre was top-down, initiated by university and funding administrators and initially opposed by most campus laboratory scientists. The building of new interdisciplinary structures is challenging for the existing disciplinary “fiefdoms” (Biologist19) and “silos” (Biologist9 and Biologist12) “where people feel protected and safe” (Biologist19) because they are not required to step outside of their “comfort zones” (Biologist7).

Putting Two Sources in Conversation with Each Other

Sometimes writers can use one interviewee to contribute to or complicate what another interviewee says. The following paragraph from Hutchcroft’s Booty Capitalism shows this practice at work. In addition to bringing two sources together, in this passage Hutchcroft also strategically incorporates paratextual insight gained from the interview process into his analysis. He uses the former governor’s laughter to showcase an attitude that directly contrasts with what the former bank supervisor says.

Even when the Central Bank has acted against those who milked their banks, former bank owners have been known to use personal connections, even up to the Supreme Court, to confound Central Bank discipline. Former Governor Jaime Laya noted that even martial law “didn’t seem to stop the lawsuits against Central Bank personnel.” He actually laughed as he told me how the Central Bank legal office has “never won a case.” But the former head of the bank supervision sector, who has herself been sued, doesn’t find it a laughing matter: “Why only in this country,” she exclaimed, “do the regulators go to the jail, and the bankers go scot-free?” (9)

Providing a Profile/Telling a Story

Sometimes your writing needs to focus on your interview subject as a full and complex individual. In order to analyze an issue, you need to write about this individual’s background, family, and previous experiences. In this situation, you’ll weave together information you gained from your interviews with quotations from this person. This kind of writing is common when you are using interviews to develop ethnographis case studies. In the following example of this technique, Kate Vieira, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at UW-Madison, tells the story of Jocélia, an undocumented Brazilian immigrant living in Massachusetts:

Jocélia, a 22 year-old Brazilian woman who grew up in a favela (shanty town) in Brazil, came to the United States to study and to earn money. When her visa expired and the small sum she had borrowed from cousins ran out, she quit her ESL classes and began to work illegally. When I met her in 2008, she had been in the United States for 4 years, had managed to buy a house for her mother in Brazil, and had plans to buy another one for herself and a car. To earn money as an undocumented worker, she held down two jobs: one from 3 p.m. to midnight and another from 5 a.m. to afternoon. One evening, exhausted from having not slept in days, she nodded off as she drove home from work, resulting in a serious accident that led her to a friend’s house in South Mills and to a Catholic retreat. When I came here, I was not a youth who had fun. I only worked, and this made me a little frustrated, you know? Sad, lonely, understand? And nobody could change my mind. I had to work . . . But the Lord showed me something different, that I can’t live only for work . . . So I went there [to the retreat] and I really felt that the Lord touched us. It was a very good experience . . . (444)

Attending to Language

As explored in greater depth in the discussion about verbatim transcription , sometimes you want to analyze or consider the language an individual uses or the implications of certain kinds of words or even pauses. For example, in the following passage, Beth Godbee, a writing and rhetoric professor at Marquette University, meticulously considers the implications of her subjects’ specific words and phrasing. Although this example is taken from Godbee’s analysis of a conversation she recorded between a writer Susan and a writing center tutor Kim as opposed to a direct interview she conducted, the attention she pays to language could just as well be applied to information from an interview.

Kim reinforces Susan’s qualifications: “You’re gonna—you’re the specialist in this area. You know these kids; you see what know the effects are, and maybe where some change could be made” (lines 558-561). Here Kim revises her projection of Susan as a “specialist” in the future tense (“gonna,” as in “you’re going to be”) to a statement of her current position (“you’re,” or “you are now”). By repairing her speech mid-utterance, Kim emphasizes Susan’s current status and qualifications to write, thereby reframing her institutional power to assert her right to speak. (185)

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, or Quoting

As the above examples show, interview data is incorporated into writing through summaries, paraphrases, or quotations. In some ways this makes working with interviews just like working from any other kind of outside. As you choose between summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting, a guiding question for you to consider is: What is most important about this information?

• Is it the overall story it tells or the general perspective it provides? Then summarizing might be the best option.
• Is it the particular take on a complex issue? Then paraphrasing that idea in your own words to make it as understandable as possible might be best.
• Is it the memorability, specificity, or authenticity of the language the source used? Then probably go with a quote, but be sure to contextualize this quotation by providing necessary background and commentary.

Of course, in working with interview data, you might go with all three incorporation strategies by, for example, summarizing early in a paragraph to provide an overall sense of what this source is saying, paraphrasing a key idea or two, and then including a poignant quotation that exemplifies the argument you are making. For more information about quoting and paraphrasing outside sources in your writing, check out our resources on this issue .

Referring to your Interviewees

In certain writing situations, you are expected to identify the people you interviewed by using their real names. This is often the case in journalistic writing as well as when you have consulted with an expert on an issue. But, even in these writing contexts, you must receive permission from them to associate their words and insights with their names by clearly establishing whether or not they are talking with you “on the record.”

However, when you are conducting interviews for academic research, you are frequently expected to use pseudonyms so that your subjects’ responses are confidential. Protecting your subjects’ privacy should be your primary priority. They are giving you access to personal experiences and trusting you with their individual insights and observations; you must honor that trust by anonymizing their identities so that readers can’t figure out who your subjects were. Developing a research methodology that keeps all of your data confidential is an important part of the IRB (Internal Review Board) process, and in order to receive permission to do research at your institution you’ll need a plan that outlines how you’ll achieve confidentiality. Part of that plan will involve using different names for your subjects. But selecting pseudonyms is a bigger issue than just choosing different names at random.

Ruth Allen and Janine L. Wiles, Social and Community Health scholars at the University of Auckland, have closely considered the many issues surrounding pseudonym selection in connection to their original psychological and health-related research. They advocate that researchers think critically about this process and even bring their subjects into these discussions of identity and confidentiality. You need to be thoughtful about what aspects of your subjects’ true identities you are communicating or obscuring through the pseudonyms you use. The following questions are adapted from ones Allen and Wiles recommend researchers ask themselves when preparing to use pseudonyms for participants:

• Does the researcher or the participant choose the pseudonym? How does this issue get talked about with the participants?
• Is it important, valuable, or expected to use first name or also include last names and/or titles (i.e., Cara, Mr. Terrance, Dr. Jean Nichols)?
• Within the context of this writing, should the names to be associated with a specific gender, ethnicity, and/or culture? Should those nominal identity markers align with the participants’ actual identities?
• Do pseudonyms need to be selected for other people, places, activities, and organizations mentioned in the interview? And if so, who makes those choices?

How you answer these questions should be informed by your specific context. For example, in relation to that fourth question, if a participant is talking supportively about a small on-campus organization that you want to bring attention to through your writing, it might make sense to refer to this organization by name even though its size might make it harder to disguise your participant’s identity. However, if your interviewee is speaking critically about a large, multi-national corporation where she works, you might want to develop a pseudonym for that company in order to protect this individual as much as possible.

Using Verbatim or Non-Verbatim

When you are conducting interviews, you are engaging people in very focused conversation. But when we converse, we say “like” a lot and “um” and “ah.” We start sentences and then interrupt ourselves and never return to complete those earlier thoughts. Conversation is never as direct and naturally coherent as writing can be. As a result, when you’re representing other people’s speech, you need to decide if you’ll be employing what is called “verbatim transcription” or “non-verbatim transcription.”

In “verbatim transcriptions,” you write out what people say exactly as they say it. You include all the filler words, false starts, and grammatical inconsistencies. You may even choose to include coughs and laughs. Scholars have traditionally upheld verbatim accounts as being accurate depictions of the interview process, but as Blake Poland pointed out, “much of the emotional context of the interview as well as nonverbal communication are not captured at all well in audiotape records, so that the audiotape itself is not strictly a verbatim record of the interview” (291). “Non-verbatim transcriptions,” (sometimes called “intelligent transcription”) respond to this acknowledged gap between the complexities of real conversation and the limitations of writing by encouraging writers to focus on the primary substance of participants’ quotes. In “non-verbatim transcriptions, you eliminate the unnecessary utterances like “er,” “well,” and “you know” and just include the foundational meaning of the interviewees’ words.” For example:

Verbatim Transcription : Well, you see, I was [pause] the problem, as I saw it, was more of a, a matter of representation, you know? How can I, like, be the one that’s just out there just declaring the way things are when I’ve not even, like, you know, experiencing the whole process for myself? Non-verbatim Transcription : The problem, as I saw it, was more a matter of representation. How can I be the one that’s out there declaring the way things are when I’ve not even experienced the whole process for myself?

The choice to use verbatim or non-verbatim transcription in quoting your participants should be informed by intentional considerations you are making as a writer. There are good reasons to use either forms. As Mahesh Kumar has identified in a blog post for the Transcription Certification Institute, verbatim transcription is useful for showcasing the thought process by which interview participants develop their ideas. False starts and self-corrections track down how someone is thinking about an issue in real time, and some fillers can be useful expressions of personality. Additionally, some linguistics research and conversation analysis methodologies expect highly structured, verbatim transcriptions that even account for pauses and simultaneous dialogue. However, quotations presented through non-verbatim transcriptions are clearer and easier to read and enable you to present your interview subjects as articulate (Poland 292). Whether you go with verbatim or non-verbatim transcription, make sure that you are being consistent with this choice across your article, paper, report, or essay. Also, if it’s common in the genre you are writing to discuss your methodology choices, it may be useful to clarify which transcription form you have chosen to use and why this was an appropriate choice.

Works Cited

Allen, Ruth E.S., and Janine L. Wiles. “A Rose by Any Other Name: Participants Choosing Research Pseudonyms.” Qualitative Research in Psychology , Dec. 2015. Research Gate , doi: 10.1080/14780887.2015.1133746.

Bogdan, Robert C., and Sari Knopp Biklen. Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theories and Methods . 5 th ed., Pearson, 2007.

Calvert, Jane, and Joan H. Fujimura. “Calculating Life? Duelling Discourses in Interdisciplinary Systems Biology.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences , vol. 42, no. 2l, 2011. Science Direct , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.11.022 .

Godbee, Beth. “Toward Explaining the Transformative Power of Talk About, Around, and for Writing.” Research in the Teaching of English , vol. 47, no. 2, 2012, pp. 171-97.

Grutsch McKinney, Jackie. Strategies for Writing Center Research . Parlor Press, 2016.

Herrera, Yoshiko M. “The 2002 Russian Census: Institutional Reform at Goskomstar.”  Post-Soviet Affairs , vol, 20, no. 4, 2004, pp. 350-86.

Hutchcroft, Paul D. Booty Capitalism: The Politics of Banking in the Philippines , Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1998.

Kinkead, Joyce. Researching Writing: An Introduction to Research Methods . University Press of Colorado, 2015.

Kumar, Mahesh. “Verbatim Vs Non-Verbatim Transcription: Differences, Requirements, & Jobs.” Transcription Certification Institute , 5 December 2017. Accessed online 19 June 2017. https://blog.transcriptioncertificationinstitute.org/verbatim-vs-non-verbatim-transcription-differences-requirements-jobs/.

Poland, Blake D. “Transcription Quality as an Aspect of Rigor in Qualitative Research.” Qualitative Inquiry , no. 1, vol. 3, 1995, pp. 290-310.

Seidman, Irving. Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences . 3 rd ed., Teachers College Press, 2006.

Vieira, Kate. “Undocumented in a Documentary Society: Textual Borders and Transnational Religious Literacies.”  Written Communication , vol 28, no. 4, 2011, pp. 436-61.

Academic and Professional Writing

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Analysis Papers

Reading Poetry

A Short Guide to Close Reading for Literary Analysis

Using Literary Quotations

Play Reviews

Writing a Rhetorical Précis to Analyze Nonfiction Texts

Grant Proposals

Planning and Writing a Grant Proposal: The Basics

Additional Resources for Grants and Proposal Writing

Job Materials and Application Essays

Writing Personal Statements for Ph.D. Programs

• Before you begin: useful tips for writing your essay
• Guided brainstorming exercises
• Get more help with your essay
• Frequently Asked Questions

Resume Writing Tips

CV Writing Tips

Cover Letters

Business Letters

Proposals and Dissertations

Resources for Proposal Writers

Resources for Dissertators

Research Papers

Planning and Writing Research Papers

Quoting and Paraphrasing

Writing Annotated Bibliographies

Creating Poster Presentations

Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper

Thank-You Notes

Advice for Students Writing Thank-You Notes to Donors

Reading for a Review

Critical Reviews

Writing a Review of Literature

Scientific Reports

Scientific Report Format

Sample Lab Assignment

Writing for the Web

Writing an Effective Blog Post

Writing for Social Media: A Guide for Academics

Using an interview in a research paper

Consultant contributor: Viviane Ugalde

Using an interview can be an effective primary source for some papers and research projects. Finding an expert in the field or some other person who has knowledge of your topic can allow for you to gather unique information not available elsewhere.

There are four steps to using an interview as a source for your research.

• Know where and how to start.
• Know how to write a good question.
• Know how to conduct an interview.
• Know how to incorporate the interview into your document or project.

Step one: Where to start

First, you should determine your goals and ask yourself these questions:

• Who are the local experts on topic?
• How can I contact these people?
• Does anyone know them to help me setup the interviews?
• Are their phone numbers in the phone book or can I find them on the Internet?

Once you answer these questions and pick your interviewee, get their basic information such as their name, title, and other general details. If you reach out and your interview does not participate, don’t be discouraged. Keep looking for other interview contacts.

Step two: How to write a good question

When you have confirmed an interview, it is not time to come up with questions.

• Learning as much as you can about the person before the interview can help you create questions specific to your interview subject.
• Doing research about your interviewee’s past experience in your topic, or any texts that they have written would be great background research.

When you start to think of questions, write down more questions than you think you’ll need, and prioritize them as you go. Any good questions will answer the 5W and H questions. Asking Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How questions that you need answered for your paper, will help you form a question to ask your interviewee.

When writing a good question, try thinking of something that will help your argument.

• Is your interviewee an advocate for you position?
• Are they in any programs that are related to your research?
• How much experience do they have?

From broad questions like these, you can begin to narrow down to more specific and open-ended questions.

Step three: The interview

If at all possible, arrange to conduct the interview at the subject’s workplace. It will make them more comfortable, and you can write about their surroundings.

• Begin the interview with some small talk in order to give both of you the chance to get comfortable with one another
• Develop rapport that will make the interview easier for both of you.
• Ask open-ended questions
• Keep the conversation moving
• Stay on topic
• The more silence in the room, the more honest the answer.
• If an interesting subject comes up that is related to your research, ask a follow-up or an additional question about it.
• Ask if you can stay in contact with your interview subject in case there are any additional questions you have.

Step four: Incorporating the interview

When picking the material out of your interview, remember that people rarely speak perfectly. There will be many slang words and pauses that you can take out, as long as it does not change the meaning of the material you are using.

As you introduce your interview in the paper, start with a transition such as “according to” or other attributions. You should also be specific to the type of interview you are working with. This way, you will build a stronger ethos in your paper .

The body of your essay should clearly set up the quote or paraphrase you use from the interview responses,. Be careful not to stick a quote from the interview into the body of your essay because it sounds good. When deciding what to quote in your paper, think about what dialogue from the interview would add the most color to your interview. Quotes that illustrate what your interviewer sounded like, or what their personality is are always the best quotes to choose from.

Once you have done that, proofread your essay. Make sure the quotes you used don’t make up the majority of your paper. The interview quotes are supposed to support your argument; you are not supposed to support the interview.

For example, let’s say that you are arguing that free education is better than not. For your argument, you interview a local politician who is on your side of the argument. Rather than using a large quote that explains the stance of both sides, and why the politician chose this side, your quote is there to support the information you’ve already given. Whatever the politician says should prove what you argue, and not give new information.

Step five: Examples of citing your interviews 

Smith, Jane. Personal interview. 19 May 2018.

(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2018).

Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style (personal communication, November 3, 2018).

Reference list

Daly, C. & Leighton W. (2017). Interviewing a Source: Tips. Journalists Resource.

Driscoll, D. (2018 ). Interviewing. Purdue University

Hayden, K. (2012). How to Conduct an Interview to Write a Paper . Bright Hub Education, Bright Hub Inc.

Hose, C. (2017). How to Incorporate Interviews into Essays. Leaf Group Education.

Magnesi, J. (2017). How to Interview Someone for an Article or Research Paper. Career Trend, Leaf group Media.

• Study and research support
• Referencing
• Leeds Harvard referencing examples

Leeds Harvard: Interview

Reference examples.

Family name, INITIAL(S) (of interviewee). Year. Interview with (name of interviewer). Date, location.

Thompson, D. 2016. Interview with J. Smith . 4 August, Leeds.

Interviews you conducted yourself

If you have carried out several interviews that you are using as primary research data for analysis in a research project, then it is not necessary to provide references for each of them in your reference list. You should check with your tutor about the most appropriate way to present the interviews in your work, for example including transcripts in appendices. You may also need to seek permission from the interviewee(s).

If you have interviewed someone and want to include a quote from this as evidence to support an argument you are making in an essay (i.e. not as data for analysis in a research project), then you should reference this as shown in the example above.

Citation examples

Author and date.

When the author name is not mentioned in the text, the citation consists of the author’s name and the year of publication in brackets.

It was emphasised that citations in the text should be consistent (Jones, 2017).

If you have already named the author in the text, only the publication year needs to be mentioned in brackets.

Jones (2017) emphasised that citations in the text should be consistent.

Three or more authors

If a source has three or more authors, the name of the first author should be given, followed by the phrase "et al."

It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent (Jones et al., 2017).

Jones et al. (2017) emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent.

Leeds Harvard does not use ibid to refer to previously cited items. If you are citing the same item twice in a row (i.e. you do not cite any other items in the text between the two citations) you must write the full citation again. As usual, if you are directly quoting or paraphrasing specific ideas, you should include a page number (if there is one). 

Jones et al. (2017, p.24) emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent and argued that referencing is a key part of academic integrity (2017, p.27). Furthermore, having a broad range of references in a text is an indicator of the breadth of a scholar's reading and research (Jones et al., 2017, p.14).

Common issues

When you're referencing with Leeds Harvard you may come across issues with missing details, multiple authors, edited books, references to another author's work or online items, to name a few. Here are some tips on how to deal with some common issues when using Leeds Harvard.

Skip straight to the issue that affects you:

• Online items
• URL web addresses
• Multiple authors
• Corporate author(s) or organisation(s)
• Multiple publisher details
• Editions and reprints
• Missing details
• Multiple sources with different authors
• Sources written by the same author in the same year
• Sources with the same author in different years
• Two authors with the same surname in the same year
• The work of one author referred to by another
• Anonymising sources for confidentiality
• Identifying the authors’ family name (surname)

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Several sources have multiple means for citation, especially those that appear in varied formats: films, DVDs, television shows, music, published and unpublished interviews, interviews over e-mail, published and unpublished conference proceedings. The following section discusses these sorts of citations as well as others not covered in the print, periodical, and electronic sources sections.

Use the following format for all sources:

Author. Title. Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs URL or DOI). 2 nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).

An Interview

Interviews typically fall into two categories: print or broadcast published and unpublished (personal) interviews, although interviews may also appear in other, similar formats such as in e-mail format or as a Web document.

Personal Interviews

Personal interviews refer to those interviews that you conduct yourself. List the interview by the name of the interviewee. Include the descriptor Personal interview and the date of the interview.

Smith, Jane. Personal interview. 19 May 2014.

Published Interviews (Print or Broadcast)

List the interview by the full name of the interviewee. If the name of the interview is part of a larger work like a book, a television program, or a film series, place the title of the interview in quotation marks and place the title of the larger work in italics. If the interview appears as an independent title, italicize it. For books, include the author or editor name after the book title.

Note: If the interview from which you quote does not feature a title, add the descriptor, Interview by (unformatted) after the interviewee’s name and before the interviewer’s name.

Gaitskill, Mary. Interview with Charles Bock. Mississippi Review , vol. 27, no. 3, 1999, pp. 129-50.

Amis, Kingsley. “Mimic and Moralist.” Interviews with Britain’s Angry Young Men , By Dale Salwak, Borgo P, 1984.

Online-only Published Interviews

List the interview by the name of the interviewee. If the interview has a title, place it in quotation marks. Cite the remainder of the entry as you would other exclusive web content. Place the name of the website in italics, give the publisher name (or sponsor), the publication date, and the URL.

Note: If the interview from which you quote does not feature a title, add the descriptor Interview by (unformatted) after the interviewee’s name and before the interviewer’s name.

Zinkievich, Craig. Interview by Gareth Von Kallenbach. Skewed & Reviewed , 27 Apr. 2009, www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/1056940-skewed-%2526-reviewed-interviews-craig. Accessed 15 May 2009.

Speeches, Lectures, or Other Oral Presentations (including Conference Presentations)

Start with speaker’s name. Then, give the title of the speech (if any) in quotation marks. Follow with the title of the particular conference or meeting and then the name of the organization. Name the venue and its city (if the name of the city is not listed in the venue’s name). Use the descriptor that appropriately expresses the type of presentation (e.g., Address, Lecture, Reading, Keynote Speech, Guest Lecture, Conference Presentation).

Stein, Bob. “Reading and Writing in the Digital Era.” Discovering Digital Dimensions, Computers and Writing Conference, 23 May 2003, Union Club Hotel, West Lafayette, IN. Keynote Address.

Panel Discussions and Question-and-Answer Sessions

The MLA Handbook makes a distinction between the formal, rehearsed portion of a presentation and the informal discussion that often occurs after. To format an entry for a panel discussion or question-and-answer session, treat the panel members or speakers as authors by listing them first. If these people are formally listed as panelists, indicate this by following their names with a comma and the title "panelist(s)." Follow with the title of the discussion, or, if there is no title, a simple description. In the latter case, don't capitalize the description. Follow this with the title of the conference or event. End with the date and the location.

Bavis, Jim and Stein, Tammi, panelists. Panel discussion. Dawn or Doom Conference, 4 Nov. 2018, Stewart Hall, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

Treat recorded discussions as instances of the appropriate medium (e.g., if you want to cite a recording of a panel discussion hosted on YouTube, cite it the same way you would cite an ordinary online video ).

Published Conference Proceedings

Cite published conference proceedings like a book. If the date and location of the conference are not part of the published title, add this information after the published proceedings title.

Last Name, First Name, editor. Conference Title , Conference Date and Location, Publisher, Date of Publication.

To cite a presentation from published conference proceedings, begin with the presenter’s name. Place the name of the presentation in quotation marks. Follow with publication information for the conference proceedings.

Last Name, First Name. “Conference Paper Title.” Conference Title that Includes Conference Date and Location , edited by Conference Editor(s), Publisher, Date of Publication.

A Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph

Provide the artist's name, the title of the artwork in italics, and the date of composition. Finally, provide the name of the institution that houses the artwork followed by the location of the institution (if the location is not listed in the name of the institution, e.g. The Art Institute of Chicago).

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

If the medium and/or materials (e.g., oil on canvas) are important to the reference, you can include this information at the end of the entry. However, it is not required.

For photographic reproductions of artwork (e.g. images of artwork in a book), treat the book or website as a container. Remember that for a second container, the title is listed first, before the contributors. Cite the bibliographic information as above followed by the information for the source in which the photograph appears, including page or reference numbers (plate, figure, etc.).

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid. Gardener's Art Through the Ages , 10 th ed., by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner, Harcourt Brace, p. 939.

If you viewed the artwork on the museum's website, treat the name of the website as the container and include the website's publisher and the URL at the end of the citation. Omit publisher information if it is the same as the name of the website. Note the period after the date below, rather than the comma: this is because the date refers to the painting's original creation, rather than to its publication on the website. Thus, MLA format considers it an "optional element."

Goya, Francisco.  The Family of Charles IV . 1800 . Museo del Prado,  museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74.

A Song or Album

Music can be cited multiple ways. Mainly, this depends on the container that you accessed the music from. Generally, citations begin with the artist name. They might also be listed by composers or performers. Otherwise, list composer and performer information after the album title. Put individual song titles in quotation marks. Album names are italicized. Provide the name of the recording manufacturer followed by the publication date.

If information such as record label or name of album is unavailable from your source, do not list that information.

Morris, Rae. “Skin.” Cold, Atlantic Records, 2014. Spotify , open.spotify.com/track/0OPES3Tw5r86O6fudK8gxi.

Online Album

Beyoncé. “Pray You Catch Me.” Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.

Nirvana. "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Nevermind , Geffen, 1991.

Films or Movies

List films by their title. Include the name of the director, the film studio or distributor, and the release year. If relevant, list performer names after the director's name.

Speed Racer . Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, performances by Emile Hirsch, Nicholas Elia, Susan Sarandon, Ariel Winter, and John Goodman, Warner Brothers, 2008.

To emphasize specific performers or directors, begin the citation with the name of the desired performer or director, followed by the appropriate title for that person.

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope . Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

Television Shows

Recorded Television Episodes

Cite recorded television episodes like films (see above). Begin with the episode name in quotation marks. Follow with the series name in italics. When the title of the collection of recordings is different than the original series (e.g., the show Friends is in DVD release under the title Friends: The Complete Sixth Season), list the title that would help researchers to locate the recording. Give the distributor name followed by the date of distribution.

"The One Where Chandler Can't Cry." Friends: The Complete Sixth Season , written by Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen, directed by Kevin Bright, Warner Brothers, 2004.

Broadcast TV or Radio Program

Begin with the title of the episode in quotation marks. Provide the name of the series or program in italics. Also include the network name, call letters of the station followed by the date of broadcast and city.

"The Blessing Way." The X-Files . Fox, WXIA, Atlanta, 19 Jul. 1998.

Netflix, Hulu, Google Play

Generally, when citing a specific episode, follow the format below.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031.

An Entire TV Series

When citing the entire series of a TV show, use the following format.

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation . Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

A Specific Performance or Aspect of a TV Show

If you want to emphasize a particular aspect of the show, include that particular information. For instance, if you are writing about a specific character during a certain episode, include the performer’s name as well as the creator’s.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.

If you wish to emphasize a particular character throughout the show’s run time, follow this format.

Poehler, Amy, performer. Parks and Recreation. Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2009-2015.

Begin with the title of the episode in quotation marks. Provide the name of the series in italics. Then follow with MLA format per usual.

“Best of Not My Job Musicians.” Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! from NPR, 4 June 2016, www.npr.org/podcasts/344098539/wait-wait-don-t-tell-me.

Spoken-Word Albums such as Comedy Albums

Treat spoken-word albums the same as musical albums.

Hedberg, Mitch. Strategic Grill Locations . Comedy Central, 2003.

Digital Files (PDFs, MP3s, JPEGs)

Determine the type of work to cite (e.g., article, image, sound recording) and cite appropriately. End the entry with the name of the digital format (e.g., PDF, JPEG file, Microsoft Word file, MP3). If the work does not follow traditional parameters for citation, give the author’s name, the name of the work, the date of creation, and the location.

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Moonlight Sonata . Crownstar, 2006.

Smith, George. “Pax Americana: Strife in a Time of Peace.” 2005. Microsoft Word file.

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, and National Writing Project. Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing . CWPA, NCTE, and NWP, 2011, wpacouncil.org/files/framework-for-success-postsecondary-writing.pdf.

Bentley, Phyllis. “Yorkshire and the Novelist.” The Kenyon Review , vol. 30, no. 4, 1968, pp. 509-22. JSTOR , www.jstor.org.iii/stable/4334841.

Library Services

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES

• Guides and databases
• Library skills

Interview (as part of research)

• A-Z of Harvard references
• Citing authors with Harvard
• Page numbers and punctuation
• References with missing details
• Secondary referencing
• Example reference list
• Journal article
• Magazine article
• Newspaper article
• Online video
• Radio and internet radio
• Television advertisement
• Television programme
• Ancient text
• Bibliography
• Book (printed, one author or editor)
• Book (printed, multiple authors or editors)
• Book (printed, with no author)
• Chapter in a book (print)
• Collected works
• Dictionaries and Encyclopedia entries
• Multivolume work
• Religious text
• Thesis or dissertation
• Translated work
• Census data
• Financial report
• Mathematical equation
• Scientific dataset
• Book illustration, Figure or Diagram
• Inscription on a building
• Installation
• Painting or Drawing
• Interview (on the internet)
• Interview (newspaper)
• Interview (radio or television)
• Act of the UK parliament (statute)
• Bill (House of Commons/Lords)
• Birth/Death/Marriage certificate
• British standards
• Command paper
• European Union publication
• Government/Official publication
• House of Commons/Lords paper
• Legislation from UK devolved assemblies
• Statutory instrument
• Military record
• Film/Television script
• Musical score
• Play (live performance)
• Play script
• Song lyrics
• Conference paper
• Conference proceedings
• Discussion paper
• Minutes of meeting
• Personal communication
• PowerPoint presentation
• Published report
• Student's own work
• Tutor materials for academic course
• Unpublished report
• Working paper
• Referencing glossary

​​​​​​ To be made up of:

• Name of person interviewed.
• Year of interview (in round brackets).
• Interview with/interviewed by.
• Interviewer's name.
• Date, location.

In-text citation:

(Sudek, 2020)

Reference list:

Sudek, J. (2020). Interviewed by Francesca Woodman. 7 July, London.

Quick links

• Harvard references A-Z
• << Previous: Interview (radio or television)
• Next: Legal, Governmental and NGO publications >>
• Last Updated: Feb 28, 2024 12:08 PM
• URL: https://library-guides.ucl.ac.uk/harvard

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation in MLA

How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation in MLA

Citing a thesis or dissertation.

Thesis – A document submitted to earn a degree at a university.

Dissertation – A document submitted to earn an advanced degree, such as a doctorate, at a university.

The formatting for thesis and dissertation citations is largely the same. However, you should be sure to include the type of degree after the publication year as supplemental information. For instance, state if the source you are citing is an undergraduate thesis or a PhD dissertation.

MLA Thesis and Dissertation Citation Structure (print)

Last, First M.  Title of the Thesis/Dissertation. Year Published. Name of University, type of degree.

MLA Thesis and Dissertation Citation Structure (online)

Last, First M.  Title of the Thesis/Dissertation. Year Published. Name of University, type of degree.  Website Name , URL.

Wilson, Peggy Lynn. Pedagogical Practices in the Teaching of English Language in Secondary Public Schools in Parker County . 2011. University of Maryland, PhD dissertation.

In-text Citation Structure

(Author Last Name page #)

In-text Citation Example

(Wilson 14)

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• Works Cited
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

MLA Citation Examples

Writing Tools

Citation Generators

Other Citation Styles

Plagiarism Checker

Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.

Get Started

The Plagiarism Checker Online For Your Academic Work

Start Plagiarism Check

Editing & Proofreading for Your Research Paper

Get it proofread now

Online Printing & Binding with Free Express Delivery

Configure binding now

• Academic essay overview
• The writing process
• Structuring academic essays
• Types of academic essays
• Academic writing overview
• Sentence structure
• Academic writing process
• Improving your academic writing
• Titles and headings
• APA style overview
• APA citation & referencing
• APA structure & sections
• Citation & referencing
• Structure and sections
• APA examples overview
• Commonly used citations
• Other examples
• British English vs. American English
• Chicago style overview
• Chicago citation & referencing
• Chicago structure & sections
• Chicago style examples
• Citing sources overview
• Citation format
• Citation examples
• College essay overview
• Application
• How to write a college essay
• Types of college essays
• Commonly confused words
• Definitions
• Dissertation overview
• Dissertation structure & sections
• Dissertation writing process
• Graduate school overview
• Application & admission
• Study abroad
• Master degree
• Harvard referencing overview
• Language rules overview
• Grammatical rules & structures
• Parts of speech
• Punctuation
• Methodology overview
• Analyzing data
• Experiments
• Observations
• Inductive vs. Deductive
• Qualitative vs. Quantitative
• Types of validity
• Types of reliability
• Sampling methods
• Theories & Concepts
• Types of research studies
• Types of variables
• MLA style overview
• MLA examples
• MLA citation & referencing
• MLA structure & sections
• Plagiarism overview
• Plagiarism checker
• Types of plagiarism
• Printing production overview
• Research bias overview
• Types of research bias
• Example sections
• Types of research papers
• Research process overview
• Problem statement
• Research proposal
• Research topic
• Statistics overview
• Levels of measurment
• Frequency distribution
• Measures of central tendency
• Measures of variability
• Hypothesis testing
• Parameters & test statistics
• Types of distributions
• Correlation
• Effect size
• Hypothesis testing assumptions
• Types of ANOVAs
• Types of chi-square
• Statistical data
• Statistical models
• Spelling mistakes
• Tips overview
• Academic writing tips
• Dissertation tips
• Sources tips
• Working with sources overview
• Evaluating sources
• Finding sources
• Including sources
• Types of sources

Your Step to Success

Plagiarism Check within 10min

Printing & Binding with 3D Live Preview

How to Cite an Interview in MLA – Definition & Guide

How do you like this article cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

How it was conducted and whether it was published determines how to cite an interview in MLA. Here’s an overview of how to cite an interview in MLA, frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the topic, and the differences when citing personal and published interviews in MLA .

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 How to cite an interview in MLA – In a Nutshell
• 2 Definition: MLA interview citation
• 3 How to cite a personal interview in MLA
• 4 How to cite a published interview in MLA

How to cite an interview in MLA – In a Nutshell

Citing other sources is an excellent way to share more information you didn’t include in your interview with your readers. Citation makes you a great researcher because it entails details like author names and page numbers. Once you understand how to cite an interview in MLA, your audience quickly understands everyone involved in the interview and receives a deeper insight into your message.

Definition: MLA interview citation

An MLA interview citation is a reference technique for citing interviews using the MLA style. You mention the interviewee’s name in the in-text citation as the author. In the Works Cited entry, follow the interviewee’s name with the topic of the interview in speech marks. However, if you lack a subject for your discussion, write “interview”- don’t use quotation marks or styles.

If you did the interview alone, write your name and the interview date. If you used an interview from a published source, write the interviewer’s name and the complete information of your source.

Here are examples of how to cite an interview in MLA:

Personal interview

John Doe. Interview. Conducted by James Brown, 21 June 2018.

Published interview

Ypi, Lea. “Hope is a moral duty.” The interview was done by Kate Kellaway. The Guardian, 06/04/2022, www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/04/lea-ypi-hope-is-a-moral-duty-free-coming-of-age-at-the-end-of-history.

How to cite a personal interview in MLA

A personal interview is the one you did yourself. The Works Cited should include the interviewee’s name, the term “interview,” your name, and the interview date. This is how to cite an interview in MLA in this case:

Works Cited entry:

Washington, Samuel. Interview. Conducted by Brian McKenzie, 18 Jan. 2012.

Write the interviewee’s last name in the parenthetical citation.

In-text citation:

How to cite a published interview in MLA

A published interview is an interview you took from a published source like a podcast, online journal, book, online magazine, or video. Write the original interview in full detail using all the MLA core elements. Place the interviewee as the author and write the interview in speech marks. Put the interviewee’s last name in the parenthetical citation and the page number if available.

Here’s how to cite an interview in MLA depending on your source:

An online magazine

Include the following details for interviews derived from newspapers, online magazines or blogs:

• Publication’s name
• The post’s date
• The site’s URL

Works Cited entry

Harrison, Patty. “Harry Pattison means it, except when she doesn’t.” This interview was done by Rachel Syme. The New Yorker, 20/02/2022, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/patti-harrison-means-it-except-when-she-doesnt

In-text citation

Include the following for an interview appearing in a book’s chapter or section:

• The book’s title
• The editor(s) or author(s)
• The publisher
• The publication year
• The interview’s page range

If the book is the interviewer and you’re the editor or the author, omit the interview’s page range to avoid repetition.

Here’s an example of how to cite an interview in MLA in this instance:

Newport, Cal. “Deep Work.” This interview was done by Nancy Lynch. Grand Central Publishing, 2016, pp. 320–361.

An academic journal

Include the following elements for interviews published in academic journals:

• Journal name
• Volume and number
• The date or year
• The page range

Include a stable URL or DOI and the database if you sourced the interview from an online journal.

Here is an example of how to cite an interview in MLA derived from an academic journal:

Heterick, Bruce. “Books at JSTOR.” This interview was done by Marilyn Geller. Serials Review, vol. 38, Issue 4, 1998, pp. 262–265. ScienceDirect, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0098791312001438.

(Heterick 263)

An online video

Include these elements for the online video interviews you found:

• Its platform or website
• The person uploading the video
• Date uploaded
• URL of the site

For this, use various timestamps to highlight specific relevant parts of the interview.

Levy, Hannah. “I try to create what I think of as a design purgatory.” This interview was done by Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen.

YouTube video, uploaded by the Louisiana Channel, 20/12/2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yep0Q_JAneY.

(Hannah 03:50–04:14)

Is it mandatory to cite a personal interview?

These interviews are personal communications, so they don’t need a formal citation in the reference list.

How to cite an Interview in MLA in the text?

Works Cited format: Last name, Name. “Title of the interview.” Interview by First and Last name of Interviewer. Source of publication , Date Month Year, page number(s).

Works Cited entry:  Jensen, Ruby. “Ruby’s Everyday Life.” Interview by Christina Jackson.  The dreamy Interviewers’ Column,  June 2019, pp. 3-5.

In-text citation format: (Last name Page number(s))

In-text citation: (Jensen 4)

How do you place an MLA interview citation in essays?

Use conjunctions like “according to” or “Jane states” to introduce references to the interview. If you must use the exact words from an interviewee, put them in quotation marks.

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others help us to improve this website and your experience.

• External Media

Individual Privacy Preferences

Cookie Details Privacy Policy Imprint

Here you will find an overview of all cookies used. You can give your consent to whole categories or display further information and select certain cookies.

Accept all Save

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.

Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us to understand how our visitors use our website.

Content from video platforms and social media platforms is blocked by default. If External Media cookies are accepted, access to those contents no longer requires manual consent.

Privacy Policy Imprint

• Share full article

For more audio journalism and storytelling, download New York Times Audio , a new iOS app available for news subscribers.

Supported by

Introducing ‘The Interview’

Listen to the trailer for the new weekly podcast from The New York Times.

Hosted by Lulu Garcia-Navarro and David Marchese

Subscribe to ‘The Interview’ Podcast

Nyt audio app | apple podcasts | spotify | youtube | amazon music.

“The Interview” is a new podcast from The New York Times, featuring in-depth conversations with fascinating people. Each week, David Marchese and Lulu Garcia-Navarro will chat with notable figures in the worlds of culture, politics, business, sports, wellness and beyond — illuminating who they are, why they do what they do and how they impact the rest of us.

“The Interview” premieres on April 27, and new episodes will be released weekly on Saturdays. The conversations will also appear online and in print.

Meet the Hosts

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO is a two-time Peabody Award-winning journalist with years of experience interviewing world leaders, authors, artists and people living on the front lines of a changing world. A longtime international correspondent in the Middle East and Latin America, Lulu was at NPR for 17 years, most recently as the host of “Weekend Edition,” where she reported on everything from #MeToo to immigration to the pandemic. Lulu was also a co-host of the NPR podcast “Up First” and the first Latina at the helm of a flagship show at the broadcaster. Lulu came to the Times in December 2021 to host “First Person,” a New York Times Opinion show about how people come to their deeply held views. She is also an on-air contributor to CNN.

DAVID MARCHESE took over The New York Times Magazine’s Talk column in 2018. Since then he has conducted more than 130 interviews, with figures including Jane Goodall, Yo-Yo Ma, Rosie Perez, Paul Ryan, Bono and Tom Hanks. His interviews are often marked by surprising revelations, deep research and a probing, conversational quality that disarms his subjects (a common refrain is “No one’s ever asked me that before!”). Before joining The Times, David spent four years at New York Magazine, where he set the bar for rigorous, insightful and hugely entertaining long-form Q. and A.s with his In Conversation column.

Advertisement