How to Cite an Interview in APA, MLA, Chicago, and Four More Styles
Interviews are a citation type that confuses students more than the underlying mechanics deserve, because the styles split into two distinct camps based on a single question — does an unpublished personal interview belong in the reference list? APA, Vancouver, AMA, and IEEE say no; MLA, Chicago, and Harvard say yes. Add the variations for published interviews, podcast episodes, broadcast interviews, and email correspondence, and the rules start to look more complicated than they are. This guide walks through the four interview shapes — published, personal, broadcast/podcast, and email — with the same published interview formatted side by side in all seven styles.
The shortest answer: if the interview was published (in a magazine, on a podcast, in a book), it goes in the reference list in every style. If you conducted the interview yourself and it has not been published, four styles (APA, Vancouver, AMA, IEEE) cite it in-text only; three (MLA, Chicago, Harvard) include it in the reference list.
The four shapes of interview citation
Every interview citation falls into one of four shapes, and the shape determines the format.
- A published interview — a Q&A or interview-driven article that appeared in a magazine, journal, newspaper, or book. The interview itself is the work being cited; the interviewee is the source. Goes in the reference list in every style.
- A personal interview — one you conducted yourself, transcribed for your own use, and quoted in your paper. The interviewee gave you the words directly. APA, Vancouver, AMA, and IEEE keep this in-text only; MLA, Chicago, and Harvard add a reference list entry.
- A broadcast or podcast interview — an interview that aired on radio, television, a podcast, or a video platform. Cite as the broadcast medium (a podcast episode, a TV episode, a YouTube video) with the interview structure noted.
- Email, text, or other written correspondence — treated by every style as a form of personal interview, with the medium noted in place of “interview.”
If you can identify which of the four you have, the format follows.
A published magazine interview, formatted in all seven styles
This is the most common case in academic writing — citing a published Q&A from a magazine, newspaper, or popular-science outlet.
The source: David K. Lin interviewed by Sofia Alvarez. “The Sleep-Memory Connection.” Scientific American, June 10, 2024. URL: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-sleep-memory-connection. Accessed May 20, 2026.
| Style | Reference list entry |
|---|---|
| APA 7 | Alvarez, S. (2024, June 10). The sleep-memory connection [Interview with D. K. Lin]. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-sleep-memory-connection |
| MLA 9 | Lin, David K. “The Sleep-Memory Connection.” Interview by Sofia Alvarez. Scientific American, 10 June 2024, www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-sleep-memory-connection. |
| Chicago 18 (author–date) | Lin, David K. 2024. “The Sleep-Memory Connection.” Interview by Sofia Alvarez. Scientific American, June 10, 2024. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-sleep-memory-connection. |
| Harvard (Cite Them Right 12) | Lin, D.K. (2024) “The sleep-memory connection”, interviewed by S. Alvarez, Scientific American, 10 June. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-sleep-memory-connection (Accessed: May 20, 2026). |
| Vancouver | Lin DK. The sleep-memory connection. Interview by Alvarez S. Scientific American [Internet]. 2024 Jun 10 [cited 2026 May 20]. Available from: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-sleep-memory-connection |
| IEEE | D. K. Lin, “The Sleep-Memory Connection,” interview by S. Alvarez, Scientific American, Jun. 10, 2024. Accessed: May 20, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-sleep-memory-connection |
| AMA 11 | Lin DK. The sleep-memory connection. Interview by Alvarez S. Scientific American. June 10, 2024. Accessed May 20, 2026. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-sleep-memory-connection |
The split on whose name goes first is visible immediately. APA treats the published interview as a piece of journalism by the interviewer — so Sofia Alvarez (the article’s author) takes the author slot, and the interview’s subject is named in brackets after the title. MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, IEEE, and AMA do the opposite: the interviewee is the author, on the logic that the interviewee’s words are the source you are actually drawing on.
The in-text citation reflects the choice:
- APA: (Alvarez, 2024) — the interviewer is the author
- MLA: (Lin) — the interviewee
- Chicago author–date: (Lin 2024) — the interviewee, no comma between author and year
- Harvard: (Lin, 2024) — the interviewee
- Vancouver, AMA: (7) or superscript ⁷
- IEEE: [7]
When you quote the interviewee directly in APA, the in-text citation still uses the interviewer’s name, but the prose context makes the relationship explicit: “Lin describes it as ‘a consolidation effect’ (Alvarez, 2024).”
A personal interview you conducted
This is the case where the styles disagree most clearly.
APA, Vancouver, AMA, IEEE — in-text only.
Personal communications are not retrievable by readers, so APA excludes them from the reference list. The interview appears only in-text:
In-text (APA): (D. K. Lin, personal communication, June 10, 2024)
In-text (Vancouver): “Lin (personal communication, June 10, 2024) confirms…”
In-text (AMA): Lin DK. Personal communication. June 10, 2024.
In-text (IEEE): D. K. Lin, private communication, Jun. 2024.
The four styles agree on the principle: a citation should let a reader find the source, and an unpublished interview is unfindable.
MLA, Chicago, Harvard — full reference list entry.
These three styles take the opposite view: the citation is part of the record of where your evidence came from, whether or not a reader can independently retrieve it. The interview appears in the works cited or reference list with the medium clearly labeled.
MLA: Lin, David K. Personal interview. 10 June 2024.
Chicago author–date: Lin, David K. 2024. Interview by author. June 10.
Harvard (Cite Them Right): Lin, D.K. (2024) Interview with the author. 10 June.
When you cite multiple personal interviews with the same person on different dates, each interview gets its own reference list entry, distinguished by date.
A podcast or broadcast interview
When the interview aired on a podcast, radio program, or TV show, cite it as that medium with the interview relationship preserved.
APA: Alvarez, S. (Host). (2024, June 10). The sleep-memory connection (No. 47) [Audio podcast episode; interview with D. K. Lin]. In Cognition Today. https://www.cognitiontoday.com/episodes/47
MLA: Lin, David K. “The Sleep-Memory Connection.” Interview by Sofia Alvarez. Cognition Today, episode 47, 10 June 2024, www.cognitiontoday.com/episodes/47.
Chicago author–date: Lin, David K. 2024. “The Sleep-Memory Connection.” Interview by Sofia Alvarez. Cognition Today, podcast audio, June 10, 2024. https://www.cognitiontoday.com/episodes/47.
For interviews on YouTube, cite as a YouTube video with the interview noted in the title field. For TV-broadcast interviews, every style has a TV episode format that closely resembles the podcast format above.
Email and other written correspondence
Email, text, instant messaging, and online direct messages are treated by every style as a form of personal interview. The medium replaces “interview” in the citation.
APA, Vancouver, AMA, IEEE — in-text only:
APA: (D. K. Lin, email to author, June 10, 2024)
Vancouver: Lin DK. Email to: [author name]. 2024 Jun 10.
MLA, Chicago, Harvard — reference list entry:
MLA: Lin, David K. “Re: Sleep consolidation question.” Received by [author name], 10 June 2024. Email.
Chicago: Lin, David K. 2024. Email message to author. June 10.
Harvard: Lin, D.K. (2024) Email to [author name], 10 June.
Group chats, Slack messages, and other multi-person conversations follow the same pattern but include the channel name and platform when relevant. Screenshots of correspondence are sometimes required by institutions reviewing research ethics; check your IRB or assignment requirements.
Edge cases
An interview with an anonymous source. Many disciplines — sociology, journalism, qualitative research — quote interviewees by pseudonym or by descriptor (“Participant 14,” “a senior nurse”). The citation uses the same descriptor. APA: “(Participant 14, personal communication, June 10, 2024).” MLA: “Participant 14. Personal interview. 10 June 2024.” Maintain whatever consistency your IRB approved.
An interview translated from another language. Cite the original language; provide a translation of any direct quote inline. If you used a published translation of the interview, treat it as you would any translated work — interviewee as author, translator named in the format your style specifies.
A historical interview retrieved from an archive. Cite the archive as well as the interview. APA: “Lin, D. K. (1974, June 10). Interview with the author. National Oral History Archive (Box 12, Folder 4).” MLA, Chicago, and the other styles follow the same archive-aware format.
An interview you found in a documentary film. Cite the documentary as the source, not the interviewee. The interview is one element of the larger work.
An interview later published as a book or chapter. Cite the book or chapter, not the original interview. The published form is now the canonical version.
A final principle: the citation should tell a reader two things — whose words you used, and how those words came to you. The four shapes of interview citation differ on the second question; they agree on the first. When in doubt, pick the format that makes the answer to both questions immediate.