PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Interview

How to Cite an Interview in APA 7

In APA 7, how you cite an interview depends on where it lives. A published interview (in a magazine, on a podcast, or in a video) is cited in the format of the place it appeared, with the person credited for that work as the author, usually the writer, host, or channel, not the person interviewed: (Weir, 2023). A recorded interview in an archive gets a reference with the person interviewed as the author: (Young & Vaux, 1987). An interview you did yourself is a personal communication, cited in the text only with the person's initials, last name, and the date. People you interviewed as participants in your own research aren't cited at all.

The format

Interviewer, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the interview. Magazine Name, Volume(Issue). URL
Interviewee, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the interview [Interview]. Archive Name; Institution. URL
(F. M. Last, personal communication, Month Day, Year)

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

A published interview isn't its own reference type. Build it the way you'd build anything else from the same place. Paste a YouTube link or an Apple Podcasts episode link into PERRLA's reference search, and PERRLA fills in the video or the episode. For a magazine or newspaper interview, paste the article's link or DOI the same way. Then check two things before you save. The author should be the writer, the host, or the channel, never the guest (Apple doesn't list podcast hosts, so add the host yourself as a Host). And the guest's name should still be in the title if the source put it there: PERRLA's YouTube search drops the last part of a title after a | mark, so type it back in.

An interview you did yourself has nothing to look up. Choose Interview, then An unpublished interview you did yourself, and pick Interview with a named person. Type the person's name in Person Interviewed and pick the day you talked in Publication Date. PERRLA writes the APA personal communication citation (initials, last name, the words personal communication, and the date) and keeps it off your references page, which is what APA 7 asks for. Location of Interview is optional; APA doesn't use it.

An interview transcript or recording held in an archive or library, like an oral history collection? Choose Interview, then An unpublished interview in an archive, database, or library, and pick Interview with a named person. Put the person in Person Interviewed and, if the finding aid names one, the interviewer in Interviewer. Pick the interview date, then fill in Archive, Database, or Library with the collection and the institution that holds it, its city and state, and the box or folder in Database or Archive Identifier. PERRLA puts the interview on your references page with the person interviewed as the author, cited by last name and year.

Found an old radio interview in an online archive, like the Studs Terkel Radio Archive? Choose Podcasts & Radio, then A radio interview in a digital archive, and add each person interviewed as an Interviewee. Fill in the Interview Title in sentence case, the Episode Date, the Archive Name, the Archive Institution, and the URL. PERRLA puts the interviewees first, the way APA does.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Decide which kind of interview it is

Everything else follows from this. Ask where the interview lives and whether your reader could find it.

  • Published in a magazine, newspaper, journal, podcast, radio show, TV show, or online video: a regular reference in that source's format.
  • Recorded and kept in an archive, like an oral history collection: a reference with the person interviewed as the author.
  • Done by you, by phone, by email, on Zoom, or in person, and not published anywhere: a personal communication, in the text only.
  • Done with participants in your own research study: no citation. You quote them as data.

Published: (Weir, 2023)  ·  Archived: (Young & Vaux, 1987)  ·  Yours: (F. M. Last, personal communication, Month Day, Year)

2. The author of a published interview

Use whoever the source credits for the work: the writer of the article, the host of the podcast (with (Host) after the name), or the person or channel that posted the video. The person being interviewed is usually not the author, even when they do most of the talking. Name them in your sentence instead.

Weir, K.

Mills, K. (Host).

Varshavski, M. [Doctor Mike].

If a video was posted by the person interviewed, on their own channel, then they are the author. What matters is who published it, not who's talking.

3. The date

Give the date in the format of the source type: the full date for an online magazine article, a podcast episode, a video, or an archived recording, and the month and year for a print monthly. The date is when the interview was published or aired, not when the conversation happened, unless it's an archived recording, which takes the recording or broadcast date.

(2023, April 1).

(1987, April 16).

4. The title, with the interviewee's name

Copy the title the way the source gives it, in sentence case. Many interview titles carry the guest's name ("5 questions for April Smith," "with Matthew Nock, PhD," "| Dr. Paul Offit"). Keep it: it's part of the title, and it's how your reader knows whose words you're citing. Article and episode titles are plain. Video titles and archived interview titles are italic.

What is interoception, and how does it affect mental health? 5 questions for April Smith.

Uncomfortable questions about vaccines | Dr. Paul Offit [Video].

An untitled interview in an archive gets a description in square brackets instead of a title.

5. The source

End with the source in the format of the source type: the magazine name, volume, and issue; the podcast name after In and the production company; YouTube; or the archive and the institution that holds it. Finish with the URL when there is one.

Monitor on Psychology, 54(3).

In Speaking of psychology. American Psychological Association.

Studs Terkel Radio Archive; The Chicago History Museum.

6. An interview you did yourself

An interview you conducted that isn't published or archived can't be retrieved by your reader, so it's a personal communication: cited in the text only, never on the references page. Give the person's first initial (and middle initial, if you know it) and last name, the words personal communication, and the exact date you talked. Leave out titles and credentials like Dr., RN, or MSN.

(F. M. Last, personal communication, Month Day, Year)

Recording the interview yourself, on your phone or on Zoom, doesn't change this. It's still a personal communication unless the recording is published or placed in an archive where others can get to it.

7. Interviews in an archive

Oral histories and recorded interviews kept in an archive are recoverable, so they get a reference entry. Here APA flips the usual rule: the person interviewed is the author, and the interviewer is named only in the description (or not at all, as in APA's own radio archive example). Give the date of the recording, the title or a bracketed description, the archive or collection, and the institution. Add the box and folder or the collection number when the archive uses them.

Young, Q., & Vaux, K. (1987, April 16).

8. Research participants: no citation

If you interviewed people as participants in your own study, their words are your data, not a source. Don't cite them as personal communications and don't put them on the references page. Quote them directly, describe how you collected the interviews in your Method section, and protect their identities the way your consent forms and your study's ethics approval promise, usually with codes or pseudonyms.

A 2025 International Nursing Review qualitative study quotes its nursing-student participants with codes like (PS9) and (AS5), never names, and lists none of them as references.

Examples

A published interview in a magazine

A question-and-answer interview in APA's Monitor on Psychology, where writer Kirsten Weir talks with Auburn University psychologist April Smith about interoception, eating disorders, and suicide risk. Weir wrote the piece, so she's the author. Smith's name stays in the title, and you name her in your sentence. The date, volume, and issue match the Monitor's own Cite This Article box for the online version.

  • Parenthetical citation(Weir, 2023)
  • Narrative citationWeir (2023)

An interview on a podcast

Episode 393 of APA's Speaking of Psychology, where host Kim Mills interviews Harvard psychologist Matthew Nock about suicide prevention. On a podcast, the host is the author, with (Host) after the name. The guest is in the episode title already, and you name him in your sentence: Nock told Mills (2026) that . . .

  • Parenthetical citation(Mills, 2026)
  • Narrative citationMills (2026)

An interview on YouTube

A long interview with pediatrician and vaccine expert Paul Offit, posted on the Doctor Mike channel run by family medicine physician Mikhail Varshavski. Whoever posted the video is the author, so Varshavski goes first and Offit goes in your sentence. The citation points to 37:35, where the video's chapter on colds, flu, RSV, and measles begins.

  • Parenthetical citation(Varshavski, 2024, 37:35)
  • Narrative citationVarshavski (2024, 37:35)

A recorded interview in an online archive

A 1987 WFMT broadcast in which Studs Terkel talks medical ethics with physician Quentin Young and theologian Kenneth Vaux, now in the Studs Terkel Radio Archive. This is the one case where the people interviewed are the authors: for a recorded interview in an archive, APA credits the interviewees, and Terkel, the interviewer, doesn't appear in the reference.

  • Parenthetical citation(Young & Vaux, 1987)
  • Narrative citationYoung and Vaux (1987)

An oral history transcript held in an archive

An oral history interview with Walter J. Lear, dated December 22, 1993, one of the interviews Temple University's Urban Archives recorded about Philadelphia General Hospital. The transcript is held at Penn's Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing (MC 203, Box 1, Folder 5), and the finding aid doesn't name the interviewer. APA treats an interview in an archive as an archival source: a reference entry with Lear as the author, cited as Lear (1993). With no interviewer named, [Interview] stands in for the description, and the box and folder numbers follow it.

  • Parenthetical citation(Lear, 1993)
  • Narrative citationLear (1993)

In-text citations

The in-text citation follows the kind of interview, the same way the reference does.

  • Published interview: the author and year of the work, like any other source: (Weir, 2023) or Weir (2023). For a podcast, the host: (Mills, 2026).
  • A quote from a video or podcast: add the timestamp where the quote starts: (Varshavski, 2024, 37:35).
  • Archived interview: the person interviewed and the year: (Young & Vaux, 1987) or Young and Vaux (1987).
  • An interview you did yourself: initials, last name, the words personal communication, and the full date: (F. M. Last, personal communication, Month Day, Year).
  • Research participants: no citation. Quote them and identify them the way your Method section describes, such as by a participant code.

Because the interviewee often isn't the author, put their name in your sentence so your reader knows who said it: In an interview with Weir (2023), April Smith described interoception as . . . Or: Paul Offit took questions about colds, flu, RSV, and measles (Varshavski, 2024, 37:35).

Common mistakes

  • Smith, A. (2023). What is interoception, and how does it affect mental health? . . .Weir, K. (2023, April 1). What is interoception, and how does it affect mental health? 5 questions for April Smith. Monitor on Psychology, 54(3). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/04/sensations-eating-disorders-suicidal-behaviorIn a published Q&A, the writer is the author. The person interviewed goes in the title (if the magazine put them there) and in your sentence.
  • (Nock, 2026)(Mills, 2026)A podcast is credited to its host, not its guest. Name the guest in your sentence: Nock told Mills (2026) that . . .
  • (Offit, 2024)(Varshavski, 2024, 37:35)A YouTube video's author is whoever posted it. Offit is the guest on the Doctor Mike channel, so he belongs in your sentence. A timestamp tells your reader where the quote is.
  • Putting the interview you did with your nurse manager on the references pageCite it in the text only, as a personal communication with initials, last name, and the full dateYour reader can't retrieve an unpublished interview, so APA 7 gives it no reference entry.
  • (Participant 4, personal communication, March 3, 2025)Quote the participant directly, with no citationPeople you interviewed for your own study are participants, not sources. APA 7 has you quote them as data and describe them in your Method section.
  • Citing an archived oral history as a personal communicationA reference entry with the person interviewed as the author, cited by last name and yearAnything in an archive can be retrieved, so it gets a reference. APA's guidance for archived interviews lists the interviewee as the author and names the interviewer in the description.

Quick checklist

  • Decided first: published, archived, your own, or a research participant
  • Published: cited in the format of the place it appeared
  • Author is the writer, host, or channel, not the guest
  • Guest's name kept in the title when the source put it there, and named in your sentence
  • Archived: the person interviewed is the author
  • Your own interview: in the text only, with initials, last name, personal communication, and the full date
  • Research participants quoted as data, with no citation

Questions students ask

Do interviews go on the APA references page?

Published and archived interviews do, because your reader can find them. An interview you did yourself doesn't: it's a personal communication, cited in the text only. Interviews with participants in your own research aren't cited anywhere.

How do I cite an interview I did for a class assignment?

Cite it in the text as a personal communication: the person's initials and last name, the words personal communication, and the date you talked, like (F. M. Last, personal communication, Month Day, Year). It doesn't go on your references page. If your instructor wants your questions, notes, or a transcript, include them the way they ask. That doesn't change the citation.

Who is the author of a podcast or YouTube interview?

The host of the podcast, with (Host) after the name, or the person or channel that posted the video. The guest isn't the author unless it's their own show or channel. Name the guest in your sentence, and keep their name in the title if the episode or video title includes it.

How do I cite an interview in a magazine or newspaper?

Cite it as a magazine or newspaper article. The writer who conducted the interview is the author, and the article's title is the title, even when it's a Q&A. Give the date, the publication's name in italics, the volume and issue if it has them, and the URL for an online article.

How do I cite a research participant I interviewed?

You don't cite them. Quote what they said as part of your results, identify them the way your Method section explains (usually by a code or pseudonym), and leave them off the references page. Keep their identities as confidential as your consent forms and your study's ethics approval promise.

What if the person I interviewed doesn't want to be named?

APA 7's personal communication citation always names the person, and the manual doesn't give a version for an unnamed one. Ask your instructor how they want it handled before you use the material. If you're quoting people from your own research study, they're participants, and you identify them by code, not by name.

Is an email interview a personal communication?

Yes. Questions and answers by email, text, phone, video call, or in person are all personal communications when they aren't published or archived. Use the date of the email or the conversation.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.7, 8.9, 8.36, 10.1, 10.12, and 10.13, and the APA Style website's personal communications, archival documents and collections, and transcript pages. Example sources verified against the Monitor on Psychology article page, APA's episode page and Apple Podcasts, the YouTube video page and its chapter list, the Studs Terkel Radio Archive record, and Penn's finding aid for the Philadelphia General Hospital oral history collection (MC 203).

PERRLA builds published interviews from their links and writes the personal communication citation for interviews you did yourself.

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