How to Quote an Interview

How you quote an interview depends on whether you conducted it yourself or found it published. A personal interview, one you did, is cited by naming the person and the date: in MLA the Works Cited reads “Ng, Sophie. Personal interview. 12 Mar. 2024,” and in APA it is cited only in the text as (S. Ng, personal communication, March 12, 2024), with no reference-list entry. A published interview, one printed or posted somewhere, is cited like the medium it appeared in. Below are both cases in both styles, with the exact wording.

Personal interview: MLA 9

An interview you conducted counts as a personal interview. Introduce the quote, then cite the interviewee’s last name in the parenthetical, since there is no page number.

When asked about staffing, the director said, “We plan around the summer, not the school year” (Ng).

The Works Cited entry names the interviewee, labels it a personal interview, and gives the date:

• Ng, Sophie. Personal interview. 12 Mar. 2024.

Use “Personal interview” for one you conducted, or “Interview by [name]” if someone else conducted it but it was not published. The general MLA in-text rules for a source without a page are in MLA quote citation.

Personal interview: APA 7

APA treats an interview you conducted as personal communication. Because a reader cannot retrieve it, it appears only in the text, never in the reference list.

The director noted that planning “revolves around the summer, not the school year” (S. Ng, personal communication, March 12, 2024).

Give the first initial and last name, the words “personal communication,” and the full date. There is no matching References entry, which is the biggest difference from MLA. The wider APA direct-quote rules are in APA quote citation.

Published interview: MLA 9

If the interview was printed in a magazine, posted on a site, or aired as a podcast, it is a published source and gets a full Works Cited entry. Start with the person interviewed, give the interview’s title if it has one, credit the interviewer, and cite the publication.

• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Art of Fiction No. 274.” Interview by Susan Norget. The Paris Review, no. 245, 2023, pp. 60–88.

If the interview has no title, use the description “Interview by Susan Norget” in place of the title. In text, cite the interviewee’s last name and a page if the source has one: (Adichie 72).

Published interview: APA 7

APA does not have a separate “interview” reference type for published interviews. Cite the interview by the format it appeared in, whether that is a magazine article, a podcast episode, or a video, and name the interviewee in your sentence.

• Norget, S. (2023). The art of fiction no. 274 [Interview with C. N. Adichie]. The Paris Review, (245), 60–88.

The in-text citation follows the reference, so it is (Norget, 2023, p. 72). Because the interviewer is the author of a published article in APA, the year and page work exactly as they would for any article. The pattern for citing something a person said, in speech or in print, is expanded in how to cite a quote from a person.

Quoting the words accurately

Interview speech is spontaneous, so transcribe it faithfully and resist smoothing the grammar. If you cut a digression, mark it with an ellipsis; if you add a clarifying word, put it in square brackets. Keep the speaker’s meaning intact, and do not stitch two separate answers into one quotation as if they were said together. A recorded interview that you are treating as a speech or address may fit the speech pattern instead, covered in how to quote a speech.

FAQ

Does a personal interview go in the reference list?

In MLA, yes: a personal interview gets a Works Cited entry. In APA, no: a personal interview is cited only in the text as personal communication, because the reader cannot retrieve it.

How do I quote an interview I found on a podcast?

That is a published interview. Cite it by the podcast-episode format in each style and name the interviewee in your sentence. Include a timestamp in place of a page if you are pointing to a specific moment.

Who do I list first, the interviewer or the person interviewed?

In MLA, list the person interviewed first. In APA, a published interview is credited to the author of the article or episode, which is often the interviewer, so follow the format of the medium.

Do I need a page number for an interview quote?

Only if the published version has pages, as a magazine or journal does. A personal interview and most audio or video interviews have no pages; use the speaker’s name in MLA and the year in APA, with a timestamp if useful.