APA 6th Referencing: Personal Communications (Interviews, Emails etc.)

Personal Communications: General Reference Format

Personal Communications may include:

• emails
• private letters
• classroom lectures
• personal interviews
• online chats
• text messages, and
• telephone conversations

Because personal communications cannot be retrieved by a reader, they are referenced in-text only. There is no entry in your reference list. 

Note that some types of interviews are not considered personal communications. When an interview can be retrieved (either as audio, video, or transcript), cite it in the appropriate format and include both in-text and end-text references.

In-text citation:
This is a commonly used technique within the therapeutic setting (T. W. Willis, personal communication, August 10, 2002).

Personal Communications: Sample References

Personal Communications: Things to Remember

Note: some types of interviews are not considered personal communications. When an interview can be retrieved (either as audio, video, or transcript), cite it in the appropriate format and include both in-text and end-text references.

Note: Where a lecture is not housed on Blackboard and is publicly available, include a reference list entry. See Lecture (PPT slides).

End-text references:

• Personal communications are not included in the end-text references.

In-text references:

• A remark quoted from a formal or informal conversation is acknowledged by an explanatory note following the quotation.​
  • In-text citation:
    • (K. A. W. Crook, personal communication, April 18, 1971).
• The same referencing style would apply when acknowledging a tape, a personal letter, or a transcript of a speech or dialogue.
  • These references are not included in the reference list.
• In transcribing conversation or dialogue it is customary to mark the beginning of each speaker’s contribution by starting it on a new line.
  • Most publishers set conversation in single quotation marks, indented.
  • Scripts, however, do not use quotation marks for speech.
  • When a speech that is quoted extends over more than one paragraph, the quotation marks are repeated at the beginning of each paragraph, but the final quotation marks appear only at the end of the whole quotation – each individual paragraph is left open to indicate the continuity of the quotation.
  • Where one speaker quotes another, then the double and single quotation marks are alternated.
  • Example:
    • “What did Sue tell John?”
    • “She said, ‘Get lost’.”
    • Note: If any part contains matter not quoted, the final full stop comes outside the quotation marks.
  • Example:
    • He replied, “She said, ‘Get lost’”. 
    • Note: In general, punctuation marks are not duplicated, except where they are differently distinguished.
  • Example:
    • Did he hear the Speaker call, “Order!”?
    • He said, “Do you think I am mad?”.

Blackboard (Lectures, etc.)

Intranet for an Organisation

Sources on an organisation's intranet may also be referred to as a personal communication, if they cannot be retrieved. See APA Style blog.

Examples from the blog:

Personal Communications