The category "Personal Communications" is used in situations where you are taking information from a source such as an email thread or an interview you conducted with someone else. In this case the work isn't published anywhere, someone else couldn't find and read the full interview or email on their own.
Sometimes you may find interviews with people in journals, magazines, newspapers, websites, etc. In those cases don't use the "Personal Communications" category. Instead, cite them according to where you found the information.
For example, an interview in a magazine would be cited like a magazine article. That way anyone reading your assignment could easily track down the interview for themselves by finding the same magazine article.
| Works Cited List Citation |
Last Name, First Name of person interviewed. Interview. Conducted by First Name Last Name of interviewer, Day Month Year of interview. Note: If an interview is conducted by the author, a slight citation variation of this form is used.
Lang, Jenny. Interview. Conducted by Andrew Morse, 27 Dec. 2020. Foy, Joseph J. Telephone interview with the author, 8 Jan. 2007. Andrea, Erin. E-mail interview with the author, 1 May 2023. |
| In-Text Citation |
(Last Name of person interviewed)
Example: (Lang) |
| Works Cited List Citation |
Last Name, First Name of e-mail sender. E-mail to Recipient Name. Day Month Year email was sent.
Kinsey, Sharon. E-mail to Arts Committee. 17 Feb. 2021. Loch, Mary. E-mail to Eric Andersen. 21 Sept. 2020. McCain, George. E-mail to the author. 28 June 2021. |
| In-Text Citation |
(Last Name of email sender)
Examples: (Kinsey) (Loch) (McCain) |