How to Cite an Interview

An interview can be any formal conversation or a communication usually conducted for the assessment of a candidate. Here normally, the interviewer asks the questions to seek a reply from the interviewee relevant to the questioned asked or incurred. There are as many as six types of basic interviews for a citation. These are –

Personal/ Face-to-face interview
Telephonic/ Video conferencing
Published interview
Instant message/ chat interview
Interview through broadcasting
Interview through e-mail

Amongst the above seven types, personal interviews holds the priority. Commonly it is conducted in either APA (American Psychological Association) or MLA (Modern Language Association).

Following are some important steps to be kept in observation while citing an interview in the APA style: -

In the text format, any information can be cited for the interview purpose. But the subject should be presented as an essay.
The subject’s name should be in the paper for a sentence followed by a phrase. At the end of the sentence, interview date should be made within the parenthesis.
If there is more than one item or information inside the parenthesis, then separate each with a comma. Even the full name of the subject or the candidate should not be written. Only the initial of the first name should be mentioned and all the rest information to be separated by commas. e.g.: (S.Tennyson, Personal interview, 20th February 2009)
Never should you include the reference list with any personal interview but in a text.

Next we mention the steps to be followed in the MLA style of citing an interview: -

Here we need to put the last name of the interviewee in the beginning. Followed by a comma and a blank space the first name should be placed. Add a period after the first name of the interviewee. e.g.: Tennyson, Samuel.
Before the first name of the interviewer, place a keyword like “Interview with”. Last name of the interviewer should come after the first name and ending by placing a period. e.g.: Interview with Robert Wilson.
Name of the TV/Radio or Magazine/Newspaper should also be mentioned as decided for broadcasting or publishing the interview. e.g.: BBC or The Herald.
Place where the interview will be conducted along with date and time should be mentioned. The format dd-mm-yy is usually followed. A comma with a space to be followed after the date and placing a period after the month finally ending with the year. A full stop to be placed after the year is mentioned. e.g.: 20, Feb. 2009.
Lastly, there should be a clear mention of what type of interview to be cited.

These are the two mostly preferred ways of citing a personal (face-to-face) interview. Pursuing these steps one can now easily be able to conduct an interview.