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.
Lang, Jenny. Interview. Conducted by Andrew Morse, 27 Dec. 2020. |
| In-Text Citation |
Required elements: Last name of person interviewed
Parenthetical style example (Lang)
Narrative style example According to Lang, "insert quote here". |
Note: According to MLA, if an interviewee wishes to remain anonymous, don't include a works cited list entry for the interview. Instead, use an endnote to specify that the source is a personal interview, and include relevant details such as the communication method (e.g., phone, e-mail, text message, in-person meeting), along with the interview date.
| 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 |
Required element: Last Name of email sender
Parenthetical style examples (Kinsey) (Loch) (McCain)
Narrative style example Loch mentioned that "insert quote here". |
Note: If you're citing a published source (e.g., book, video, article) by an Indigenous author, use the appropriate citation template for the type of source you're citing. Consider the sources you are using to ensure that Indigenous Peoples are appropriately and accurately portrayed in the source.
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