How to cite an interview in APA 7

APA has no single “interview” format. The right one depends on where the interview can be found. Choose from these four situations.

1. An interview you conducted yourself

If nobody else can read or hear it, it is a personal communication. It is cited in the text only and has no reference-list entry:

(M. Osei, personal communication, March 3, 2025)

See citing an email or personal communication for the full rule. If the interview is part of your own research with participants, APA handles those quotations differently, so check with your instructor.

2. A recorded interview held in an archive

APA’s archival guidance covers interviews and oral histories kept in an archive. List the interviewee as the author and give the interviewer’s name in the description. The in-text citation is the usual author and year, such as (Smith, 1989). Follow the pattern on APA’s page for archival documents and collections.

3. An interview published as a podcast episode

Use the podcast format. The host is the author, followed by the role in parentheses, then the specific date the episode first aired, the episode title in italics with its number, and a bracketed description. See citing a podcast episode in APA. Name the guest in your text rather than in the author position.

4. An interview printed in a newspaper or magazine

Use the format for that kind of periodical. See citing a news article in APA. The author is whoever the publication credits as the author of the piece, which may be the interviewer.

When you can’t tell

Ask where your reader would find it. If they can find it, give a full reference using the format for that type of source. If they can’t, cite it in the text as a personal communication.

Check before you submit

APA’s pages don’t give one model for every published interview. If your instructor expects a particular format, follow it, and add the interviewee’s name in your text so the reader knows who is speaking.