The name of the person being interviewed appears as the author in the in-text citation when citing an interview in MLA style.
The interview title follows the interviewee’s name in the Works Cited entry quotation marks. Use the descriptor “Interview” if there is no title (with no styling or quotation marks).
If you conducted the interview personally, include your name and the interview date. Include the interviewer’s name and the source’s full details if you found the interview in a public authority. Read on to learn more on How To Cite An Interview In MLA.
Table of contents
How to Cite an Interview That Has Been Published
Begin your citation with the name of the person who got interviewed. With a comma after the last name and a period after the first name, this person’s name should be reversed (or any middle name).
After the person’s given name, a suffix such as a roman numeral or Jr./Sr. should appear, preceded by a comma.
Include the title after the name of the person interviewed in a published interview with a label.
Place the interview title and a period in quotation marks if it is from a publication, program, or recording.
The format of a published interview item is also determined by whether the interviewer’s name is mentioned. If you don’t know the interviewer’s name, leave it blank.
If you don’t know how to write an MLA, you can consider: How to Write MLA Citation: Format your Documents
Interviewer’s Name Not Given:
Interviewee Last Name, First Name. “Interview Title.” Publication Title, Publication Date, Location Details (website URL, page number). Interview.
Interviewer’s Name Given:
Interviewee Last Name, First Name. “Interview Title.” Interview by First Name Last Name. Publication Title, Publication Date, Location Details (website URL, page number).
Interview with a Title:
Include the interview title after the name of the person interviewed in a published interview with a marker.
Use quote marks and a period around the interview title. After the interview title, the title of the publication or broadcast show is in italics.
Angelina Jolie is a Hollywood actress. “Being a Mother” is a term used to describe the role of a mother.
If the interview has no title or was published independently, italicize the publication title and follow it with a period.
Include “Interview by” after the interview title details if the interviewer’s name is available. Do not spell the interviewer’s name backward (Interview by First Name Last Name).
Angelina Jolie is a Hollywood actress. The time limit is 60 minutes. Steve Kroft interviewed for CBS on February 3, 2009.
Finish the citation by including publishing details for the interview’s medium of publication. They can find specific guidelines in the Citation Guide articles for various works (e.g., radio/TV programs, periodicals, newspapers, and novels).
There are some minor adjustments to the publisher information layout for books.
The author’s name(s) should not be reversed, should follow after the book title, and should be preceded by the term “By.”
An interview in a book should be treated as a chapter, with page numbers showing where it appears.
Angelina Jolie is a Hollywood actress. Steve Kroft conducted the interview. The time limit is 60 minutes. WCBS, New York: CBS, 3 February 2009.
Angelina Jolie is a Hollywood actress. John Smith conducted the interview. B22+ in Newsweek, 3 February 2009.
Angelina Jolie is a Hollywood actress. John Smith conducted the interview. Conversations with a Star Jane Doe is a writer. BibMe, Pittsburgh, 2009. 28-47.
The interviewee’s Last Name and First Name are not published. Interview. Interviewer’s First Name, Last Name, and Interview Date
Joe Hill is a writer. Interview. Jane Doe will be interviewed on October 22nd, 2020.
Begin your citation with the person who was interviewed’s name. The name of this individual should be reversed, with a period after the last name and before the first name (or any middle name).
After the person’s given name, a suffix such as a roman numeral or Jr./Sr. should appear, preceded by a comma.
After the person is interviewed, mention the sort of interview (e.g., personal interview, telephone interview, etc.) followed by duration for an interview.
Finish the citation by including the date of the interview, followed by a period. Write the whole date in international format for the interview date (i.e., day-month-year). Except for May, June, and July, truncate month names (four letters for September, three letters for the rest of the year) and place a period after the date.
Name of the interviewee The author is interviewed in this type of piece, conducted on this date.
Angelina Jolie is a Hollywood actress. They interviewed with the author over the phone—on the 11th of February, 2009.
In MLA format, how do you mention an interview?
MLA citation for a personal interview
Include the following items in a reference entry in MLA style 8th edition to cite a personal interview:
Names of interviewees:
Include the surname name and first name as they appear in the source (e., g. Thomas, Hook).
Reverse only the first name, followed by ‘and’ and the second name in usual sequence for two writers (e. g., Thomas, Hook, and Hook, Thomas).
List each author’s first name, followed by et al., if there are three or more (e. g., Watson, John, et al.)
The interview’s title is:
When titles are self-contained, they are italicized. If you’re quoting from a more prominent source, use quotation marks instead of italics.
Names of interviewers:
Include the last name and first name as they appear in the source (e., g. Thomas, Hook).
Reverse only the first name, followed by ‘and’ and the second name in the usual sequence for two writers. List each author’s first name, followed by et al., if there are three or more (e. g., Watson, John, et al.).
The source’s title is:
A comma separates italicized container titles.
The publishing date is:
Give the publishing date, month, and year. Except for June and July, it shortens all months as three letters (e.g., 9 Aug. 2019.)
Amount of pages:
Give the entire page range, followed by pp. If there is only one page, start with one p.
How to Write a Citation for a Personal Interview
Personal interviews can offer researchers information straight from the source, and conducting such discussions over the phone allows the writer to speak with a broader spectrum of people.
Interviews are helpful to humanities scholars because they gather narratives and perspectives that provide a broad cultural context.
They are most typically connected with qualitative research performed in the social sciences. Researchers can use the Modern Language Association or MLA format to correctly document personal telephone conversations in their writing.
Guidelines
A personal interview is one in which you conduct yourself as the researcher. Although the interview framework, whether organized or open, has no bearing on MLA citation, it may be necessary to your lecturers or publishers.
If you’re using someone else’s interview, you’ll need to follow the requirements for a published interview instead.
Bibliography
The full name of the individual interviewed, the designation, and the interview date, in that order and separated by periods, must appear in an MLA bibliography, also known as a Works Cited page.
According to the MLA Handbook, the interviewee’s surname should come first, followed by a comma, and then the first name, according to the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook.
They should write the date in the following order: day-month-year, with the month, truncated with a period in the end if it is longer than four letters.
The last name should write the interview in alphabetical order, with the second line indented a half-inch, as with all MLA Works Cited entries.
Citation in the text
When citing the interview in the paper, provide the interviewee’s last name. To acknowledge the information, it is best to put this reference in the text, such as in a signal phrase.
Because there is no page or line number connected with a personal telephone interview research source, you do not need to provide parenthetical citation when providing in-text attribution.
Citation entry of an interview Templates
Here is a template of interview citation:
Cite the names of the interviewees in the same way as you would cite multiple authors. The below example is for three interviewees.
(Interviewee’s Surname et al.)
(Sethusankar et al.)
Works-cited-list entry template and example:
Interviewee Surname, First Name, et al. Interview. They are conducted by Interviewer’s Name, Publisher, Publication Date.
Sethusankar, Krishnan, et al. Interview with College Professors. They are conducted by Kirubakaran, Ajantha Publishers, 2021.
References
- bibguru.com: Personal interview.
- scribbr.com: interview-citation
- bibliography.com: how-to-cite-an-interview-in-mla
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