Skip to Main Content

Chicago Citation Style: Interviews & Personal Communications

This guide will help you cite sources using the Chicago Citation Style 16th edition.

Interviews and Personal Communications (14.218-14.223 / pp. 744-746)

Unpublished interviews and personal communications (conversations, emails, letters, etc.) are generally cited in a footnote only; they are rarely included in the Bibliography. 

General Format 

Full Note:

1. Interviewee/Email Sender First Name/Initial Surname, Interview by Name of Interviewer,
      Place and Date of Interview.

Concise Note: 

2. Generally the same as the full note. Can list Interviewee/Email Sender by Surname only.

Bibliography:

Typically no bibliography entry required.

Example 1

Full Note:

1. Andrew Macmillan (principal adviser, Investment Center Division, FAO), in 
      discussion with the author, September 1998.

Example 2

Full Note:

1. Interview with health care worker, August 10, 1999.

Example 3

Full Note:

1. Constance Conlon, email message to author, April 17, 2000.

Example 4

Full Note:

1. John Powell to Grapevine mailing list, April 23, 1998, no. 83,
      http://www.electriceditors.net/grapevine/archives.php.

Learn More

Download this 2-page guide:

Websites with information on using Chicago style:

About Citing Other Sources

This guide is intended to cover only the Notes and Bibliography system for citing sources.

For each type of source in this guide, both the general form and a specific example will be provided.

The following format will be used:

Full Note - use the first time that you cite a source.
Concise Note - use after the first time you cite a source.
Bibliography - use when you are compiling the Bibliography that appears at the end of your paper.

Information on citing and several of the examples were drawn from The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.). 

Numbers in parentheses refer to specific sections and pages in the manual.

Polytechnic School Libraries | 1030 E. California Blvd. | Pasadena, CA 91106 | 626-396-6300 |