How to Cite an Interview in MLA Format

Before writing your citation, determine whether you are citing a personal interview or a published/broadcast interview. A personal interview is one you conducted yourself via face-to-face conversation, phone, or email. A published interview is one found in a secondary source like a magazine, newspaper, website, or television program. This distinction is critical because it changes the 'container' information required in your Works Cited list. Personal interviews require no publication data, whereas published ones must follow standard MLA container rules for the medium in which they appear.

For interviews you conducted, the format is straightforward. Start with the interviewee’s last name, a comma, and their first name. Follow this with a period. Next, write the descriptive label Personal interview (not italicized or in quotes). End the citation with the date the interview occurred in Day Month Year format. If the interview was conducted via email, use the label Email interview instead. This format tells the reader that the source is an original primary source not available in a public database.

When citing an interview found in a source like a YouTube video or a journal, start with the interviewee's name. If the interview has a specific title, place it in quotation marks. If there is no title, use the descriptor Interview by [Interviewer Name]. Follow this with the name of the publication or program in italics, the publisher, the date of publication, and the URL or page numbers. This allows readers to locate the exact recording or text you are referencing.

In-text citations for interviews follow the standard MLA author-page style. Since the interviewee is considered the 'author' of their spoken words, use the interviewee's last name in parentheses. If the interview is in print (like a book or magazine), include the page number. If the interview is a personal communication or a video broadcast, use only the last name. Place the citation at the end of the sentence before the final period. If you mention the interviewee's name in the sentence, no parenthetical citation is needed unless a page number is required.