MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Interviews and Emails (Personal Communications)

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan.
February = Feb.
March = Mar.
April = Apr.
May = May
June = June
July = July
August = Aug.
September = Sept.
October = Oct.
November = Nov.
December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

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.

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Last Name of Person Who Was Interviewed, First Name. Interview. By Interviewer First Name Last Name, Day Month Year of interview. 

Last name, First names, Elder, Nation/Community. Topic/subject of communication if applicable. Personal communication, Date Month Year. Territorial Acknowledgement of where the information was shared/collected.

This citation template was developed by Norquest College in the spirit of wahkôhtowin and reconciliation. It was expanded upon by Kwantlen Polytechnic University Library and the KPU the Elder in Residence, Lekeyten. 

Last Name of Person Who Was Interviewed, First Name. "Subject Line of Email." Received by Name of Person Who Received Email, Day Month Year of Email. Email Interview.

Learn more: See MLA Handbook, p. 124 for citing emails, p. 211 for descriptions at the end of citations.

Last Name of Person Who Was Interviewed, First Name. Interview. Day Month Year of interview. By Interviewer First Name Last Name. Telephone Interview.