MLA Format for Quoting Interviews

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If you plan to use interviews in your research paper, you are bound to add a lively, “in-the-moment” dynamic to your paper. Like any other source, interviews must be attributed properly on your “Works Cited” page, which appears as the last page of a paper that follows Modern Language Association style. Follow the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook and get ready to make a positive impression on your instructor.

Face-to-Face Interviews

Cite an interview that you have conducted by listing the interviewee’s last name and first name, followed by a period. Write “Personal interview,” even though the adjective might seem nonsensical since there is no such thing as an “impersonal” interview. Provide the interview date in British form, followed by a period. So, for example, the citation would read: Obama, Michelle. Personal interview. 4 July 2012.

Online Interviews

The Web contains a trove of interviews. Cite yours by beginning with the interviewee’s name, with the last name first. Provide the title of the interview in quotation marks; if no title is provided, supply the name of the interviewer. Follow with the name of the website in italics; the name of the website publisher, and, if none is provided, write “n.p.”; the date or year that appears on the Web page; the type of publication (Web page); and the date that you perused the Web site for information. So your citation might look like this: Obama, Michelle. Interview by Jane Pauley. FirstLadies.org. The National First Ladies Library, 2012. Web. 4 July 2012.

Published Interviews

For interviews that are contained in a book, magazine or other printed source, as well as those that appear in a broadcast medium: list the interviewee’s name, with the last name first. Include the title of the interview, if one is provided, in quotation marks. Put the name of the book, magazine or printed source in italics. The rest of the citation should follow MLA style for that source. For example, for an interview that appears in a magazine, write your citation in this way: Obama, Michelle. Interview with Jane Pauley. Illinois Issues (2001): 136-142. Print. For an interview that appears in a book, write your citation in this way: Obama, Michelle. “The View from the White House,” Interviews with America’s First Ladies. By Jane Pauley. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Print.