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APA - Referencing Guide

Personal Communication

Information

 Personal communications include

  • AI generated text  e.g. ChatGPT
  • conversations
  • electronic bulletin boards
  • emails
  • interviews
  • letters
  • memos
  • messages from discussion lists
  • online chats
  • personal interviews
  • telephone conversations
  • text messages

 Do not include references for personal communications in a reference list, as they are unpublished, and do not contain recoverable data.

 Cite personal communications in the text only.

 Add the format description of "personal communication" to the citation within the text.

Give the initials as well as the surname of the communicator and provide as exact a date as possible

Follow the In Text Citation Guidelines for Citing Personal Communication when referring to a personal communication in text.

Examples

Personal communications (in text)

M. Day (personal communication, July 30, 2023) finds the film meets several criteria ...

Professor Lutes in an email to the author gave details of his clinical experience with this treatment (T. K. Lutes, personal communication, April 18, 2021).


See the All Examples page for examples of in-text and reference list entries for specific resources such as articles, books, book chapters, and web pages.

Reference List Entries

For ease of use, this guide divides reference list entries into different formats.
Select the format you require from the Reference List Entries menu or select from the links below: