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Chicago - Referencing Guide

Citing Personal Communications

Citing Personal Communications

Personal communications include conversations, interviews, lecture material, telephone conversations, letters and e-mail messages.

Citations for this type of material are unpublished and are not included in the reference list because they do not contain recoverable data. Cite personal communications in the text only.

Give the title, given name or initials as well as the surname of the communicator and provide as exact a date as possible:

In a telephone conversation with the author on October 12, 2005, Dr J. W. Mueller stated that ...
OR
Professor Visser gave his reasons for closing the laboratory in an e-mail message to the author on January 16, 2004. The reasons given were...