Skip to Main Content

Footnote - Referencing Guide

Personal Communications

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• Do not include references for personal communications in a reference list, as they are unpublished, and do not contain recoverable data.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

• Permission should be sought from the source/author of a personal communication if you wish to include quotes in your text.

• Details to include when referencing in text are:

  • date of the communication;
  • whether the communication was in oral or written form;
  • the affiliation of the person might also be included to better establish the relevance and authority of the citation (recommended).

Examples

AI / ChatGPT

In-text citation or note:

Number.Originator of the communication, medium, Day Month, Year.

1 OpenAI's ChatGPT AI language model, response to question from author, 7 February, 2023.   

Conversation

In a conversation with a colleague from the School of Theology (Michael Owen 2002, oral communication, 7th August)...

E-mail

...the new research projects in anthropology were discussed in an email from Paul Smith, received on February 5, 2000. 

Do not include the email address of the author.

Letter

As stated in a letter from B.J. Samuels, MD, in July 2002...

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

Bibliography Entries

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

Subjects: Referencing