- Personal communications refer to materials such as letters, emails, interviews, telephone calls, lectures, and lecture notes that cannot be found through formal channels.
- These materials should not be listed in the reference list, but mentioned in the running text. When referencing personal communications, it's important to include the date of the communication as precisely as possible and the first name initial.
- Use the phrase personal communication or a more specific word related to the context, for instance, telephone call, lecture etc.
- Personal communications should only be used when no better source is available. For instance, if you obtain information from a PowerPoint in a lecture and the source is indicated, it's better to access it, read it, and cite it.
Examples of in-text citations in text:
- (B. Smith, personal communication, July 15, 2007)
- B. Smith (personal communication, July 15, 2007), one of the social workers at the Red Cross, helped victims during the . . .
NB! You only have to cite according to the examples above if the person has given you permission to be named in your work! If no permission is given you use either fictitious or descriptive names or titles in the running text and omit citations like the ones above.
Examples of how to write about confidential sources in the text:
One respondent said that she had never experienced anything like it.
- One of the social workers said that there had been some pressure from local authorities.
- One of the Swedes in place at the disaster area said that . . .
- PJ, a French middle manager at company X, stated that . . .
- Respondent C, on the other hand, was not aware of the fact that . . .
- Several of the interviewed social workers said that . . .
If you use fictitious names, they are placed within quotation marks:
- "Maria", a 45-year-old social worker at the Red Cross was there when the earthquake occurred.
Read more about his on APA Style: Let's Talk About Research Participants
