Personal Communication is information that you have received personally, and most importantly, will not be accessible to the readers of your work to access for themselves.
Personal Communication includes:
- Emails and text messages
- Online chats and telephone conversations
- Letters and memos
- Personal interviews
- Live speeches and unrecorded classroom lectures
- Messages from non-archived discussion groups & online bulletin boards
The APA advises that:
- you should only use personal communication when published and accessible information is not available.
- if you wish to use and cite information that you obtained during a lecture, it is preferable that you access and cite the original research on which the lecture was based rather than cite the information as 'personal communication' from your tutor.
- You should not use a personal communication citation for quotes or information from participants whom you have interviewed as part of your own original research.
Citing Personal Communication
Because the readers of your work will not be able to retrieve the information for themselves, personal communications do not have entries in the Reference List. They are cited in the text only.
An in-text citation requires
- the initial(s) and surname of the communicator
- The most exact date that is possible
Example - In-text Citation only
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Many airline pilots found the long-haul flights particularly uncomfortable because in those days, smoking was allowed inside the cockpits (B. Jones, personal communication, March 3, 2020).
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