How to Cite an Interview in Chicago Style: Format Requirements and Examples

Interview in Chicago Style

Whether you are doing the interview yourself or using a published interview, conducting interviews may be a fantastic approach to obtaining information and quotations directly from the source when conducting research for a paper, project, or academic writing.

This article will teach you how to use the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style to properly credit both published and unpublished interviews in notes-bibliography format.

The Significance of Interview Citations

It is vitally crucial that you properly credit any relevant sources that you use in any writing job you do. In addition to being unethical and unprofessional, failing to properly credit a fact or statement may also violate your institute’s academic integrity policy or get you in hot water at work. You may stay away from all of that by properly attributing all of your reference materials.

How to Reference an Interview

The type of interview, whether it has been published or not, and if so, how, will determine how you cite it. All the information you require to properly cite interviews in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles is provided here, along with sample citations.

What is a Chicago Interview Citation?

A format for citing interviews in Chicago Style and bibliography style is the “Chicago style interview citation.”. The standard for citing interviews in a paper research project’s bibliography using the Chicago Manual of Style notes and bibliography style is known as the Chicago Style interview citation.

The interview’s last name, the interview date, and, if relevant, a page number must be included in the bibliography along with information on the interviewer and the interviewee. Additionally, the interview must be referenced inside the text using this citation style

Why Chicago Style is Good to Reference an Interview?

If a scholar chooses to include information from an interview in an academic work, they frequently need to cite the interview. In such instances, you may occasionally need to acknowledge the Chicago interview. 

This format is ideal for referencing data that the author has either directly collected or obtained from outside sources. In any case, it’s important to determine appropriate references and citations and to consider the interview status. Because it offers a consistent style for citing interviewees, guarantees that the source is properly cited, and makes the work easily available and verifiable, it is a particularly helpful and suitable style for academic and professional writing.

Although experienced scholars are aware of the method, we will demonstrate more specifically how to cite an interview in Chicago format or style.

Let’s start then.

General Principles in Chicago Style Citation

Depending on the interview’s publishing status and the sources it was published in, different specifications may be needed to quote it. Generally speaking, you’ll usually need to provide the following details:

  • Name of the interviewee; Heading; Interviewer’s name
  • Details regarding publications, TV programmes, or the channel
  • Date of the interview conducted
  • URL or DOI, if needed

There can be changes to the format; therefore, it’s important to refer to the directions your teacher gave you for exact details.

Why is the Chicago Format Important for Interview References?

Unpublished interviews and published or broadcast interviews are distinguished by the Chicago style of references. For published interviews, the Chicago style of citations differs in its guidelines for print and broadcast media.

While citations in a separate reference list are formatted with the interviewee’s last name first, in-text citations and comments are typically formatted in a manner like “First name, last name.”.

How to Cite a Published Interview in Chicago Style

People typically inquire about how to properly reference a published interview in Chicago style when an instructor or educational institution demands it. Interviews should be properly credited if they are published or accessible through printed or electronic means.

It is important to specify the person who questioned the source’s location and publication date. Furthermore, it’s important to format your citations correctly so that readers can understand where you found the material. 

Additionally, keep in mind that your Chicago annotated bibliography is where you can locate and access your published interviews. Scientific books and monographs can be used to create top-notch academic work. If you know the guidelines, citing an interview from a book in Chicago style is also not that hard. All the quotes should be included in your bibliography or in the form of a brief note.

Put the author’s last and first name, the interviewee’s information, the book title, and further details about this publication in a bibliography list.

Example

“Interviewee last, First name. Interview by First and Last Name. “Book title.” City, year.”

Means

“Farewell, George. Interview by Adam Cassandra. “Heat and life: Story of greatest pilots.” London, 2012.”

And then, not much will change when a full note citation will be used.

Example

“Interviewee First Last Name, Interview by First and Last name, “Book title”, City, year.”

Means

“George wells, Interview by Ling Cassandra, “Heat and life; story of the piolets,” London, 2012.”

Because a short remark is created in this citation format, it necessitates a more dramatic approach. Include the author’s last name, First name, Book title, and the location and year of release.

Example

“Last name of the author, “Book title,” City, Year.”

Means

Klingen, “Heat and life: stories of greatest pilots”, London, 2012.”

How to Cite an Unpublished Interview in Chicago Style

Interviews that were conducted for your study purposes and any that you accessed from archives instead of official publications are considered unpublished. 

You will frequently need to rely on sources with rather constrained coverage. The unpublished interview’s Chicago citation must thereafter be used. The information will not be accessible to the general public. Only pertinent information about the person may be included in the text. Citations from unpublished personal interviews should not be included in the bibliography.

Example

“First name Last name of the interviewee (to identify the information, interviewed by first name last name of the interviewer at Location, Date.”

Means

“Megan Leahy, interviewd by Emily Hargrave, Cinncinatti, January 2021.”

The name of the interviewee and their interview ID are included in this short citation;

Example

“Interviewee Last name, Interview.”

Means

“Leahy. Interview”

How to Cite a Video Interview in Chicago Style

Knowing the fundamentals makes citing a video interview in Chicago format. If you utilize a video source to conduct research or to watch an expert or conversation, you might need to know this information. 

Let’s start talking about a format that lets you add a video to your bibliography.

Example

You should use the following format for this;

 “Interviewee last, first name. “Video title”. Interview by first and last name. Month, Day, year. Video, Video length. URL

Means

Bradlie, Robert. “Big talk with Robert Brdlie.”Interview by Goldie Wilson. May,2, 2019. Video, 33:1. URL.

In the event that you need to include a reference at the bottom of the page where you mention it, you can also sketch a video interview as a comprehensive note. 

This is a complete note citation formula and example:

Example

“Interviewee First and last name, “Video title,” Interview by First and last name, Month day, year, Video, Video length or Timestamp, URL.”

Means 

“Robert Bradlie, “Big Talk with Robert Bradlie,” Interview by Goldie Wilson, May 2, 2019, video, 33:13, URL.”

The simplest method is to reference a video interview as a brief note; in this instance, you should only include the interviewee’s last and first names, the title of the video, and the start of the statement. Remember that you don’t need to specify the last and first names separately if they are mentioned in the title of your video.

This is the format of a short note citation;

“Interviewees last name, “Shortened video title,” Timestamps.”

Means

“Bradlie, “Big talk with Robert Bradlie,”3:45.”

How to Cite a Phone Interview in Chicago Style

When a conversation has been conducted and videotaped in private or through streaming media, the Chicago citation phone interview will be utilized. These two formats can be included in your bibliography and notes; the format for the notes differs significantly in that more data is provided.

In this instance, as opposed to the usual formula below, you should provide the type of the interview. The terms “phone conversation with the author” and the communication data will be used in this instance.

Let’s examine this method:

Example

“Last name, First name. Interview by First name Last name. Interview type. Location, Date interviewed.”

Means

“Smith, John. Interview with Bob Anderson. Phone interview. Pittsburgh, January 11, 2008.”

If you need to provide a reference at the bottom of the page where you mention a phone interview, you may also draw a phone interview as a comprehensive remark. You will be providing your first and last name, the nature of the interview, and the date of the interview.

This is how the entire note appears in the example:

Example

“First name Last name, Interview type, Date Interviewed.”

Means

“Molly Andrew, Phone conversation with author, June 13, 2013”

A brief remark, which is typically placed after the quote used in text or the references, is shorter and offers less information.

Example

“Last name, Interview.”

Means

“Huttchison, interview.”

How to Cite a Personal Interview in Chicago Style

A Private interview stems from a private discussion that isn’t written up in books, journals, or in any online publications. They are typically left out of bibliographies. Thus they have the barest minimum of data. For instance, the first and last names of the individual being questioned should be included in the whole cite style. The Interviewee’s first name and the last names ought to be included as well. Don’t forget to include the sort of the interview, the date and the location of the discussion.

Example

“Interviewee First Name Last Name, Interview by Author, Location, Month, Day, Year.”

Means

Jack Hicks, Interview by Lawrence Koren, Santa Monica,  June 30 2020.”

A shortest cites needs a lot of less information. It only contains the source type and the name of the interviewer.

Example

“Interviewee Last name, Interview”

Means

“Heggens, Interview”

How to Cite an Unidentified Interview in Chicago Style

Interviews that are anonymous or unidentified should simply be included in the notes; a bibliography is not necessary for them. Giving some background information on the interviewee’s name’s absence in the text is a smart approach.

Example

“Interview with interviewee description, Month day, year of interview.”

Means

“Interview with North High School student, January 28, 2022.”

How to Cite an Oral Interview in Chicago Style

When conducting an oral interview, the question of how to properly credit the interview in Chicago is also frequently asked question. 

In this term, the data should be entered in the following format;

Example

“The name of the interviewee, Date, location, Interview type, Location, Actual content storage.”

How to Footnote an Interview in Chicago Style

Frequently, when a quote from an interview is missing from the bibliography, people want to know how to credit it in the Chicago footnote. 

You can give readers a transcript of the content by including an identifying footnote, which enables them to determine the source of the information readily. Include the first and last name of the interviewee, the author, the date of the conversation, and the location of the transcript or record’s storage in a footnote.

Wrapping up

So till now, we have come to know that;

  • An interview can be cited in a research paper or other project using Chicago-style citations.
  • The name of the interviewee, the interview date, and the interview place are included in this format for citing an interview.
  • A Chicago-style interview citation’s complete citation can be found in the paper’s bibliography or reference list at the conclusion.

When assembling an academic paper or research paper from multiple sources, you should be aware of how to properly cite an interview using the Chicago style. Books and magazines may publish interview pieces. They also originate from the author’s work or are published online. 

In any case, you ought to provide details about the conducted discussions and carry them out correctly.