How to Cite an Interview in MLA | Format & Examples

When citing an interview in MLA style, the name of the person being interviewed appears as the author in the in-text citation.

In the Works Cited entry, the interviewee’s name is followed by the title of the interview in quotation marks. If there is no title, use the description “Interview” (with no styling or quotation marks).

If you conducted the interview yourself, add your own name and the date on which the interview took place. If you found the interview in a published source, include the name of the interviewer and full details of the source.

MLA interview citation examples
MLA Works Cited entry MLA in-text citation
Personal interview Streefkerk, Raimo. Interview. Conducted by Shona McCombes, 20 July 2019. (Streefkerk)
Published interview Spark, Muriel. “Unsentimental Voyager.” Interview by Stephanie Merritt. The Guardian, 10 Sep. 2000, www.theguardian.com/­books/­2000/­sep/­10/­fiction.murielspark. (Spark)

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Citing a personal interview in MLA

To cite an interview that you conducted yourself, start the Works Cited entry with the name of the interviewee. Then simply describe it with the word “Interview,” followed by your own name (or “the author”) and the date on which the interview took place.

Works Cited entry
Gray, Alasdair. Interview. Conducted by Duncan Thaw, 8 Aug. 2017.

In the parenthetical citation, you only need to include the interviewee’s last name.

In-text citation
(Gray)

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Citing a published interview in MLA

To cite an interview that you found in a published source (e.g., in a newspaper, book, podcast, or video), treat the person being interviewed as the author, and put the title of the interview in quotation marks. Then include full details of the source according to the MLA core elements.

In the parenthetical citation, include the interviewee’s last name and (if available) the page number.

Interview in an online magazine

For an interview published in an online magazine, newspaper, or blog, you add the name of the publication, the date it was posted, and the URL.

Works Cited entry
Shonkoff, Jack P. “How the Stress of Separation and Detention Changes the Lives of Children.” Interview by Isaac Chotiner. The New Yorker, 13 July 2019, www.newyorker.com/­news/­q-and-a/­how-­the-­stress-­of-­separation-­and-­detention-­changes-­the-­lives-­of-­children.
In-text citation
(Shonkoff)

Read more about MLA online article citations.

Interview in a book

For an interview that appears as a chapter or section in a book, you need to include the book’s title; the author(s) or editor(s); the publisher; the publication year; and the page range on which the interview appears.

If the author or editor of the book is the same as the interviewer, you can leave out this part of the citation to avoid repetition.

Works Cited entry
Foucault, Michel. “Polemics, Politics, and Problematizations.” Interview by Paul Rabinow. The Foucault Reader, Pantheon, 1984, pp. 381–390.
In-text citation
(Foucault 383)

Read more about how to cite a book in MLA.

Interview in a journal

For an interview published in an academic journal, you need to include the journal name, volume and number, the date or year, and the page range. If you accessed the interview on an online database, include the name of the database and the DOI or stable URL.

Works Cited entry
Butler, Judith. “How Bodies Come to Matter.” Interview by Irene Costera Meijer and Baukje Prins. Signs, vol. 23, no. 2, 1998, pp. 275–286. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/­stable/­3175091.
In-text citation
(Butler 280)

Read more about MLA journal citations.

Online video of an interview

If you accessed a video or audio recording of the interview online, include the platform or website, the user who uploaded the interview, the date it was uploaded, and the URL.

In the in-text citation, you can use a timestamp or range of timestamps to specify the relevant part of the recording.

Works Cited entry
Smith, Zadie. “On Shame, Rage and Writing.” Interview by Synne Rifbjerg. YouTube, uploaded by Louisiana Channel, 17 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/­watch?v=4LREBOwjrrw.
In-text citation
(Smith 04:25–04:40)

Read more about citing a YouTube video in MLA.

Our MLA citation generator makes it easy to cite published interviews in any format.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2022, June 16). How to Cite an Interview in MLA | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved January 8, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/mla/interview-citation/

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Shona McCombes

Shona has a bachelor's and two master's degrees, so she's an expert at writing a great thesis. She has also worked as an editor and teacher, working with students at all different levels to improve their academic writing.