*Education Research Guide: APA Style

Citing Personal Communications--Emails, Interviews, Lectures, etc. in APA Format

Emails, letters, memos, telephone conversations, lectures, course materials handed out in class or provided via Blackboard, and personal interviews are considered personal communications in APA. This type of communication can be difficult to provide recoverable data; therefore, these types of communication are not included in the Reference list. Cite personal communications within the body of your paper only.  Information on citing communications.  

Example:

In an interview, Sally Shoefeld explained the treatment for an accident victim (personal communication, December 18, 2023).

Note: For more information about interviews, https://apastyle.apa.org/learn/faqs/cite-interview 

See 9.30 and 10.8 in 7th Edition

APA Citation Style does not have a separate category for government publications. According to APA, government documents can be considered Books, Technical/Research Reports, or Brochures.

Helpful Tips:

• Treat a government document as a book, report, or brochure.
• If a person is named on the title page, use her or him as author.
• If no person is named, use the government agency, department, or branch as a group author.
• Give the name of the group author exactly as it appears on the title page. If the branch or agency is not well known, include its higher department first.
• If the group author is also the publisher, just use the word Author after the location.
• If there is a series or report number, include it after the title.
• The manual refers to the GPO (U.S. Gov. Printing Office). 

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):

(Author Surname OR Name of Government Organization, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation):

(Author Surname OR Name of Government Organization, Year, page number)

References:

Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. OR Government Name. Name of Government Agency. (Year). Title: Subtitle (Report No. xxx [if available]). Publisher.

Example 1

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):

(Gilmore et al., 1999)

In-Text Citation (Quotation):

(Gilmore et al., 1999, p. 5)

References:

Gilmore, J., Woollam, P., Campbell, T., McLean, B., Roch, J., & Stephens, T. (1999). Statistical report on the health of Canadians: Prepared by the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Advisory Committee on Population Health. Health Canada, Statistics Canada, Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Example 2

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):

(Edwards, et al., 1997)

In-Text Citation (Quotation):

(Edwards, et al., 1997, p. 2)

References:

Edwards, N., Sims-Jones, N., Hotz, S., & Cushman, R. (1997). Development and testing components of a multifaceted intervention program to reduce the incidence of smoking relapse during pregnancy and post-partum of both women and their partners. Report prepared for Health Canada at the Community Health Research Unit, University of Ottawa, Canada.

Example 3

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):

(Ontario Ministry of Health, 1994)

In-Text Citation (Quotation):

(Ontario Ministry of Health, 1994, p. 7)

References:

Ontario Ministry of Health. (1994). Selected findings from the mental health supplement of the Ontario Health Survey. Queen's Printer for Ontario.

Example 4

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):

(U. S. Food and Drug Administration, 2004)

In-Text Citation (Quotation):

(U. S. Food and Drug Administration, 2004, p. 8)

References:

U. S. Food and Drug Administration/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. (2004). Worsening depression and suicidality in patients being treated with antidepressant medications: FDA public health advisory. Author.

 

text adapted from https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/book-government-publication#:~:text=Name%20of%20Government%20Agency.,xxx%20%5Bif%20available%5D).

APA Publishing Policies on Artifical Intelligence.

For this policy, AI refers to generative LLM AI tools and does not include grammar-checking software, citation software, or plagiarism detectors.

• When a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model is used in the drafting of a manuscript for an APA publication, the use of AI must be disclosed in the methods section and cited.
• AI cannot be named as an author on an APA scholarly publication.
• When AI is cited in an APA scholarly publication, the author must employ the software citation template, which includes specifying in the methods section how, when, and to what extent AI was used. Authors in APA publications are required to upload the full output of the AI as supplemental material.

Additional reading material:

• APA Style Blog: How to cite ChatGPT (apa.org)
• COPE Position Statement: Authorship and AI tools | COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics
• US Copyright Office Guidance: Federal Register :: Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence

 

The ERIC databases adds Education document numbers to the records.  Make sure to include these and when in doubt always give your reader the trail to find the document you are referencing.

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/eric-database-references