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HSA 3111 APA Support: Personal Communication

HSA 3111 & 4850

Personal Communication

Personal Communication

No personal communication is included in the Reference list; instead, parenthetically cite the communicator's first initial and last name, the phrase "personal communication," and the date of the communication in your main text only.)
For example: (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2016).
A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style if they did not look up the details (personal communication, November 3, 2017).

Use this simple format.  (personal communication, Month Day, Year)

Examples:

Dr. Phyllis Jackson (personal communication, October 1, 2016) felt the salt content in many canned soups was misleading to consumers. -narrative

OR:

Dr. Jackson felt the salt content in many canned soups was misleading to consumers (P. Jackson, personal communication, October 1, 2017).  -parenthetical

NOTE: Personal Communications do not appear in the References page.

The APA Blog Style explanation in full is here.