Q. I am writing a seminar paper of which the majority of references are interviews I have done. How do I reference these within the paper? Should I provide a note each time I reference an interview? What should the note look like if I’m also attaching a full bibliography?
A. Please see CMOS 14.211: “Unpublished interviews are best cited in text or in notes, though they occasionally appear in bibliographies. Citations should include the names of both the person interviewed and the interviewer; brief identifying information, if appropriate; the place or date of the interview (or both, if known); and, if a transcript or recording is available, where it may be found.” If you give complete information in the text, you don’t also need a note. Write something like “In an interview with the author in Hinsdale, Illinois, on February 20, 2008, Richard Goss claimed that . . .” The next time, you can be more brief: “In my 2008 interview with Goss, I learned . . .” For examples of note form, see 14.211.