Category: Cram Session
Hey all,
I'm an English major and subsequently most familiar with MLA. Well, I'm also seeking a certificate in rehab, and in one of my classes for that certificate, we are writing an analysis over someone we've interviewed who has a disability. Fun project, right? I'm all over it, except that it's in APA, which I've never used before, EVER. I've been Googling it like crazy but can't seem to get a straightforward answer for how to cite a personal interview. For instance, I get that it is not considered recoverable data and therefore does not show up in the reference list; but how to cite it in-text has shown up about a billion different ways. So here are some questions I have:
1. Do I cite the personal interview in the beginning of the paper or in the abstract?
2. How do I reference the P.I. after a quote? Must I do this like in MLA or no? I've actually never cited a personal interview in MLA either, so this is kind of tricky.
3. If I have no other sources for my paper, will I get shot for not having a reference list? Lol
And as a separate question about abstracts: I've never written one before. What on Earth do I do in that light? And are they always required, or is it just for certain types of papers?
Thanks so much; your help is greatly appreciated.
Mel
well firstly a abstract is usually used in a major, published study which in a nutshell summarizes the study, and what your outcomes were.
a personal interview would be considered a primary source so the way to reference that is going to be different than cighting a secondary source.
Unless your doing a thesis, I don't think a abstract is required.
My teacher finally told us it wasn't. Thank God! Lol
Here's how you site interviews that you've done personally. Let's say I admited to you that I'm a self important douchebag. You would then report that, Then in parentheses Personal communication followed by a comma and the date the communication took place followed by a closing parentheses and the ending punctuation of the sentence. So it would look something like this in the above example.
Scott, a whiney New Yorker, openly admited to being a self important douchebag in our interview (Personal communication, October 15, 2011).
apa isn't all that bad.....
Hahahha thanks Scott! That helped. Turned out she didn't want is citing it in-text. Stupiiiiiiiid oh well. Now I know. :)
APA isn't that bad, it is one of the most making sense sightation that i come across. However, if you are doing a paper purely a personal interview, you shouldn't need to sight it word by word. there's lots of way you can done it, and at the end of the day, it come to your lecturer as to how he or her wants it.
Good luck.
yeah.... it does make a lot of sense,
I've found the perdue online writing lab, or owl for short, to be an invaluable resource with all formats of paper.
OWL has been a lifesaver for me! It's bookmarked in Firefox and in my IE favorites! lol!
bit late i know, but i totally get what you mean about apa being ignoring!
i've been to 2 different college and done papers over 3 schoos so have had to use APA, MLA and now harvard style, the latter is doing my head in! lol
sorry to the last person who post.... what is "now harvard style"? is that new? if you got to diana hacker.com gives you everything about APA.. Abstract is when you summing what your paper is about....
sorry i should have phased it better, i NOW have to reference in Harvard Style which yet again is a different referencing style, slowly getting there though :-D
i hate referencing in Harvard style, it is illegical.
i have never been taught Harvard Style.... i dont know what that is much... is that something new with colleges? or is that in some places or all location?
i think it just depends on your course discipline as when i did psych i used apa, but now i moved into business we have to do Harvard, but then again they have been in 2 different countries so not sure if it depends on descipline or school as such
it sounds more like a country thing because in the states they dont have that i believe since i am not a business major i cant say. i know psych is with apa...