LibGuides: Harvard Reference Style: Personal communication

Personal communication: Reference format & examples

Personal communication may be:

private letters
memos
electronic communications, e.g. email
personal interviews
telephone conversations
social media postings where it will be unable to access the content (e.g., because of friends-only privacy settings or because the exchange occurred in a private message)
Lecture notes that are only available from the teacher, via course management software (such as Moodle, Blackboard)
Notes taken during a lecture or material that was handed out in class but is not posted elsewhere (e.g., on the instructor’s public website)

**Examples**
TYPE	IN-TEXT CITATION
Personal communication	Where personal communications do not provide recoverable data, it must not be included in the reference list. Cite personal communications in text only. Give the initials as well as the surname of the communicator, and provide as exact a date as possible. When referencing a personal communication you should: Ask permission of the author/speaker/sender before quoting them Provide the communicator’s initials & surname & type of communication in the text Provide the exact date of the communication Examples: In an email on 23rd July 2017 J. Brown stated that … In a conversation on 25th March 2018 B. Jones confirmed that … In a lecture on 8th February 2018 V. Simpson outlined …