APA Referencing: Personal communication, Intranet, Indigenous Oral Traditions

Personal communication is a source that cannot be recovered. It is only cited in the text of an assignment.  There is no entry in the reference list as it cannot be retrieved. Examples of personal communication are:

• Emails
• Texts
• Phone calls
• Online chats
• Personal interviews
• Unrecorded class lectures
• Private letters 
• Nonarchived discussion groups etc

In-text citation (narrative, part of the sentence)

In-text citation (parenthetical, end of the sentence)

• Include the initial and surname of the communicator
• The phrase personal communication
• Provide as exact a date as possible

Confidential source 

• If a person wishes to remain anonymous, a term such as confidential source can be used. 

Intranet is an internal communication network available to the staff of an organisation.

• If the reader of your work can recover the source you are citing, reference according to the type of resource it is e.g. report
• The source would be the site name and homepage URL
• When the author and the publisher/site are the same, omit the publisher from the source element

Not available to a wider audience

• If it is not available to a wider audience, this means it cannot be retrieved. 
• Cite the source as personal communication i.e. an in-text citation only with no reference list entry

In-text citation

The way you cite Traditional Knowledge or Oral Traditions depends on whether the information has been recorded and is recoverable or whether the information is gained from speaking with someone and is not recoverable (Oral). See the APA Manual for more information (pp. 260-261). 

Recorded

• If the information has been recorded and can be retrieved, you need to include an in-text citation within your assignment and an entry in your reference list
• You will use the correct referencing format for the source the information came from (see YouTube video, book, etc.)
• Make sure any information found in published work is accurate and appropriate to share before you cite it
• Work closely with the relevant people to ensure the information is appropriate to publish
• Make sure your wording accurately mirrors and maintains the integrity of the people's perspective
• As Indigenous cultural heritage belongs to Indigenous people in perpetuity, be aware of copyright and authorship

Oral

• If you spoke with someone directly to learn information (but they were not a research participant), the information is not recoverable. You reference the information as personal communication, with a few variations
• There is no entry in the reference list
• The in-text citation provides the person's full name and the specific Indigenous group they belong to (e.g. iwi), their location or other relevant details (Iwi affiliation and the place they live gives context to the information as traditional knowledge can vary from iwi to iwi)
• Include the words personal communication
• Provide an exact date for when you spoke to the person. If you spoke to them over a certain period of time, provide a date range
• Ensure the person agrees to having their name included in your assignment and that they confirm the accuracy and appropriateness of the information you present

In-text citation (narrative, part of the sentence)

In-text citation (parenthetical, end of the sentence)

• If you are an Indigenous person and are sharing your own experiences or those of your people (previously unrecorded), describe yourself in the text (e.g., which iwi, tribe, nation or people you belong to) to give context to the origin of the information. Do not include a personal communication citation or a reference list entry because you do not need to cite personal information

Whakataukī (Māori proverbs) 

Often with whakataukī, the original source or author and date are not known. Therefore, the way you reference it depends on how you accessed it and whether the reader of your assignment/research can find it. 

If whakataukī are recoverable, cite it in the text and include a reference list entry, referencing the source it came from (e.g. videos, audio, book, webpage etc). See the APA Manual pp.160-161 for more information.

For example, if it is from a book write a reference list entry for that book and use the author(s) of that book for the in-text citation. if it is from a webpage write a reference list entry for that webpage and use the author(s) of that webpage for the in-text citation and so on.

In-text citation

You would treat it like a quote. If it was from a book use a page number, if it was from a webpage, use a paragraph number and/or section heading.

Reference list entry

Whitireia/WelTec Library guides

APA Referencing Quick Guide 

APA Referencing Guide to Hanging Indentation 

Introduction to APA Referencing Guide

Key Changes between APA 6th and APA 7th edition (University of Auckland)

Paraphrasing Author(s) Multiple Times in a Paragraph 

Images: Finding and Referencing

Whitireia/WelTec Learning Support Guides

Assignment Writing - Covers plagiarism, paraphrasing

Tūāpapa Online Study Hub Modules. To access go to Moodle:

Click here if you are a Whitireia student. 

Click here if you are a Weltec student. 

• Log in if prompted
• Click Academic Communication, then Introduction to APA and Plagiarism & Academic Integrity

Referencing tools 

APA Interactive, Massey University

APA Style Blog

Referencite, University of Auckland

Referencing software

Mendeley 

Zotero