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Chicago Referencing Guide: Personal Communication

A personal communication could be an email, your own lecture notes, a phone call, a discussion or an unrecorded presentation - essentially it is a source which is nonrecoverable and unable to be accessed by readers. Therefore, a personal communication will have an in-text citation but no reference list entry.

Reference List

No information is required in the reference list as the data has not been published and cannot be retrieved.

In-Text

... (James Shaw, email to author, February 17, 2023).

Notes

  • In the in-text citation, include what kind of personal communication it was (e.g. email, text message, phone call etc).