Referencing and citing podcasts in an academic and professional context can can be confusing. This article will show you how to cite a podcast correctly in all of the three major academic citation styles: APA, MLA, and Chicago. In case you an not familiar, these are the three most well-known academic guides (Backtracks has podcasting discounts for academic and non-profits by the way) that contain specific accepted guidance on reference and citation of other media and works. Learn how to cite podcasts following the steps and examples below.
OVERVIEW OF THE BEST WAYS TO CITE NEW FORMS OF MEDIA
- The best way to cite new forms of media will depend on which academic discipline a writer is working in.
- A professional academic journal will also identify which specific citation style should be used.
- Academic work recognizes three major citation styles: APA, MLA, and Chicago.
- The Chicago Style has two distinct styles: Chicago Notes and Bibliography and Chicago and Chicago Author-Date.
- Typically, APA is used in social sciences, engineering, and education while MLA is used in the humanities.
- Chicago Notes and Bibliography is used in history papers and in the humanities.
- Chicago Author-Date is used in the physical, natural, or social sciences.
- Other citation styles used in academic work include Bluebook, which is used in law; CSE, which may be used in sciences; and IEEE, which is used in computer science and engineering.
- All 3 of the major academic citation styles recognize specific rules for citing new media like podcasts (podcasts are still considered new media even though there’s quite a bit of podcast history).
Formal Citation Rules for Podcasts
How to Cite or Reference a Podcast in APA Style
- A full APA podcast citation at the end of a document should proceed exactly as follows: Smith, J. (Producer). (Year, Month Day). Title of Podcast [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://example.com
- The title of the podcast should be placed in italicized font.
- According to the APA Style Blog, when citing a podcast it is important to follow the basic citation rules of “who, what, when, and where“.
- For a podcast citation at the end of a document/in a reference list, a writer should place the name of the producer (or writer/speaker) first and then the title of that person: e.g. Smith, J. (Producer).
- An APA in-text/parenthetical podcast citation should include the last name of the “who” followed by the year, for example: Smith, 2019).
- A writer who wishes to cite a section of a podcast should place a “timestamp” in the in-text/parenthetical podcast citation, as in (Smith, 2019, 1:28:03–1:57:42), but should not include this timestamp as part of the end of a document/reference list citation.
How to Cite or Reference a Podcast in MLA Style
- A full MLA podcast citation at the end of a document should proceed exactly as follows: Smith, John, producer. “Title of Podcast.” Name of Podcast, season x, episode x, date, https://websiteofpodcast.com.
- Note that the sources of the new media should be placed in italicized font and months should be abbreviated, as in Feb., Mar.
- In MLA style, a specific example of a time stamp would look like: 9:07 a.m.
- Within in-text/parenthetical citations, a timestamp should be used if an author wishes to cite a specific section of an audio or video file.
- An in-text/parenthetical citations to a section of a podcast should be formatted as follows: (Smith, 1:28:03 – 1:57:42).
How to Cite or Reference a Podcast in Chicago Style
- An example of a properly formatted podcast footnote/endnote citation would be:: 1. John Smith, “Title of Podcast,” Month Day, year, in Name of Podcast, produced by Company, podcast, file type, running time, accessed Month Day, Year, https://websiteofpodcast.com.
- An example of a properly formatted bibliography citation would be: Smith, John. “Title of Podcast.” Produced by Company. Name of Podcast. Month Day, year. Podcast, file type, running time. Accessed Month Day, Year. https://websiteofpodcast.com.
- In Chicago style, there are rules for how to format each citation as an endnote/footnote as well as how to format the citation as part of the bibliography/reference list.
- The endnote/footnote is taking the place of the in-text/parenthetical citation that is used in the MLA and APA formats.
- The name of the podcast (as opposed to the title of the podcast) should be placed in italicized font.
- If the writer references a specific section of an audio or video, the timestamp should be placed before the URL in both the footnote/endnote and bibliographic citation.
Hope this guide to referencing and citing podcasts got you the information that you needed. Happy writing and happy podcasting!
