There was an era when you could only cite printed sources and web pages. However, things have changed now. Over the past couple of years, podcast content has been an emerging source of valuable, legitimate, and citable information. Hence, many people cite podcasts for their documents, assignments, and many more. On that note, let’s get deeper into everything about podcast citation today!
Why Site a Podcast?
The count of podcast listeners in the U.S. is predicted to reach 164 million by 2024. The podcast industry has been growing for years and is a mainstream form for creators to reach their audience.
However, podcasts are not just limited to drama, movie reviews, or one on one interviews. There are countless academics and experts who deliver facts, figures, and theories through podcasts and reach their targeted audience.
Thus, most universities and institutions currently approve of adding podcast citations to research papers and other academic papers provided it meets their criteria. Adding well-chosen and informative podcast citations to your academic papers will give a better impression for taking a level higher than the regular textual citations.
When Do You Need to Cite a Podcast?
Before we jump on to learning podcast citations, let’s first understand when you actually need to cite a podcast.
If you want to determine whether citing a podcast is necessary in a case and if you should give the credit to the creator, ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I quoting the host word for word?
- Did I use any information, data, or facts that I found in the podcast?
- Have I summarized ideas or paraphrased any thoughts of the creator?
If your answer was positive to at least two out of three questions, you need to cite the particular podcast and give due credit to the host or guest whosoever works you are referring to!
Now, to cite a podcast, you need to find out some relevant information about the podcast, which is readily available on the podcast website or Google.
- Full name of contributor(podcast host or narrator)
- The username or the company that posted the content.
- Title of the podcast
- Title of the episode
- Publisher of the podcast, or where did you find the episode
- Date of publishing the podcast.
- URL of the podcast.
With all of this information, you can easily build a podcast citation effortlessly. Let’s move ahead.
Different Citation Styles
There are different podcast citation styles used for citing podcasts which are strictly limited to academic, professional, and scholarly uses. For example, you can cite podcasts in research papers, articles, books, or print pages and make your assignment more credible and authoritative. Let’s check out the different podcast citation styles.
MLA
The MLA(Modern Language Association) referencing system is mostly used in Arts, Humanities, English, Drama, Law, Philosophy, and similar other disciplines.
Here you need to note down the timestamp of the citation.
Structure
Last, First, M.I. of the creator. “Title of the episode.”Name of the Podcast, Name of the publisher, source, Posting Date, and URL.
In-text Citation
Structure
Host’s last name, start time of the relevant section-end time of the relevant section)
APA
The APA(American Psychological Association) citation is mostly used for social science subjects like psychology, sociology, science, medicine, etc.
Structure
Last, First, M.I. (Contributor title). Date of publishing the episode(Year, Month, Day). podcast title [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from URL.
Here for the contributor title, you can either mention the host, producer, or guest of the episode while citing the material.
In-text Citation
Structure
(Podcast Title, Year)
Example:
(The Psychology podcast, 2020)
In-text Direct Quote
Structure
(Host’s last name, year, timestamp)
Chicago Style
The Chicago Style(originated from the University of Chicago) is well famous for disciplines like Business, History, Fine arts, etc.
Here you are supposed to acknowledge the source materials using footnotes. To cite a podcast with a proper footnote, you need to include as much information as you can find on the internet or the website about the name of the producer of the podcast, etc.
Structure
Last, First, I. “Title of Podcast.” Produced by Company name. Name of Podcast. [Podcast audio], Month, Day, Year of episode upload.
Endnotes
Structure
First, Last, M.Date of the podcast. “Name of the podcast.” Podcast audio.
Episode title. Publisher. File Type. Accessed Month, Day, Year.
Harvard Style
Commonly known as parenthetical referencing, the Harvard style is another very popular citation style used in academia. It is mainly used for disciplines like Education, Psychology, and Sciences.
Structure
Author/presenter(Day, Month, Year of publication). Title of the podcast. [Podcast].
Date of uploading the podcast, Available at: Podcast URL (Accessed at: Day, Month, Year of access)
Final Thoughts
These were the very commonly used podcast citations used in most parts of the world. However, there are more. While citing a podcast for your academic assignment, research paper, journal, etc., it is important that you always have a thorough look at the requirements and the criteria of referencing and follow them accordingly.
