When You Need to Cite Unpublished Sources in a Malaysian Thesis
Malaysian postgraduate research frequently draws on sources that have not been formally published — including data from personal interviews with subject matter experts, email correspondence with government agencies or industry practitioners, unpublished theses from university repositories, working papers, conference presentations without published proceedings, and internal organisational reports. These sources fall outside the standard published article or book categories but may nevertheless constitute important evidence for your argument, particularly in applied fields such as management, education, public policy, and social work.
The challenge for Malaysian postgraduates is that APA 7th Edition treats each of these source types differently, with distinct citation formats that must be applied correctly. Errors in citing unpublished works and personal communications are among the most frequently identified citation issues in Malaysian thesis technical reviews, partly because these formats are less widely documented in citation guides than the formats for journals and books, and partly because writers often apply published-source conventions by analogy — which produces incorrect citations.
Citing Personal Communications: Interviews, Emails, and Conversations
Personal communications in APA 7th Edition encompass sources that cannot be retrieved by readers: emails, letters, text messages, telephone conversations, personal interviews, and informal verbal communications. Because these sources are not retrievable, APA 7th Edition does not include them in the reference list — they are cited in-text only, using the communicator’s initials and surname, the nature of the communication, and the full date.
The in-text citation format is: (Initials. Surname, personal communication, Month Day, Year). For example: (A. H. Rahman, personal communication, March 14, 2025). For Malaysian postgraduates who have conducted semi-structured interviews with practitioners or experts as part of their data collection, each reference to information obtained from a specific interview should include this in-text citation. Note that APA 7th Edition uses “personal communication” as a blanket term covering all non-retrievable interpersonal exchanges — there is no separate format for “interview” as a citation type within APA.
An important ethical consideration for Malaysian thesis writers: if your research involved formal interviews that were recorded and transcribed as part of a qualitative research design — with ethical clearance from your university — your supervisor may advise treating these differently. In some Malaysian universities, interview transcripts that are retained as part of the research data and could theoretically be made available upon request may be cited as unpublished data rather than personal communications. Clarify this with your supervisor before finalising your citation approach.
Citing Unpublished Manuscripts and Working Papers
Unpublished manuscripts — completed works that have not yet been submitted for publication, or works that have been submitted but not yet accepted — are cited in APA 7th Edition using the following reference list format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work [Unpublished manuscript]. Department Name, University Name.
For working papers — a common source type in economics, finance, and public policy research in Malaysia — the format depends on whether the working paper is available in a repository. If it has a URL or DOI (as is the case for working papers housed in institutional repositories or platforms such as the World Bank or IMF website), it is treated more like a report: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of working paper (Working Paper No. X). Institution Name. URL. If the working paper is not retrievable online, it follows the unpublished manuscript format with the institution specified in square brackets.
Citing Unpublished Theses and Dissertations
Unpublished theses and dissertations — works completed at a university but not yet deposited in a public repository — have their own APA 7th Edition format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis [Unpublished doctoral dissertation or Unpublished master’s thesis]. University Name.
For Malaysian postgraduate theses that are available in university repositories such as UM’s UMSSPACE, UKM’s PTSL, or USM’s Repository — even if access is restricted — they are typically considered retrievable and should be cited using the published thesis format with a URL: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis [Doctoral dissertation, University Name]. Repository Name. URL. If you are unsure whether a thesis you are citing is publicly accessible, default to the unpublished format, which is technically accurate in all cases.
Citing Government Reports and Grey Literature
Malaysian postgraduate research frequently references government reports, policy documents, ministry publications, and statistical bulletins — sources collectively termed “grey literature” in academic research. While many of these are now available online and can be cited with a URL, some may only exist as printed or internal documents. For retrievable government reports: Author or Department. (Year). Title of report (Report No. if applicable). Ministry/Agency Name. URL. For non-retrievable government documents, the URL is omitted, and the format otherwise remains the same.
Conclusion
Correctly citing unpublished works and personal communications in your Malaysian thesis using APA 7th Edition requires understanding the key distinction that governs this area: retrievable sources appear in the reference list with the information needed to locate them; non-retrievable sources (personal communications) appear only in the text. Applying the correct format for each source type — unpublished manuscripts, working papers, theses, interviews, and grey literature — will ensure that your reference list meets both APA 7th Edition standards and the expectations of your Malaysian university’s IPS technical review.
