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Referencing a study that hasn't been written yet

I went to a seminar where a researcher was talking about the study she's doing at the moment. She hasn't written it up yet; it doesn't even have a title. I'm including some information about the study in an essay. How do I reference it?

Reply 1

iammichealjackson

Original post by Allllly

Copied and pasted from the APA Publication Manual. IT would definately raise eyebrows though if you cited an unpublished study - if you cite it within a generally weak essay your examiner would probably thing you just made it up! But on the other hand could definately make your essay stand out!

6.20 Personal Communications
Personal communications may be private letters, memos, some electronic communica
tions (e.g., e-mail or messages from nonarchived discussion groups or electronic bul
letin boards), personal interviews, telephone conversations, and the like. Because they
do not provide recoverable data, personal communications are not included in the ref
erence list. Cite personal communications in text only. Give the initials as well as the
surname of the communicator, and provide as exact a date as possible:
T. K. Lutes (personal communication, April 18, 2001)

(V.-G. Nguyen, personal communication, September 28, 1998)

Use your judgment in citing other electronic forms as personal communications; online
networks currently provide a casual forum for communicating, and what you cite
should have scholarly relevance.
Some forms of personal communication are recoverable, and these should be ref
erenced as archival materials. See section 7.10 for templates, descriptions, and exam
ples of archival sources in the reference list.