Published January 29, 2021. Updated August 15, 2021.

To create a letter reference or citation, you will need to know the name of the author, name of the receiver, title of the letter, location sent from, and date sent.

The templates and examples below will show you how to cite a letter in MLA style, APA style, Chicago style, and Harvard referencing style.

Easily cite a letter in the style of your choice using the Chegg Writing citation generator.

Help protect your paper against accidental plagiarism with the Chegg Writing plagiarism checker and citation generator.

Citing a letter in MLA style

To cite a letter in MLA, write the title as “Letter to [Receiver]” without quotation marks.

In-text citation template and example:

(Author Surname)

(O’Keeffe)

Works cited entry template and example:

See more examples and templates in this guide on citing a letter in MLA.

Citing a letter in APA style

If the letter has no title, write the title as “Letter from [Sender] to [Receiver]” with italics instead of quotation marks.

In-text citation template and example:

(Author Surname, Year sent)

(John, 2012)

Reference list entry template and example:

See more examples and templates in this guide on citing a letter in APA.

Citing a letter in Chicago style, notes-bibliography

Footnote template and example:

Note

1. 1. Sender First M. Surname to Receiver First M. Surname, Location written, Delivery Month Day, Year

      .

   2. Benlow Park to Nancy Ajram, Huntington, OH, January 10, 2021.

Shortened note

1. 1. Sender First M. Surname to Receiver First M. Surname, Delivery Month Day, Year.

   2. Benlow Park to Nancy Ajram, January 10, 2021.

Bibliography entry template and example:

See more examples and templates in this guide on citing a letter in Chicago.

Citing a letter in Chicago style, author-date

In-text citation template and example:

(Author Surname Publication year, Page number)

(Park 2021, 3)

Reference list entry template and example:

See more examples and templates in this guide on citing a letter in Chicago.

How to cite a letter in Harvard referencing style

To cite a letter in Harvard referencing style, the author surname and year are used in the narrative and parenthetical.

In-text citation template and example:

(Author Surname, Year)

(Spanier, 1950)

Reference list entry template and example:

See more examples and templates in this guide on citing a letter in Harvard referencing style.

Writing a paper? Don’t forget to include a bibliography.