In-Person Versus Email or Call?
While interviews can be conducted in different ways, the most productive results will come from in-person interviews. If you can conduct an interview in person, it is important to take notes on the process. Observing the physical space where the interview is conducted can help you create a scene later in the narrative of your paper. Take notes on the diction (word choice) of the interviewee, emotions, mannerisms, and physical appearance can also help you re-create the person as a dynamic and complex character in your paper.
If you need to interview via email or by phone, do your best to keep organized notes.
The more information in your notes, the better, because you’ll be able to choose what you really want to include when you outline your paper.
MLA Citation for interviews
You will need to cite the interviewee within your paper and on the Works Cited. Find the instructions by using OWL Purdue’s online MLA webpage for “personal interviews.”
Drafting Your Questions
As you prepare, consider what information you would like to get out of the interview, and write out your questions accordingly.
For this assignment, write up a minimum of ten questions you plan to ask your interviewee. Make sure the questions are in an order that is logical. This will allow you to know what you intend to get out of an interview and enable you to adapt when an interviewee inadvertently answers more than one question at a time or shares information you would like to ask about in greater depth.
Make sure you ask leading questions rather than questions that can be answered with one-word responses. It is helpful to incorporate phrases such as these into your interview questions: “Tell me a story about the time…”; “Can you explain in detail when…”; “Describe your favorite memory about…” ; “At length, describe….”
This kind of questioning will help your interviewee feel comfortable and willing to share more information about which you can then ask follow-up questions.
In-person interviews are usually the most productive in that they allow you to take notes on the interviewee’s manner, dress and composure in addition to getting your verbal answers.
Please bring to class at least one set of questions with a brief description of whom you will be interviewing, what you already know about that person and what you would like to learn from them. Choose one person to interview, if you’re able .
Here are a few ideas of what to ask your interviewee.
What parts of you—physical and/or intellectual—do you think represent or are indicative of our shared upbringing or social class?
Can you recall a specific song or movie that you really related to on some deeper level? What is the song or movie about and how did you feel when you first heard or watched it?
What is your general perception of people who are part of [ ]? How would you describe them?
Tell me a story about the time you experienced [ ] in our family.
Describe an epiphany about yourself or some realization about how the world really is.
