Major Writing Assignment: Preparing to Interview
Conducting interviews is an excellent way to gather information about a topic. Conduct an interview as research for an essay. Refer to Goshgarian, pages 204-205 regarding interviews.
• Select a topic of local interest. Assuming you were going to conduct an interview with an expert on that issue to gather information, list three individuals with whom you would strive to set up an interview. (Be realistic: list people who you actually would have an opportunity to interview.)
• Gather and write a brief summary of: 1) the background information on the issue, 2) the expert’s stand on the issue, and 3) the basis for considering the expert an expert on this topic prior to the interview.
• Prepare a list of 15 to 20 questions you want to ask and rank them in order of priority according to the purpose of the interview.
Project Reminder:
This week you will begin research on your team's topic.
See project description document for the complete project and the details
Reading assignment for next week:
Read in text, Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader, Chapter 4, “Researching Arguments:
Thinking Like an Investigator,” pp. 74-105.
