Interview Research:
You are supposed to select a family member or friend/acquaintance to interview for this assignment. It will probably help to do a bit of preliminary research on your selected interviewee’s era and/or homeland prior to the interview. Discover/explore some of the important events that would have shaped his or her life. For example, if your family or friend lived in China during World War II, you might want to find an article on that subject to read before you do your interview or draft your questions. This will help you to ask more detailed and intelligent questions. Then compose 10-20 questions before the interview, so that you are prepared and organized. Finally, you should ask your subject if it is okay to record the interview. Taping/recording will allow you to pay closer attention to the interviewee and be assured that all of the information will be captured for later use. Then you can transcribe what you need later with accuracy.
OPTION 2: Personal Acquaintance Research
Alternatively, you may choose to interview an American or non-American from a previous generation or a different place who is not a member of your family. If you choose this option, you will have to decide on a friend or acquaintance that interests you and then do an interview with that person. The focus of your research will be, first, to find out about the life of the person you choose to interview/research and second, to find out about the times in which he or she lived. Try to ask several questions about a particular subject or event that you will later focus your paper on. In other words, go into depth on particular subjects and choose one to focus your essay (very important)! Also, if you do outside research, be careful not to plagiarize it in your paper. The research is to be used to compose informed questions, not to be used in your paper as filler.
Writing Assignment (600-800 word essay of at least four paragraphs):
When you have completed your interview/research on someone from a previous generation or different place, draft a brief essay (4-8 paragraphs, in good essay form as you learned in the Purdue OWL) from the interview and research notes you have taken. The introductory paragraph of your essay should introduce the person you are writing about to your reader. (Please try to describe this person in detail here. Remember that the reader has probably never met your interview subject.) The thesis should focus on a particular topic. (DO NOT TRY TO WRITE ABOUT THE SUBJECT’S ENTIRE LIFE HISTORY). The body of the essay should show the reader important details about this person as they relate to the controlling idea in the thesis. The conclusion should provide a satisfying sense of closure for the reader of your essay, like dessert after a good meal. Again, realize that the life of a person is a big topic for a short essay, so try to limit or focus your essay on some portion of the person’s life, like his or her childhood, or some important event or time. This essay should be about 600–800 words in length.
As you might well guess, the essay will be made up primarily of material gathered during the interview. You should paraphrase and quote this material skillfully. I do expect some quotes in this paper. Also, unless there is a very good reason to do so, do not include your interview questions in the essay. You asked the questions to gather the answers, but they probably have no place in the essay itself. This might go without saying, but since you should not include your questions in the essay, you shouldn’t organize the essay by way of the questions either. The paper is about some focused portion of the life of the interviewee, not the interview experience itself.