Project Summary

In order to explore the work of professional writers and to learn of career opportunities in the field, this project asks students to first locate a professional writer, secure an interview, prepare a set of interview questions, and develop an interviewing strategy. Students will then conduct the interview and write-up a formal document reporting their findings. Students will engage readings, primarily Weiss’s Learning from Strangers, on the practice of interviewing, learning the principles of successful and ethical primary research. While in several ways this assignment stands apart from the others, the same underlying theoretical framework is at work. In the planning stages, students will create the interview as an architecture for guiding and shaping the responses of their subject. In the report document (and in the subsequent presentation) students will then map out the findings of their interview, selecting, arranging, and presenting the information for several different audiences.

Using Weiss as a guide, each student will find a professional writer in the Lafayette area to interview (I will provide some leads for interview subjects), write a set of interview questions, contact the person, perform the interview, and then write up the interview findings in a final interview report. Evaluation takes place at four stages of the interview report project.

Deliverables

Proposal

The proposal is a shorter (2-3 page) document stating who will be interviewed, describing the organization with which the subject is affiliated, and announcing when and where the interview is scheduled to take place. The proposal must include a draft version of the interview questions. Students will work together to improve interview questions and tips, but each student conducts their own interview.

Proposal Due: 3/25 (post to blog: categorize appropriately)

Progress Report

The progress report is a longer narrative written immediately following the interview. Transcriptions of questions and answers are required. As we discussed in class Thursday (March 27), you are required to transcribe at least eight question and answer exchanges. Be sure to provide contextual information for each exchange so that they will make sense to the instructor. Additionally, please indicate how these exchanges are integral to the final report as you see it now. At least four items additional should appear: 1) an extended account of the interview, including location, time, and circumstances, 2) description of the interaction between interviewer and interviewee, 3) impressions of the interview, as well as 4) ideas for improving interview technique. Each student may want to revisit the site of the interview for contextual information, ask follow up questions in email or by phone, and/or conduct further research. Articulate these plans here. Be sure to incorporate headers in this report. It is good professional practice to make accessible documents and headers a part of that.

Progress Report Due: 4/1 (post to blog: categorize appropriately)

Draft of the Interview Report

The report should be complete and ready for final delivery with all content determined and designed. The Interview Report is the major project for the semester and should be a substantial document containing multiple sections with materials developed throughout the semester, including the interview transcript. Also include contextual information regarding where your interview subject works, and reflect on your sense of becoming a professional: is this someone to emulate?

Draft Due: 4/10 (post to blog: categorize appropriately)

Final Report

The final interview report is a long formal report, and must include a detailed description of the interview and at least two appendices. These appendices include the original question list and the interview transcript. The report should include both a description of the interview as well as an analysis of the interview. The interview report is written primarily to be read by other members of the class. Students are expected to “repurpose” materials from the proposal and progress report. More information regarding the interview and report will be given in class. No student will receive a grade for the class without submitting a complete final interview report.

Final Draft Due: 4/18 (submit hard copy to instructor in a manila envelope - there will be a box outside HEAV 414 until noon - and post to blog as pdf: categorize appropriately)

In-class Presentation: Profile of Professional Writers

After reading 5-7 interview reports, students will prepare five minute presentations defining professional writing as a major, a profession, or as a course of study. Examples of professional writers can be drawn from interview reports, mentoring, and course readings. Student should define the role they are most likely to play in an organization as a professional writer. They should prepare their remarks with two audiences in mind: classmates in 306 as well as for the next class of 306 students: what should prospective professional writing students know about the major, and how will both audiences make the most of the opportunities made available to them at Purdue and beyond? Presentations should contain five minutes of material and a visual for sharing in class. PowerPoint is a good program to use, but students shouls not feel limited to this one tool: the visual may be but does not have to be digital. The class will compile a final collaborative profile of professional writers during the last two classes.

Presentations Due: 4/22 or 4/24

Grade Breakdown

The Interview Report Project accounts for 30% of the total course grade. The Presentation accounts for 10% of the total course grade. Individual components of the project are worth the following:

  • Proposal – 20%
  • Progress Report – 20%
  • Draft – 10%
  • Final Draft – 50%
  • Total – 100%

    • Grade Guidelines

    • proposal is a coherent document rather than a series of disconnected components
    • proposal is composed in third person in order to address the individual who will be interviewed, their organization, and the questions they will be asked
    • proposal is composed in present tense, focusing on the interviewee and the structure of the interview
    • successful reports provide relevant information in a coherent narrative; they do not simply list information about the subject
    • successful reports give the reader a clear picture and a solid understanding of the subject of the document
    • all documents of a professional quality and appropriate for a professional context

    Portions of this project and its guidelines adopted from Michael Salvo @ Purdue University

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