Getting Ready

It should be apparent by now that a successful interview will be key to your Major Project 2: Profile of a Writer. This will be your main source of information about the writer you're profiling, so be sure to take it seriously. Being prepared and conducting a careful interview at this point will make it easier to write your actual paper.

To get ready for your interview, refer to the course readings for this week.

To help generate ideas for the kinds of things you might look into, draw from many of the course readings so far, as they are all interconnected.
To help generate ideas for how to conduct your interview and observation, see how observation was key in addition to interviewing. Here, for instance, instead of simply conducting a short (and incomplete) "Ask-Answer" session, be sure to ask more open-ended questions like "Tell me about how you come up with ideas for writing," or "Walk me through what it's like to write X." These give your interviewee space to talk, and, eventually, you can analyze and learn about their planning, drafting, and revision strategies from their answers.
Finally, again, rather than treating your interview like an interrogation, think of it more as an open-ended conversation in which you and your interviewee are both discussing some of the concepts and ways of thinking about writing you've been learning about this semester. Some discussion prompts to elicit this sort of conversation can be found at the bottom of this assignment.

Do This

1.) Conduct and record* an interview of at least 20 minutes with your chosen interviewee, the person you'll be writing Major Project 2: Profile of a Writer about. As this person is giving up some of their own time to help you with a school project, be sure to be polite before, during, and after the interview, especially if this interviewee is someone you do not know especially well (thank you emails or cards would be a good idea). Be prepared. You can also save them time by asking them to bring to the interview any examples they have of the sorts of things they read and write, or whatever other materials you think might help you with your project.

Ideally, this interview will be done face-to-face, but using video conferencing tools (e.g. Skype, Facetime, etc., any mode you like) or audio is also fine**. To receive credit, however, you must record your interview. It is impossible to have the same quality of conversation while trying to write down everything your interviewee is saying, and interviews conducted over something like email or text are almost always useless (I'm speaking from the experience of having worked with literally hundreds of students here). This is a good time to familiarize yourself with the software on your computer or phone if you're unsure of how to do so.

2.) Upload/link to your interview to Major Project 2: Profile of a Writer (large files might necessitate outside hosting on something like YouTube, Google Drive, or Dropbox, so you may want to utilize these tools). If you're unable to upload the audio/video file, you can transcribe (type) out the interview and upload the transcript. If you have technical questions, please contact Webcourses support at https://cdl.ucf.edu/services/technical/webcourses/ or call them at 407-823-0407.

3.) Additionally, be sure to arrange to collect excerpts of writing your interviewee writes and uses. These might include bulletins, websites, discussion boards, emails or memos written for work, presentations, newsletters, forms, etc...anything!:) It will vary from person to person, but try to collect at least 2-3 examples your interviewee uses. These will give you tangible examples you can use in your profile.

*To receive credit, interviews must be recorded. "Notes" aren't good enough here; you need to capture what the person is actually saying. If you're unsure of what to use as a recording device, consider that, at a minimum, your phone and/or computer probably contain recorders of some type.

**Email/text-based interviews won't work for this, since they don't allow for the same degree of spontaneity and back-and-forth found in a face-to-face interview. Skype/Google Hangout and/or telephone interviews, however, may work, but, again, they must be recorded.

Sample Interview Questions

I've listed below some sample interview questions and discussion-starters. Remember, these should be discussion starters--be sure to follow up on specific responses in order to fulfill the Major Project 2: Profile of a Writer requirements of looking specifically of how a writer writes in particular situations. Feel free to use or adapt them as you wish. Some may be repeated and tweaked as your interviewee mentions more examples. The italicized parts in any questions below are not parts of the question, but for your own reference.

What kind of reading and writing do you do—of any sort, high- or low-stakes, formal or informal—on a day-to-day basis and in what kind of community? What does it look like? What does it do for the community? Do you enjoy it? Why or Why not?
Tell me about your writing process for X (perhaps a follow-up question to some of the writing mentioned in #1). What does it involve? Can you walk me through how you plan, incubate ideas, and revise?
You mentioned that you write/read/use X. Can you tell me about how you learned to write/read/use X? Did someone or genres from the community teach you?
Can you tell me a story about a time you had to write/read/use X? Maybe the most recent time you can think of, or any particularly memorable time.
What's the hardest part about writing? Why? Is this for all writing you do, or in just some particular instances?
Growing up, do you remember encountering any significant reading or writing situations (i.e., literacy sponsors) that may have an influence on you as a writer now? What do you remember about them?