Article Interview - draft due 10/11/10

Students are to conduct an interview and then write it as an article.
The rough draft is due on 10/11/10 and the final will be due on 10/12/10.

ASSIGNMENT GIVEN 9/28/10:

Interview:
• Select a person to interview
• Conduct the interview and write a summary of your interview. 50 Points

Interview Summary:
• Introduction
• Who did you select to interview
• Why did you select this person?
• How/where was the interview carried out?

• Description
• Who did you select?
• How would you describe this person (age/ gender, career)?
• What were you most interested in finding out?

• First Topic of interest
• What is it?
• What interesting facts did you learn about?
• Why is this interesting

• Second Topic of interest
• What is it?
• What other interesting fact did you learn about?
• Why is this interesting?

• Conclusion
• Why was this a valuable experience?
• What did you learn from this interview?
• What insights about this person did you gain?


Sample Questions
You may also wish to rephrase questions or ask follow up questions.
1. When and where were you born?
2. How many brothers/sisters do you have? What are their ages?
3. In what other places have you lived besides here?
4. What are your favorite activities/hobbies/sports? Why? (Feel free to name several.)
5. What is the best place you've ever lived in or visited? Please explain.
6. What is the accomplishment that you are proudest of in your life? Why are you proud of it? Please explain.
7. What is a weakness or flaw that you would like to eliminate? (Some examples are sleeping in too often, sloppiness, forgetting homework, eating too much junk food, etc.)
8. Please choose three words that describe you best:
9. What is something that you would like people to know about you?
10. What is something that people might be surprised to know about you?
11. What is something that you would like to get around to doing some day? Why?
12. Name three things you could do without:
13. What is your favorite movie?
14. What is your favorite book?
15. What is your favorite CD?
16. What is the name of your favorite music group or singer?
17. What TV show do you try not to miss?
18. What are your favorite foods?
19. What is/are your favorite restaurant(s)?
20. What is one of your favorite memories?
21. What is the best learning experience that you ever had? Please explain.
22. What kinds of books do you like to read?
23. Have you ever reread a book? If so, can you name it/them here?
24. If someone were to write a newspaper or magazine article about you, what would you like the writer to use as a focus (central idea)?
THE INTERVIEW
• Try to develop one good lead question to open things up. 􏰀
• Include background info that must be collected. 􏰀
• Develop listening curiosity.
ATTITUDE
• Be friendly--"I am glad to be spending this time with you."
• By agreeing to do interview, person gives you the right to ask questions. However, he/she retains right to decline to answer.
• Be quiet--listen rather than trying to impress the subject with your knowledge.
• Get info in their words. Pause after answers to give subject chance to elaborate. Sometimes the best follow-up question is no question.
• Be responsive, make eye contact, nod, smile--show that you are awake and listening!
• Be polite. If the subject starts to ramble, listen. When they pause, then you can change the subject. Focus on answers, not questions:
• Let answer lead naturally to the next question rather than worrying about what else you want to ask. (Example--conversations).
• You can refer to your list of questions at a break or pause to get conversation going again.
• At end, take a minute to briefly review your questions to ensure you got needed background info, or remembered to ask crucial questions.
• Take notes on observations as well as information.
NOTES
• Don't focus so hard on taking notes that you miss answers, cues. Notes are to jog your memory later. This is not an essay test!
• Use abbreviations, shorthand, and quick phrases rather than full sentences.
QUOTES—
• Anything you might want to quote, take more careful notes (You can leave out obvious words like "the"). Put them in "marks" so you remember that it is a quote.
• If you are having trouble getting it down accurately, ask him/her to hold up for a minute, and read back the words. No one wants to be misquoted.
WRITING
• Soon after the interview, review notes to ensure you can read them! 􏰀
• Rewrite, add, and clarify while the interview is fresh in your mind. 􏰀
• Put notes away. Let sense of the interview stew around in the back of your mind until it gels.
FIND A FOCUS:
• Use "tell a friend" method. Explain the story in one sentence. •
• Write a headline.
• Find your lead. Find the lead by asking yourself, “What was the most interesting?”
• With a focus and a good lead, the rest will flow naturally.
• Write the first draft without referring to notes! Then, look over notes to see what ideas, info, etc., are missing that you might want to include.
• You do not have to use everything!
• Write "fix later" or mark with an asterisk parts that need work--don't get hung up on making it perfect the first time through, or you will get laryngitis (lose the voice, or flow)!
• If you have info from another source, identify it.
• Read finished draft out loud--you will hear the rough parts that hide when you read it.
• Check accuracy of facts before rewriting. You can do a follow up interview if needed.
• Envision your article as a story with a plot: beginning, middle, end. Your subject is a character in that story. Make your reader see, hear, and care about that subject/character.

RUBRIC:
Name_____________________________________
INTERVIEW ARTICLE SCORING KEY

Focus
4 Article has a clear purpose and focus area.
3 Multiple foci. There seems to be more than one emphasis.
2 Fuzzy focus. The article is confusing in parts.
1 The article is confusing throughout.
0 Unacceptable work. _________________________________________________

Organization
4 Paragraph divisions are obvious and paragraph order is logical. Introduction and conclusion are strong.
3 Weak paragraph organization OR problems in the introduction/conclusion
2 Weak organization AND problems in the introduction/conclusion.
1 Few or no paragraph divisions.
0 Unacceptable work. _________________________________________________

Content
7 – 8 Article contains several complete, interesting details about the subject. Details are clearly related to the focus and purpose of the article. Article reads like a story with beginning, middle, and end. The reader understands and is interested.
5 – 6 Article is interesting and reads like a story, but some minor details are missing. The reader is left with minor questions.
3 – 4 Article is incomplete; major ideas are introduced but not explained in detail.
1 – 2 Article is short, sketchy, superficial.
0 Unacceptable work. _________________________________________________

Style

4 Precise word choice, paragraph transitions and varied sentence structure result in an interesting article.
2 Word choice, transitions and sentence variety are acceptable.
0 Unacceptable work. _________________________________________________

Conventions

4 Grammar, usage, and spelling are perfect.
3 One spelling error or major grammar/usage error OR a few minor errors.
2 Several minor errors OR two major errors.
1 More than two major errors.
0 Unacceptable work. __________________________________________________