Perry Glasser

ENL 310 – Fall 2012

Interviewing

Your initial assignment is to compose a profile of about 1,000 words. Other assignments this semester will incorporate on the same skills.

Remember, you are the reader’s advocate, not the subject’s defender. That means you are required to ask questions of substance to create an article that will be rewarding to read. The rewards are delight and information: we write to entertain and inform.

To prepare for an interview, you should do as much research as you can about the subject and the subject’s expertise. This will, of course, be difficult to do with a fellow student, but when this professional writing skill expands to other people, you may be able to find a great deal of information about:

the subject’s bio,
the subject’s recent accomplishments,
the subject’s workplace,
the subject’s utterances that are “on the record,”
challenges the subject has faced or will face soon.

Your sources for that research can (and maybe should) include brief interviews of the subject’s colleagues, associates and competitors.

Researching a subject’s expertise means educating yourself to what the subject does. Try not to approach a painter and ask, “Why do you use a brush to apply paint?” How much you need to sharpen your expertise has to do with the level of expertise possessed by your expected audience. Too make an extreme example, since as an interviewer you are the reader’s advocate, if you were writing for Jack and Jill Magazine, you might legitimately ask the CEO of State Street Bank, “Is banking fun?” but such a question for Fortune Magazine just might get you fired (unless you are Barbara Walters).

Books, magazines and the Internet all afford good sources, but do not discount quick interviews of professional experts. If the assignment is to define the perfect romantic dinner, ask a few chefs and maitre d’s at the best restaurants.

Make a list of crucial questions that cannot be answered “Yes” or “No.” Estimate one crucial question for each five minutes allotted for the interview. Keep your crucial questions in front of you to keep you focused during the interview. Think of a good “closer” – a final question. Take notes on a pad. Record the conversation if you can afford a recorder (and your subject permits it). Take a photo, if you can. Remind your subject you may have an additional question to ask by phone or email at a future date. Follow with a bread-and-butter thank-you note.