Instructor Resource Center

Interview Assignment: Composing a Narrative Essay

Directions: You will interview an individual from the ISU community, so that you may use that individual’s insights as part of a narrative essay you develop about that individual. This assignment will require you to complete a series of interrelated tasks: email a potential interviewee to arrange a meeting time and explain the circumstances of the interview, prepare and revise a series of open-ended interview questions, produce an interview transcript, and compose a narrative essay about the interviewee.

Portfolio Reflection on Self-Growth in English 104

English 104 Essay 4: Writing about ISU Art-on-Campus (500 words)

This assignment is part of the 5th Annual English 104-105 Foundations Essay Competition. Four $125 awards will be given in the spring of 2006. Instructors will submit the best essays to the Director of First-Year Composition by or before midterm of Spring 2006.

Purpose and Audience

The purpose of this essay is to describe and analyze art or cultural artifact(s) at ISU. Your essay should be of interest to the general public or people who have ISU connections.

Planning

English 150
Diagnostic Writing (In-Class Writing–300 words)

Topic: Knowledge of, Attitude Toward, and Interest in Field of Study

The focus of this assignment is to describe your major and how it connects with your interests or goals. If you are an open-option major, describe one or more of the majors you are considering.

Planning and Drafting

To identify why you have chosen this major and what it means to you, think about your experiences with the following or other events:

• your first encounter with this career

English 150: Interviewing a Classmate

Interviewing an individual and including quotes and paraphrases in a paper often makes an essay more interesting. An interview is referred to as a primary source since you are obtaining the interview firsthand. Later in the course, you will use secondary sources in which you quote or paraphrase from articles. For this assignment, do the following:

Prior to the Interview

• Read pp. 564-570 in Writing in a Visual Age.

Profile Assignment

Audience and Purpose

The audience is your English 150 instructor and other members of the class. The purpose is to interview at least one person in a career within your major and to interweave observations, paraphrases, and quotes into the interview story and to include some type of visual portraying either the career or the individual. The goal is for you to learn new aspects about a career. If you have an open-option major, select a career field you are considering.

Assignment

Prior to the Interview