X5: Profile or interview
Posted on October 20, 2010
Filed under X assignments
I’d like you to ground your next piece for this course in what I’ve called person-based research. Identify someone you’d like to write about, make an appointment to talk with her or him, do some background research, take notes while you’re talking, record your conversation if you can.
Person-based pieces tend to be most interesting when there is an idea or question or issue driving them. That is, you want to identify someone you want to talk to and write about for a particular reason: they’ve done some work you admire, had some experiences you want to find out more about, know something you want to learn about.
Your piece may take any of several different forms: a question-and-answer interview, a survey or grid, a discussion about a particular issue, a narrative profile. If you need to talk with more than one person to write the sort of piece you want, that’s fine. You should also feel free to supplement your piece as needed with video or audio.
If at all possible, you should ask the person you interview to read the piece you end up writing, so they can confirm that you’ve represented them accurately and fairly. If you decide to develop and revise this piece, I will insist that you obtain the consent of your subject in writing.
The deadline for this piece is 11:00 AM, Tues, 10/26. Please post your work to your personal dropbox folder.
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