How To Write An Interview Essay

How To Write An Interview Essay

An interview essay represents a specific form of writing that provides information obtained from the interviews with different people. This sort of paper offers you an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with somebody’s opinion on a certain topic, including personal life or work experience. When writing an effective essay, you need to develop a clear plan and follow it strictly. If you are going to compose an interview essay which hopefully will impress the reader, be sure to keep the following important points in mind.

Try to Create a Meaningful Essay

This kind of essay can be especially meaningful if it is dedicated to the family members or people who perform a job or engage in activities you want to try yourself.

Where You Can Read Interview Essays

Newspapers and magazines often contain interview essays. Although it is popular to interview politicians, actors, and musicians, ordinary people can also share their wisdom and insight. Essays that intended to record the life stories of ordinary people are also referred to as oral history.

What Are the Characteristic Features of an Interview Essay?

An interview essay aims to explore different viewpoints on a certain topic by using evidence obtained during interviewing people. A successful interview provides the foundation for an effective interview essay.

Main Components of the Interview Essay Process

1. Create a set of questions.
2. Agree on the meeting time with a person you are going to interview.
3. Start asking questions and do not forget to record the answers.
4. Spend your time analyzing and interpreting obtained results.
5. Compose your essay. Indicate the question at the beginning of the essay. Provide a summary and an analysis of answers.

How to Conduct an Interview

• Select a Good Question

Remember you should ask a particular question about the chosen topic to several different people. That is why be sure to choose a debatable topic that can give rise to contrasting opinions.

• Ask the Question and Give the Interviewee Time to Prepare Answer and Explanation

Unlike a survey, an interview provides people with the opportunity to explain their answers. It will be beneficial to the interviewer to ask questions concerning something everyone has an opinion about.

• Try to Ask Follow-Up Questions

Note that the follow-up questions allow you to get more important information about the reasons for the interviewee’s thoughts on the topic in such a particular way. Nevertheless, it does not mean that you should use the same follow-up questions in every interview. Do not be afraid to let your conversation with the interviewee guide you. In this case, you will be able to develop more questions appropriate to the particular conversation.

Helpful Tips for Conducting Interview

Things to Do Before the Interview

• Learn as much as possible about the interviewee

If you are going to interview your sister or your classmate, there is no need to conduct any research. However, if your interviewee is a professional or local celebrity, you should conduct a basic online search to know more about him/her.

• Prepare a list of interview questions

Interview questions should meet certain requirements. Thus, they must be clear and succinct. Moreover, they should enable the interviewer to learn specific information.

It is critical to ask open questions. This type of questions allows the interviewee to discuss information in detail. Due to open questions, you can obtain information that provides valuable insight into how people feel about something or how they managed to overcome a specific problem.

You also may ask closed questions that help collect factual information or require a “yes” or “no” answer.

Things to Do During the Interview

• Make notes

You will probably forget most of the information the interviewee says without careful note-taking. You may also record your conversation with the consent of the interviewee.

• Treat the interviewee with respect
• Things to ask during the interview

Here is a list of sample questions you should ask during your conversation with the interviewee:

1. First and last name.
2. Main question and several helpful follow-up questions.
3. What are some reasons for your opinion?
4. What induces people to take the opposite view?
5. Can you provide some examples to illustrate your opinion?
6. Any phrase you want to quote from them.

Things to Do After the Interview

• Read your notes and find suitable examples that will enable you to establish a positive impression and enable the reader to learn about the person.
• Identify essential information that will be included in your essay and outline your ideas. If your professor does not provide specific instructions on how to write an interview essay, use a standard essay format that comprises introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs.

How to Arrange Your Interview Notes Properly

Here are several helpful ways to organize your notes:

• Put the least important first
• Negative after positive, or vice versa
• Ones you strongly disagree with, ones you accept
• Unusual after typical

How to Write an Interview Essay

Introduction

Decide how you will begin and end your essay. Remember your introduction should contain the question you asked.

• Start with a catchy opening line. You may use a quote or anecdote about the interviewee, which will capture your readers’ attention.
• Create a specific thesis statement. Note that in an interview essay, the thesis statement aims to identify the focus of your paper.

Body

The body of an interview essay should maintain the order of reasons. Do not omit to analyze the existing connections between reasons.

Help the readers to learn important information about the person

Provide additional stories and examples about the interviewee to demonstrate the readers who this person is. For example, if you write about your kind roommate, tell the story of how he rescued animals or volunteered at the homeless shelter.

Conclusion

In the concluding paragraph, you should explain which point-of-view is the most valid and why. If you disagree with the interviewees’ viewpoints, then you need to argument your standpoint.

Complete the essay

Restate key ideas and leave readers with the positive impression of the interviewee.

Do not submit your interview essay to your professor until you have completed the following steps:

• Look through your notes again. Make sure you did not omit important information.
• Proofread your paper. Read your essay and correct mistakes.
• Ask the experts for assistance. Our editors can improve your interview essay and make it a masterpiece.