{"id":6793,"date":"2018-10-08T17:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T00:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/blog\/?post_type=essay-writing-blog&p=6793"},"modified":"2018-09-25T18:27:25","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T01:27:25","slug":"how-to-conduct-an-interview-for-a-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/essay-writing-blog\/how-to-conduct-an-interview-for-a-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Conduct an Interview for a Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bad celebrity interviews<\/a> can be great fun to watch.<\/p>\n

Celebrities throw tantrums, walk out, or simply blank and have nothing interesting to say.<\/p>\n

Celebrity interviews can also go bad through no fault of the celebrities themselves. Sometimes it\u2019s the interviewers who ask inappropriate questions or ask questions that can be only termed \u201cstupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take, for example, the time when a Red Carpet reporter at the SAG Awards asked Mayim Bialik how many people actually think that just because she stars in The Big Bang Theory <\/i>that she can solve calculus equations at the drop of a hat.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dIu_6u0VlwU<\/p>\n

FYI: Mayim Bialik isn\u2019t only an actress. She\u2019s also a neuroscientist who can most certainly solve calculus equations (as she so politely informed the interviewer). Clearly, the reporter should have done a little research about Bialik before he asked such a stupid question.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be that<\/i> interviewer. Here\u2019s how to conduct an interview for a paper (and how to avoid asking stupid questions).<\/p>\n

How to Conduct an Interview for a Paper<\/h2>\n

If you want to conduct a successful interview (and I\u2019m sure you do), you need to be prepared. It\u2019s kind of like being a stage actor. You can\u2019t just glance at your lines once and say, \u201cI\u2019ll wing it.\u201d The end result won\u2019t be pretty.<\/p>\n

Going into an interview without a plan won\u2019t be pretty, either, so here\u2019s what you need to do.<\/p>\n

Talk to the Right People<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019ve ever called a company with a question and been transferred at least three different times before you actually talk to an agent who can answer your question, you understand the importance of talking to the right person.<\/p>\n

The same is true with conducting an interview. If you\u2019re enrolled in a government class and your assignment<\/a> is to learn about local government, interviewing a college intern isn\u2019t your best option.<\/p>\n

While interns certainly have some knowledge of local government, they won\u2019t have the same knowledge as a local representative or county commissioner.<\/p>\n

How do you actually get<\/i> to the right people?<\/p>\n

A little research can go a long way. Go online. Use social media<\/a>. Make some phone calls. Decide who will be the best person to try to interview. If you\u2019re absolutely stumped for ideas, ask your prof. He or she will be able to point you in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Schedule an Interview<\/h2>\n

Remember all those times your parents told you to use your manners? This would be an excellent time to use them.<\/p>\n

Remember when your profs told you that you need to use a formal, academic, and authoritative voice<\/a>? This would also be an excellent time to use it<\/i>.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re contacting someone for an interview, you\u2019re contacting the person as a professional, not as a student who wants to talk to someone.<\/p>\n

In other words, don\u2019t send an email and open with, \u201cHey, I was wondering if I could interview you for my class?\u201d<\/p>\n

While you still might get the interview by starting your email like this, it certainly isn\u2019t professional. It also certainly doesn\u2019t tell the potential interviewee anything about you, the class, or why you want to conduct the interview.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a better way to contact the person you wish to interview. (You might use this type of opening for an email, phone call, or in-person conversation.)<\/p>\n

My name is Emma Ortez, and I\u2019m a first-year student at ABC University, majoring in business. I am currently completing a research project about local entrepreneurs and would like to speak with you about your flower shop and the strategies you implement to sustain a successful business.<\/p>\n

If you would be interested in speaking with me for 20\u201330 minutes about your business model, please contact me at (555) 555-5555 or email me at EOrtez@ABC.edu.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Within a few lines, Emma has told the potential interviewee about herself, the goals of the interview, and how long the interview might take.<\/p>\n

Remember, people are busy. Even though you may be fascinated with their work and want to speak with them for hours on end, it may not be feasible to expect an hour-long interview.<\/p>\n

Schedule a brief interview. If your interviewee wants to talk with you further, you can arrange additional meetings.<\/p>\n

A note about email addresses: <\/b>If at all possible, use your school email address when contacting people. This reassures them that you are, in fact, affiliated with a school. It also sounds a heckuva lot more professional than partyboy99@******.com.<\/p>\n

Prepare for the Interview<\/h2>\n

Before you set out to do anything, it\u2019s important to know what you\u2019re trying to achieve.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t, for instance, take a stack of boards and a handful of nails and simply start nailing things together. You need to know what you\u2019re building before<\/i> you actually start building.<\/p>\n

Similarly, you can\u2019t schedule an interview without knowing why you\u2019re conducting the interview.<\/p>\n

Establish a goal for the interview<\/h3>\n

When you\u2019re planning an interview, you need to know what you want to learn.<\/p>\n

For instance, you might want to learn about the interviewee\u2019s childhood, her relationships, her education, her religious beliefs, her education, or her professional background.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, maybe none of these points are important, and your true goal is to learn about how she became involved with saving penguins.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve determined your goal, you can plan the entire interview around it. To begin, do some research.<\/p>\n\t

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Learn more about the person you\u2019re interviewing<\/h3>\n

In many cases, you can do a little online research<\/a> about the person you\u2019re interviewing. By knowing more about the person, you can ask more in-depth and relevant questions (and avoid asking stupid questions).<\/p>\n

For instance, if you\u2019re interviewing the CEO, her bio may be listed on the website. Thus, there\u2019s no reason to ask questions about where she went to college or when she became CEO of the company.<\/p>\n

Instead, you might ask how it felt to be the first female CEO of a corporation that has been in business since 1934.<\/p>\n

Prepare appropriate questions<\/h3>\n
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Don\u2019t go into an interview blind and assume that you\u2019ll figure it out as you go.<\/a><\/div>\n

Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t go into an interview blind and assume that you\u2019ll figure it out as you go.<\/p>\n

If you do, there will be a very real chance that you\u2019ll have wasted everyone\u2019s time and will leave the interview with no useful information. That’s definitely not<\/em> how to conduct an interview that gets the responses you need.<\/p>\n

Not sure how to prepare interview questions? Here are a few tips.<\/b><\/p>\n

Decide how many questions to ask<\/h4>\n

If you\u2019ve scheduled a two-hour interview, you can\u2019t exactly show up with three questions (unless, of course, you\u2019re interviewing someone who loves nothing more than the sound of her own voice).<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re conducting a standard 30-minute interview, create 10\u201315 questions that you think will be useful. (Create more questions than you think you might need. There will be times when a person answers one of your planned questions without you asking.)<\/p>\n

Ask a mix of open-ended and closed questions<\/h4>\n