Technical and Professional Writing
Engl 402 Spring 2018
Information Interview
Grade breakdown:
Interview Request, Email (due by 3 p.m. on April 16): 2%
Progress Report, Memo (due by 3 p.m. on April 18): 3%
Letter (due by 12 p.m. on April 30): 10%
Note on grade values: Some may notice the progress report for this project is worth a third more than the progress for the alternative project, Redesign. The reason is the progress report for this is expected to be more detailed, due to the instructor's need to know who has not yet found someone to interview and what your plans are to complete this project on time.
Overview
Information interviews give us the opportunity to learn about a company or organization we may want to work for through direct contact with their representatives. Whereas a job application focuses on a specific job, an information interview focuses on learning about the industry and making contact with people in the company or organization. It can serve as an excellent networking tool, and as a way to get advice (Graves par. 9).
Assignment:
Select a company or organization you would like to learn more about and interview a member of that company or organization; this can be the company/graduate program you used for your Employment Project.
Due to the constraints of spring semester, you may conduct your interview face to face, by phone, by e-mail, or through online chat, but must be able to document that a face to face or phone interview were not available if your interview is by e-mail or online chat.
Interview Request, Email
Once you have determined who you want to interview, you are required to send them a formal e-mail requesting an interview. In the e-mail you must address:
- The purpose for your request (why are you e-mailing them?).
- When and how you would like to conduct the interview.
- Identification of how you will use the information from the interview, and if necessary a discussion of what information the interviewee will allow to be presented to others.
- An appropriate closing to the recipient.
You are also required to submit proof of contact following the request, in order to confirm you received a reply. This should be in the form of their reply confirming your request.
Requests made by social media, phone, or in-person will receive a grade of 0.
Progress Report, Memo
The progress report should include the same content as your R&D Project Progress Report, with a focus in this project on your progress with the interview. Be as specific as possible in your introduction, discussion of work completed, work scheduled, problems, and conclusion. The instructor needs to know as much as possible in order to help those who are struggling with the project.
Letter
Your letter must include:
- Introduction—identify the subject, the purpose, and background/context. Summarize key findings from your interview.
- Body—at least one (and probably two or more) paragraphs
- discussing your methods for creating your interview questions,
- and discussing and analyzing the key findings from your interview. In other words, what did you learn and what does it mean?
- Conclusion—what are your final takeaways? How will this interview help you in the future?
- Appendix:
- the questions you asked in your interview,
- and either notes on the answers (if done in-person or over the phone) or the written responses (if done by email).
- You may include additional documents or information you feel are relevant to the project, such rough drafts.
- Minimum length of one page, not including works cited/reference pages and appendix, and there is no maximum length.
- Must follow appropriate formatting for a letter (see Chapter 14).
Your letter will be graded on how clearly and specifically you discuss the process for the interview, the results, and what you learned.
Please choose either MLA or APA style to document ideas not your own, including the interview, since you are legally presenting someone else's ideas.
Works Cited
Graves, Jada A. "What Is an Information Interview Anyway?" US News. 26 July 2012. Web. 12 June 2017.