Write a paper about someone who interests you and base the paper primarily on a conversation with that person. Select any acquaintance, relative, or person you have heard about whose traits, interests, activities, background, or outlook on life might intrigue your readers. Your purpose is to show this person’s character and personality — to bring your subject to life for your readers — through his or her conversation.
These students found notable people to interview:
See Additional Writing Assignments to interview someone for information about something.
One student wrote about a high school science teacher who had left teaching for a higher-paying job in the computer industry, only to return three years later to the classroom.
One writer recorded the thoughts and feelings of a discouraged farmer she had known since childhood.
Another learned about adjustment to life in a new country by talking to his neighbor from Somalia.
The major challenge writers face when writing from an interview is to find a clear focus. They must first sift through the huge amount of information generated in an interview and then decide what dominant impression of the subject to present in an essay. Distilling the material you have gathered into a focused, overall impression may seem overwhelming. As a writer, however, you have the responsibility to select and organize your material for your readers, not simply transcribe your notes.
To identify possible angles, jot down answers to these questions:
Your answers should help you to determine a dominant impression — the aspect of your interviewee’s character or personality that you want to emphasize for your readers. Once you have this focus, you can pick the details from the interview that best illustrate the points you want to make. Make sure that all quotations — long or short — are accurate. Use them strategically and sparingly to reveal the character traits that you wish to emphasize. Select colorful quotations that allow readers to “hear” your subject’s distinctive voice. To capture the dynamic of conversation, include your own observations as well as actual quotations.