Reply
Fri 20 Jan, 2006 05:48 am
Hi All,
I need to know how should I go about the whole thing of interviewing experts for my articles.
Plz leave your suggestions.
thanks
spidey
I seem to be getting around somewhere now,heh.
Well, spotted some sites which provide expert lists.
BTW, Happy Birthday Spidergal, this is the year you will truly excel in your studies.
Conducting Interviews: A primer
Here are a few tips that should improve the final story derived from most interview situations. You may not have an editor or copy-editors to satisfy, but that just means you have to do their work yourself. That can be tough. These tips are designed to help in the most difficult of interviews, those that involve serious investigative reporting of stories where the interviewee may not be entirely cooperative. However, these are still pretty good rules even when you are doing a "soft" story where the interviewee is anxious to help get a story told. Folks tend to use reportage for their own purposes, and those may not be the same purposes that you, your edior, or reading audience are interested in.
1. Do your homework. Research the subject and the person to be interviewed as deeply as you can in the time available. Be familiar with the vocabulary and history of the subject. Check the internet and other sources available to you. By knowing what is generally available on the subject you can concentrate your questions into those areas that the interviewee may have special, useful and interesting knowledge.
The same rational applies to researching the interviewee. Who is the interviewee and what information might you reasonably gain? What appears to motivate the interviewee in agreeing to the interview? Understanding the interviewee will help you to design and ask questions in forms that are most likely to elicit useful information. Think about what you need for your article: do you need confirmation of information gained elsewhere, or new information? What sorts of story are you expected to write, and how many words will your editor allow? Who is the audience that the story will be aimed at?
2. Design your interview. Workout each of the essential questions you want answered in advance. Design your questions to fit the Reporters Five W's (Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How). Unless you are looking for confirmation answers, frame questions to find information that isn't already available and on the record. You want questions that elicit a short, clear answers that can be quoted. A good question is one that opens the door to other questions, some of which hopefully will break new ground far beyond your planned questions.
Remember that you will only have a limited amount of time, so don't have more critical questions than can be fitted into the interview. In fact, you need to limit your critical questions to those of the highest priority so that you have enough time for follow-up questions. In some interviews you might want to lead with a hard question, and in others it may be best to save the hard questions for later (see 1 above). Sharpen and narrow the focus of each question so that it is clear and can be answered by the interviewee without "getting back to you later". Of course, that ploy to avoid answering a question will sometimes be legitimate, but it's pretty much a dead end for your story unless the material is received quickly.
3. Set up the interview. Schedule the interview, within the limits of your deadline, to fit within your interviewee's schedule and convenience. Interviews dealing with the "public" side of your subject's persona should, when possible, be scheduled during normal working hours. Interviews dealing with the subject's personal life can be less formal and conducted during their "off-the-clock" convenience. "Ambush" interviews should be avoided, and are more often than not counter-productive.
Schedule sufficient time to conduct the interview, and that might be as little as 10 minutes or as long as a couple hours. In any case, let your subject know how long you need and then stick to that schedule.
Wherever possible, meet on the interviewee's turf. This permits you to observe the interviewee's surroundings, and those will tell you a lot about the person. What books are used and at hand? Is the environment orderly, or messy? How stressful is the interviewee's environment, and how is that reflected in his responses? Being on your subject's turf will put them at ease so that your questions can be a bit more probing than if the interviewee feels on the defensive. If you must meet on neutral ground chose a place that has few distractions and is quiet enough that the QA can be conducted easily.
Interviews conducted by telephone or Email, are sometimes unavoidable, but should only be used as a last resort. You want to see the interviewee so that you can read their emotional responses to each question. Are they sure of their answer, or guessing, or lying for some reason? Visual clues and the immediacy of a face to face interview often leads to follow-up questions that may provide you with excellent information for your story.
4. The interview. Most important is to respect your interviewee, and to treat them as the experts in the topic you are researching. Hostile and defensive subjects are less forthcoming than those who voluntarily choose to cooperate with your intrusion into their lives.
Dress appropriately, be on time and adapt your language/manner to that of the person being interviewed. Try to keep the interview as informal and as casual as possible to encourage the interviewee to make spontaneous contributions. Listen and let silence do your work for you. Ask for and collect any written statements, biographies, etc. that your interview subject might have available. This sort of material will be of use later in writing your story (proper spellings, dates, background material, and what the interviewee wants the world to know), but is no substitute for the direct QA.
Be as candid and truthful as possible about the purpose of the interview, and how and when it will be used. Don't promise what you may not be able to deliver. Don't overstay your welcome, and remember to thank the interviewee for their cooperation, information, and time before leaving. Keep an open door with the interviewee so that you can get back to them with additional questions if necessary.
Avoid talking "off the record" if at all possible, this sort of information can complicate your story later, though it might open new doors of inquiry. If you do go "off the record", be prepared to find someone later who will be "on the record" and quotable.
Be prepared by having a new reporter's notebook and usable writing implements on hand. Note as much as possible, but don't let writing dilute your focus on the QA. That generally means that you will need to be practiced at some form of "short hand" note taking. You need to convey a lot of information with as few marks as possible. If the interviewee makes a statement that is likely to be quoted directly in your story, let them know that and be sure that your written quote is exact and accurate. If you use a tape recorder, show it to the interviewee and ask their permission to tape the interview. If they agree, turn on the recorder and state the names of the people present, the date/time, and subject of the interview. Put the tape recorder where it will pick up all the sounds, yet remain unobtrusive. With luck, everyone will forget the machine is even there. Tape recordings are awfully nice, in that they capture direct quotes that document actual words used. Don't use the same tape for multiple interviews.
With the advent of small, simple digital cameras, it may also be useful to take some pictures of the interviewee and their environment. Get permission first. Pictures may be used to accompany the story, or as references later. As you might have guessed by this point, I strongly recommend gathering as much useful and high-quality information rich in facts as possible, even though the final story may only consist of a couple of column inches. It is easier to edit down to your story limits, than to later find that you haven't enough usable material to fill the space required.
5. Writing your story. Start working the story out as soon as you can to avoid being rushed at deadline. Even before the interview takes place, you probably have the bare bones of the story in hand from your research (preparation as outlined in 1 above). Organize your research, handout materials, notes, tapes and photos so that you can readily refer to them as you write. Keep your editor informed of where you are in the story. Editors generally really, really hate surprises, especially at deadline.
First, get the facts down in outline form, and be sure that they are accurate and verifiable. This is the skeleton of your story, onto which you will add all those perceptions that you formed in bringing the story to this point.
It is useful at the very beginning of the writing process, to have a good lead sentence that will draw the reader into continuing into the heart of the story. Put the Reporter's Five W's in the first couple of paragraphs, with expansion of the story to follow. Whatever length your story becomes, your editor still has to fit it into the space available. Editors, being the lazy creatures we are, begin cutting a story to length from the bottom up, so write your story accordingly.
Your writing style will be somewhat dependent upon the sort of story you are telling, and never forget that you ARE telling a story. Always use a spell/grammar checker and don't rely on a copy editor to fix your story later. Keep your sentences short, 14 words as a general rule. Keep paragraphs short (3-6 paragraphs), and link them together as much as possible. Avoid the passive voice. Use common Anglo-Saxon words in general use that are have unambiguous meanings. Write your stories to match your audiences probable education and background. For general practice aim at a literacy level of 8th grade, or less. We have become a society that is visual and demanding instant gratification, so to keep a reader to the end of your story it has to be easy to read and have a fast pace without losing the meat.
6. Involvement. It is really easy to become involved in a story, but beware of becoming too involved. As a reporter you are not and should not be a participant in the story ... only a disinterested observer who can tell the tale without embellishment. No matter how much the story interests you and attracts your emotional investment, remember it is only one story of many. You can never know it all, never truly understand other people's motives and behavior. Once you begin investing your own feelings into a story, you cease being a reporter and become either part of the story, or an editorialist whose writing is confined to the editorial page. Keep a clear head. Write your story, and move on.
Asherman wrote:BTW, Happy Birthday Spidergal, this is the year you will truly excel in your studies.
Conducting Interviews: A primer
Here are a few tips that should improve the final story derived from most interview situations. You may not have an editor or copy-editors to satisfy, but that just means you have to do their work yourself. That can be tough. These tips are designed to help in the most difficult of interviews, those that involve serious investigative reporting of stories where the interviewee may not be entirely cooperative. However, these are still pretty good rules even when you are doing a "soft" story where the interviewee is anxious to help get a story told. Folks tend to use reportage for their own purposes, and those may not be the same purposes that you, your edior, or reading audience are interested in.
1. Do your homework. Research the subject and the person to be interviewed as deeply as you can in the time available. Be familiar with the vocabulary and history of the subject. Check the internet and other sources available to you. By knowing what is generally available on the subject you can concentrate your questions into those areas that the interviewee may have special, useful and interesting knowledge.
The same rational applies to researching the interviewee. Who is the interviewee and what information might you reasonably gain? What appears to motivate the interviewee in agreeing to the interview? Understanding the interviewee will help you to design and ask questions in forms that are most likely to elicit useful information. Think about what you need for your article: do you need confirmation of information gained elsewhere, or new information? What sorts of story are you expected to write, and how many words will your editor allow? Who is the audience that the story will be aimed at?
2. Design your interview. Workout each of the essential questions you want answered in advance. Design your questions to fit the Reporters Five W's (Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How). Unless you are looking for confirmation answers, frame questions to find information that isn't already available and on the record. You want questions that elicit a short, clear answers that can be quoted. A good question is one that opens the door to other questions, some of which hopefully will break new ground far beyond your planned questions.
Remember that you will only have a limited amount of time, so don't have more critical questions than can be fitted into the interview. In fact, you need to limit your critical questions to those of the highest priority so that you have enough time for follow-up questions. In some interviews you might want to lead with a hard question, and in others it may be best to save the hard questions for later (see 1 above). Sharpen and narrow the focus of each question so that it is clear and can be answered by the interviewee without "getting back to you later". Of course, that ploy to avoid answering a question will sometimes be legitimate, but it's pretty much a dead end for your story unless the material is received quickly.
3. Set up the interview. Schedule the interview, within the limits of your deadline, to fit within your interviewee's schedule and convenience. Interviews dealing with the "public" side of your subject's persona should, when possible, be scheduled during normal working hours. Interviews dealing with the subject's personal life can be less formal and conducted during their "off-the-clock" convenience. "Ambush" interviews should be avoided, and are more often than not counter-productive.
Schedule sufficient time to conduct the interview, and that might be as little as 10 minutes or as long as a couple hours. In any case, let your subject know how long you need and then stick to that schedule.
Wherever possible, meet on the interviewee's turf. This permits you to observe the interviewee's surroundings, and those will tell you a lot about the person. What books are used and at hand? Is the environment orderly, or messy? How stressful is the interviewee's environment, and how is that reflected in his responses? Being on your subject's turf will put them at ease so that your questions can be a bit more probing than if the interviewee feels on the defensive. If you must meet on neutral ground chose a place that has few distractions and is quiet enough that the QA can be conducted easily.
Interviews conducted by telephone or Email, are sometimes unavoidable, but should only be used as a last resort. You want to see the interviewee so that you can read their emotional responses to each question. Are they sure of their answer, or guessing, or lying for some reason? Visual clues and the immediacy of a face to face interview often leads to follow-up questions that may provide you with excellent information for your story.
4. The interview. Most important is to respect your interviewee, and to treat them as the experts in the topic you are researching. Hostile and defensive subjects are less forthcoming than those who voluntarily choose to cooperate with your intrusion into their lives.
Dress appropriately, be on time and adapt your language/manner to that of the person being interviewed. Try to keep the interview as informal and as casual as possible to encourage the interviewee to make spontaneous contributions. Listen and let silence do your work for you. Ask for and collect any written statements, biographies, etc. that your interview subject might have available. This sort of material will be of use later in writing your story (proper spellings, dates, background material, and what the interviewee wants the world to know), but is no substitute for the direct QA.
Be as candid and truthful as possible about the purpose of the interview, and how and when it will be used. Don't promise what you may not be able to deliver. Don't overstay your welcome, and remember to thank the interviewee for their cooperation, information, and time before leaving. Keep an open door with the interviewee so that you can get back to them with additional questions if necessary.
Avoid talking "off the record" if at all possible, this sort of information can complicate your story later, though it might open new doors of inquiry. If you do go "off the record", be prepared to find someone later who will be "on the record" and quotable.
Be prepared by having a new reporter's notebook and usable writing implements on hand. Note as much as possible, but don't let writing dilute your focus on the QA. That generally means that you will need to be practiced at some form of "short hand" note taking. You need to convey a lot of information with as few marks as possible. If the interviewee makes a statement that is likely to be quoted directly in your story, let them know that and be sure that your written quote is exact and accurate. If you use a tape recorder, show it to the interviewee and ask their permission to tape the interview. If they agree, turn on the recorder and state the names of the people present, the date/time, and subject of the interview. Put the tape recorder where it will pick up all the sounds, yet remain unobtrusive. With luck, everyone will forget the machine is even there. Tape recordings are awfully nice, in that they capture direct quotes that document actual words used. Don't use the same tape for multiple interviews.
With the advent of small, simple digital cameras, it may also be useful to take some pictures of the interviewee and their environment. Get permission first. Pictures may be used to accompany the story, or as references later. As you might have guessed by this point, I strongly recommend gathering as much useful and high-quality information rich in facts as possible, even though the final story may only consist of a couple of column inches. It is easier to edit down to your story limits, than to later find that you haven't enough usable material to fill the space required.
5. Writing your story. Start working the story out as soon as you can to avoid being rushed at deadline. Even before the interview takes place, you probably have the bare bones of the story in hand from your research (preparation as outlined in 1 above). Organize your research, handout materials, notes, tapes and photos so that you can readily refer to them as you write. Keep your editor informed of where you are in the story. Editors generally really, really hate surprises, especially at deadline.
First, get the facts down in outline form, and be sure that they are accurate and verifiable. This is the skeleton of your story, onto which you will add all those perceptions that you formed in bringing the story to this point.
It is useful at the very beginning of the writing process, to have a good lead sentence that will draw the reader into continuing into the heart of the story. Put the Reporter's Five W's in the first couple of paragraphs, with expansion of the story to follow. Whatever length your story becomes, your editor still has to fit it into the space available. Editors, being the lazy creatures we are, begin cutting a story to length from the bottom up, so write your story accordingly.
Your writing style will be somewhat dependent upon the sort of story you are telling, and never forget that you ARE telling a story. Always use a spell/grammar checker and don't rely on a copy editor to fix your story later. Keep your sentences short, 14 words as a general rule. Keep paragraphs short (3-6 paragraphs), and link them together as much as possible. Avoid the passive voice. Use common Anglo-Saxon words in general use that are have unambiguous meanings. Write your stories to match your audiences probable education and background. For general practice aim at a literacy level of 8th grade, or less. We have become a society that is visual and demanding instant gratification, so to keep a reader to the end of your story it has to be easy to read and have a fast pace without losing the meat.
6. Involvement. It is really easy to become involved in a story, but beware of becoming too involved. As a reporter you are not and should not be a participant in the story ... only a disinterested observer who can tell the tale without embellishment. No matter how much the story interests you and attracts your emotional investment, remember it is only one story of many. You can never know it all, never truly understand other people's motives and behavior. Once you begin investing your own feelings into a story, you cease being a reporter and become either part of the story, or an editorialist whose writing is confined to the editorial page. Keep a clear head. Write your story, and move on.
Thanks so much. That was so helpful. And thanks for the birthday wish too.
Well, would you please tell something about your profession. I am curious.
If you click on my name, your will have access to my profile and all of my past postings. The profile should tell you almost anything you might want to know about me.
The profile bio may not include the fact that for the past couple of years I'm editor of The Palette, a small monthly arts periodical here in New Mexico.
Asherman wrote:If you click on my name, your will have access to my profile and all of my past postings. The profile should tell you almost anything you might want to know about me.
The profile bio may not include the fact that for the past couple of years I'm editor of The Palette, a small monthly arts periodical here in New Mexico.
Hats off to you, Sir. You are such an asset to this forum. A magnificently eventful life. Wonderful!
But,yes, I need to know two more things.
1. What does Gravitas Gravitas mean?
2. Well, please something more about the hippy movement. I am guessing they are the same
Hippies who had created such turmoil in India almost two decades back.
Gravitas is a latin word and one of the highest virtues that a Roman could aspire to. A person with granitas is responsible and serious in his/her dealings with the world, not flippent or careless. Gravitas springs from thoughtful consideration before we adopt a point of view, and in how we react to the world. The person of gravitas isn't ruled by emotion, but understanding. Washington and Ghandi both exhibited the virtue of gravitas a virtue that gave them stature and the ability to influence others.
*****************
I'm not familiar with what Indians would consider "hippies". The movement here began in the late 50's, early 60's and sprang out of the Beatniks a modern version of the Bohemians and other such groups of the Romantic Period (roughly 1840-1900). It was an evolutionary process, and many similarities exist from one "movement" to another. Typically, these were pretty well educated people who put a high premium on personal growth, and who had strong creative direction.
Writers, poets, painters, muscians, dancers, etc. seemed to make up a large part of the initial Hippies. Most came from middle-class families and there was a pretty fair number of young people with very wealthy backgrounds, but all lived a life of volunteer poverty. These tended to be idealists dedicated to improving the world by rejecting the strictures imposed by society. The original Hippies valued individualism and personal independance from most social constraints.
Early Hippies rebelled against the rat-race to become wealthy property owners, and regarded most formal working situations to be a form of poorly compensated slavery. We were rejecting our parent's values that, it seemed to us, had failed. We were very concerned about racial prejudice, the Cold War, and the inequities of the Class sysetem. Many were Socialists or Marxists at some level, but rejected the idea of being organized and subject to any political theory. Welfare and government programs were seen as just another way of putting the individual in chains. Many lived in communes and shared everything, and where personal property was almost non-existent. The result, of course was just the sort of genteel poverty that we romanticized about. However, being poor turns out to be hard work and leaves little time to fully realize our capabilities.
In the early days, drugs were around and it was not uncommon to find an open bowl of marijuana on most kitchen tables. Any guest was welcome to take/smoke whatever they wished ... it was no big thing. LSD, peyote, and other hallucigens were still legal and used occasionally. Bill Borroughs, Aldus Huxley, and Timothy Leary were all being read in the Hippy community, and hallucigen use increased. The use of drugs to enhance perception and stimulate creativity was at best a hit or miss affair. Drug users tended to be unproductive, and their creative skills dulled quickly. Some drugs, like speed, were around but strongly frowned upon by Hippies. Heroin, cocaine and that lot only began to appear in significant amounts after about 1965-66, though I knew some addicts a lot earlier than that.
One of the thngs that changed, was the degree to which the national media latched on to the Hippie movement. There were colorful stories and photographs of Hippy enclaves in magazines and featured on television. Film and movie scripts painted rosey pictures of "Free Love" and "Flower Power". Our rebellion, which was really rather modest and mostly confined to the intelligencia, attracted young rebels and idealists from all over the nation. Soon our streets were teeming with runnaway teenagers escaping parental custody.
Just the word "Free" drew deadbeats from the bowery, and bums of every description. Along with the influx of teens, came the predators who turned them to prostitution, or got them hooked on drugs. These sorts of developments drew even more attention to us, and we had bus loads of tourists taking photographs of the "weirdos". Middle-aged squares infliltrated in search of that Free Love they had heard about. Hippy communes tried to rescue as many kids as possible, and organized "Free stores" where anyone in need could just take what they "needed". The result decisively killed any notion that people would only take what was really needed, and would contribute what they could to others. The health system wasn't capable of handling all the cases of STD, infection and drug overdoses that came along with the notariety of the Movement.
In the communes things also changed. All night discussions of art, literature and other intellectual topics deteriorated into angry diatribes pitting one person against another. Arguements over who did what and why one view should prevail over the whole commune increased. Where before everyone knew everyone else, and respected their "space", now we were taking in complete strangers. We had strangers who had no compunction against stealing from those who professed property-less poverty. People whose names we never knew showed up and demanded their every whim be catered to. One by one the original Hippies left, and that swung the balance even more toward the interlopers. Radicals, often with violent agendas moved in. The whole movement fell apart.
Out the shambles many tried to rebuild their lives on more solid foundations. They went home, ate a little crow, and found jobs. They continued their education, and some of them became professors in the colleges they had once denounced. They got married and began to raise families. They went underground and determined to change the system from within. Some continued to follow their muse, and became professional artists, writers and muscians.
Others died of neglect or drugs. Many went on to a life of crime and imprisonment. Some drifted away to form little isolated communities, most of which dwindled away over the decades. Some went abroad, and may be the Hippies you referred to above. India would have been a popular destination, because there was a strong undercurrent of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy in the Movement, though most had little real knowledge of those religions or the cultures from which they sprang. I know some went to Mexico and some to Japan where they studied Buddhism among other things.
Hmm....Fine. Now I see....thanks Mr. Asherman.
What does Tha Palette publish?
Just call me Ash, everyone else does. The Palette publishes New Mexico art news and pictures from Southwestern painters.
What sort of interviews are you doing, and where are they published?
Asherman wrote:Just call me Ash, everyone else does. The Palette publishes New Mexico art news and pictures from Southwestern painters.
What sort of interviews are you doing, and where are they published?
I usually interview dietitians, doctors and psychologists as part of my material research for articles that I submit to various popular magazines.
I am new to freelance writing, so encountering some difficulty with that.
As you, the editor, may know that editors want to see expert quotes in the article-that is what convinces him-and the reader.
Fortunately, I have been able to fix email appointments with some 5 experts for my article on Diabetes.
My primer may be of some use then. Give it a try, and keep me informed of how it works out for you. After the first of the five interviews you've set-up, let's talk about the experience. You will probably find that you are very strong on some parts of the process, and that other interview elements are more problematic. Lets discuss those, and perhaps we can sharpen your skills further.
I see this thread has been moved to a more appropriate forum. Let me think about writing something that might help interviewees.
Asherman wrote:My primer may be of some use then. Give it a try, and keep me informed of how it works out for you. After the first of the five interviews you've set-up, let's talk about the experience. You will probably find that you are very strong on some parts of the process, and that other interview elements are more problematic. Lets discuss those, and perhaps we can sharpen your skills further.
I see this thread has been moved to a more appropriate forum. Let me think about writing something that might help interviewees.
I will keep you informed, Ash. Right now, I am only focussing on my B.Sc practicals. I do not see myself go about this interview business before Feb.
By the way, Ash is also a nick name for Aishwarya Rai, our Bollywood Queen.
Spidergal,
Here we are at the beginning of March. How did your examinations go? Have you gotten back to conducting your interviews?
Ash,
My exams are still going on! I have a two day gap for the next one so I just popped in.
As for the interview, well, I am not sure if I can recall the names of the experts even!
I have been so brainwashed with Genetics, DNA and stuff.........
However, very the thought of it excites me. I would be back on the assignment only after March 29.
Break a leg, and Tally-Ho! Go get'em tigeress!
"Break a leg" ... this is a tradtional show business way of saying "good luck" which is a jinx phrase.
"Tally-Ho" ... from British fox hunting; a joyful cry of "after the fox, charge forward!"
"Go get'em ..." ... An Americanism meaning about the same as Tally-Ho.
"Tigress" ... the skilled huntress who always brings home the prey.
In sum, I was only expressing my long-distance support of your efforts and confidence that you will do well.
Asherman wrote:"Break a leg" ... this is a tradtional show business way of saying "good luck" which is a jinx phrase.
"Tally-Ho" ... from British fox hunting; a joyful cry of "after the fox, charge forward!"
"Go get'em ..." ... An Americanism meaning about the same as Tally-Ho.
"Tigress" ... the skilled huntress who always brings home the prey.
In sum, I was only expressing my long-distance support of your efforts and confidence that you will do well.
Thanks so much!
Well,thanks for the language lesson too!
The query has been sent, Ash. I am waiting for the editors reply. If I get a go-ahead, then for sure I'll get down to my interviewing.
I'm really interested in following your experience, and reading the final product. Thanks for remembering me.
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