Technical Writing
ENGL 2152 Project 5a
For this Project you will interview someone you know about the writing that they do in the course of their job. You may choose someone who is in your chosen profession (Engineer, Computer Programmer, Professor, etc), or someone who is in a profession that you are interested in. Many students interview family members or friends, which is okay, but the person must do some form of writing during the course of their duties.
The goal of this project is for you to research and discover the role of writing in “real world” jobs and the way that writing is integral to professional life in surprising and unexpected ways. There is a place for excellence in writing in the “real world,” and I hope that this project will give you a greater appreciation of why this course is important to you and your future.
During the interview you will ask your subject for three documents that they wrote in the course of their job. These can be letters, reports, papers, articles, e-mails (although they must be at least one page long; no short and quick e-mails), and other documents this person produced. You will review, study and report on these documents as Project 5b (more on that later), so getting those sample documents is an important component of your interview.
Included below are suggested interview questions you may ask your subject. Please use them only as a guide or as suggestions, not as simply a “script” to ask from. Allow the interview to proceed naturally, asking follow up questions based on the interviewee’s answers; use the list of questions as a reference or a back-up.
After your interview I will be giving you more details and suggestions later, but begin your work by selecting and asking your subject for an interview and setting it up. For Project 5a, you will write a transcript of the interview – so I suggest you record the interview so you can accurately do this.
English 2152 Possible Interview Questions – Project 5a
· Do you do more or less writing than you expected when you were hired for this position? (How did your expectations compare with reality?)
· How important is writing in your job?
· Who reads what you write?
· How important is grammar/punctuation? Clarity? Appearance?
· Do you have help with writing? (technical writer, editor, etc.)
· Have you taken a course in technical writing? Any kind of writing? If so, was it helpful? If not, do you think it would have helped in the writing expected of you?
· Should writing courses be required for _____ majors?
· What advice (concerning writing) would you give a college student?
· How do you modify writing depending on audience and purpose? (For example, how is your writing different when you write to a client/customer than when you communicate with a co-worker?)
Q. Briefly describe exactly your field of work. Preface with, “Would you…?”
Q. What exactly about this field influenced you to choose it? If this is a professor, distinguish between the field (engineering, for example) and the academic world (e.g. “Why did you decide to teach?”
Q. Give me at least three examples of writing that you have to do in your field. Please
Q. How often are you required to write each?
Q. If a response to your writing is required, what type of response would you expect for each? This might be a problem. You could say, “Would you expect a response from each? Would you write it, or would it be done by a secretary or assistant?
Q. You earlier stated that you were influenced into this field by __________________ . Have you done any work or research directly related to this special interest?
Q. Describe to me some of the writing that went along with this special interest.
Q. When writing about research conducted on a particular project, how should one know what to include in the report and where to stop the report? Perhaps you could specify particular types—a proposal is different from a formal report, for example.
Q. Describe to me a particular time when writing in your field became difficult.
Q. Because I’m in the same field of interest, is there any advice that you are willing to give me pertaining to the types of writing that will be required of me?
It might be interesting to ask whether his/her writing is ever collaborative.
**NOTE** Do not use this as script - leave room for follow up questions.