Interview an Engineer

ENGR 100W Interview an Engineer 2020

Christopher W. Bankston, Ed.D.

Purpose and Audience Purpose To investigate a discourse community, you hope to join and to learn about the kinds of texts (genres) that community uses. This assignment will enable you to identify some of those rules or patterns by interviewing a professional in your field of study and by doing outside research. Audience Your instructor, other faculty members and possibly professionals in your community whom you may want to share your work.

Writing Steps Interview For this assignment, you will interview a professional in your field of study to gain insight into your future discourse community. Select someone with at least five years of experience working in this field, who can provide you with a broad view of the types of work and opportunities that are available to you. Do not interview one of your professors or a family member (unless cleared by your instructor first). It is preferable to interview the subject live via Zoom. If not, then email is acceptable provided it is documented correctly in APA format. The interview should cover 1) your subject’s background and career path; 2) your subject’s current role and responsibilities; and 3) your subject’s insight on the type of communication skills required for advancing in your field. To prepare for your interview, follow the steps outlined in Chapter 6 of your textbook, Technical Communication. Outside Research Find a minimum of 2 outside sources (preferably journal articles) that give you additional information about your future discourse community. For example, there are many different types of engineering jobs and requirements. Both articles must be cited within the report to backup claims made by you and your interviewee. Make sure that the outside sources you use are relevant to the content you are discussing. Note that you can start the outside research before your interview is done.

ENGR 100W Interview an Engineer 2020

Christopher W. Bankston, Ed.D.

Prepare Report Report the information you learned during your interview and outside research, providing an introduction and conclusion to share how your own expectations about the field may have changed or broadened in doing this assignment.

Suggested Organization Introduction Your introduction should identify the discourse community you are investigating, give a brief overview of the discourse community and provide a short background on why you chose your field of study and what your expectations were before you conducted the interview and outside research. End with a brief introduction of your interviewee. Interview Report (body) Background and career path. Describe how your subject started and reached his/her present position and his/her insights about the field. Introduce your interview subject, giving details of the subject’s background and education to show why the subject chose that profession and how he/she got started in the field. You will also need to give some explanation of the subject’s career path so far, highlighting particular positions or stepping-stones to the current role (first body paragraph). Roles and responsibilities. Describe what your subject does. Provide an overview of your interview subject’s current role at his/her place of employment, explaining the responsibilities of that position and how it fits into the overall structure of the company or organization. Your subject should also give you a general sense of the types of jobs and career path common in that field (second body paragraph). Communication skills. The reading and writing skills required for your subject. Explain the types of reading and writing typically required in your field of interest. Provide an overview of the communication skills that are most important in your field. For example, some occupations demand the ability to work collaboratively on reports, while others may require and ability to respond clearly and concisely to time-sensitive email inquiries (third body paragraph). Conclusion Bring the reader back to the thesis of the essay. Write a brief summary of your interview. Finally, share your thoughts on what most surprised or interested you about your interview and research. Did it change your expectations about your chosen field? For the remainder of your undergraduate studies, what further skills, knowledge, or experience (such as an internship) will you need to develop to help you prepare for the start of your career?

ENGR 100W Interview an Engineer 2020

Christopher W. Bankston, Ed.D.

References Follow APA 7th edition for inclusion of your references.

Appendix Include a list of the questions that you submitted previously and used during your interview within the appendix. Do not include the answers, just the questions. ______________________________________________________________________________

FORMAT GUIDELINES

• The entire paper should be written in Times New Roman, 12pt. Font, 1-inch margins,

and double-spaced throughout.

• The essay should be a minimum of 4 pages (~1000 words) plus a References page followed by an Appendix page for a minimum total of 6 pages.

This assignment has been adapted from similar ones developed by Kaye Sanders (San Jose State University), Julian Heather, and Fiona Glade (CSU Sacramento).