Interview Assignment

ENGL 212 – Fall 2019

Due date: Sunday, September 22 on Canvas by 11:59 p.m.

Length: 1,200-1,400 words (about 300-400 words per interview)
Percentage of final grade: 10%
Number of sources: 3 interviews
Citation Style: MLA
Document design: 12-point Times New Roman or Calibri, 1” margins
Acceptable file types: .doc, .docx, .rtf, .pdf

Assignment Details
You will interview three different people inquiring about their perspectives about what excites, scares,
and confuses them most about the techno-future. These three people should clearly be from different
generations. In other words, you cannot interview three of your close friends whose ages are near your
own. Ideally, you should aim for someone who is much younger than you (at least 10 years), someone
who is around your parents’ age, and someone who is around your grandparents’ age. You cannot
interview me for this assignment. You should ask permission to interview these people—don’t assume
they will help out. You will also want to think of at least one back-up. Saying that your interviewees
didn’t respond is not an excuse not to complete the assignment. Be sure to be prepared for that
possibility.

This interview can be done whenever and wherever is most convenient for you and your interviewee: in
person, at home, at a public location, via Skype, or any other means.

Draft a list of questions in advance and share them with your interviewee in advance if possible. The
questions you decide to ask are your choice, depending on your interests and the people you choose to
interview. You should, however, take the time to explain what we are discussing in class. It might be
helpful to briefly explain your own personal definition of “techno-future.” You might accomplish this by
giving examples from class or examples from movies or TV shows you’ve seen.

When you are drafting your list of questions, you might consider the following ideas. You are not limited
to these, but you must ask the same questions to each of your three interviewees.

Questions about the person’s experiences and opinions:

 What was technology like for you growing up?
 Are their certain technologies that are now obsolete?
 When you were younger, where did you imagine technology being at this point in your life?
 Do you consider yourself an early adopter (someone who wants to participate in or buy the
newest technology as soon as it comes out)? Do you consider yourself a wait-and-seeer?

Questions about what excites your interviewee about the techno-future.

 In your lifetime, what do you imagine will be the most important technological advancement
you’ll see?
 If ______ was developed, I would feel like I was living in the future.
 In your lifetime, what has been the most exciting technological development you’ve witnessed?
Questions about what scares your interviewee about the techno-future.
 What makes you nervous about technology?
 What changes have you witnessed, for better or worse, with technology?
 Describe a situation in which you felt uncomfortable using technology.

Questions about what confuses your interviewee about the techno-future.

 When I hear people discussing _____, I immediately get confused.
 Describe a situation in which you encountered using a new technology for the first time. What
was it like?
 It seems to me that everyone enjoys _____, but I don’t see the purpose of it.

Once you are finished with each interview, make sure to record your own reactions immediately
afterwards. You will need them in this paper.

Once you complete the interviews, type up a summary of the experience, including with whom you
spoke and why, and the comments you found most interesting. Be sure to share a brief self-reflection on
what you learned as a result of this experience. Be aware of how much quoted material you are using. In
formal essays, if you use quotes, you should aim for an equal amount of analysis. This should keep you
on track for limiting quotes. Instead, summarize the responses you found most interesting. Your
summary must be written in paragraph form. If you list a question and its response, you will not have
success on this assignment. On a separate page after your essay, please list all the questions you asked
along with the names of the individuals you interviewed.

Framework for Interview Essay

Framework A
Introduction  Overview of questions you asked your interviewees
 Overview of interviewees
Interviewee A  A review of Interviewee A’s responses to the questions you asked
Interviewee B  A review of Interviewee B’s responses to the questions you asked
Interviewee C  A review of Interviewee C’s responses to the questions you asked
Conclusion  Your own reflection about what you learned from these interviews.

Framework B
Introduction  Overview of questions you asked your interviewees
 Overview of interviewees
Question Group A  A review of the questions you asked and all interviewees’ responses
Question Group B  A review of the questions you asked and all interviewees’ responses
Question Group C  A review of the questions you asked and all interviewees’ responses
Conclusion  Your own reflection about what you learned from these interviews.

Grading
I will use the ENGL 212 rubric to grade this essay. I will be looking for consistent use of the same
questions across all three interviews. I will be looking for thoughtful reflections of your own following
the interviews.