• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
  • EDIT Edit this Article
  • EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
  • Browse Articles
  • Learn Something New
  • Quizzes Hot
  • This Or That Game New
  • Train Your Brain
  • Explore More
  • Support wikiHow
  • About wikiHow
  • Log in / Sign up
  • Education and Communications
  • College University and Postgraduate
  • Academic Writing

How to Write an Interview Essay

Last Updated: March 11, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Diane Stubbs . Diane Stubbs is a Secondary English Teacher with over 22 years of experience teaching all high school grade levels and AP courses. She specializes in secondary education, classroom management, and educational technology. Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware and a Master of Education from Wesley College. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 459,482 times.

An interview essay is designed to give the reader a general impression of the interview subject and to present their thoughts on a select group of topics. It also offers the opportunity to develop deeper insights by analyzing the interviewee's responses within a larger context. Interview essays are a common school assignment, and provide useful skills for those interested in journalism, or just being good writers in general. There are several formats that fit into the category, but a good interview essay of whatever type can make the reader feel as though they were asking the questions.

Interviewing for an Essay

Step 1 Determine the purpose of your essay.

  • If your essay is to be a factual piece, you'll want to interview someone who has expertise in the subject matter you'll be addressing. If your paper is about a science topic, you'll want to interview a scientist in that field. If your paper is about a period of history, you'll want to interview either a historian or someone who's lived through that period of history.
  • If you plan to make your essay an opinion piece, you'll likely want to interview someone who has a strong opinion about the topic covered in your essay. Ideally, you want someone who can express opinions articulately, and who also has credentials in the area you plan to write about.
  • If your piece will have a narrow perspective, you'll need to interview only one or two people. If your piece will present a general consensus, you'll need to interview more people, probably with varying expertise and credentials.

Step 2 Research your interview subject(s) and draw up questions.

  • When available, read works about and works written by your subject, both in print and online. At the same time, research the topic associated with your subject. The more you know about both, the more intelligent questions you can ask.
  • Look for previous interviews your subject has given, as well. These will give you an idea of what questions the person has been asked before, so you can decide on appropriate subjects for your own questions, including questions that no one else has asked.
  • Questions that require "yes" or "no" answers are good for gathering specific factual information; open-ended "how," "why," and "tell me about" questions are great for gathering additional background material not found in your research.
  • Draw up a list of the questions you are prepared to ask. Have more questions ready than you will likely use, so that you can make adjustments as the interview takes place. (For instance, your subject may begin focusing on what you thought was a side topic, but turns out to be the key part of your interview.) Rank your questions in order of importance to make sure you ask your best ones, or list them all in the order you'd ask them and color-code the most important ones.

Step 3 Arrange the interview(s).

  • Choose a quiet place with few distractions for your interview site. A library, restaurant, or campus location if you're doing this for a college writing class would be suitable.
  • You may want to get the interviewee's consent to use their comments in your essay in writing, as well as permission to record those comments during the interview. By law, if you are recording an interview conducted over the phone, you must obtain written permission. [4] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source
  • It's helpful to have a backup interviewee in case the person you plan to interview can't make it.
  • Be on time at the place you've agreed to meet for the interview.

Step 4 Conduct the interview(s).

  • Using a recording device (with permission) is almost always advisable, as it permits you to save your note-taking for jotting down your insights on contexts, themes, how your subject approaches the questions, his/her comfort level, and so on.
  • Be patient and respectful as you ask your questions and wait for responses. Give the interviewee time to reflect, and you will likely be rewarded with more insightful answers. A few deeper responses are usually better than many superficial ones.
  • Immediately after the interview, write down your thoughts and impressions about the interview and interviewee. They may help you shape the essay.
  • Always end the interview by thanking the person.

Writing the Essay

Step 1 Decide what format your interview essay will have.

  • Narrative format. This form allows paraphrasing of some information the interviewee says, along with direct quotes for the material you most want to emphasize. This is the most likely format for a class assignment, and offers the most opportunity to add context and analysis.
  • Conversational format. This is a looser format than the formal writing style required for most essays. You can address the reader directly and use both first and second person. This format can be suitable for anything from class assignments to magazine articles.
  • Question-and-answer format. This form presents your questions to the interviewee, followed by the interviewee's responses. (That is, the text looks something like this: (Your Name): How long have you been in the circus? (Interviewee's Name): About 35 years.) These are always direct quotes, although you may insert explanatory material in parentheses and substitutions, such as a person's name in place of a personal pronoun, in brackets. This format is best suited for essays with only a single interviewee or a closely related group, such as spouses or the core cast of a TV show.
  • Informative format. This format usually interweaves the interview with research you've done on the subject, incorporating some of that research in the text to provide background and give it a little more color.

Step 2 Plan an outline of the essay.

  • Read over your interview notes and listen to any audio / video recordings you have. Utilizing both whenever available will allow you to thoroughly consider both the highlights of the interview and the most significant themes to emerge from it. These, in turn, will inform your outline of what information your essay will cover and how it will appear. [9] X Research source
  • One possible outline could be an introduction that starts with an anecdote about the interviewee and then presents your thesis statement, several key points that support the main focus, and a conclusion that summarizes the information presented. Traditional school essays often utilize a five paragraph format (introduction, three supporting paragraphs, conclusion), and this can often work with interview essays as well.

Step 3 Develop a thesis statement.

  • If, however, the purpose of your essay is to use your interviewee's comments to support a position or examine a larger theme, your thesis will probably be a statement of that position or theme, with the interview / interviewee placed within that context. For instance: "John Doe's mixed feelings of pride and betrayal reflect those shared by many Vietnam veterans still with us."
  • Regardless of essay format, make your thesis clear and concise, and be sure that the remainder of your essay refers back to it. See How to Write a Thesis Statement for more advice.

Step 4 Flesh out your essay.

  • Interviews can sometimes produce a good deal of repetitive answers (even with high-quality questions), so you may need to trim repetitions and unnecessary elements from the body of your essay. Make sure that whatever material you do keep remains true to both the spirit of the interview and the overarching focus of your essay. [10] X Research source
  • A handout from the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina (available at http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/oral-history/ ) provides a wealth of valuable materials on interview essays. It includes, for instance, examples of how to utilize the same interview materials in a transcription (question-and-answer format), a presentation of individual experiences (quotations and paraphrases), and the placing of the interview / interviewee in a larger context (paraphrasing and quotations with ample explanation).

Step 5 Proofread and revise your work.

  • Reading over the essay yourself is a good start, but it is always wise to have another set of eyes look it over as well. Another reader is likely to catch errors, repetitions, and unclear sections that you have glossed over. [12] X Research source
  • Go back to your original interview notes, recordings, and transcripts, and make sure that your essay continues to reflect the actual interview. Layers of editing and revising can sometimes cause the essay to drift away from the original source and intent. You may even want to let the interviewee read it over to ensure that it captures their voice. [13] X Research source

Step 6 Document your sources.

  • Any materials you used for research, information about the interviewee, or context for the essay itself should be referenced in the approved citation format for your essay.
  • Make sure one more time that any direct quotations from your source are placed in quotation marks, and any paraphrasing is done without quotation marks. Don't put words in your subject's mouth, and respect the words that do emerge from it.

What Are The Dos And Don’ts Of a Journalistic Interview?

Expert Q&A

Diane Stubbs

  • After the interview, send the interviewee a written thank-you note expressing your appreciation for their time. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • If the person you're interviewing is busy or elderly, you may want to plan for more than one interview session. Observe the interviewee for signs of impatience or fatigue. Conduct multiple, shorter sessions if necessary. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

interview essay form

  • If you plan to interview someone over the telephone, permission to record the conversation is required by law. Thanks Helpful 15 Not Helpful 3

You Might Also Like

Find a Catchy Title for Your Paper/Essay

  • ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/oral-history/
  • ↑ https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/interview-paper
  • ↑ http://www.whatkidscando.org/featurestories/2007/maine_students/tip_sheets/FIRST-PERSON%20ESSAYS%20TIP%20SHEET.pdf
  • ↑ http://www.brighthubeducation.com/help-with-writing/97515-how-to-write-an-interview-essay/
  • ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/proofreading_suggestions.html

About This Article

Diane Stubbs

To write an essay from an interview, you’ll first have to decide on the format the essay will take, as this will determine the structure and what you write. The most common form is the narrative format, in which you use direct quotes and paraphrase your subject to add context and detail, or you can write in a more conversational tone, or even in a directly transcribed question-and-answer form. Once you decide on format, plan an outline by forming a central thesis, which will be the central statement your essay is making. Add onto the outline by drafting supporting evidence directly from the interview and from other sources, like books, newspaper articles, other essays, anything else to support your point. Write and finish the essay by combining information from the interview and other sources with your own explanations and words. To learn about how to conduct the interview to get enough information to write about and how to finish the writing process, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

  • Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Mary Frost

Oct 19, 2016

Did this article help you?

interview essay form

Tyler Jordan

Sep 11, 2016

Tawana Moos

Tawana Moos

Nov 20, 2017

Kia Jones

Mar 28, 2016

David Mcaniel

David Mcaniel

May 23, 2017

Am I a Narcissist or an Empath Quiz

Featured Articles

Enjoy Your Early Teen Years

Trending Articles

Be Less Emotional

Watch Articles

Fold Boxer Briefs

  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Info
  • Not Selling Info

Get all the best how-tos!

Sign up for wikiHow's weekly email newsletter

Write an A+ Interview Paper Using Our Tips and Examples

06 September, 2021

13 minutes read

Author:  Josh Carlyle

You will quickly find yourself with your back to the wall once your teacher assigns you an interview paper. Studying is often a headache by itself, and now you have to conduct interviews. Worse yet, you probably have no idea how you can do this. Luckily, we will tell you how to write an interview paper step by step in this comprehensive guide. So prepare your favorite drink and learn how to write a top-notch interview paper.

how to write an interview paper

What is an Interview Paper?

An interview paper provides an expert opinion on a specific issue. In essence, it is an interview transcript inserted somewhere between the introduction and conclusion of an academic piece.

How long should it be? It depends on the topic and the length of your interview, but most papers are within the length of 2,000 – 5,000 words. What things should you consider before writing an interview paper in the first place? Let’s check them out below.

General Aspects of Writing an Interview Paper

Academic papers require you to provide arguments based on studies, research pieces, statistics, etc. But an interview paper is different – for this type of essay, you will develop assumptions around an expert’s opinion.

Let’s imagine your essay question reads the following: “Should we ban abortions?” If you write an interview paper, you should ask someone high-powered for their consideration. Let them be an executive director of the American Gynecological & Obstetrical Society.

You would reach them via email or phone or whatever communication channel you prefer and conduct an interview. Afterward, you would put all your findings on paper.

how to write an interview paper

But in practice, writing an interview paper involves many more complexities and challenges, like planning, topic research , drafting, etc.

Let’s speak straight facts: nobody will reschedule their week to meet you because you need to do some homework. You’re one of the millions of students, and the local governor or a famous scientist won’t give you an interview nine times out of ten.

So you would want to target someone less busy, like professors from other faculties of your college or some researchers within your academic environment. Hunting a bigger fish is pointless unless you’re a well-established journalist working for a popular media channel. If you struggle to find someone within your college/university, you can contact people from your circle.

Writing Outline and Structure of an Interview Paper

 As you know, a typical paper consists of three parts:

  • Introduction. This part includes background information, the hook, the thesis statement, and the transition.
  • Body. It is the longest part of the paper consisting of several paragraphs. It should contain the actual interview.
  • Conclusion. The final part summarizes the considerations and insights of your essay.

The question is: ‘where should you put an interview transcript and how do you do this?’

To answer this question, you need to come up with the interview papers format in the first place. There are several of them:

The narrative format implies that you can use either direct or indirect speech when referring to your interviewee. If you choose this path, you can stick to a 5-paragraph essay structure, retell the considerations of your interviewee, and cite their words here and there at your discretion.

You can also choose this format if you contact several people. Check what a narrative interview paper structure looks like when you reach out to several people:

  • Introduction.
  • Paragraph #1 – the first interviewee’s perspective.
  • Paragraph #2 – the second interviewee’s opinion.
  • Paragraph #3 – the third interviewee’s thoughts.
  • Conclusion.

Alternatively, you can dedicate each paragraph to a particular idea of one person.

“Question and answer” will suit your needs perfectly if you interview one person. It is the simplest format used in online magazines, news reports, and other media. Your interview paper outline will look like this:

  • Introduction
  • Question #1 – Answer #1
  • Question #2 – Answer #2
  • Question #3 – Answer #3
  • Question #4/5/6/etc. – Answer #4/5/6/etc.
  • Interview analysis. You may include your thoughts on the subject matter.

Conversational

Conversational style is informal, and you can use either first-person or second-person narrative and follow a typical 5-paragraph paper structure. But writing interview papers in this lousy style might be perplexing, especially if you deal with this task for the first time.

We advise you to try the Q&A format because it’s the simplest one and takes the least time. Just imagine how much time your paper writing will take if you decide to interview three or five people.

How to Start an Interview Paper?

If you have no idea how to start an interview paper, choose the topic first. Selecting a topic for your interview paper is not a big deal, but you should keep in mind that you may not find appropriate interviewees for it.

Let’s imagine you want to explore whether the government should force people to get vaccines. This topic implies that you need to contact authorities. It might be a local lawyer, governor, or executive director of a local hospital. Well, the chances are these people will politely refuse to give an interview for your homework.

But if you choose to investigate how lockdown impacts intellectual workers, you can contact your friends or family members who work at home. In other words, it’s better to choose topics that reflect the experiences of ordinary people rather than the opinions of untouchable experts.

Asking people for their opinion about well-known facts like the Earth’s shape is a bad idea. You would want to choose high-profile debatable topics you can actually discuss.

Establish the Goal of Your Interview Essay

You have to establish the goal of your essay before researching the topic. For this, ask yourself: “What message should your interview essay deliver?” Sometimes, a topic of your choice might already explain the purpose of your essay.

Conduct Research

Interviewing someone implies that you should ask questions. But you will fail to do so if you know little to nothing about your topic. So read some case studies, news, articles, etc. Once you get the picture of your subject matter, you will come up with dozens of interview questions.

Get to Know Your Interviewee

A good interviewer always refers to the life and experience of their interviewee. If you’re lucky to work with someone you can read about on the Internet, find out as much information about them as possible. If your interviewee publishes any books, articles, or studies, you will better know them as well.

The more you know about the person, the more interview questions you can come up with. You can ask them whether the Internet tells their true story: “Is it true that you, Mr. Interviewee, support flat earthers?”

Draft Your Interview Questions

If you want a person to share their in-depth vision of the topic, you need to ask both open-ended and close-ended (“yes/no”) questions. However, you may struggle to prepare interview questions. Many students get stuck during this stage. To overcome this block, you need to learn some types of interview questions:

  • Opinion – What do you think of this topic?
  • Behavioral – What would you do in this situation?
  • Experience and knowledge – What do you know about the subject?
  • Background – How are you connected to the subject? What is your age, occupation, etc?
  • Emotional – How do you feel about the subject?
  • Sensory – What does the subject taste and feel like?

You can also think of the questions following the interviewee’s “yes” and “no” answers.

Tips for Conducting a Successful Interview

These four tips will help you conduct a productive interview on the first try:

1. Plan Your Meeting

Note that you want to interview a person in a quiet place so that nobody will distract you. This might be some cozy book store or a café. Or, you can arrange an online meeting. Make sure you have at least one hour for the interview.

2. Rehearse a bit

If you will conduct your first-ever interview, you want to practice with your friends/significant other/ family in the first place. This approach will help you identify what stage of your upcoming interview may challenge you the most.

3. Record Your Interview

You will forget about 50% of the information within an hour once you finish the interview. So don’t rely on your memory − bring a recorder instead. Why not take notes? You wouldn’t want to go red while asking your interviewee to repeat what they have just said or wait until you write down their answers.

4. Talk to Your Interviewee for a While Before You Begin

Speaking to someone you don’t know might be uncomfortable. You don’t have to attack them with your interview questions straightaway. Instead, you can exchange some casual phrases or discuss the weather. This will help you relieve stress and get comfortable with each other.

5. Explain Your Interview Protocol

It’s better to explain to your interviewee how you will conduct your interview. Tell them that you will use a recorder and introduce the discussion topic.

Interview Papers Format

interview paper format

In academic writing, you have to explain the purpose of your interview and introduce your interviewee in a specific “scholarly” format. The APA format interview paper has the following requirements:

  • Use 12-point Times New Roman.
  • Write a title page.
  • Use double spacing.
  • Introduce your interviewee and provide the background information – explain why this person is suitable for the interview. Mention their name and qualifications.
  • Use direct quotes if you cite some facts provided by the interviewee.
  • Use block quotes for citations longer than 40 words.

How to Write a Title Page?

The title of your paper must include your name, your institution, department, the course name and number, the teacher’s name, and the assignment date. The rules of writing the title page are the following:

  • The title page must be numbered.
  • Capitalize all major words in your title and make it bold.
  • Place the title of the essay three or four lines down the top of the page.
  • There must be one empty line before the student’s name.

Interview Papers Examples

If you’re searching for an interview essay example – check several samples below:

  • A narrative interview essay .
  • A Q&A interview format paper.
  • An interview with a scientist.

Interview Papers Writing Tips

The following writing tips will help you deliver the first-class interview paper:

  • Write the introduction at the end. Once you finish your essay, you will likely reconsider some ideas you had before you began. They will help you frame your interview essay with a captivating introduction and conclusion.
  • Give yourself a break after finishing your final draft. This will help you look at your paper with a fresh pair of eyes once you start editing.
  • Edit one type of error at a time. For example, you can reduce logical errors first and switch to grammatical mistakes afterward.
  • Use an active voice. If active voice makes your sentence shorter, use it without hesitation.
  • Check for any sample interview paper to decide on the interview questions. Perhaps, some pieces will spark your interest.

Writing Help by Handmadewriting

An interview paper doesn’t seem that intimidating once you learn how to write it step by step. First, you have to choose the subject that allows you to interview ordinary people rather than hard-to-reach ones. Then, you need to research your topic, conduct an interview, and write a paper.

You can get an A+ for this assignment with enough effort and dedication. But a doable task doesn’t necessarily mean that you must do it by yourself. If you have plenty of other assignments to do, you can ask our essay writers to craft an exemplary interview paper for you. For this, you can place an order on our website, and we will do all the dirty work.

A life lesson in Romeo and Juliet taught by death

A life lesson in Romeo and Juliet taught by death

Due to human nature, we draw conclusions only when life gives us a lesson since the experience of others is not so effective and powerful. Therefore, when analyzing and sorting out common problems we face, we may trace a parallel with well-known book characters or real historical figures. Moreover, we often compare our situations with […]

Ethical Research Paper Topics

Ethical Research Paper Topics

Writing a research paper on ethics is not an easy task, especially if you do not possess excellent writing skills and do not like to contemplate controversial questions. But an ethics course is obligatory in all higher education institutions, and students have to look for a way out and be creative. When you find an […]

Art Research Paper Topics

Art Research Paper Topics

Students obtaining degrees in fine art and art & design programs most commonly need to write a paper on art topics. However, this subject is becoming more popular in educational institutions for expanding students’ horizons. Thus, both groups of receivers of education: those who are into arts and those who only get acquainted with art […]

interview essay form

How to Write an Interview Essay: Questions, Topics, Examples & Tips

20 Top Interview Questions And Answers

In the realm of writing, interviews bring a unique touch, a personal narrative that adds depth to your words. Picture this: someone's story unfolding through your pen, their experiences laid out for the world to read. But how do you capture that essence, ask the questions that matter, and turn it into a compelling read? 

Fear not! Our guide breaks the interview essay examples down for you, step by step, making essay writing for interview as simple as sharing a cup of coffee with a friend. So, let's get started on turning conversations into captivating tales that will help you get your first remote job !

What Is an Interview Essay?

The process of interview essay writing is essentially a conversation transformed into written form. It involves engaging with someone, posing thoughtful questions, and then translating their responses into a narrative for others to read. Think of it as capturing the essence of a personal exchange, where the interviewee shares their experiences, insights, or expertise. 

The goal is to convey the individual's unique perspective and story in a way that resonates with readers. It's like being a storyteller with a purpose – to amplify someone else's voice and share their narrative with a broader audience. Interview essays provide a platform for individuals to express their thoughts, share their journeys, and contribute their perspectives to a wider conversation.

How to Write an Interview Essay?

how to prepare for job interviews

Step 1: Define the Essay's Purpose

Start your journey into crafting a job interview essay by figuring out exactly what you want to achieve. Ask yourself: Why am I conducting this interview, and what story or message do I want to share? It could be about someone's experiences in the professional world, valuable insights into a particular industry, or shedding light on the intricacies of a specific job role. Having a clear purpose will help you stay on track and make sure your essay has a point.

Step 2: Explore the Subject through Research

Before you dive into the interview, take some time to get to know the person you'll be talking to. Look into their background, experiences, and anything else that might be important. This research not only helps you come up with good questions but also shows the person you're interviewing that you care about their story. Knowing more about your subject makes your questions more thoughtful, turning the phone interview into a richer and more interesting conversation.

Interview Essay Topics

Need a dose of inspiration? Our experts have compiled compelling essay topics for interview. Explore and choose one that sparks your curiosity and invites in-depth analysis:

  • How do people feel about remote work after experiencing it?
  • What's the most memorable volunteer experience for community members?
  • How do small business owners handle daily challenges?
  • What makes a family game night special for different families?
  • How do individuals manage stress in their everyday lives?
  • What are the favorite childhood memories of people in your community?
  • How do pet owners bond with their furry friends?
  • What are some creative ways people stay active without going to the gym?
  • How do grandparents share wisdom with younger generations?
  • What role do hobbies play in people's lives for relaxation?
  • How do individuals practice self-care on a busy schedule?
  • What's the favorite local food joint for residents in your area?
  • How do students manage their time during exam periods?
  • What's the secret behind successful long-term relationships?
  • How do individuals find joy in simple, everyday moments?
  • How do people discover and choose their favorite books to read?
  • What's the go-to comfort food for individuals on a rainy day?
  • How do commuters make the most of their time during daily travels?
  • What's the most cherished holiday tradition for families in your community?
  • How do individuals celebrate personal achievements and milestones?

Step 3: Formulate Your Questions

Now that you've got a grip on your essay's purpose and know your subject, it's time to craft thoughtful questions. Think about what will bring out the most interesting and meaningful responses. Ask open-ended questions that encourage the interviewee to share their experiences, insights, or opinions. This step is like laying the groundwork for a conversation that will unveil the essence of your subject's story.

Interview Essay Questions

  • How has the integration of technology impacted your communication within your family?
  • Can you share a transformative experience from participating in a unique sports or recreational activity?
  • What strategies have you employed to foster a positive work-life balance in your professional journey?
  • In your opinion, what elements contribute to creating a successful and harmonious blended family dynamic?
  • How do you navigate and manage personal finances to ensure financial stability and security?
  • Can you recall a specific instance where a mentor or role model profoundly influenced your life choices?
  • What innovative methods have you discovered for staying connected with distant relatives or friends?
  • How do you incorporate mindfulness and mental wellness practices into your daily routine?
  • In your experience, how do cultural traditions shape and influence family dynamics and relationships?
  • Can you share a travel experience that left a lasting impact, broadening your perspective on life?
  • What are your strategies for maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle despite a busy schedule?
  • How do you approach and overcome creative blocks or challenges in your artistic endeavors?
  • Can you recount a significant moment of personal growth or self-discovery that shaped your identity?
  • What lessons have you learned from navigating a cross-cultural or interfaith relationship?
  • How do you approach building a sense of community and fostering connections within your neighborhood?
  • How do you incorporate eco-friendly practices and sustainability into your daily life?
  • How much of an impact does social media have on personal relationships and societal dynamics?
  • Did you ever face a major decision and the thought process that guided your choice?
  • How do you stay informed about current events, and how does this impact your worldview?
  • How much are you involved in a hobby or passion that brings you joy and fulfillment? 

Step 4: Reach Out to the Interviewee and Ready Yourself for the Interview

Take the plunge and connect with the person you're interviewing. Reach out in a friendly manner, explaining your purpose and why you value their perspective. Once you've secured the interview, prepare yourself. Familiarize yourself with the questions, make sure your equipment (if any) is ready, and create a comfortable setting for the conversation. Being organized and ready ensures a smooth and effective interview process, allowing the person you're speaking with to open up and share their story effortlessly.

Step 5: Conduct the Interview

Now that you've set the stage, it's time for the main event! As you step into the interview, approach it with a genuine sense of curiosity, as if you're unwrapping a present of stories and insights. Take a moment to breathe and let the conversation unfold naturally. Pose your questions with patience, allowing the interviewee the space to share their thoughts. 

Active listening is key – not just to their words but to the nuances in their tone and the emotions beneath the surface. It's in these unscripted moments that the most captivating and unexpected stories often emerge. Embrace flexibility, as sometimes the richest narratives come when you least anticipate them. Remember, your ultimate aim for successful interview essays is to authentically capture the essence of the person's experiences or insights, so let the first job interview be a genuine and unfiltered exploration.

Step 6: Select an Interview Essay Format

As you wrap up the interview, consider how you want to present its essence. The right format sets the tone and it is your tool to engage the readers effectively in your interview essays. 

You have a variety of styles to choose from: opt for the classic Q&A, where questions and answers flow seamlessly; weave a narrative, transforming responses into a compelling story; or adopt a thematic structure for a logical organization. Each style brings its own flavor to the table. The format you choose becomes the lens through which your readers experience the interview, so select one that not only enhances the narrative but also resonates with your audience. Ultimately, your choice of format shapes how your audience engages with the richness of the conversation.

Step 7: Develop an Interview Essay Outline

Now that you've gathered all the insightful details, it's time to structure your essay. Create an interview essay outline that organizes the key points, highlights significant moments, and establishes a logical flow. Consider the introduction, body, and conclusion, and map out how the interviewee's story will unfold. This roadmap will guide you on how to write an interview essay, ensuring a cohesive and engaging narrative that does justice to the richness of the conversation.

Introduction:

The introduction to an interview essay is where you say hello to your reader and give them a sneak peek into what's coming. Briefly introduce who you interviewed and share a little about why their story is worth hearing. You can start with something interesting to grab attention, like a question or a surprising fact. The main job here is to make your reader curious about what comes next.

The body is where the real action happens. Think of it like the main part of a story. Each paragraph tackles a different aspect of what you learned in the interview. Start with the most important points and follow a logical order. Share the juicy details and interesting moments. Keep things organized, so your reader can easily follow along. It's all about presenting the interviewee's story in a way that's interesting and makes sense.

Conclusion:

The conclusion is your chance to wrap things up. Summarize the key points from the interview and remind your reader why it's important. You can add a personal reflection or suggest what readers might take away from the interviewee's experiences. End on a strong note, leaving a lasting impression. It's like saying goodbye but making sure it's memorable.

Step 8: Proofread Your Work

Before sharing your interview essay writing with the world, take a moment to proofread. Check for grammar and spelling errors, ensure the sentences flow smoothly, and verify that your chosen format enhances the overall readability. This step is your chance to polish the final product and present a well-crafted piece. A carefully proofread essay not only reflects professionalism but also ensures that your audience can fully focus on the captivating story you've worked so diligently to convey.

Step 9: Include Proper Citations

As the finishing touch to your interview essay, don't forget to give credit where it's due. Include proper citations to acknowledge any external sources or references used during your research. Whether it's direct quotes, paraphrased information, or data from other works, citing your sources adds credibility to your essay and shows respect for the original contributors. Follow the citation style specified by your assignment or publication guidelines, ensuring transparency and integrity in your writing. This step ensures that your readers can trace back and explore the sources that contributed to the depth of your interview essay.

Life Is about Balance — Don’t Do Things in Excess.

Hire an Expert to Balance Work and Studies!

interview essay form

Interview Essay Example

To illustrate the art of turning a conversation into a compelling essay, let's delve into an interview essay sample with Sarah Rodriguez, an avid urban gardener with a green thumb and a passion for sustainable living. Through this example, we'll explore how to capture the essence of someone's experiences and insights, transforming a casual chat into a narrative that resonates:

Sarah Rodriguez's balcony garden in the heart of the city is a testament to the possibilities of urban gardening. As we sat surrounded by thriving plants, she shared her journey into sustainable living and the joys of cultivating a green oasis in a concrete jungle.

Urban gardening might seem like a niche interest, but for Sarah, it's a way of life that has transformed not only her living space but also her perspective on sustainable practices. In this interview, we'll dive into the roots of Sarah's passion, exploring how she turned a small balcony into a flourishing garden and gained insights into sustainable living along the way.

Sarah's journey began with a desire for fresh herbs, a longing that led her to experiment with container gardening. 'It started small, with a few potted herbs like basil and mint,' she recalled. 'But as I learned more about sustainable gardening practices, it evolved into something much more significant.'

Each paragraph in the body delves into a different aspect of Sarah's experience. From the challenges of limited space to the joy of harvesting her own produce, the narrative weaves through her urban gardening adventure. Key moments, such as discovering the benefits of composting or experimenting with rainwater harvesting, add depth to the story.

As we wrap up the interview, Sarah reflects on the impact of urban gardening on her life. 'It's not just about the plants; it's about connecting with nature in the midst of a bustling city,' she shares. Through Sarah's journey, we glimpse the potential of turning a small balcony into a sustainable haven. This interview essay not only captures the practical aspects of urban gardening but also highlights the personal growth and connection to the environment that can stem from such a simple yet impactful endeavor.

Bringing It All Together

We hope you picked up some handy tips in this guide to shine in your journalism class. But hey, if you crave more guidance on how to prepare for a job interview essay, our expert writers are all ears and ready to share more insights! Feel free to reach out for extra help and nail that assignment with confidence.

Need a Professional Experienced Writer?

We exclusively work with the greatest authors, who offer students unique, customized writing. Ask for our assistance if you need to purchase essays online

interview essay form

Our Latest Blog Posts

interview essay form

How to Write an Interview Essay: Complete Guide

College and high school teachers often assign interview papers to test their learners’ planning, paraphrasing, and critical thinking skills. So, besides drafting a well-substantiated and information-packed piece, students must also organize and conduct an interviewing process.

Hence, this assignment is far from straightforward. Quite the contrary, it requires substantial pre-work before the actual meeting. Moreover, the task further complicates if you include several subjects or elaborate on a compelling theme.

What if you can’t meet an ideal candidate to elaborate on your topic? How to pose questions that reveal valuable information and present your findings on paper? How to write an interview essay introduction with attention-grabbing ideas that bring up current dilemmas or resolve an issue? There are so many trilemmas spinning around your head.

Fortunately, there’s no need to feel intimated or discouraged. This article will help you grasp the basics of an interview paper and how to write an outstanding piece. It will also discuss the steps involved in the writing process and give a few helpful tips that ensure your final product passes with flying colors.

What Is an Interview Essay?

An interview paper is an academic written piece that presents the insight the interviewer gained while interviewing one or several people. It aims to expose different perspectives on a particular topic once the writer gathers relevant data through research. Typically, the essence of the paper will rest upon your findings from the interviews.

The presented viewpoints will depend on the respondent. So, for example, if your paper interview focuses on social media, you might consider talking to an influencer. Conversely, if you’re elaborating on a burning social issue, you may want to speak to a local authority. Or set up a meeting with a scientist if you’re exploring natural sciences.

The interview paper must help the reader understand a concept backed by relevant statements. Unlike definition essay writing , where you paraphrase and cite trusted sources like scholarly books, the interview paper will stem from authoritative individuals in the respective field.

Finally, you can reap a lot of benefits from drafting interview essays. More specifically, those interested in becoming broadcast journalists, newspaper reporters, or editors will learn to pose thought-provoking questions. Similarly, HR managers will polish their screening ability and hire excellent candidates. Even prospective detectives and inspectors can gain from writing an interview essay. They will formulate a variety of engaging questions to get honest and accurate answers.

Outline and Typical Structure of an Interview Paper

Most essays follow the template of a basic 5-paragraph paper. Yet, the length can vary according to your subject and data availability. A standard interview essay from a custom writing service can range from 2,000 to 5,000 words or up to ten pages. Individual works are usually shorter.

The interview essay format will have an introduction, body segments (perspectives grouped under different subheadings), and a summary. Here’s an overview of what to put in each part.

Introduction . The writer needs to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and urgency to stimulate the audience to keep reading. It should also provide background information about the theme and the interviewee. Furthermore, the initial part can list statistics or what society thinks about the respective topic. Finally, your intro must contain a thesis that transitions into the main section.

Body . This part will present the pillars on which you conceptualized your research. If you get stuck while drafting the body, you might hire an online service to write an essay for you and incorporate the gathered data. They will isolate the main points and help you frame the perfect timeline of events.

Moreover, the body should reflect important facts, life periods, and considerations of your interviewees. For instance, you might split your paper into infancy, adolescence, university, marriage, and golden years. Or you might divide your segments according to different discussion questions.

Conclusion . Use the ending part to summarize the interviewee’s thoughts and your insights into the matter. You might also compare the available data to the facts collected during the meeting and verify their validity. The bottom line must leave a lasting impression on your audience.

interview paper structure

Steps for Writing a Successful Interview

Below is a detailed description of the paper composition journey. Consider each step carefully and be consistent in your approach.

Define the Paper’s Objective

Writing an interview paper urges you to establish the overall purpose. You will have to specify the message you plan to deliver. For example, if you want to verify a public opinion, you’ll have to question several subjects. Alternatively, proving a natural phenomenon will require a conversation with an expert in the field.

Explore the Subject

Find and prepare printed and virtual materials related to your research. Previous interviews and works by the interviewee are also vital. Unlike rebuttal essays , your primary goal is to gather details supporting your claims. Therefore, brainstorm any note you found based on your predefined criteria.

Pick an Interview Format

Your sample form will depend on the specific theme. Most students decide to buy a literature essay online due to their lack of formatting skills. Here are the various formats you can choose when presenting your findings.

This format implies using direct or indirect speech to analyze the storyline. Consider retelling the considerations of the interviewee and citing the original wording. The narrative format is also advisable if you talk to a few interviewees. The structure should contain an intro, a body (each paragraph can describe a particular idea of a single person), and a summary.
Question-and-answer essays are ideal when interviewing one person. Most magazines and news reports prefer this type because it is the simplest. Your interview paper will have an intro, different parts for each question and answer, an analysis with your perspective, and a summary.

Informative

Also known as conversational or personal, these papers are informal and take first or second-person narration flow. However, writing in a dialogue form might be confusing and perplexing for an untrained eye.

Formulate the Questions

Make a thorough list of all the aspects you want to discuss and cover in the interview paper. Ask close-ended (yes/no) and open-ended questions that require in-depth responses. If you struggle with your questionnaire, consider the following suggestions:

  • Share your core values
  • What would you change in the world if you had a superpower for a day?
  • How did your childhood impact your personality?
  • What is the recipe for success?
  • What is the best aspect of your job?
  • How do you overcome your deepest fears?
  • Define happiness with examples
  • What object do you hold most dear and why?
  • What is the most significant challenge in our society?
  • How do you imagine the world’s future?

Get in Touch with the Respondent

Make an effort to contact your interviewee/s and be professional when arranging the meeting. You might need to use several communication channels to reach your target person. Focus on scheduling a time that works for everyone involved in the project.

Facilitate the Interview

Choose a peaceful and quiet place without any distractions. Always arrive on time for the meeting. Alternatively, consider setting it up in an online format, if finding a physical location isn’t viable. Most importantly, allow the speakers enough time to share their thoughts and maintain an impartial attitude to avoid miscommunication.

Interview Essay Writing Tips

Here’s some additional advice for writers taking the first steps toward interview writing.

Stick to Your Teacher’s Instructions

Your professor will probably mention the paper structure. For instance, if you receive a classification essay writing guidelines , don’t experiment with other formats. Moreover, rehearse the face-to-face meeting with a family member to avoid possible deadens. Here, you might come up with a follow-up question that clarifies some vague points.

Quote and Paraphrase Your Sources

Organize all the details on the background, education, and achievements before interviewing itself. When referring to the topics discussed, cite them properly and give credit. Also, explain the protocol to the respondent and the purpose of the research.

Consider Recording the Interview

The longer the meeting, the more details you’ll forget once you finish it. Avoid over-relying on your memory, and bring a recorder. Taking notes is also essential. However, don’t record unless the respondent gives prior approval.

Mind These Formatting Rules

Use a font size of 12 in Times New Roman with double spacing. Don’t forget to write a title page, too. When including citations longer than 40 words, use block quotes.

Edit and Proofread

Don’t expect the first draft to be the best. Reduce grammar mistakes and typos by polishing your initial wording. The final version must be logical, easy to read, and plagiarism-free.

Bottom Line

As intimidating as the interview paper might seem at the onset, these guidelines will help you stay focused and organized. Above all, pick an important topic with questions that affect ordinary people. This way, you can set up and develop the interviews more quickly. Undoubtedly, an A+ grade takes dedication and perseverance to research and write your paper.

Related posts:

  • How To Write A Good Compare And Contrast Essay: Topics, Examples And Step-by-step Guide

How to Write a Scholarship Essay

  • How to Write the Methods Section for a Research Paper: Effective Writing Guide
  • Explaining Appeal to Ignorance Fallacy with Demonstrative Examples

Improve your writing with our guides

How to Write a Scholarship Essay

Definition Essay: The Complete Guide with Essay Topics and Examples

Critical Essay: The Complete Guide. Essay Topics, Examples and Outlines

Critical Essay: The Complete Guide. Essay Topics, Examples and Outlines

Get 15% off your first order with edusson.

Connect with a professional writer within minutes by placing your first order. No matter the subject, difficulty, academic level or document type, our writers have the skills to complete it.

100% privacy. No spam ever.

interview essay form

How To Write an Interview Essay

The aim of an interview is that through using people rather than books or articles, the writer can obtain a first-person viewpoint on a subject. The interview can be related to experiences in their life or may be related to a field in which they are an expert. Clearly these types of essays require a different form of planning and research. Typically, this includes the following steps:

  • Determine the subject on which the person is to be interviewed.
  • Identify the target interviewees, contact them, and ask for consent.
  • Personal details (name, occupation, or credentials where appropriate, age if relevant, location if relevant)
  • Primary question: The main focus of the work and some short main topic questions
  • Notes on exploring the respondent’s answers – i.e., reminder questions for the writer such as “why do you feel that way?”, “Can you explain that in more detail?”, “Why do you think some people disagree with you?”
  • Analyse the information / answers given by your interviewee.

Once you have followed these stages, you can draft / outline your interview essay in a more standard format:

  • Break up the responses into key themes or points that you will make.
  • Identify any other sources that you will use in your essay.
  • Give an approximate word count to each section.

Note that using closed questions requiring “yes/no” answers are effective for gathering factual information, however, more detailed responses can be achieved with open-ended questions starting, “how”, “why”, “talk to me about…” and similar. Using these questions also encourages you to ask more for more detail that will expand your essay and source information.

Analysing your interviews

When analysing your interview(s), the approach will depend on the focus of your interview. For example, if you have undertaken 2/3 interviews for considering an experience, you may wish to follow the narrative route. However, if you have undertaken only one interview on a specific topic in which your interviewee is an expert, you may look at content analysis. In both cases, however you should, as you look through the interview notes or transcriptions if you have these and ask yourself:

  • What reasons/ points/ perspectives did the interviewees give in support or opposition to the main topic
  • Are they positive or negative?
  • How does their responses compare to existing views?
  • How interesting or important are the responses given?
  • What is your own perspective of the views/reasons/responses given?

Once you have written down your initial analysis in order to structure your interview essay in a logical format you should then list the points/reasons given in the following way:

  • least to most important
  • positive first, then negative
  • negative, then positive
  • those you disagree with, those you agree with
  • those which are pretty typical, those which are unusual.

Writing your Interview Essay

Introduction.

Your introduction should commence with an indication of the key question asked. This can either be in the form of a comment from the interviewee or a description of the situation that led to the development of your main question.

In addition, you should clearly state the type of interview undertaken (survey, narrative etc.) so that the reader has a context for your work. The introduction should then provide an overview of the responses given, along with your own perspectives and thoughts on these (your thesis statement) before introducing the body of the essay through linking. For example, “having stated X, the work will now provide a more detailed overview of some of the key comments and their implications in relation to XX”.

The body text should follow the order of your points indicated above. Use only one paragraph per point structured by indicating the point made, why you agree/disagree and any other relevant subpoints made by the interviewee in regard to the first points.

The paragraph should conclude with a link to the next theme which leads to the next paragraph and demonstrates cohesion of thought and logical flow of reporting the interview analysis. Note: you can include quotations from the interview, but do not rely on these, they should only be used to reinforce a point of view, and where possible avoid the inclusion of slang or swearing unless it is vital to the point you are making.

Your conclusion should bring together all the perspectives given by the interviewee. It is, in effect, a synopsis of the work with your own conclusions included. It is useful to refer back to the main question and your thesis statement to indicate how the interviewee answered (or not) your question and what this means for your future views or action in regard to the topic. A strong conclusion is as vital as a strong introduction and should not introduce any new information but should be a precis of the overall essay.

Key Phrases for an Interview Essay

The main subject under discussion was…”

“The interviewee was very clear when discussing…”

“The interviewee was somewhat vague when asked about…”

“This raised the question of…”

“When asked about x, the interviewee stated/asserted/claimed/maintained/declared, believed/thought/.”

“From the perspectives given by the interviewee it seems that…”

You may also like

How to Write A Critical Essay

  • How It Works
  • PhD thesis writing
  • Master thesis writing
  • Bachelor thesis writing
  • Dissertation writing service
  • Dissertation abstract writing
  • Thesis proposal writing
  • Thesis editing service
  • Thesis proofreading service
  • Thesis formatting service
  • Coursework writing service
  • Research paper writing service
  • Architecture thesis writing
  • Computer science thesis writing
  • Engineering thesis writing
  • History thesis writing
  • MBA thesis writing
  • Nursing dissertation writing
  • Psychology dissertation writing
  • Sociology thesis writing
  • Statistics dissertation writing
  • Buy dissertation online
  • Write my dissertation
  • Cheap thesis
  • Cheap dissertation
  • Custom dissertation
  • Dissertation help
  • Pay for thesis
  • Pay for dissertation
  • Senior thesis
  • Write my thesis

How To Write An Interiew Paper: Ultimate Guide

How To Write An Interview Paper

While you’re in school and studying different subjects, it can be tricky to understand each assignment’s needs and depths, especially long-form research papers that might count for a large percentage of your total grade. Writing an interview paper can involve a lot of research, require a lot of time and effort to find and schedule interviews with the right people, and write an engaging and easy-to-read piece. So here’s your ultimate blueprint on how to write an interview paper!

What Is An Interview Paper?

How to write an interview paper, the step-by-step guide on writing an interview paper, how to start an interview paper, how to write a conclusion for an interview paper, how to format an interview paper, checklist of essentials for an impressive interview paper, topics for an interview paper.

An interview paper is an intriguing but complex assignment to write about a topic that incorporates interviews and perspectives of different people on the issue. These interviews are usually with people who are stakeholders in a problem or the general public that has been inevitably affected by a country’s policy or about a particular case that caused havoc. In addition, it can also be a descriptive piece elaborating on the personal experience or anecdote of one person.

It’s definitely a learned skill and requires a lot of effort into cultivating precise questions networking to find the best people to interview (they can range from being your family members who were involved in a particular issue or have stark opinions on your topic to policymakers and governors who contributed to either passing or striking a specific act), and finally putting it all together to communicate the varying perspectives effectively without bias.

Here’s an excerpt from an interview paper example :

With the recent upsurge in mental health and psychology, many experts in the field are celebrating the increased awareness but also worry about the dissipation of false information. Especially with social media, information is communicated from one part of the world to another within seconds. It can lead to the misuse of terms and psychological context, leading to severe harm and damage. Dr. Rosen Luis, a professor of abnormal psychology at the University of Georgia, elaborated upon the issue of false information being spread on social media in a personal interview conducted last year. “As social media penetrates the global world at a more rapid rate than anything else in the world, sensitive information like that regarding mental health can easily be misused or leveraged in incorrect circumstances due to the lack of supervision on growing platforms. Social media also creates unrealistic expectations about how a mental illness should look. There’s no one distinct way a disorder manifests in everybody and can lead to different lifestyle changes for different people.” (R. Luis, Phone Interview, Jun 22, 2021)

So you might be thinking about how to write a paper based on an interview and what are the different components of such a paper? Well, a lot goes into an article of this kind, so it’s essential to break it down into separate elements so you can tackle each with great effort and accuracy to cultivate a solid assignment and fetch a top grade!

If you have the freedom to choose your topic for the assignment, it is essential that you pick up a contentious concept that is the center of debate and leads to some civil discourse. An interview paper needs to be backed with air-tight research and credible interviews taken ethically and incorporate direct, in-depth questioning and sources.

Now you may be wondering how to include an interview in a research paper, mainly because interviews often look like scripts instead of concrete research material, so it’s important to note that while your discussions will be long-form and extensive, you’ll have to pick and choose responses from your different interviews to use as quotes or credible backing for your statements within the content of the paper.

If you have no desire to get all those knowledge or experience a long tiring writing process, you can use an opportunity to buy cheap dissertation online .

To make the writing process easier, you should be absolutely sure in what to do in each step. Here is a list of steps you need to take to get a perfect interview paper.

  • Step 1 – Selecting the ideal topic for your paper : The topic you end up choosing for your interview paper can genuinely make or break your grade. It’s best not to look at generalized ideas or concepts that have been established as facts, as it’s unlikely that such topics will have a large-scale difference of opinion. Searching for a good case could begin with looking for issues that cause healthy discussion, differ within groups of different cultural, political, social, or economic backgrounds, and are essential conversations to have. It’s vital to ensure that the topic doesn’t cause a threat to someone’s rights, identity, or existence.
  • Step 2 – Ideation and Research : Now that you’ve established your topic and a basic crux of your thesis statement, you can begin ideating the direction you want to take your paper. For instance, you choose capital punishment and its use to decrease long-term crime patterns in Singapore (known to have one of the highest percentages of the executed population via capital punishment), you’ll think about whether you want to talk about its history, grassroots change, crime statistics and also decide who all you’ll want to interview. A big part of writing an interview paper is finding people from diverse backgrounds with conflicting opinions to give your readers a 360-degree view on the issue.
  • Step 3 – Crafting your interview questions : After having decided your topic and doing in-depth research about the same, it’s time to curate a set of interview questions that are brief, to-the-point, and extract the information you require for your assignment. Crafting good open-ended questions is a learned skill and will improve with the number of interviews you prep for. Ensure that all your questions are about the topic, fact-checked, and easy to understand for the interviewee.
  • Step 4 – Taking the interviews : Once the interview blueprint is ready, you’ve to schedule and conduct interviews with the people you’re choosing to talk to (it is preferred that you conduct interviews in-person, so it is as personal and direct as possible). Be sure to ask your questions clearly and record the interviewee’s responses using a recording device so you can precisely transcribe the answers afterward. It’s crucial that your interviewee feels comfortable talking to you about the topic, especially if it is something very sensitive and personal. Good interview ethics also involve letting your respondent know they can communicate if they want something they spoke about to be scratched out of the interview.If you’re planning on using published interviews, you can skip the third and fourth steps and pick up essential quotes from the already published interviews. Remember to cite the quotes in the correct format so that you don’t get into any unnecessary plagiarism issues.
  • Step 5 – Creating an outline : With regards to the obtained interview responses, you’ll create a very detailed skeleton for the interview paper, so you know precisely which idea goes where. This will help you when you finally get down to writing the actual essay, as you’ll be able to keep track of your different ideas, quotes, and sources and establish an engaging flow. You can also spend some time writing transitionary sentences that you’ll use when you move from one paragraph to the next.
  • Step 6 – Writing the paper : Now that you’re done with all the back-end research, interviewing, and outlining, you’ve to sit down and fill in the gaps to produce a stellar essay. You have all the elements you need to decrease your distractions, be charged up, and just write it out. Contrary to popular belief, writing is actually a learned skill. Even if you don’t believe you’re as good with words as others, learning a few tips and tricks can easily elevate your writing to a notch above. Using precise and appropriate vocabulary, leveraging analogies, metaphors, and other language elements to convey your ideas, and having perfect grammar and syntax are some of the ways you can better your writing.

The basics of any paper are a thesis statement, introduction, body, and conclusion. You would’ve formulated your thesis statement while ideating the direction you wanted to take your paper in, and through the outline, you’ve hopefully followed the one-idea, one paragraph to give rise to a well-constructed body. Here’s some guidance on the two components that determine the first impression and last impression your reader has of the paper:

The introduction of your interview paper is the first thing that the reader looks at, so it’s crucial to hook the reader to keep them engaged to follow through with reading the paper. You can include:

Your thesis statement Intriguing data about your topic A quote from one of your interviewees Citing any information that’s been in the news with regards to your topic

The purpose of a catchy introduction is to connect the idea at hand to the reader’s life and intrigue them enough to learn more about the issue.

For example , if you’re writing on the capital punishment topic, beginning with an alarming statistic to depict the dire need to start a serious conversation about its effectiveness or ineffectiveness could hook the reader very well:

“ Juxtaposing the modern ideals of reformation and change, over 400 individuals have been giving the death penalty in Singapore since 1991″

Like any research paper, a firm conclusion is a must in a well-written interview paper. Since your paper will deal with some contrasting ideas, summarizing all the perspectives while shedding more light on the thesis statement will hook your reader to think about the information and views brought up in your essay long after they finish reading. Though this is one of the many assignments you’ve to write for school, interview papers dealing with conflicting real-life issues also contribute to social change via beginning civil discourse and fact-oriented discussion on important causes.

  • Step 7 – Citing the sources : It’s vital that after you finish the contents of your essay, you spend time formatting your interview paper in the correct format and cite all of your sources in the needed manner (e.g., MLA, APA, etc.). It’ll help provide credibility to your arguments, show that you delved into air-tight research for your topic, and protect you from any coincidental issues in plagiarism checkers.
  • Step 8 – Revision : It’s believed that looking at your paper, especially one you’ve spent hours on, with a fresh set of eyes, gives you a better perspective on things to change and helps you spot any missed grammar and style errors. You can finish your draft, take a nap, get back to the assignment and make the changes, read it aloud to make any mistakes more noticeable, or even ask a friend to have a read-through.

It’s essential that you know the interview paper format to be able to present a well-written, researched, and formatted assignment for an excellent grade. So here are some steps on how to write an interview paper in APA format –

If you’re citing a personal interview that you conducted in the course of writing the piece, here’s the format to follow:

Include the name of the interviewee and their qualifications, job description, and experience Mention the purpose of involving them in your research paper Incorporate a couple of quotes from their interview Cite the interview in the correct APA format

For, e.g., – (Interviewee first name initial & last name, interview format, date of interview)

If you’re citing an already published interview of someone in the field, the way you format the quotes in the paper and the bibliography should follow the format of the document in which you found the interview. Say you found an interview of a renowned politician in a social science journal that followed the MLA format; you must follow the same and cite the social science journal as your source.

To have peace of mind that you’ve done everything you needed for the perfect interview paper, here’s a short checklist you can quickly run through before submitting your assignment

Included all interviewees point’s of view Remained neutral while elaborating on others’ opinions even if you have a solid personal perspective on the subject Followed the one-idea, one-paragraph rule and included well-written transitory sentences Utilized precise and high-level vocabulary and sentence structure Proofread the essay to rid it of any grammar or syntax inconsistencies Used the correct format to cite sources within the paper and in the bibliography
  • What role do you think your genetics play in your character compared to your upbringing?
  • Are beauty standards unrealistic?
  • Is social media connecting or disconnecting people?
  • Should abortion be a topic of policy?
  • Should age-old prisons be reconstructed to fit modern ideas of reformation and change?
  • Do nursing homes contribute to the well-being of the older generation?
  • Should marijuana be legalized?
  • Should the same humanitarian and crime laws apply in times of war?
  • Should gun rights be ubiquitous?
  • Is capital punishment leading to grassroots change?
  • Should society be capitalist, socialist, or an amalgamation of both?
  • Should cloning be legal?
  • Is the concept of marriage as idolized as it used to be?
  • Is choosing to be child-free selfish?
  • Should the rich pay more tax?
  • Are our immigration policies outdated in a globalized world?
  • Should celebrities be more accountable for their actions than the average person?
  • Are companies doing enough to contribute to climate change effects?
  • Should holistic therapies be considered certified medical treatments?
  • Should upbringing be gendered?
  • Is having kids in a time of such turmoil ethical?
  • Should prostitution be legalized?
  • How should racism or homophobia be combated on an individual level?
  • College degrees and their relevance in the digital age
  • Going vegan v/s consuming meat: What’s better for the climate?
  • How important is your religion to you?
  • Are money and happiness correlated?
  • How much does early-child development affect one’s mental health into adulthood?
  • Is stealing ever okay?
  • Are arranged marriages still as popular?

Not Interested in Writing Paper by Yourself?

Getting started with an interview paper can feel intimidating, mainly since it entails so much work – in-depth research on the topic and the history of debate behind it, setting up and curating tailored interviews with people relevant to the topic, and so much more. While you juggle several courses and assignments and other extracurricular work at high school or college, it can be challenging to submit well-written papers that will put you at the top of your class.

Impressing your professor isn’t an easy task. Still, you can do it by hiring expert help that will assist you with your writing assignments and produce work that the accomplished writers will curate as per your needs, that too at highly affordable rates!

You’ll be able to buy and order a custom interview paper that will be ideated and written by thesis writing service for a cheap cost. It’s an efficient and cost-effective way to stay on top of your work, learn from experts in the field, and wow your teachers with a well-written interview paper!

finance dissertation topics

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment * Error message

Name * Error message

Email * Error message

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

As Putin continues killing civilians, bombing kindergartens, and threatening WWIII, Ukraine fights for the world's peaceful future.

Ukraine Live Updates

EssaysCouncil.net

How to Write an Interview Essay

Interview Essay

Post Published On: 26 March, 2018

Within an interview essay, you can present somebody’s thoughts on a certain topic, and this essay type also offers you an opportunity to consider somebody’s ideas in a more general context or analyze them.Interview essays are crucial for those who study journalism or just want to improve writing skills. There are several types of interview essays, but all of them are aimed to create an impression that readers talked to somebody personally.

Now let’s consider interview essays in more detail, so you’ll be able to write a good essay , following simple step-by-step instructions.

  • Define the purpose of your paper

The purpose of your essay affects the interviewed person, it determines the chosen method and some features of essay writing.

  • If your assignment is about some scientific phenomenon, you’ll interview a scientist. If it’s about some period in history, you’ll interview a historian or a person who participated in these events or lived during these times.
  • If your essay is aimed to provide a certain opinion, you’ll want to interview an authoritative person who has a strong opinion and expresses it impressively.
  • If your essay is devoted to public opinion, you’ll have to interview many people. On contrary, if it represents a particular view of a random person, you will choose only one person to interview.
  • Research the subject of an interview and prepare your questions

To write a good essay , you have to conduct a good interview. In turn, a good interview is impossible without a proper understanding of the subject and preparation. Study your subject, its history,and most important issues. You have to collect enough information to write a list of interesting and relevant questions.

  • Read sources devoted to your subject and any available printed materials. The more you know about it, the more interesting and specific questions you can ask.
  • Look up some existing interviews about this subject, This will allow you to determine what questions are the most important, as well as figure out what unique questions you can ask and what questions may be too banal.
  • Some questions may be answered with either “yes” or “no”. Such questions are good to clarify some crucial and specific details. On the other hand, open questions which imply a detailed answer can help you gather additional data.
  • Draft a list of questions that will serve as a blueprint for your interview. We suggest preparing more questions so you’ll be able to select the most appropriate ones during the interview. You don’t know what an interviewed person will be focused on – it may be a topic that you considered a side subject. Sort your questions by importance or in the order that you plan to ask them. Highlight the most important questions.
  • Arrange the interview

First of all, you have to contact your interviewee to define a place and time to meet. Don’t forget to get a necessary permission for recording answers or making photos. Always explain who you are and why you’re interested in interviewing this particular person.

  • Find a quiet place. It may be a restaurant, a library, or a quiet location, for example, in some park.
  • The interviewee must express his or her consent regarding the use of the recorded material. According to the law, you have to get a written permission to record an interview.
  • If the person you wanted to interview can’t meet with you or is just not interested in the interview, you must have your plan B that implies another person familiar with the subject.
  • Once you’ve arranged the interview, make sure to get there on time.
  • Conduct the interview

Even if you record the interview on a phone or a voice recorder, take notes. It will help you remember some points that appear to be especially interesting or important.

  • Use a recording device that will help you clarify the context of some noted phrases during the writing process.
  • Be respectful and wait for your interviewee’s responses with patience. The interviewed person must have time to think and figure out answers. Create a relaxed environment for the conversation. Remember that it’s better to get a few accurate and meaningful responses than many answers given in a hurry.
  • Right after you’ve finished interviewing someone, jot down your fresh impressions and thoughts. You will need these notes while writing an essay.
  • At the end of the interview, thank your interviewee.
  • Determine the format of your essay

Usually, if you get an essay assigned, you will be given instructions on the essay format. Talk to your instructor to clarify all the necessary details, such as the expected questions or answers, the use of paraphrasing, the context, and the format of quotes. Generally, there are three most common interview types:

  • It’s an informal format which allows you to use the first and the second person. It fits a wide range of essays, including magazine articles and college assignments.
  • Narrative interview essays are formal, and it’s the most common type of college assignments. Some answers may be paraphrased. This format also allows you to provide background information.
  • Question – answer. Essays of this type consist only of direct quotes. It looks like a list of questions and answers written in a form of a dialogue. However, you can add some comments in parentheses. This format fits essays that include only one interviewee or a group of closely related people, such as a cast ofa movie or spouses.
  • Draw up an outline

Your outline may vary depending on the essay type. However, it must include an introduction that describes your subject and the purpose of the interview.

  • Listen to your recordings and read your notes. You have to consider both the most substantial parts of the interview and themes that you marked as important while talking to a person. This information will help you define what you’re going to write and in what order you should place questions and answers.
  • Your outline may be a basis for the introduction. Start it with an anecdote or interesting fact about the interviewee. After that, familiarize your readers with main points and write your thesis statement. You have to support your thesis with several facts, and summarize the presented material in the conclusion. Most of thecollege essays imply a five-paragraph structure (introduction, three body paragraphs, and conclusion), and you can use this structure for your interview essay as well.
  • Evolve your thesis statement

If your essay is aimed to only introduce your readers to a person, the thesis statement may be a concise summary of his or her background, qualifications, and achievements.

If the interview is used in your essay to support a certain position or provide an opinion on some broad issue, the thesis statement may formulate this position, mentioning the interviewee in the context of the considered issue.

No matter what format you choose, remember that your thesis statement must be clear and coherent. Make sure that other parts of the essay refer to your thesis statement.

  • Complete your essay

The body of the essay must be tied to your thesis statement and cover the interview in details.

  • Interviews often contain many repetitive phrases, even if you prepare good questions. You have to polish your essay and remove all unnecessary elements. You have to keep only information that corresponds to the idea of your essay and focuses on the subject.
  • You can find many useful materials on interview essays on the internet. Visit websites of prestigious universities and read articles. For example, University of North Carolina Writing Center website contains many tips on how to get rid of similar phrases, and how to use transcriptions. You will also learn how to consider the interview in a global context by using paraphrasing. You can also find some detailed instructions on how to transfer personal experience.
  • Proofread your writings

Never forget to revise and proofread your work, regardless of its type.

  • Obviously, you must read your essay a few times. But you also have to find somebody else who will look it over. Sometimes you may miss something in your own work, so others will help you by providing a new perspective.
  • Return to your notes that you’ve taken right after the interview and look whether your essay still represents the actual interview. While editing, you may change your essay considerably, so make sure that the initial intention remained the same. If you can, meet the interviewee and let him or her read your essay to understand whether it reflects their opinion correctly.
  • Specify your sources

Usually, you don’t need to include the specific citation of the entire interview, but you must cite any additional materials used to collect data. We also suggest referring contextual information according to the required citation format.

Remember that all direct quotations must be written in quotation marks, while paraphrasing shouldn’t include them.

Finally, the last and the most important rule is that you shouldn’t present your own thoughts as someone else’s words. Respect interviewee’s opinion, and you’ll write a perfect interview essay !

How to Write an Interview Essay: A Guide

  • Kellie Hayden
  • Categories : Help with writing assignments paragraphs, essays, outlines & more
  • Tags : Homework help & study guides

How to Write an Interview Essay: A Guide

How to Write An Interview Essay

Interviews can be a great way to get first person information on the life and experiences of your subject. This article will walk you through the steps on how to write an interview essay. Before writing the essay, you have a lot of prep work to do. Decide what you would like to write about and determine an interesting figure you can interview. Do some preliminary research before the interview itself to decide what kind of questions you should ask. During the interview, make sure you take a lot of notes, or best of all, tape record the interview (with your subject’s permission) so you can remain focused on the conversation. If you need more help with the interview portion, read this article .

Organizing the Notes of the Interview

Writing an informational interview essay

First, you need to know if your teacher wants you to write the essay in a narrative format or in a question answer format. This will affect how you organize your paper. Both essay formats need a strong introduction, an organized body and a solid conclusion. The difference is that the question and answer essay will use direct quotes with your questions. The narrative essay can have paraphrased information from the interview mixed in with direct quotes.

Writing the Informational Interview Essay

Hopefully, you took copious (many) notes during your interview and hopefully you were allowed to record the interview to catch any information that you missed in your notes. Now, you need to organize your information into a logical outline Probably the easiest way to organize all the information is to read through your notes and to listen to the recording of the interview. You need to think about what the reader would like to know about the person you interviewed. Pick three main themes or ideas that you talked about during the interview. These will become body paragraphs for your essay. Once you have wrapped your brain around the three main things you are going to talk about in your essay, you need to write out an outline.

Sample Outline

This outline will help you write a five paragraph essay for a narrative format. However, you can easily organize your question and answer format essay using this outline as well. I. Introduction Start with a humorous or interesting anecdote or fact that the person told you. Thesis statement: A thesis statement is one sentence that tells who was interviewed, his or her title, and why you interviewed the person. Basically, what do you plan to tell your reader about this person? This must be in the introduction, and you must spell the person’s name correctly. Read this article on how to write a thesis statement for more help. II. Body paragraph 1: One big idea you learned III. Body paragraph 2: Second big idea you learned IV. Body paragraph 3: Third big idea you learned V. Conclusion: You need to wrap up your essay by summarizing and writing some concluding remarks about the person.

Write the Interview Essay

Depending on the assigned length of your paper, you can write a paragraph for each Roman numeral on your outline. However, if you need to write a longer essay, you can have several paragraphs for Roman numerals II, III, and IV. You need to make sure that you put quotation marks around words that the person said, and you need to make sure that you body paragraphs support your thesis statement. Once you have a rough draft written, you need someone to peer-edit your paper. Then, you can write a final copy for your teacher. You should now be an expert on how to write an interview essay. You may need to edit and revise your essay to get a top grade, but you should understand the writing process for the interview essay.

This post is part of the series: Interviews and Essays

The following articles will help you to complete an interview and write the interview essay.

  • How to Interview Someone for a Paper
  • How to Write an Interview Essay

All You Need to Know About Interview Essay Writing

All You Need to Know About Interview Essay Writing

interview essay form

Purpose of Writing an Interview Essay

The writing process is not always smooth sailing. When it comes to the construction of interview papers, you are free to ask about myriads of issues of your interests and get a broad insight from the interview subject. Once you figure out the main thesis statement for your interview essay, you must collect relatable data in question-and-answer format. The gathered information is almost always subjective since the authoritative individuals and qualified experts are your main data providers. Interview essays are constructed based on people's biased opinions rather than books, historical records, and other sources.

Are you looking for answers on how to write an outline for interview essay? We are here to provide you with useful tips on how to write interview APA format essay. 

You might as well find this article helpful since we have prepared essay writing in interview sample at the end of it.

Format for Writing an Interview Essay

Are you on the verge of choosing an appropriate format to write an interview essay? One of the essential steps includes identifying the type of interview paper you are willing to write. The interview essay format is determined based on the style of your paper. There are three basic types of interview papers:

interview papers

  • Narrative Essay Interview - Through this type of paper, you are assigned to research a specific topic based on the conducted interview. The main thing is to accumulate all the information that the interviewed person has provided in a neat and organized manner in the form of a narrative. The story might be written from your perspective or that of the interviewee. In that case, you are free to write in the first and second person.
  • Personal Interview - Such type of paper demands you to prepare a list of witty interview questions to ask a specific person who holds a certain type of authority based on their professional occupation. The final product turns out to be an interview in essay format.
  • Question-answer Interview - Such interview questions are often asked to job seekers. This is your chance to glance through the common interview questions that the hiring managers will ask you to get a glimpse of your personality and career goals. The questions and answers can be combined in an interview paper. For more information, check out internship interview questions and answers here.

interview essay form

How to Write an Outline for Interview Essay

After you have chosen key points for your interview paper and adjusted its format accordingly, you might wonder, 'should I write an outline for an interview essay ?'. The answer is clear and direct - 'Yes, definitely!'

Good writers always prepare an outline in advance, which is a great tip to lift the burden of the time-consuming paper writing process. The basic structure of interview essay outline includes three major parts:

outline for interview

  • Introduction - As you state your paper's thesis statement, you can start writing by introducing the person or the people you interviewed.
  • Body Paragraphs - The following paragraphs should contain the subjective points of view that your interviewees provided concerning your major thesis statement.
  • Conclusion - In the concluding paragraph of the essay, restate the paper's main goal and summarize the most important points you have made so far.

Writing an Interview Essay Introduction

Once you wrap up the interview essay, outline you are ready to start the writing process. Writing a catchy lead and grabbing a reader's attention right away is not a simple task. However, there are some key elements that make up the best of the introduction part of your interview essay. The primary sentence should briefly contain the main objective behind the chosen topic of the paper. The following sentences should report the importance of your essay topic to your target audience. Finally, you can proceed with the thesis statement, which indicates the basic value of your paper. In other words, try to answer the question of what benefits the reader gets from familiarizing themself with your interview paper.

Do not hesitate to ask us to write an essay for me whether you are assigned to construct an interview essay on writing or any other given subject.

Writing an Interview Essay Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs hold the majority of the essay. Provided paragraphs support the central statement with relatable facts, details, and key points as the answers that an interviewer asks.

Some of the interviewers prefer to use a recording device, while others opt for notes to contain the important data in its entirety. They choose to include parts of the narrative later in the body paragraphs of the essay as they gather the most important and thematic points made throughout the interview process. You might as well include direct quotes or in-text citations as the sources of provided answers. However, always keep in mind to ask for written permission if you plan to paraphrase or directly copy their ideas word by word according to the issue of your interest.

Writing an interview essay can be hard, so if you are looking for further tips on how to write an essay , we can provide you with an interview essay outline example as well as the complete paper itself.

Writing an Interview Essay Conclusion

The classic format for writing an interview essay includes jotting down the main objectives made throughout the paper in a final paragraph, otherwise known as the conclusion. The last paragraph is not any less important compared to the opening one. That is why you should try and restate the crucial points that interviewees have made while answering questions provided by you. That way, you will sound even more persuasive as you provide evident arguments supported by powerful public figures regarded as influential in society.

You are welcome to conclude the essay with a respectful thank you note as well. Express sincere gratification to the reader for taking the time to read your essay and focus on your contribution to them with the source of information contained in the written interview paper.

If you don’t have distinguished skills for writing an outline for college interview essay, our experts have your back! Contact us to write papers for money and enjoy a perfectly-crafted assignment.

Essay Writing Topics in Interview

Looking for inspiration? Researching an interesting topic for the essay can be exhausting sometimes. But we are here to give you a helping hand through tough times. Our experts have gathered some of the most compelling essay writing topics in interview. You are free to take a look at them and choose one that satisfies your curiosity and challenges you to be analyzed in depth.

  • Does body language describe our mental state?
  • How important is eye contact for establishing genuine connections?
  • Are educated and qualified people obliged to give more to others?
  • Which job position is the most attractive in the 21st century?
  • Do career services help people get to their target job market?
  • Does conflict resolution hold an important place in the contemporary world?
  • What is love, and where do you feel it or experience it most often?
  • How do our family heritage and traditions influence our personalities?
  • How many hours of sleep are needed at different stages of life?
  • What kind of skills is essential to possess in order to become a good leader?
  • Should the tax system be allocated to the rich and poor accordingly?
  • Is the two-party system the guarantee of American democracy in the US?
  • Should combatting racism be an individual responsibility?
  • Should the American people restrict the amount of money spent on the electoral college?
  • How do relationships and friendships shape our lives?
  • Do your dreams and nightmares reflect real-life events?
  • How do you keep yourself from getting sick?
  • Does technology make your daily life easier?
  • Do you agree or disagree with the idea that opposites attract?
  • What does it mean to be a religious and faithful person to you?

We hope those mentioned above, as well as other essay writing topics for interview in google, will fuel your curiosity.

Meanwhile, you can always pay for papers . Our experts are capable of writing an essay for a job interview based on your individual demands that will get you closer to your dream position.

Interview Essay Writing Examples

Here is one of the interview essay writing examples to check out. We hope that the provided example will give you some kind of perspective:

'A LEADER IS ONE WHO KNOWS THE WAY, GOES THE WAY, AND SHOWS THE WAY'

According to the popular idea, leaders are born rather than made. Contrary to this belief, many real-life examples prove that people can grow into a leader type as they grow older if they want to. Any man can be a leader, but it is not an easy thing to do. You need to know yourself to set an example for others, inspire them, and give them a sense of trust to follow your steps. People are inclined toward those who know where they are going, have their own vision, and are educated enough to support their decisions with rational arguments. These traits give leaders the power to be persuasive. They have their goals set and are not afraid to firmly face any challenges that life might throw their way.

To support this statement, we have interviewed a Pakistani female education activist, Malala Yousafzai, who also carries the honor of being the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She is a pure example of how one can rise from any kind of social and domestic circumstances if one has a vision and works hard enough to achieve their goals. She realized the value of education from a very young age. The latter was often inaccessible for girls of her nation due to authoritative powers in the head of the government, under which education was banned for almost all the females in the Northern Pakistani region. Malala persistently fought for her truth and raised awareness about the value that educating girls and boys could hold. She began writing articles and her personal insights anonymously to describe the intolerable circumstances that females had to face under the group of dictators, highlighting the purpose of education and its unavailability for girls of Pakistan.

Malala's example is one of a kind. She wants to be remembered as a girl who tries to help others in whatever capacity she can hold. She did everything possible to let the outer world know about the injustice that the government of her nation committed. She never backed down even after the confrontation between her and the representatives of the ruling power at the head of the Pakistani government.

Further Academic Help

We hope you gained some beneficial information throughout this article which will help you craft a top-notch interview essay for your journalism class. In case of further assistance, our expert writers are here to provide you with interview essay examples APA format at our paper service platform.

Before you go, you are welcome to take an essay writing test for interview to check how well you understood the concept of the article and implement gained knowledge into your upcoming assignment.

Frequently asked questions

She was flawless! first time using a website like this, I've ordered article review and i totally adored it! grammar punctuation, content - everything was on point

This writer is my go to, because whenever I need someone who I can trust my task to - I hire Joy. She wrote almost every paper for me for the last 2 years

Term paper done up to a highest standard, no revisions, perfect communication. 10s across the board!!!!!!!

I send him instructions and that's it. my paper was done 10 hours later, no stupid questions, he nailed it.

Sometimes I wonder if Michael is secretly a professor because he literally knows everything. HE DID SO WELL THAT MY PROF SHOWED MY PAPER AS AN EXAMPLE. unbelievable, many thanks

You Might Also Like

Gun Control Argumentative Essay

New Posts to Your Inbox!

Stay in touch

  • User menu ✕
  • Order now 1(888)484-2980 1(888)341-2058 Live chat

Helpful Advice When You Need To Write an Interview Essay

interview essay form

Students often search for an interview essay example on the web when being asked to write this type of paper. The task looks complicated because one has to do a lot of things in order to write about them further in the paper. There is a need to narrow down the topic, find an appropriate candidate and prepare a list of questions. The person you have chosen for this work should agree to take some time to talk to you. More so, the student should know what type of statements should be used: open-ended or ”yes or no” questions. Choosing the right words will allow one to obtain valuable information and craft a decent paper. Sounds complicated?

Please, do not get discouraged. Think about all the benefits you will get having completed this assignment. For instance, if you want to become a newspaper reporter or a broadcast journalist, you should know how to formulate thought-provoking, shrewd questions to get sincere and accurate answers. In case you aim to become an HR recruiter, an interview essay example will be your prompt in “scanning” the candidates to find out about their real strengths and weaknesses. You will need to know what to ask about to find the appropriate candidate for the vacancy. The future employee should be able to adhere to your company’s culture and vision. Thus, you will perform the role of a detective who poses the right questions to find out the truth.

This type of paper has its own subtypes that will be covered further in our article. Also, you will find helpful tips and recommendations on this page.

How to Write an Interview Essay: Suggestions for Beginners

When you are a student, your professor will sometimes assign you an interview essay. As already mentioned, knowledge on how to write an interview essay will come in really handy in a variety of professions. When your professor assigns an interview essay, sometimes they will provide you with a topic, but often they will permit you to choose the topic as long as it is relevant to the class. As soon as you have decided upon your topic, do some research and look for an expert who will allow you to dig deeper into the topic under discussion. For instance, if you want to better understand an issue related to biology, you are likely to find a biology professor at your college who would be eager to answer your questions. Of course, it is essential that you give your questions a lot of thought. This means doing some homework and gaining a general understanding about the subject matter and then asking the interviewee to elaborate. After all, if you keep things too general or basic, or clearly demonstrate that you did not take the time to find some background information about the topic or even the individual being interviewed, they will likely see the interview as a waste of their time.

With that in mind, here are some general decisions that you need to make:

  • Decide who you want to interview
  • Develop a list of questions
  • Choose the interview essay format (narrative, career, questions-answers, etc.)
  • Agree upon the location and date of the interview

Craft a Winning Interview Essay: 8 Helpful Tips

Note that writing an interview essay requires a different structure as compared to a conventional academic essay such as an expository , argumentative, etc.

Four Common Interview Paper Example Types

Narrative format.

In this type of interview paper, you are not simply listing your questions and the interviewee’s answers; instead, you write a descriptive story about your experiences of interviewing the subject and provide the reader with some personal insights about the entire process. Thus, you might describe how you were feeling going into the interview, the mannerisms and reactions from the interviewee as they answered your questions, and what you ultimately learned based on the experience of interviewing that individual. As with typical essays you will want to include an introduction that catches the reader’s attention, a well-structured body consisting of 3 to 5 paragraphs, and a conclusion that leaves the reader with a lasting impression.

Leadership Essay

If you have been assigned a leadership essay, your best bet is to look for somebody in the community who has proven track record. For instance, you could contact your Congressperson or a local business leader and ask if they have some time for an interview conducted by you. Keep in mind that they often have a very tight schedule, so if they agree to be interviewed, be ready for them to cancel or postpone. You might also consider having a backup plan if they ultimately do not find time. While face-to-face conversation is probably the most effective way to interview, be ready to chat on Skype or by phone. We do not recommend chatting through instant messenger as the tone could be misunderstood and it could lack nuance.

Here are three possible topics that you can focus on as you conduct the interview:

  • Ask them to define what leadership means to them
  • Compare and contrast Social leadership vs. Business leadership
  • Discuss the tests created to identify the level of personal leadership

Career Interview Essay

A career interview essay is a good way to gain insights into how successful people get hired. You could go about this from two different angles. You could interview somebody and ask them how they managed to land a particular job. In particular, you could ask what aspects of their life and career left the best impression. You could also interview a human resource manager to determine what qualities and characteristics they are looking for when they interview candidates. They might also share some of the do’s and don’ts when interviewing for a job.

Personal Interview

The personal interview essay is the one for which the question-and-answer format is most appropriate. Rather than telling a story that incorporates your own insights, you are getting to the meat of the matter by asking the interviewee to discuss important events in their lives that shaped them.

  • Childhood background information
  • Insights on their formative years
  • College period
  • Career experience
  • Marriage and family
  • Life after retirement (if you are interviewing an older individual)

You would still want to provide a bit of background about the individual before discussing the content of the interview. For instance, you should discuss why they are noteworthy and why they were chosen to be the subject of your interview.

You may also find it useful to look through the personal interview essay examples available on the web. Remember, you should not copy-paste any information as this will result in a poor grade. Rewriting someone else’s article using synonyms is also considered to be a hidden plagiarism. Information on the Internet should serve as a source of inspiration for you but all ideas in your manuscript should be original.

If you are looking for sample interview essay papers, check our website! On this page, you can find an example that can be uploaded in PDF format. There are more papers placed at the bottom of other pages. What is more important, our professional writers are always ready to help you create a perfect paper, edit your draft or do the formatting for you.

If you need a helping hand with your interview essay assignment, you can trust the professional experts at EssaysLeader.com. For a reasonable price, we can put you in touch with an expert interviewer who can equip you with thoughtful, penetrating questions that lead to a productive interview paper. You can read this excellent interview essay as an example:

Download PDF

Leave Your Troubles Behind and Trust EssaysLeader.com!

Are you tired of an enormous stream of home tasks and various university assignments? Essays, research papers, lab reports, group assignments, write-ups will not be a problem anymore. Studying at university or college brings a lot of duties and constant home works that one is not always able to perform on time.

No doubt you have many things to do and sometimes you extremely need few additional hours a day to finish all your tasks. Our custom writing services provide an excellent opportunity to save your time and perform your work efficiently and according to the deadline. Our qualified writers will help you to do your homework at a high level and in accordance with the specified instructions .

Take a look at some of the benefits and guarantees we offer:

  • You can be sure that your order will be done by a skillful writer and you will not be deceived.
  • With us, you can choose a preferred, constant writer, who will work on all your papers.
  • You can tip the writer if you want to ask him or her to go an extra mile (or if this was already done – our writers often do even more than they were asked for).
  • Our company guarantees that your paper will be revised free of charge in case the initial requirements are not met.
  • In case you think that some of the initial instructions are not met in the document you received from us, you can resort to our Money Back policy within 14 days after the order was delivered. Your request will be checked by our Refund Department in 3 or 4 days.
  • You can give detailed instructions to your writer and control the whole process of writing your paper. Our writers are experienced professionals who have deep knowledge in different spheres and can easily write a good paper on your topic.
  • You save your time and energy, so you can spend it on your hobby or searching for a job of your dream.
  • Our professional custom writing services will help you to improve your grades.
  • Our company always stays in touch with its clients; you can rely on our customer service that is ready to help you at any time. You can call our representatives or email us if you have any questions or suggestions .

You do not bear any risk when you cooperate with our company. All papers are original and written only for a particular customer. The aim of our company is to provide a quality service to our customers, thus we offer perfectly done papers only for our clients. We check every paper and we do not allow our employees to get involved in any scams. Such behavior is not acceptable at EssaysLeader.com.

Receive a High-Quality Essay

We never prewrite our papers unlike other similar websites. When you make an order, a writer takes it and starts working on it. He or she gathers the necessary information for the order that is why we need time to write custom work that will satisfy your demands.

Your Opinion is Important to Us

If you have some worries concerning our website, then we recommend that you check the reviews of our clients or ask your friends, maybe one of them regularly uses our services. We guarantee that you will be satisfied with our work.

We Deliver Papers on Time

We are able to perform any work in a short period of time; even if you need it for tomorrow, you can be sure it will be done according to the deadline. It takes 20 minutes to make an order on our website, but you save hours, days or even a week of hard work. No more tedious research! Every order is delivered to our customer on time. However, if some unordinary situation happens, we will inform you. Moreover, in this case you will receive some benefits like a discount for the next order. Customer satisfaction is very important for us, thus we will do all possible to show the best results.

Our custom writing service provides quite cheap prices for orders. You can be sure that the money you paid serves the following specific purposes :

  • meet all your recommendations and demands;
  • ensure better grades;
  • give you additional free time;
  • offer academic consultation 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

You receive a unique paper that was written personally for you. Nobody will use it in the future because you paid money and you own the copyright .

Buy interview

You may find it interesting:

Leadership Essay Example Marketing essay Reflective essay 3000 word essay

interview essay form

  • 3000 word essay  
  • 500 word essay  
  • Accounting essay  
  • Admission Essay  
  • Advanced writers  
  • Analytical essay  
  • Annotated bibliography  
  • APA citation style  
  • Application essay  
  • Argumentative essay topics  
  • Business writing  
  • Cause and effect essay  
  • Classification essay  
  • College application essay  
  • Common app essay  
  • Comparative essay  
  • Cover Letter Writing  
  • Deductive Essay  
  • Definition Essay  
  • Descriptive essay  
  • Descriptive vs. narrative  
  • Essay about yourself  
  • Essay Questions  
  • Essay review  
  • Exploratory Essay Writing Help  
  • Expository essay  
  • Five paragraph essay  
  • High school vs. college  
  • Informal essay  
  • Marketing essay  
  • Personal essay  
  • Mastering the Art of the Persuasive Essay: Your Ultimate Guide  
  • Problem solution essay  
  • Process essay  
  • Reflective essay  
  • Research Proposal  
  • Response Essay  
  • Scholarship Essay  
  • Summary writing tips  
  • Term paper  
  • Writing styles  
  • Beware  
  • Testimonials  
  • How to Write a Thesis Proposal  
  • Expert Advice on How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis  
  • Top Tips on Rewriting  
  • Excellent Tips on Revision  
  • Exam Questions: Understanding the Different Types  
  • Fifteen Great Tips for Proofreading  
  • Ideas for Creating an Effective PowerPoint Presentation  
  • Great Tips to Help You Succeed in Online Tests  
  • Ten Essential Rules for Creating Multi-Choice Questions  
  • Formatting Papers in Accepted Academic Style  
  • Steps to Improve Your Written Work   
  • What Every Student Must Know about Dissertation Writing  
  • Literature Review Writing  
  • How to Write an Exclusive Results Section for Your Dissertation  
  • Writing a Methodology Section of Your Dissertation  

Please note!

Some text in the modal.

interview essay form

interview essay form

How to Write an Interview Essay Introduction

How to Write an Interview Essay Introduction

If you’re looking for freelance essay writers for hire , you’ll want to know what a good interview essay introduction looks like so you can judge the quality of their work. An essay introduction can be tricky to get right, but if it’s written well, it can really pull the reader in and help set the tone for the rest of the essay. 

But before we dive into how to do it right, let’s briefly touch upon what an interview essay really is.

What Is an Interview Essay?

At its core, an interview essay is an essay that explores different perspectives of people on a given topic. Unlike other types of essays, such as argumentative or persuasive essays, an interview essay doesn’t try to win over the reader to one particular point of view. Instead, it allows the reader to better understand the views of those who are interviewed by providing first-hand accounts of their experiences.

When contemplating what makes an essay good , writing an effective essay introduction is of the utmost importance–so let’s take a look at what to include in your introduction.

What Should I Include in an Interview Essay Introduction?

There are a few key elements that should ideally be included in any good interview essay introduction. First, you’ll want to introduce the person or people you interviewed. This can be done by providing a brief overview of who they are and why you decided to interview them. Next, you’ll want to include a thesis statement. This is a sentence or two that sums up the main point of your essay. It should be clear and concise, and it should give the reader an idea of what they can expect to learn from reading your essay.

Finally, you’ll want to conclude your introduction with a brief sentence or two that will leave the reader wanting more. This can be done by providing some of the information you’ll be discussing in the body of the essay, or by asking a question that will pique the reader’s curiosity. There are a few things you can do to spice up your interview essay introduction, which is what we’ll discuss next.

How to Make Your Interview Essay Introduction More Interesting

Start with a bang.

This means starting with something that will immediately grab the reader’s attention and make them want to keep reading. One way to do this is to start with a shocking statistic or fact related to your topic. For example, if you’re writing an interview essay about poverty in America, you could start with the fact that a certain number of Americans live in poverty–this would certainly get the reader’s attention and make them want to learn more about what you have to say.

Use a Quote

Another great way to start an essay is with a quote from someone who is knowledgeable about your topic. This could be an expert on the subject or even someone who has first-hand experience with it. Either way, their words will carry a lot of weight and help set the tone for your essay.

Ask a Question

Asking a question in your introduction can be a great way to get the reader thinking about your topic. This will help engage them and get them invested in what you have to say.

Use Humor 

If used correctly, humor can be a great way to engage the reader and get them interested in your essay. Just be careful not to overdo it, as too much humor can be a turn-off for some readers.

A Solid Interview Essay Introduction

Now that we’ve discussed what to include in your introduction, let’s take a look at an example of a good interview essay introduction:

“In today’s society, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. We’re all so busy working and taking care of our families that we often don’t have time for ourselves. This can lead to feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and even angry. But what if there was a way to reduce the amount of stress in our lives?

That’s where yoga comes in. Yoga is an ancient practice that has been shown to provide numerous health benefits, including reducing stress levels. In fact, a recent study found that yoga can be just as effective as medication in treating anxiety and depression.

To determine whether yoga can really help reduce stress in our lives, I decided to interview yoga instructor Jenny Miller. Jenny has been teaching yoga for more than ten years and has helped countless people find relief from stress and anxiety. She was kind enough to agree to answer a few questions about her experience with yoga and how it can help reduce stress.”

From interview essay writers to MetaTrader programmers , Guru has the expert you need for your projects.

interview essay form

What Makes an Essay Good?

interview essay form

Why Drupal Is Better Than WordPress

Related posts.

What Are the Roles of Support Personnel?

What Are the Roles of Support Personnel?

interview essay form

What Is Remote Customer Service?

What Does a Customer Support Agent Do?

What Does a Customer Support Agent Do?

Write a comment cancel reply.

Save my name & email for next time.

  • How Guru Works
  • Work Agreements
  • The Process
  • Read Reviews
  • Free Essays
  • Affiliate Program
  • Order now 1(877)219-7556

How to Write an Interview Paper: Efficient Tips and Strategies for Writing

How to Write an Interview Paper

According to the popular estimates, only four out of six job applicants who send their resumes for a position are selected for an interview and only one of these four is chosen for the position. Normally, job candidates do not merely send their resumes but also an interview paper, which is a perfect way to attract attention of the admission committee to the educational background, professional skills, and experience of the job candidate. Therefore, it is essential to know how to write an interview paper. When you browse through the website, you will see that such factors as career growth opportunities, salary, location, work-life balance, as well as company’s values and culture may be added as the primary things that should be covered in this type of writing. If you want to know how to write an interview paper, it is recommended to read this article till the end and you will surely find information on the most important types of interview paper writing. If you have no idea what questions to ask, feel free to get ideas and guidelines from our professional interview paper writers .

What Is an Interview Paper?

The main purpose of interview paper writing is to provide a specific vision of an event object or phenomenon, which is based on the answers and reflections of different people. Therefore, to get these different answers and contemplations for your interview paper, you should first conduct an interview.

As soon as you have conducted the interviews and have jotted down the answers, it is now time to analyze them and organize them properly in order to make them logically developed throughout your interview paper. You should think carefully of how you will use the obtained data in your paper hence the need to know all the peculiarities of the interview essay writing process.

How to Write a Paper on an Interview Assignment?

  • Identify the core aim of your piece of writing. Come up with a specific topic and formulate it in a comprehensive way.
  • Write down a list of questions for the interviewees.
  • Be sure you choose the target audience for conducting the interview.
  • While conducting the interview, be sure to jot down all the answers carefully while paying attention to specific words and phrases, as well as the manner of organizing answers.
  • Once you have all the results, process and analyze them. Use the answers in your paper in the best way possible.
  • Start writing the very interview paper according to the required structure or paper instructions.
  • Start the writing process with composing an outline.
Find more useful information in article “ Memo Writing Effective Tips “

The Purpose of Interview Paper Writing

When planning the interview, be sure to consider the following factors: the main idea/ theme of the interview; a properly formulated questionnaire; a specific interview essay format planned in advance (whether it is a career interview, a question-answer interview or a narrative interview); exact date and place of conducting the interview.

To know how to write an interview paper with proper structure and organization, it is essential to come up with appealing paper topic. At times, you do not have a specific topic assigned to you by your professor, so you need to formulate it on your own. Remember that a topic for an interview essay is different from the topics that are formulated for the ordinary essay types. The whole interview may be unexpected since its direction and theme may change depending on people’s answers. The same is about the style and mood of the topic — it all depends on the interviewees and how they respond to the questions. Therefore, when it comes to interview paper writing, it is hard to predict the direction of ideas development. Remember to come up with a topic that can be well researched. Moreover, it should be familiar to the people who you are going to interview. So, mind people’s professional and educational background.

Interview Assignment Paper Outline: Principles of Design and Formatting

Apart from the main essay parts, i.e. the introductory paragraph, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion, it is advisable to start writing with the paper outline. It will help you ensure the logical structure of your paper and ensure that you maintain the core idea throughout the whole paper. Moreover, with the help of an outline, you will clearly see how many paragraphs you need and what ideas will be included in the paper.

How to provide an efficient outline for the interview essay:

  • Start with the introduction: think of what background information is needed to introduce the topic and draw attention of the interviewees to the theme.
  • Formulate a strong thesis statement: it should be strong, clear, and argumentative so that you convey the central idea of the paper. Moreover, try to fit the thesis statement into one sentence (two sentences maximum).
  • Devise three body paragraphs. Make sure that each of them starts with a topic sentence that communicates the main idea. Think of the supporting evidence and examples needed to illustrate the evidence.
  • Conclusion. Make sure you properly summarize the key findings and discussions in a concise way. Moreover, provide a coherent and clear picture of the interviewees who took part in the interview.

If you wonder how to start an interview paper, be sure that you first decide on the type of interview paper writing, namely questions-answers, conversational essay or a narrative essay. Check out detailed information concerning each of them.

Starting an Interview Paper: Formulating the Questions

The introductory paragraph in an interview essay should specify the main question that is actually given to the interviewees. Therefore, you should be as clear as possible when stating the core essay question. Apart from making it specific, make it appealing and interesting to the audience. The topic chosen for the paper should also be attractive. Your interviewees should be passionate about providing the answers and they be interested in participating in the topic discussion. If you want to be effective in conveying the main idea, be sure to formulate the thesis statement in a clear and detailed way.

Developing the Body Paragraphs

Depending on the essay format, you will have a different structure. Still, there are some generally accepted requirements that should be followed as the standard ones. It is most important to ensure that the interviewees’ answers are included in the body paragraphs. Therefore, there is a great need in writing down all the interviewees’ answers to be able to implement them into the body paragraphs. If you are working on a questions-answers interview paper type, be sure to pay close attention to the punctuation and spelling. Therefore, find out how to edit an interview properly. When you are working on a narrative interview essay type, be sure to apply critical and analytical thinking in order to provide the most relevant comments. To make the body paragraphs well developed and concise, be sure to study some statistical information and add some expert evidence to make the paper trustworthy.

Ending the Interview Essay Perfectly

There are many ways how one can finish the interview paper. To make your conclusion wholesome and logical, follow such tips:

  • provide your personal reaction/ contemplation to the interviewees’ responses;
  • pinpoint how the interviewees’ responses and answers have influenced your standpoint or understanding of specific topics;
  • make sure the conclusion has a clear answer to the original essay question mentioned in the introduction;
  • ensure the conclusion is logical and concise.

Keep in mind that, depending on the interviewees’ responses, you can either refute or prove the original idea mentioned in the essay introduction.

interview essay form

Interview Paper Example of Different Types:

1. narrative essay interview..

It is essential to get well prepared to writing the interview paper. First of all, study the format carefully and make sure you understand the structure. Formulate the questions carefully and make sure they are clear to the respondent. When summarizing the interviewees’ answers, there are two ways to implement them into the interview paper: leave the paper in the questions and answers format (with clear formulation of the questions and answers) or paraphrase the answers obtained by also adding personal comments and analysis. Actually, these things are specified in the paper instructions and requirements. If needed, please clarify everything with your professor.

Whatever mode of paper organization you have chosen, please be sure to provide a catchy introduction with a strong hook. You need to make your readers as well as interviewees be interested in the topic and be passionate and answering the questions. Therefore, think of the interesting facts that you can introduce to the opening paragraph. The body of the essay should be properly structured — normally, it consists of three to five paragraphs. After you have analyzed the material properly, be sure to end the paper with a well-developed and logical conclusion. Do not make the conclusion too long and try not to exceed one page. When you are working on a narrative paper, be sure to rewrite the answers and retell what the interviewee said.

Pay special attention to the formatting style: whether it is MLA, APA, Harvard, Chicago or some other. Remember to include quotations and mention your personal feelings or emotions that appeared during the interview process.

2. Leadership essay.

If you intend to devote your interview paper to the theme of leadership, keep in mind that you need to find a truly successful person in order to make the essay trustworthy and plausible. Your target readers should be convinced with the information you provide, so it is a must that a person interviewed on the topic of success is a truly successful person. Prepare for this interview thoroughly and make sure you come up with some specific and detailed questions that will best reflect the essence of what you are going to write about. Be prepared that successful people are busy and they will probably have little time to answer your questions and communicate with you on the assigned topic, so make sure the questions are well crafted and specific. Stick to the outline and do not deviate from the topic. Be attentive and take notes in the process of your interview or conversation. Undoubtedly, face-to-face meeting is the best option but if it is not possible, opt for Skype meeting, a phone conversation, etc. An online chat is the least preferred one since you cannot be sure that you are talking with the very person. It can be his/ her assistant or somebody else

Once you have conducted the interview, organize the information into a logical outline. Be sure to include the following parts:

  • definition of leadership (how that person understands the concept of leadership and what is leadership for him/ her);
  • different between business and social leadership;
  • possible tests to evaluate a person’s leadership abilities.

interview essay form

3. Career interview paper.

The aim of this interview essay type is to identify the core essence of the job application process in order to reveal one’s life experience. When conducting this interview, choose the person wisely and carefully. It should also be a successful and determined person, who finds successful career one of the most important aspects. Be sure that you are well prepared for the interview, particularly come up with the list of questions. When formulating the questions, make sure to focus on such aspects as the job, career goals, accomplishments, motivation, and other aspects.

4. Personal interview.

At first sight, it is one of the easiest interview paper types. Here you should only prefer face-to-face conversation as you will not get the desired effect with the other communication media. The questions here should be grouped according to the spheres of interest and to the priority. So, prefer questions and answers format.

When starting to write the essay, be sure to focus on three of the most important aspects or topics that were touched upon during the interview. Do not try to cover all the aspects. Make your essay logical and smooth. When referring to the person’s experience, try to adhere to the chronological order of events.

Be sure to provide argumentation why you have chosen a specific person for interview. Moreover, pinpoint to his/ her contribution to your topic investigation and discussion.

interview essay form

  • Academic Writing Services
  • Book Report Writing Service
  • Book Review Writing Service
  • Buy Literature Review Online
  • Buy Movie Review Help
  • Movie Critique Essay
  • Buy Custom Coursework Online
  • Article Writing Format Guide
  • Article Review Writing Service
  • Article Critique Writing
  • Writing a Critique of a Novel
  • Buy Discussion Board Post
  • Buy a Letter Writing Paper Online
  • Buy Scholarship Essays
  • Annotated Bibliography Writing
  • Lab Report Writing
  • Buy Business Report
  • White Paper Writing Services
  • Memo Writing Effective Tips
  • Buy Memorandum
  • Summary and Response Essay
  • Write My Response Essay
  • Reaction Paper Academic Writing
  • Case Study Writing Service
  • Writing Case Brief
  • Buy Capstone Project
  • Technical Blog Writing
  • Cheap Term Paper
  • Law Essay Writing Service
  • Personal Narrative Essay
  • Application Essay Writing
  • Critical Analysis Essay
  • IB Extended Essay Writing Service
  • Buy College Essay Outline
  • Exam Questions and Answers
  • Online Exams and Quizzes
  • Multiple Choice Questions Help
  • Answers Questions
  • How to Write an Interview
  • Speech and Presentation Writing
  • Custom Powerpoint Presentation
  • Science Poster Presentation
  • Formatting Service
  • Best Essay Editing Service
  • Professional Rewriting Service
  • Best Online Proofreading Service
  • Buy a Dissertation Discussion
  • Thesis Dissertation Chapter
  • Written Essays
  • Custom Papers
  • Custom Writing Services
  • Paper Writer
  • Reflective Essay Writing Service
  • Article Critique Writing Services
  • Vip Service
  • Additional Services
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Delivery Policy
  • Fair use Policy
  • Refund Policy

interview essay form

gardeshq, best essay writing service, best termpaper writing service, best write my paper service

How to Write an Interview Paper in APA Format

Sometimes writing a specific paper type proves challenging to many students. Couple that with a particular formatting and referencing style, and it becomes more hectic. However, if you know the basics of the paper and the formatting style, it is an easy task.

One of the papers that may appear complex to write is an interview paper. An interview paper follows an interview format and provides a forum for discussion using questions and answers. Despite it sounding unmanageable, writing an interview paper in APA format is relatively easy if you know the following basics.

But if you have never written one, this guide will show you how to write a professional-quality interview paper in APA format.

Here is how to write an interview paper in APA format.

What is an Interview Paper

The interview paper is an essay you write discussing various views on a topic using data gathered through interviews. This paper is an excellent way to develop your analytical, research, and writing skills.

New Service Alert !!!

We are now taking exams and courses

The purpose of an interview paper is to provide you with practice in organizing, conducting, and writing about topics using primary data. Similarly, it helps readers to understand a specific topic from a primary data perspective.

Also see: Is APA format the same as ASA format? 

Additionally, an interview paper provides information about a particular topic or event that has been documented in other sources but needs further explanation or analysis. This can be done by interviewing participants and analyzing their responses.

What Is the APA format

APA is a writing, formatting, and referencing style paper developed by the American Psychological Association. It is commonly used in business, education, and social sciences papers such as economics and sociology.

The format makes it easy for readers to navigate your paper and present you as a professional in academics. APA-formatted pieces have four major sections, the title, abstract, body, and references.

The general guidelines for formatting any paper are;

  • Running head. This is the title found at the top of every page
  • The article is double spaced
  • Every margin on either side is 1 inch
  • This style recommends 11-point Arial or Calibri or 12-point Times New Roman

After completing your interview, it is time to write your paper. Generally, the steps involved in developing an interview paper are

  • Explaining the interview. Provide valid and solid reasons for the need for the interview and why you cannot source the information from secondary sources
  • Presenting your source. Explain your source’s background and capabilities and why they are the perfect option for the interview
  • Presenting the question. Show your readers the question posed to the interviewee and their reactions
  • Write exact quotes. Use quotation marks to present your interviewee’s same words, especially if they are figures and explicit data. Ideally, do not summarize important facts your interviewee gives you
  • Cite appropriately. Use in-text referencing closed in brackets whenever you quote your interview in APA.

If you were recording the interviews, start by transcribing them and analyzing the data. However, you can write your paper directly while listening to the audio or video. But transcription is the best route to help you better understand the information.

Here are the tips and guidelines on how to write an interview paper in APA format.

Set up your typing document

This is the first step in how to write an interview paper in APA. However, other individuals may prefer to do it after they finish typing. Nevertheless, starting with this step saves you trouble and cases of forgetfulness.

The step involves setting your blank word document on double spacing, 12-point New Times Romans or 11-point Arial or Calibri. Additionally, on the setup menu, select a 1-inch margin on all sides. After this setup, select the header section and set the running head and page numbers.

Creating the title page

This is the first page of your paper that readers see when they open it up, so it’s essential to ensure everything is formatted correctly. APA format requires the title page’s content to be center aligned. The tile is written 3 or 4 lines from the top in bold. If your interview paper has a subtitle, write it below the main title, and remember to put a colon after it.

Other information included is written on their separate lines and are

  • Your first and last name
  • School name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Assignment’s due date

Write the main body

The body is the meat of your interview paper and includes every information you receive during the interview. This part also carries the bulk of the article, including the introduction, interview questions and answers, and conclusion.

To write it in APA format center and bold the title. On the following line, indent and start writing the body.

Explaining the interview’s purpose

This is part of the body and, more specifically, the introduction. In this part, you explain the reason for the interview and its relation to your thesis. In other words, it is the justification for the interview.

Next, explain why you chose this particular subject to be interviewed. If possible, give a few examples of how their experiences or life would be different than yours.

Introducing sources and question topic

It is also found in the introduction. Its purpose is to introduce the interviewee and the topics discussed. The best way to write it is to give the interview’s background and qualifications. This gives more credence to your paper.

Presenting the questions and quotations

Each paragraph in the body should carry a specific question. It is recommended to start the section with the question to give the quotation and answer context. The best way is to write the question as a direct or indirect quotation followed by the responses.

The response is also written as a direct or indirect quote. However, if it exceeds 40 words, place it as a single block and indent half an inch.

Cite the quotations

In every response, remember to include in-text citations. This is a mandatory rule, even if you are interviewing a single individual.

The rules for APA intext citations are

  • The interviewee’s first initial and last name
  • The phrase ‘personal communication.’
  • Month, date, and year of the interview

The punctuation is used after the closing parenthesis citation, except in block quotations, where punctuation comes before the in-text citation.

Writing the conclusion

The conclusion summarizes your body paragraphs’ main points and reiterates your purpose for conducting the interview. You may also want to recommend further research based on what you learned during your interviews. A conclusion will tie together all of these elements, so you must spend some time crafting a strong one that leaves readers satisfied and interested in learning more about your topic.

Typically, the conclusion is the closing part of your body. This section is one or two paragraphs and shows how the responses agree or disagree with your thesis statement. Additionally, this part discusses how and why the interview strengthens or weakens your thesis.

In addition, it must be concise yet comprehensive. Here, you need to summarize and synthesize all the information you have presented in your paper. You may also reflect on what you have learned from the interviewee.

Some tips on how to write an interview paper conclusion include

  • Go back and read your introduction to ensure it is clear and concise.
  • Write a conclusion summarizing your paper’s main points in a sentence or two.
  • Ensure you include all the major points from your body paragraphs (or at least the most important ones).
  • Use transitions and connectives like “therefore” and “for example” to help readers understand how everything fits together.
  • Don’t end with a boring summary. Instead, end with a strong statement that makes the reader think about what they have just read and perhaps even change their view on something.

Writing the abstract

Having written the main body, the abstract is the next section to write. An abstract is a general summary of your paper, so writing it after the body is recommended. It is also a brief overview of your interview paper’s main points and arguments.

In most cases, it is a 250-word paragraph highlighting the thesis, the reason for the interview, and the impact of the responses.

The best way to write the abstract is to take excerpts from the paper that include the thesis, introduction, and conclusion. Each sentence should address a different aspect of the topic. For example, if you are writing about the impact of social media on teenagers, one paragraph some sentence will address how often they use social media each day, while another might discuss their reasons for using social media so frequently.

Writing the reference page

Writing a reference page is an integral part of any interview paper. It’s where you share the sources you interviewed to write your essay with your readers. Essentially, it is the last page of your paper and has all your sources used in the article.

The reference page should start with the word “References” and be double-spaced. The margins should be one inch on all sides.

Proofread and edit the paper

Now that you’ve done all the hard work, it’s time for a final check to ensure everything is perfect.

Proofread the paper. Check for grammar, spelling, and formatting errors. Grammarly is a helpful tool for checking your writing for grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure mistakes.

Additionally, edit the paper while checking sentence structure and if one point flows smoothly to the next. If possible, have someone else read and check it. This is because they may catch something you didn’t notice. After all, they aren’t familiar with what was said during an interview

Proofreading also involves checking the formatting aspects. To ensure your paper is well-formatted, check these aspects.

  • The title page has all information
  • The first paragraph is indented
  • All pages have a running title
  • In-text citations have been used
  • There is a reference section
  • Each in-text citation is referenced

Additionally, use a word processor to format the paper. While some people still prefer typing things out by hand on paper, a computer will make things easier and ensure all the formatting is correct and consistent throughout your interview paper.

Generally, there are many things to remember when writing an interview paper in APA format. You must keep the formatting correct and consistent from start to finish. Also, remember that using the right style and form will ensure your paper receives a higher grade than if you ignore APA guidelines.

By following these basic instructions, you’ll be able to successfully write an interview paper that follows APA’s format and impresses your instructor. Ideally, write your essay as you would any other but remember to follow the APA rules and to proofread and edit your piece to look professional and avoid errors.

Examples logo

Job Interview Essay

job interview essay image

As one would expect during a job interview, your employer may be asking you to write something . This would be in the form of an essay. This is usually about your experiences, your skills and all the basic information they need to know more about you. They do this to see and to understand you as a person. Here are some 7+ job interview essay examples you can check out for some tips on what to write and what to avoid.

7+ Job Interview Essay Examples

1. job interview essay template.

job interview essay template

Size: 95 KB

2. Sample Job Interview Essay

sample job interview essay

Size: 430 KB

3. Basic Job Interview Essay

basic job interview essay

Size: 573 KB

4. Job Interview Question Database Essay

job interview question database essay

Size: 90 KB

5. Job Interview Essay in PDF

job interview essay in pdf

Size: 75 KB

6. Printable Job Interview Essay

printable job interview essay

Size: 66 KB

7. Job Interview Strategy Essay

job interview strategy essay

Size: 150 KB

8. Formal Job Interview Essay

formal job interview essay

Size: 192 KB

Define Interview

An interview is a meeting face to face. It is usually a conventional conference . A conversation or a questioning for the purpose of getting information from the interviewee. 

Define Job Interview

A job interview is a dialogue between an employer and the applicant. In a job interview, the employer asks questions about the applicant’s work history, educational history, and skills. 

Things to Avoid in Writing a Job Interview Essay

Some of us get so excited when writing essays, like that of a job interview, but one thing we must remember is to summarize the job interview essay   We often forget that an essay is nothing but a short summary of what we wish to write. But that’s okay. It’s nothing different. But unlike some of the essays you may be used to, there are some things to avoid when writing for a job interview essay. Here are some of the things you need to avoid at all cost.

  • Lying about your answers – when writing about what is asked, be careful. Interview questions in an essay may be tricky. Do not make up anything to make your essay sound nice. The interviewer would not be amazed one bit if you lied in your essay. Rather, there is a bigger chance they will not accept you.
  • Flowery words – Most of us are guilty with this when writing the essay. It is best to avoid putting flowery words to make it sound like we did these things. Again, your employer has a way of knowing you are being truthful or lying. Avoid this at all costs.
  • Too proud – this is often taken for granted but I want to put it right here. Do not boast about the experiences you may not have and write it off as yours. Do not boast about the experiences you have in your essay. You have to remain open and humble.

Things You Should Remember When Writing an Essay

  • Voice – keep it professional. The tone in your essay has to be in a professional setting. If you write in a childish manner or as if you are angry at someone, your employer or anyone reading it will surely see that you are not fit for the job.
  • Information – write what is asked in the essay. Do not put any other information that is not required nor needed. Example for this information is through a question that goes like this “why should we hire you?” This may sound easy but be very careful as to what you are going to write or say. Do not forget to introduce yourself in your essay.
  • Explaining – In some questions in an essay, you are required to explain. Like the sample question above, you must give an explanation in your own words as to why they should hire you. However, avoid saying explanations like “because I am the best”, “I am better than anyone.” This will not only make you lose your opportunity, it is also very rude to tell that to your employer.
  • Descriptive – keep your essay as  descriptive as possible . When you are to general in your writing, you are making the person reading confused. Put a little effort to what you are writing.
  • Be prepared – when you are going to a job interview, always expect the unexpected. Answer questions as honest as possible.
  • Reflect – reflect on what you have written . Understand what you have learned and done. A job interview essay is simply one of many essays you are going to go through.

I want to write about my experiences related to the job, should I write down everything?

Yes you may. As long as you remember that what you are writing is true and correct. As well as be careful on how you word it. Your tone in writing should be professional.

Why am I not allowed to show off my skills in my essay?

Employers are interested in what you have, but they are not interested in the way you talk about it. They prefer to see someone professional talking about their experiences in the same professional tone. Rather than being too cocky.

Is it necessary to know your skills? What if I don’t?

It is better to know what you are good at. When your employer may state you need to write your skills in the essay, you have to be prepared to do so. Ask yourself what you are good at and write it down.

Is there a time limit to writing the essay?

Most companies give a certain amount of time for the applicant to finish the job interview essay. This is so that neither of the two parties are wasting time. Be prepared to write a good essay within a limited amount of time.

Writing a job interview essay can be difficult. It can also be rewarding knowing you did a good job and you have done what you were told to do. Though a job interview essay may not give you the outcome of getting that job, but it is good practice on showing off your skills. Once you find out how to write a good essay for a job interview, all you need to do is to remember the guidelines.

To remember not to be too cocky when writing about your experiences. Do not be too shy either, rather be professional about it. Employers do read your essay, so be careful what you write. Watch your grammar and how you word things as well. This can affect the opportunity of getting that job. With all that being said, I wish you luck.

interview essay form

Job Interview Essay Generator

Text prompt

  • Instructive
  • Professional

Describe your preparation process for a job interview in your Job Interview Essay.

Reflect on a successful job interview experience in your Job Interview Essay.

All Formats

Essay Templates

  • 20+ Interview Essay Templates

An interview essay is a simple form of writing that relays the information being gathered through an interview template . It is done to make the readers knowledgeable of the items discussed during the interview process. This type of essay allows the writer to relay his or her impressions on the interview that occurred and the precise data from the interview.

interview essay form

Student Interview Essay Template

student interview essay template

  • Google Docs

Family Interview Essay Template

family interview essay template

Personal Interview Essay Template

personal interview essay template

Interview Essay Sample Template

interview essay sample

Job Interview Essay Template

job interview essay template

Informational Interview Essay Template

informational interview essay template

Leadership Interview Essay Template

leadership interview essay template

Free Interview Essay Example Template

free interview essay example

Teacher Interview Essay Template

teacher interview essay template

Nursing Interview Essay Template

nursing interview essay template

Interview and Writing Essay Assignment

interview and essay assignment

Interview Reflective Paragraph Essay

interview reflective essay

Free High School Interview Essay Sample

example interview essay

Personal Career Interview Case Study Essay

sample career interview case study essay

Sample College Narrative Interview Essay

sample narrative interview essay

Extended Definition Essay with Interview Paper

extended definition essay with interview

Professional Student Interview Essay Template

example interview essay template

The Process of Creating an Interview Essay

  • Think first of the topic that you want to write about. This will serve as your guide on selecting the person that you want to interview.
  • Know the purpose of your essay. If you think that interviewing just one person is enough, then it will already do good to Word interview one. It also varies on the mood that you want your writing to have.
  • Prepare interview questions. Base your questions on your chosen topic so you can already have a guideline on what to ask. With this, you can already create a structure for your essay as you already have an idea of what is going to be in it. An information Sheet will just vary depending on the answers of your interviewee.
  • Quoting your interviewer. If you want to quote the interviewee in some parts of your essay, make sure to write the precise sample statement that he or she has said during the interview. If you cannot write at a fast pace, using an audio-recording device to record the entire interview with the permission of the PDF interviewee is of great help.
  • Prepare for the essay. After the interview, construct your thoughts and create a flow of ideas where you can insert the items being answered during the interview.
  • Start writing your interview essay and make sure that you are following the pattern that you have created for a cohesive thought pre-construction .

Interview Essays with Journalists and Politicians

interview essays with on journalists and politicians

Job Interview Essay Report with Introduction

job interview essay report with introduction

Interview Essay with APA Documentation Style

interview essay in apa documentation style

Leadership Interview Reflective Essay

leadership interview reflective essay

Capture the Attention of Your Readers

More in essay templates, interview essay example, interview article template, interview essay in apa documentation style template, personal career case study interview essay template, job interview essay report with introduction template, reflective interview essay template, reflective leadership interview essay template, high school interview essay template, extended definition essay with interview template.

  • How to Make/Create a College Essay [Templates + Examples] 2023
  • How to Make/Create a Rhetorical Analysis Essay [Templates + Examples] 2023
  • 5+ Free Descriptive Essay Templates – PDF
  • 15+ Essay Format Templates – PDF
  • 11+ Free Descriptive Essay Templates – PDF, DOC
  • 19+ Essay Templates in PDF
  • How to Make/Create a Narrative Essay [Templates + Examples] 2023
  • 14+ 5 Paragraph Essay Templates – PDF
  • How To Make/Create a 5-Paragraph Essay Outline [Templates + Examples] 2023
  • 10+ Argumentative Essay Outline Templates – PDF
  • 9+ Leadership Essays
  • 13+ Literary Essay Templates in Word | Google Docs | Apple Pages | PDF
  • 7+ Extended Essay Templates
  • 9+ Free Downloadable Informative Essay Samples and Examples

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

  • Knowledge Base

Methodology

  • Types of Interviews in Research | Guide & Examples

Types of Interviews in Research | Guide & Examples

Published on March 10, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on June 22, 2023.

An interview is a qualitative research method that relies on asking questions in order to collect data . Interviews involve two or more people, one of whom is the interviewer asking the questions.

There are several types of interviews, often differentiated by their level of structure.

  • Structured interviews have predetermined questions asked in a predetermined order.
  • Unstructured interviews are more free-flowing.
  • Semi-structured interviews fall in between.

Interviews are commonly used in market research, social science, and ethnographic research .

Table of contents

What is a structured interview, what is a semi-structured interview, what is an unstructured interview, what is a focus group, examples of interview questions, advantages and disadvantages of interviews, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about types of interviews.

Structured interviews have predetermined questions in a set order. They are often closed-ended, featuring dichotomous (yes/no) or multiple-choice questions. While open-ended structured interviews exist, they are much less common. The types of questions asked make structured interviews a predominantly quantitative tool.

Asking set questions in a set order can help you see patterns among responses, and it allows you to easily compare responses between participants while keeping other factors constant. This can mitigate   research biases and lead to higher reliability and validity. However, structured interviews can be overly formal, as well as limited in scope and flexibility.

  • You feel very comfortable with your topic. This will help you formulate your questions most effectively.
  • You have limited time or resources. Structured interviews are a bit more straightforward to analyze because of their closed-ended nature, and can be a doable undertaking for an individual.
  • Your research question depends on holding environmental conditions between participants constant.

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Discover proofreading & editing

Semi-structured interviews are a blend of structured and unstructured interviews. While the interviewer has a general plan for what they want to ask, the questions do not have to follow a particular phrasing or order.

Semi-structured interviews are often open-ended, allowing for flexibility, but follow a predetermined thematic framework, giving a sense of order. For this reason, they are often considered “the best of both worlds.”

However, if the questions differ substantially between participants, it can be challenging to look for patterns, lessening the generalizability and validity of your results.

  • You have prior interview experience. It’s easier than you think to accidentally ask a leading question when coming up with questions on the fly. Overall, spontaneous questions are much more difficult than they may seem.
  • Your research question is exploratory in nature. The answers you receive can help guide your future research.

An unstructured interview is the most flexible type of interview. The questions and the order in which they are asked are not set. Instead, the interview can proceed more spontaneously, based on the participant’s previous answers.

Unstructured interviews are by definition open-ended. This flexibility can help you gather detailed information on your topic, while still allowing you to observe patterns between participants.

However, so much flexibility means that they can be very challenging to conduct properly. You must be very careful not to ask leading questions, as biased responses can lead to lower reliability or even invalidate your research.

  • You have a solid background in your research topic and have conducted interviews before.
  • Your research question is exploratory in nature, and you are seeking descriptive data that will deepen and contextualize your initial hypotheses.
  • Your research necessitates forming a deeper connection with your participants, encouraging them to feel comfortable revealing their true opinions and emotions.

A focus group brings together a group of participants to answer questions on a topic of interest in a moderated setting. Focus groups are qualitative in nature and often study the group’s dynamic and body language in addition to their answers. Responses can guide future research on consumer products and services, human behavior, or controversial topics.

Focus groups can provide more nuanced and unfiltered feedback than individual interviews and are easier to organize than experiments or large surveys . However, their small size leads to low external validity and the temptation as a researcher to “cherry-pick” responses that fit your hypotheses.

  • Your research focuses on the dynamics of group discussion or real-time responses to your topic.
  • Your questions are complex and rooted in feelings, opinions, and perceptions that cannot be answered with a “yes” or “no.”
  • Your topic is exploratory in nature, and you are seeking information that will help you uncover new questions or future research ideas.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Depending on the type of interview you are conducting, your questions will differ in style, phrasing, and intention. Structured interview questions are set and precise, while the other types of interviews allow for more open-endedness and flexibility.

Here are some examples.

  • Semi-structured
  • Unstructured
  • Focus group
  • Do you like dogs? Yes/No
  • Do you associate dogs with feeling: happy; somewhat happy; neutral; somewhat unhappy; unhappy
  • If yes, name one attribute of dogs that you like.
  • If no, name one attribute of dogs that you don’t like.
  • What feelings do dogs bring out in you?
  • When you think more deeply about this, what experiences would you say your feelings are rooted in?

Interviews are a great research tool. They allow you to gather rich information and draw more detailed conclusions than other research methods, taking into consideration nonverbal cues, off-the-cuff reactions, and emotional responses.

However, they can also be time-consuming and deceptively challenging to conduct properly. Smaller sample sizes can cause their validity and reliability to suffer, and there is an inherent risk of interviewer effect arising from accidentally leading questions.

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each type of interview that can help you decide if you’d like to utilize this research method.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

  • Student’s  t -distribution
  • Normal distribution
  • Null and Alternative Hypotheses
  • Chi square tests
  • Confidence interval
  • Quartiles & Quantiles
  • Cluster sampling
  • Stratified sampling
  • Data cleansing
  • Reproducibility vs Replicability
  • Peer review
  • Prospective cohort study

Research bias

  • Implicit bias
  • Cognitive bias
  • Placebo effect
  • Hawthorne effect
  • Hindsight bias
  • Affect heuristic
  • Social desirability bias

The four most common types of interviews are:

  • Structured interviews : The questions are predetermined in both topic and order. 
  • Semi-structured interviews : A few questions are predetermined, but other questions aren’t planned.
  • Unstructured interviews : None of the questions are predetermined.
  • Focus group interviews : The questions are presented to a group instead of one individual.

The interviewer effect is a type of bias that emerges when a characteristic of an interviewer (race, age, gender identity, etc.) influences the responses given by the interviewee.

There is a risk of an interviewer effect in all types of interviews , but it can be mitigated by writing really high-quality interview questions.

Social desirability bias is the tendency for interview participants to give responses that will be viewed favorably by the interviewer or other participants. It occurs in all types of interviews and surveys , but is most common in semi-structured interviews , unstructured interviews , and focus groups .

Social desirability bias can be mitigated by ensuring participants feel at ease and comfortable sharing their views. Make sure to pay attention to your own body language and any physical or verbal cues, such as nodding or widening your eyes.

This type of bias can also occur in observations if the participants know they’re being observed. They might alter their behavior accordingly.

A focus group is a research method that brings together a small group of people to answer questions in a moderated setting. The group is chosen due to predefined demographic traits, and the questions are designed to shed light on a topic of interest. It is one of 4 types of interviews .

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

George, T. (2023, June 22). Types of Interviews in Research | Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved March 20, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/interviews-research/

Is this article helpful?

Tegan George

Tegan George

Other students also liked, unstructured interview | definition, guide & examples, structured interview | definition, guide & examples, semi-structured interview | definition, guide & examples, unlimited academic ai-proofreading.

✔ Document error-free in 5minutes ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts

Tips for Writing an Effective Application Essay

student in library on laptop

How to Write an Effective Essay

Writing an essay for college admission gives you a chance to use your authentic voice and show your personality. It's an excellent opportunity to personalize your application beyond your academic credentials, and a well-written essay can have a positive influence come decision time.

Want to know how to draft an essay for your college application ? Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing.

Tips for Essay Writing

A typical college application essay, also known as a personal statement, is 400-600 words. Although that may seem short, writing about yourself can be challenging. It's not something you want to rush or put off at the last moment. Think of it as a critical piece of the application process. Follow these tips to write an impactful essay that can work in your favor.

1. Start Early.

Few people write well under pressure. Try to complete your first draft a few weeks before you have to turn it in. Many advisers recommend starting as early as the summer before your senior year in high school. That way, you have ample time to think about the prompt and craft the best personal statement possible.

You don't have to work on your essay every day, but you'll want to give yourself time to revise and edit. You may discover that you want to change your topic or think of a better way to frame it. Either way, the sooner you start, the better.

2. Understand the Prompt and Instructions.

Before you begin the writing process, take time to understand what the college wants from you. The worst thing you can do is skim through the instructions and submit a piece that doesn't even fit the bare minimum requirements or address the essay topic. Look at the prompt, consider the required word count, and note any unique details each school wants.

3. Create a Strong Opener.

Students seeking help for their application essays often have trouble getting things started. It's a challenging writing process. Finding the right words to start can be the hardest part.

Spending more time working on your opener is always a good idea. The opening sentence sets the stage for the rest of your piece. The introductory paragraph is what piques the interest of the reader, and it can immediately set your essay apart from the others.

4. Stay on Topic.

One of the most important things to remember is to keep to the essay topic. If you're applying to 10 or more colleges, it's easy to veer off course with so many application essays.

A common mistake many students make is trying to fit previously written essays into the mold of another college's requirements. This seems like a time-saving way to avoid writing new pieces entirely, but it often backfires. The result is usually a final piece that's generic, unfocused, or confusing. Always write a new essay for every application, no matter how long it takes.

5. Think About Your Response.

Don't try to guess what the admissions officials want to read. Your essay will be easier to write─and more exciting to read─if you’re genuinely enthusiastic about your subject. Here’s an example: If all your friends are writing application essays about covid-19, it may be a good idea to avoid that topic, unless during the pandemic you had a vivid, life-changing experience you're burning to share. Whatever topic you choose, avoid canned responses. Be creative.

6. Focus on You.

Essay prompts typically give you plenty of latitude, but panel members expect you to focus on a subject that is personal (although not overly intimate) and particular to you. Admissions counselors say the best essays help them learn something about the candidate that they would never know from reading the rest of the application.

7. Stay True to Your Voice.

Use your usual vocabulary. Avoid fancy language you wouldn't use in real life. Imagine yourself reading this essay aloud to a classroom full of people who have never met you. Keep a confident tone. Be wary of words and phrases that undercut that tone.

8. Be Specific and Factual.

Capitalize on real-life experiences. Your essay may give you the time and space to explain why a particular achievement meant so much to you. But resist the urge to exaggerate and embellish. Admissions counselors read thousands of essays each year. They can easily spot a fake.

9. Edit and Proofread.

When you finish the final draft, run it through the spell checker on your computer. Then don’t read your essay for a few days. You'll be more apt to spot typos and awkward grammar when you reread it. After that, ask a teacher, parent, or college student (preferably an English or communications major) to give it a quick read. While you're at it, double-check your word count.

Writing essays for college admission can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. A well-crafted essay could be the deciding factor─in your favor. Keep these tips in mind, and you'll have no problem creating memorable pieces for every application.

What is the format of a college application essay?

Generally, essays for college admission follow a simple format that includes an opening paragraph, a lengthier body section, and a closing paragraph. You don't need to include a title, which will only take up extra space. Keep in mind that the exact format can vary from one college application to the next. Read the instructions and prompt for more guidance.

Most online applications will include a text box for your essay. If you're attaching it as a document, however, be sure to use a standard, 12-point font and use 1.5-spaced or double-spaced lines, unless the application specifies different font and spacing.

How do you start an essay?

The goal here is to use an attention grabber. Think of it as a way to reel the reader in and interest an admissions officer in what you have to say. There's no trick on how to start a college application essay. The best way you can approach this task is to flex your creative muscles and think outside the box.

You can start with openers such as relevant quotes, exciting anecdotes, or questions. Either way, the first sentence should be unique and intrigue the reader.

What should an essay include?

Every application essay you write should include details about yourself and past experiences. It's another opportunity to make yourself look like a fantastic applicant. Leverage your experiences. Tell a riveting story that fulfills the prompt.

What shouldn’t be included in an essay?

When writing a college application essay, it's usually best to avoid overly personal details and controversial topics. Although these topics might make for an intriguing essay, they can be tricky to express well. If you’re unsure if a topic is appropriate for your essay, check with your school counselor. An essay for college admission shouldn't include a list of achievements or academic accolades either. Your essay isn’t meant to be a rehashing of information the admissions panel can find elsewhere in your application.

How can you make your essay personal and interesting?

The best way to make your essay interesting is to write about something genuinely important to you. That could be an experience that changed your life or a valuable lesson that had an enormous impact on you. Whatever the case, speak from the heart, and be honest.

Is it OK to discuss mental health in an essay?

Mental health struggles can create challenges you must overcome during your education and could be an opportunity for you to show how you’ve handled challenges and overcome obstacles. If you’re considering writing your essay for college admission on this topic, consider talking to your school counselor or with an English teacher on how to frame the essay.

Related Articles

  • Skip to main content
  • Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Shots - Health News

  • Your Health
  • Treatments & Tests
  • Health Inc.

Public Health

A leading mindfulness teacher shares insights to counter tech addiction and isolation.

Pien Huang

Jon Kabat-Zinn is a leading researcher into the health effects of meditation. He developed the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction protocol in 1979. D Dipasupil/Getty Images hide caption

Jon Kabat-Zinn is a leading researcher into the health effects of meditation. He developed the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction protocol in 1979.

In 1979, a report from the Surgeon General inspired Jon Kabat-Zinn to action. The U.S. "Healthy People" report chronicled Americans' struggles with chronic diseases, connecting poor health with harmful social conditions like poverty, as well as unhealthy habits.

"It was an extremely powerful articulation that no matter how many billions of dollars we throw at the problems of health in the American population, no amount of money can do the job," says Kabat-Zinn , who at the time was a researcher at University of Massachusetts Medical School and taught yoga and meditation on the side. "We have to ignite passion in people for taking care of themselves."

So Kabat-Zinn started a clinic to teach what he called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction – or MBSR – at UMass Medical School. The eight-week course offered a structured, secular approach to meditation – which involves learning to maintain awareness in the body in the present moment. The goal, says Kabat-Zinn was to teach people "how to take better care of yourself – not instead of medicine, but as a complement to whatever medicine can do."

In the decades that followed, his scientific studies, teachings and books grew into a movement – now active in hundreds of hospitals and medical centers – to use meditation and mindfulness in mainstream medical care . It also birthed a new area of research showing the practice can help with conditions like pain , anxiety and immune responses .

In recent years, mindfulness has gained traction as a potential tool to address problems on the population level, including trauma, loneliness and addiction. Kabat-Zinn, now Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and author of several books including the classic, Wherever You Go, There You Are , says societal transformation was always his intent for this powerful tool.

To help these school kids deal with trauma, mindfulness lessons over the loudspeaker

Shots - Health News

To help these school kids deal with trauma, mindfulness lessons over the loudspeaker.

In a wide ranging interview, Kabat-Zinn shared his thoughts on how mindfulness can extend beyond individual self-improvement – and affect social change. Here are five of his insights:

These interview excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.

1. The widespread adoption of mindfulness today is 'radical beyond imagining'

Medicine doesn't handle many of the [societal] problems that we're facing now very well. For instance, the Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, says loneliness is an epidemic that is causing enormous mental health problems – in the aftermath of the pandemic, even more so. And that's where mindfulness comes in.

[If you look at the] number of papers published per year on the subject of mindfulness in medical literature... it's just exploded and it's continuing to go in that direction. Today, there are centers for mindfulness in universities and medical centers all around the world.

So in a sense, with my aim of it becoming a public health intervention – it's already functioning that way. But what about taking it to the next level where government – which has a much bigger purview than any university or health center – starts to take responsibility?

This is what Vivek Murthy is doing – he has put out his own guided mindfulness meditations on an app called Calm.

Never in my wildest imagination could I have ever conceived that the Surgeon General of the United States would, in his own voice, out of his own meditative experience, offer a whole range of brief, beautiful, accessible guided meditations for the American population.

It's radical beyond imagining from the point of view of 1979.

2. Mindfulness combats social isolation by helping us connect with ourselves and others

There's a big difference between being lonely, which is [behind the] epidemic of loneliness – and learning how to be alone. It's very hard to be with other people in an authentic way unless you know yourself.

Mindfulness is so powerful because it teaches you how to be at home with yourself, starting with the body. [It starts with] a willingness to stay in the present moment, and just see what happens.

Everybody has a body. Every single person is breathing. And do we ever pay attention to it? This is like turning the tables on our own self-talk about how inadequate we are and saying: look, it's a bloody miracle. Everything about being human is an absolute miracle.

We all come from nameless generations for gazillions of years to give rise to this kind of genetic chromosome combination called "me." I live for a relatively short period of time, pass on my genes maybe, and then: gone. So why not recognize the miracle of the present moment?

You are a remarkable human being with infinite capacities for love, wisdom, connectivity, for contributing to making the world a safer, better place or [for] whatever it is that you most love.

And the miracle of miracles is that there's awareness, and it is embodied. And it has profound implications for healing, both at the level of the body and at the level of the body politic and therefore public health.The more people take responsibility for themselves, the more they recognize that there is no such thing as "myself" in isolation.

3. In our tech-driven world the big risk is that 'you end up being remote from yourself'

We're so distracted. We were so distractible for thousands of years before the advent of the digital revolution. And now, we have a supercomputer in our pocket or purse or backpack. We're continually looking for stuff to entertain us, amuse us, distract us, carry us away, divert us. It's become extremely addictive.

And what are we diverting ourselves from? Who we actually are.Ultimately, the biggest public health problem is [that] you end up being remote from yourself.

From a public health perspective, before we give up our analog selves, maybe we need to go back to some first principles.Maybe we need to understand what it means, inwardly and outwardly, to be an analog being before we wind up becoming so hybridized or colonized by the digital.

Already [many are] sounding the alarm that the mental health consequences of these kinds of digitized relationships are creating a kind of environment of dis-ease – let's put a hyphen between the "dis" and the "ease" – that can lead to all sorts of real disease.

We know from [decades of] research now that the mind can actually drive disease within the body, but it can also reverse it and heal it.

AUDIO BONUS: Practice mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness starts with sitting, says Kabat-Zinn, and feeling the sensations of the breath moving in the body. "Your assignment, so to speak, is to simply rest in awareness," he says.Take six minutes to practice mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn in this audio clip:

Meditate with Jon Kabat-Zinn

4. 'befriend' your mind and you may discover 'there's more right with you than wrong with you'.

The work [of mindfulness] is the interior work of cultivating moment-to-moment awareness, of paying attention to one's own mind, one's own body, one's own heart – the ways in which the mind plagues us and drives us crazy and compounds our stress. And then learning to befriend everything, putting out the welcome mat to see that your awareness of pain, for instance, is pain-free in this moment.

If you're anxious and you know that you're anxious, you already have a way to hold that anxiety, because the knowing is awareness.

Awareness is much, much bigger than thought. So what if we learn to access it so much that it becomes where we live, where we hang out?

My default mode – as the neuroscientist might say – is awareness rather than the helter-skelter mind that's all over the place – liking this, not liking that, having ideas about how I'm not good and all of that kind of stuff.

What mindfulness offers right from the start is the direct experience and evidentiary proof that there's more right with you than wrong with you, no matter what's wrong with you. And the proof is: Are you breathing? Do you have a body? Do you exist?

5. Life itself is the meditation practice

[It's better] not to have an agenda timewise on how long this should take before I reach full liberation or anything like that. But make this your default mode how you actually live your life – because every single moment is the only precious moment.

There's a line from Derek Walcott , who's an Afro-Caribbean Nobel laureate poet: "Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart / to itself, to the stranger who has loved you / all your life, whom you ignored / for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, / the photographs, the desperate notes / peel your own image from the mirror. / Sit. Feast on your life."

That's very wise advice – and the sitting, you know, he's not joking. I mean, it's: sit. You don't have to call it meditation. If you just think of it as sitting, you'd be wrong in a certain way because it's living. If life itself is not the meditation practice, then there is no meditation practice.

I don't see why all Americans can't do that in the same way as we all go out and play tennis or pickleball or football or whatever. I mean, everybody can do it. There are an infinite number of doors into the room of mindfulness or heartfulness. And it doesn't matter which door you go through. The important thing is to enter the room of your own potential as a human being.

It all rests right here in this present moment, in awareness. And so you've got everything you need.

  • Jon Kabat-Zinn
  • mindfulness

interview essay form

The GW Point Source

The GW Law Environmental and Energy Law Blog

Transboundary Climate Litigation in the “Global Neighborhood”: An Interview with Andrea Tang

By Fiorella Valladares Meneses

Palcacocha Lake

Photo credit: INDECI

Climate change is one of the most pressing and complex challenges of our time, affecting people and ecosystems around the world. As the impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent, individuals and organizations are turning to legal action as a means of promoting environmental justice.

One of the most notable examples of this trend is the case of Saul Luciano Lliuya v. RWE , a landmark case currently pending in Germany that could have far-reaching implications for climate litigation worldwide. This article explores the intricacies of Saul’s case and the legal strategies employed by his legal defense team.

In an interview with Andrea Tang 1 , an experienced lawyer and environmental advocate who is deeply involved in Saul’s case, we explore the legal strategies in the case, the obstacles that must be overcome to prevail, and the case’s broader implications for global climate litigation.

Following the first interview with Saul Lliuya, published in this blog , this interview examines the potential civil liability arising from climate change and the innovative application of climate science to support the legal arguments.

Where are you working, and how did you get involved in Saul’s case?

I am working as an external consultant for Germanwatch in Lima, Peru. I started as a volunteer and then work became more intense. Because of that, I left my teaching jobs on environmental legislation at the Universidad Científica del Sur and the Universidad Agraria, and I joined the Germanwatch team.

When you entered Germanwatch, was this organization already dealing with Saul’s case, or was that later?

I only joined three years ago. This case dates back to 2015, when the lawsuit was dismissed. Germanwatch and Saul appealed to the Higher Regional Court of Hamm. And that’s when the Court accepted the case, and the process began in 2017.  In 2019, the judges and experts planned to visit Peru to see the evidence, such as the risk of flooding and destruction of Saul’s house because of his proximity to Palcacocha , a glacier lake in the Andes mountains, and to learn how Saul’s house was built and about its current condition. Judges of the Higher Regional Court of Hamm (Germany), legal advisors, and experts came to Huaraz and conducted an on-site test study to assist in the process and determine whether there was an imminent risk to Saul’s house, which was necessary for the court to have jurisdiction to hear the case. As a legal strategy, the lawsuit was filed under Article § 1004 of the German Civil Code (BGB), which states that if there is interference with property, a party had a right to request that the interference cease, meaning the law regulates the relationship between neighbors.

Then the case stalled for quite some time because of the COVID pandemic. It resumed in 2022. It is exciting that the case is continuing because Saul Lliuya, the plaintiff, wants courts to reconsider the applicability of this article of the Civil Code, which applies to adjacent neighbors, and apply it to support a concept of “global neighborhood.” So, if you carry out an activity in a country like Germany, but your activities have consequences elsewhere in the world, as is the case with the Palcacocha Lake in Peru, an accountability link can be established without geographical limits. In Saul’s case, he asserts that his house can be damaged or destroyed as a consequence of the blocks of ice that will fall into the lake, causing a wave that will lead to overflow and flooding, which is a consequence of deglaciation induced by climate change 2 . The lawsuit is based on the study “Tracing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854–2010” 3 . In this study, RWE, the German energy company that has allegedly contributed to climate change in the Andes, ranks number 11 on the list of major emitters.

 I’m curious to know if it is typical for judges or the court to conduct on-site visits in foreign countries to verify that there is an impact or imminent risk.

No, that’s why it is a landmark lawsuit. It had never happened before that a lawsuit reached this stage in a climate litigation process to involve an on-site test study. Three judges from the Court traveled with their experts to Peru. There was also a lot of media around during that visit. So, this case is important given that the Court admitted the lawsuit, and that the case has reached the evidence stage. It is a significant lawsuit. Hopefully, it will succeed, but even if not, a lot has already been achieved.

I understand that focusing on the civil lawsuit seeks to obtain compensation and indemnification. Does liability mean, in this case, that there is a causal link between RWE’s conduct and climate change?

Yes, although the claim is modest, it’s around $20,000 because the study concluded that RWE is responsible for 0.47% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions since the beginning of industrialization. That amount will cover part of the costs of local flood defenses associated with disaster response. I understand it is a symbolic amount, and for a company like RWE, it means nothing. RWE has probably spent a lot on lawyers, but the most important thing is that this case could set a precedent that paves the way for companies, like RWE, to be held responsible and accountable for their actions.     With the help of climate attribution science, an extreme weather event caused by climate change can be attributed to the major emitters.

 From what I had noticed in the news, the expert’s opinion was supposed to come out in July of last year. Did the expert opinion finally come out? What did it find?

The expert’s opinion will be helpful in deciding whether Saul’s house is at risk of being affected by a potential glacial lake outburst flood from Palcacocha Lake. The expert opinion, though not publicly available, was delivered to Germanwatch in November 2023. Although I haven’t seen the expert´s report myself, there is another group in Germanwatch that is conducting the analysis and will respond to this opinion, making clarifications and observations to that report.

You mentioned that, in the event of a favorable ruling, the percentage of responsibility that RWE will assume is small compared to what is really required for the construction of the dike structures. In that regard, are you planning to involve the regional or national government?

That’s another issue we are working on in parallel. We want to involve the government. In fact, more than five years ago, construction of a dike or protective wall was proposed, but it was supposed to be paid for by the Ancash regional government. However, due to the pandemic, everything was put on hold, and the proposal was denied because the regional government said they had other priorities to address during the pandemic. We want to reactivate this process, but separate from the lawsuit and its outcome.

Do you think this case is setting a precedent that could be replicated in other cases in Peru and around the world?

Other strategic climate lawsuits are very important. There is one happening right now involving a cement company from Switzerland. The plaintiffs are from an island in Indonesia, suing a cement company, which is also categorized as a significant emitter of greenhouse gases. So, these lawsuits are transnational, which would seem to be the new trend. It can’t even be said to be international law because the case is litigated under national law, but the plaintiffs are not in the same space, so that is why it is transnational.

But as climate change lawsuits gain more support, they will become easier to resolve. And I also believe there will be more specialization in climate change issues in national courts.  I think the most crucial aspects are: how this claim will be resolved, the specialization in this type of litigation that will follow, and understanding the science that underlies this issue. In this case, science is our best support. Without science, our lawsuits would have no basis.

From the interview, we are sure that while the case of Saul Luciano Lliuya v. RWE undoubtedly represents a significant milestone in climate litigation, it also raises important questions that warrant careful consideration. While the legal strategies employed by Saul’s legal team are innovative, there remain challenges regarding the establishment of a causal link between RWE’s actions and the harm suffered by Saul.

The complexity of climate science and the inherent uncertainties involved in attributing individual events to broader patterns of climate change present formidable obstacles in the courtroom. Despite advancements in scientific understanding, there is still considerable debate and disagreement among experts regarding the precise mechanisms by which greenhouse gas emissions contribute to specific environmental impacts.

Judges’ preparation and specialization will be crucial for them to understand beyond the law. Interdisciplinary cooperation between lawyers and scientists is essential to ensure that the courts have the information they need to make informed decisions.

Additionally, the reliance on civil liability frameworks, while innovative, may overlook broader issues of distributive justice and the responsibilities of governments and international institutions in addressing climate change. While important for affected individuals like Saul, seeking compensation through civil litigation should not overshadow the need for comprehensive policy measures and international cooperation to mitigate and adapt to climate change on a global scale.

Finally, as we continue to navigate the evolving landscape of climate litigation, it is important to remain vigilant in the pursuit of justice while also acknowledging the inherent uncertainties and limitations of the legal system in addressing the multifaceted challenges of climate change.

Andrea Tang

1 Andrea Tang Valdez is a lawyer based in Lima, Peru. Ms. Tang has more than ten years of experience in environmental law with an emphasis on industry and specialization in solid waste. She is a former Fellow in the Environmental Sustainability Professional Fellowship Program of the U.S. Department of State. Currently, she is the Deputy Director of a non-profit association dedicated to the management and handling of waste of electronic equipment.

2 Marcelo A. Somos-Valenzuela et al., Modeling a glacial lake outburst flood process chain: The case of lake palcacocha and Huaraz, Peru , 20 Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 2519–2543 (2016),

3 Richard Heede, Tracing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854–2010 , 122 Climatic Change 229–241 (2013).

 Fiorella Valladares Meneses

Fiorella Valladares Meneses

LLM in Environmental & Energy Law from The George Washington University, with over a decade of extensive experience in the domains of energy, environmental, and indigenous regulation

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this post:

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

interview essay form

By the BOOK

Morgan Parker Says ‘Poetry Is Under Everything’ She Writes

Crafting the arguments in “You Get What You Pay For,” her first essay collection, “felt like pulling apart a long piece of taffy,” says the author of “Magical Negro.”

Credit... Rebecca Clarke

Supported by

  • Share full article

What books are on your night stand?

The craft anthology “How We Do It,” edited by the great Jericho Brown, and Shayla Lawson’s astounding “How to Live Free in a Dangerous World.”

Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).

Probably on the smoking patio of a wine bar at happy hour on a sunny day, with a pencil in my hand and Dorothy Ashby or Ambrose Akinmusire playing through noise-canceling headphones. Or just a quiet morning on my couch with coffee, so engrossed I forget to flip the record.

What’s the last book you read that made you laugh?

“Erasure,” by Percival Everett . I picked up a used copy at Shakespeare & Company recently — after seeing Cord Jefferson’s brilliant adaptation , “American Fiction” — and even on a reread, it made me laugh out loud from the first page.

The last book that made you cry?

Weird or obnoxious if I say my own? Before that, it was probably Y.A.

Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?

That category’s filled to the brim and beyond by reality TV.

How do you organize your books?

Loosely or not at all. This is much to the horror of my Virgo pals, and while I used to take pride in navigating my shelves on familiarity alone, it’s something I’ve vowed to work on. Still, I doubt I’ll ever be an alphabetical type, and clearly I find genre segregation constricting. I do group things thematically, or even interpersonally — music biographies, Black Panthers, Harlem Renaissance; Jessica Hopper is next to John Giorno, and Chase Berggrun’s “R E D” is next to “Dracula”; Julie Buntin’s “Marlena” is beside her husband Gabe Habash’s “Stephen Florida”; Alison C. Rollins is next to her partner Nate Marshall is next to his bestie José Olivarez. At some point Hilton Als’s “White Girls” ended up next to “Male Fantasies,” and I don’t think I’ll ever separate them.

Which genres do you avoid?

There’s an essay in “You Get What You Pay For” where I mention reading a self-help book (as recommended by my now-former psychiatrist). I’d never read one before and have not since.

How does your poetry relate to your essay writing?

The truth is that poetry is under everything. It’s the lyric and sensory backbone. It’s what drives the sound, pace and imagery. (Everyone knows the best prose writers write and read poetry.) But while a poem strives for precision of language, the essay strives for precision of thought, even argument. In a poem, you can build (or approximate) an argument by plopping two images next to each other. It persuades by pointing. Writing these essays felt like pulling apart a long piece of taffy — I found myself reiterating a lot of what I’ve already expressed in poems, so it almost became a project of stretching out each poetic line, breaking down each concept to its root. The process is about asking, pondering, searching — and letting language take part in the answering.

You have a knack for terrific book titles. How did you name your new collection?

Thank you! I love a good title, but I also acknowledge the high bar I have set for myself. With this one, I struggled a bit, I think because it took me a while to understand the book myself, let alone how to introduce it to the world. The essays encompass a lot of seemingly disparate themes and even tonal registers, so framing the overall collection was daunting. I’d been tossing around a couple of options, including “Cheaper Than Therapy,” which appears as an essay title, when Jay-Z made the choice for me. I was in Italy at a residency, grieving the recent loss of my aunt and watching the “Big Pimpin’” video over and over as I worked on an essay about it for the book. I’d left my heavily tabbed copy of “Decoded” at home in Los Angeles, but was scrolling a PDF for details about the video shoot when I came across the line: “If the price is life, then you better get what you paid for.”

You describe yourself as foolish for believing “words could be the pathway to empathy and writing an active resistance against hate.” Might publishing this book change your mind?

Honestly? It’s my only hope.

What’s the last book you recommended to a member of your family?

“Heavy,” by Kiese Laymon, to my mom; Blair LM Kelley’s “ Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class,” to my dad; and “A Is for Activist,” to my 8-month-old cousin.

What do you plan to read next?

Phillip B. Williams’s “Ours” was just published, and I’ve been excited about it for literally years. Vinson Cunningham’s “Great Expectations” came out the same day as my book, so I plan to make that my tour read.

You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

June Jordan, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin — but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t get just as much fun and fulfillment from a night with Angel Nafis, Danez Smith and Saeed Jones.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

You never know what’s going to go wrong in these graphic novels, where Circus tigers, giant spiders, shifting borders and motherhood all threaten to end life as we know it .

When the author Tommy Orange received an impassioned email from a teacher in the Bronx, he dropped everything to visit the students  who inspired it.

A few years ago, Harvard acquired the archive of Candida Royalle, a porn star turned pioneering director. Now, the collection has inspired a new book , challenging the conventional history of the sexual revolution.

Gabriel García Márquez wanted his final novel to be destroyed. Its publication this month  may stir questions about posthumous releases.

Do you want to be a better reader?   Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

Advertisement

IMAGES

  1. Interview Essay

    interview essay form

  2. FREE 12+ Interview Essay Samples in MS Word

    interview essay form

  3. How To Write An Interview Paper Example ~ Allsop Author

    interview essay form

  4. Writing an Interview Paper: Formatting Guide, Samples and Writing Tips

    interview essay form

  5. FREE 12+ Interview Essay Samples in MS Word

    interview essay form

  6. Interview Essay

    interview essay form

VIDEO

  1. How to introduce yourself in any interview // Self introduction in english // Cursive writing

  2. Interview questions and answers for Freshers and Experienced: Describe yourself in 3 words #jobs

  3. Pma 153 initial interview most important and repeated essay topics

  4. PMA 153 Initial interview

  5. Interview Question

  6. PMA Long Course 153|Essay Writing before initial interview|Essay in PMA initial|how to write essay

COMMENTS

  1. How To Write an Interview Essay (With Example Questions)

    1. Think about your essay's purpose. The first step is to think about your essay's purpose. This consideration can help you determine what questions to ask during the interview, how to conduct it and how to write the resulting essay. For example, you may want to write an interview essay as an informative, factual piece for others to educate ...

  2. Interview Essay

    Guidelines for an Interview Essay. When writing an interview essay, it would be best to create an outline first. Organize the information you have gathered from your interviewee and structure it in a logical order. This could be from one's personal information to the most compelling details gathered. Be reminded of the standard parts of an ...

  3. How to Write an Interview Essay: 10 Steps (with Pictures)

    Rank your questions in order of importance to make sure you ask your best ones, or list them all in the order you'd ask them and color-code the most important ones. 3. Arrange the interview (s). You'll need to contact the interviewee (or their representative) to arrange a time and place to conduct the interview.

  4. Writing an Interview Paper: Formatting Guide, Samples and Writing Tips

    Q&A. "Question and answer" will suit your needs perfectly if you interview one person. It is the simplest format used in online magazines, news reports, and other media. Your interview paper outline will look like this: Introduction. Question #1 - Answer #1. Question #2 - Answer #2. Question #3 - Answer #3.

  5. How to Write an Interview Essay or Paper

    Decoding the Interview Writing Format. Interview essays allow you to use people as your sources rather than books. What is especially helpful in this sort of paper is that you are able to get a first-person viewpoint on a subject, whether this is about a person's life or something in which they are an expert.

  6. How To Write an Interview Paper in APA Format in 10 Steps

    Center and bold the word "Abstract" at the top of the page. On the line below, without indenting, write a summary of your paper. In a single paragraph limited to 250 words, discuss the subject, the thesis, the purpose and necessity of the interview, the interviewees and the potential implications of your findings. 10.

  7. How to Write an Interview Essay: Tips & Guide

    Remember, your ultimate aim for successful interview essays is to authentically capture the essence of the person's experiences or insights, so let the first job interview be a genuine and unfiltered exploration. Step 6: Select an Interview Essay Format. As you wrap up the interview, consider how you want to present its essence.

  8. How to Write an Interview Essay: Complete Guide

    A standard interview essay from a custom writing service can range from 2,000 to 5,000 words or up to ten pages. Individual works are usually shorter. The interview essay format will have an introduction, body segments (perspectives grouped under different subheadings), and a summary. Here's an overview of what to put in each part.

  9. Interview Essay Guide

    An interview essay is a written composition that presents the insights, experiences, and viewpoints of an individual obtained through a structured conversation or interview. This type of essay goes beyond merely summarizing the interviewee's responses; it integrates narrative storytelling with analytical components to provide a comprehensive ...

  10. How to Write an Interview Paper

    Writing an interview paper requires careful selection of a topic, defining the purpose, finding a suitable interviewee and more. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you create a compelling interview essay: 1. Identify the purpose of the paper. The purpose of your paper will determine your subject, readers and the topics the essay will cover.

  11. How To Write an Interview Essay

    Analyse the information / answers given by your interviewee. Once you have followed these stages, you can draft / outline your interview essay in a more standard format: Break up the responses into key themes or points that you will make. Identify any other sources that you will use in your essay. Give an approximate word count to each section.

  12. How To Write An Interview Paper

    The Step-by-Step Guide On Writing an Interview Paper. To make the writing process easier, you should be absolutely sure in what to do in each step. Here is a list of steps you need to take to get a perfect interview paper. Step 1 - Selecting the ideal topic for your paper: The topic you end up choosing for your interview paper can genuinely ...

  13. How to Write an Interview Narrative Essay [Template and Example]

    Like a triangle, begin at the top of the paragraph with a narrow-focused summary of the interviewee's main message. Then, continuing the triangle analogy, expand outwards and downwards from that point. Deliver the broader context for why the interview matters. To end the essay, quote how the interviewee said goodbye.

  14. How to Write a Good Interview Essay: Step-By-Step Guide

    Narrative interview essays are formal, and it's the most common type of college assignments. Some answers may be paraphrased. This format also allows you to provide background information. Question - answer. Essays of this type consist only of direct quotes. It looks like a list of questions and answers written in a form of a dialogue.

  15. How to Write an Interview Essay: A Guide

    Read this article on how to write a thesis statement for more help. II. Body paragraph 1: One big idea you learned III. Body paragraph 2: Second big idea you learned IV. Body paragraph 3: Third big idea you learned V. Conclusion: You need to wrap up your essay by summarizing and writing some concluding remarks about the person.

  16. Interview Essay Writing: Tips, Guide

    The interview essay format is determined based on the style of your paper. There are three basic types of interview papers: Narrative Essay Interview - Through this type of paper, you are assigned to research a specific topic based on the conducted interview. The main thing is to accumulate all the information that the interviewed person has ...

  17. Tips How to Write an Interview Essay

    Choose the interview essay format (narrative, career, questions-answers, etc.) Agree upon the location and date of the interview; Craft a Winning Interview Essay: 8 Helpful Tips. Note that writing an interview essay requires a different structure as compared to a conventional academic essay such as an expository, argumentative, etc.

  18. How to Write an Interview Essay Introduction

    First, you'll want to introduce the person or people you interviewed. This can be done by providing a brief overview of who they are and why you decided to interview them. Next, you'll want to include a thesis statement. This is a sentence or two that sums up the main point of your essay. It should be clear and concise, and it should give ...

  19. How to Write an Interview Paper: Tips and Examples

    a specific interview essay format planned in advance (whether it is a career interview, a question-answer interview or a narrative interview); exact date and place of conducting the interview. To know how to write an interview paper with proper structure and organization, it is essential to come up with appealing paper topic. At times, you do ...

  20. How to Write an Interview Paper in APA Format

    APA format requires the title page's content to be center aligned. The tile is written 3 or 4 lines from the top in bold. If your interview paper has a subtitle, write it below the main title, and remember to put a colon after it. Other information included is written on their separate lines and are.

  21. Job Interview Essay

    As one would expect during a job interview, your employer may be asking you to write something. This would be in the form of an essay. This is usually about your experiences, your skills and all the basic information they need to know more about you. They do this to see and to understand you as a person. Here are some 7+ job interview essay ...

  22. 20+ Interview Essay Templates

    An interview essay is a simple form of writing that relays the information being gathered through an interview template. It is done to make the readers knowledgeable of the items discussed during the interview process. This type of essay allows the writer to relay his or her impressions on the interview that occurred and the precise data from ...

  23. Types of Interviews in Research

    Depending on the type of interview you are conducting, your questions will differ in style, phrasing, and intention. Structured interview questions are set and precise, while the other types of interviews allow for more open-endedness and flexibility. Here are some examples. Structured. Semi-structured.

  24. Tips for Writing an Effective Application Essay

    Generally, essays for college admission follow a simple format that includes an opening paragraph, a lengthier body section, and a closing paragraph. You don't need to include a title, which will only take up extra space. Keep in mind that the exact format can vary from one college application to the next.

  25. 5 insights from Jon Kabat-Zinn on mindfulness and social change

    Jon Kabat-Zinn, who brought mindfulness meditation into mainstream medical settings, discusses how the centering practice can help with some of today's widespread social problems.

  26. Transboundary Climate Litigation in the "Global Neighborhood": An

    In an interview with Andrea Tang 1, an experienced lawyer and environmental advocate who is deeply involved in Saul's case, we explore the legal strategies in the case, the obstacles that must be overcome to prevail, and the case's broader implications for global climate litigation.

  27. How to Grow Old Like Isabella Rossellini

    "How do I fulfill the rest of my life? That question came to me very clearly at 45, and I didn't have an answer."

  28. Interview: Morgan Parker on 'You Get What You Pay For: Essays'

    Crafting the arguments in "You Get What You Pay For," her first essay collection, "felt like pulling apart a long piece of taffy," says the author of "Magical Negro."

  29. Intermittent fasting: New research casts doubt on its effectiveness

    Intermittent fasting is one of the many trendy ways people try to lose or maintain their weight. Also known as time-restricted eating, the practice is a method of weight loss that confines a ...