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. LibrariesYour own organization's libraryPublic and private librariesLibrary telephone reference services+a5. Others with access to expertsCorporate and commercial public relations practitioners+a6. Your trained observations of others7. Your participant observation experiencesshe says, be prepared to get away from the questions you developed if something more interesting arises.Experienced professionals also recommend that you remain firm and in control while using the conversational approach. Be honest and do not pretend to be something you are not. Being prepared through preinterview research is one way to accomplish that. Keep your composure. Relax. This is a natural outgrowth of knowing your material going into the interview. Mixing easy and tough questions will vary the pace and intensity of the interview, also, giving respites to both you and your source. But be sensitive. If you can prepare question lists in advance, keep this in mind as you order the questions (Bottomly, 1991~ Ritz, 1993). Page 83Clearly, the telephone is the most convenient method of interviewing. It is indispensable when working on a feature article. Although an inperson interview can yield much richer information and depth of detail, often time or expense will not permit it. A good feature writer needs to refine his or her telephone interviewing skills. Minneapolis freelance writer Steve Perlstein (1993, personal communication) offers a tip from his decade of experience as a journalist:I can't stress how important it is to sound relaxed on the phone. Remember, interview subjects either like you or are intimidated by you because you are writing about them you are in control. Even when someone is hostile, that's because they feel they don't have the upper hand and they need to get it. Always have your questions written down, so in case someone is short with you, you always have something else to move on to without foundering. That contributes to your air of knowledge, your control of the interview. Without that, you'll almost never get the information you need.Pauline Bartel (1992), who has written freelance articles for numerous national magazines, such as the Saturday Evening Post and Mademoiselle, says organization is the key to efficient use of time for interviews. There is a risk that a disorganized interviewer can spend too much time on interviews and postinterview review of notes and tapes. To save time, she recommends setting up advance appointments, using the telephone as much as possible, tape recording often, and clustering interviews around the same topic.Some of the most readable and interesting feature articles are often based on very difficult interviews to set up and carry out. Freelance writer Toni Wood (1993), who has written as a staff writer for the Kansas City Star and for national magazines, strongly recommends putting in the effort to get tough interviews. "Compelling nonfiction is often based on intimate losses, victories or mistakes. But learning to draw those stories from people is an art. It requires that you ask tough, personal questions with compassion, patience, persuasion and tenacity" (p. 28). Here is Wood's useful list of 10 recommendations for successfully completing a tough interview:1. Watch your body language and tone of voice.2. Start the conversation in neutral territory.3. Tape recording can be frightening.4. React to what you hear. Page 845. Slow down as you move to the sensitive territory.6. Don't rush to fill gaps in conversation.7. Pose the most challenging questions with simplicity and be direct.8. Take time in developing the relationship with the source.9. There may be source resistance, so be ready and make space for it.10. Try to keep professional distance and don't meltdown emotionally.Remember the value of followup questions as well. Often a source will give a partial answer to your question or may offer a response that is not completely understandable. Be prepared to ask followup questions such as ''can you explain that better?" or "give me an example of what you mean" or "I'm not sure I understand. Can you expand a little on what you just said?"And a final tip: When you are winding up the interview, make certain you know how to find your source later if you need to conduct a second, or followup, interview. Get a telephone number. It may not always be in the same place as the first interview. Remember to double check critical information before you leave or hang up the telephone.Research using ObservationThere are times when a portion of an article can be researched simply by going to a location and looking around. You might be writing a piece on flood damage, and a tour of a flooded area can tell you much more than reading books or talking to people who had previously experienced floods [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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. LibrariesYour own organization's libraryPublic and private librariesLibrary telephone reference services+a5. Others with access to expertsCorporate and commercial public relations practitioners+a6. Your trained observations of others7. Your participant observation experiencesshe says, be prepared to get away from the questions you developed if something more interesting arises.Experienced professionals also recommend that you remain firm and in control while using the conversational approach. Be honest and do not pretend to be something you are not. Being prepared through preinterview research is one way to accomplish that. Keep your composure. Relax. This is a natural outgrowth of knowing your material going into the interview. Mixing easy and tough questions will vary the pace and intensity of the interview, also, giving respites to both you and your source. But be sensitive. If you can prepare question lists in advance, keep this in mind as you order the questions (Bottomly, 1991~ Ritz, 1993). Page 83Clearly, the telephone is the most convenient method of interviewing. It is indispensable when working on a feature article. Although an inperson interview can yield much richer information and depth of detail, often time or expense will not permit it. A good feature writer needs to refine his or her telephone interviewing skills. Minneapolis freelance writer Steve Perlstein (1993, personal communication) offers a tip from his decade of experience as a journalist:I can't stress how important it is to sound relaxed on the phone. Remember, interview subjects either like you or are intimidated by you because you are writing about them you are in control. Even when someone is hostile, that's because they feel they don't have the upper hand and they need to get it. Always have your questions written down, so in case someone is short with you, you always have something else to move on to without foundering. That contributes to your air of knowledge, your control of the interview. Without that, you'll almost never get the information you need.Pauline Bartel (1992), who has written freelance articles for numerous national magazines, such as the Saturday Evening Post and Mademoiselle, says organization is the key to efficient use of time for interviews. There is a risk that a disorganized interviewer can spend too much time on interviews and postinterview review of notes and tapes. To save time, she recommends setting up advance appointments, using the telephone as much as possible, tape recording often, and clustering interviews around the same topic.Some of the most readable and interesting feature articles are often based on very difficult interviews to set up and carry out. Freelance writer Toni Wood (1993), who has written as a staff writer for the Kansas City Star and for national magazines, strongly recommends putting in the effort to get tough interviews. "Compelling nonfiction is often based on intimate losses, victories or mistakes. But learning to draw those stories from people is an art. It requires that you ask tough, personal questions with compassion, patience, persuasion and tenacity" (p. 28). Here is Wood's useful list of 10 recommendations for successfully completing a tough interview:1. Watch your body language and tone of voice.2. Start the conversation in neutral territory.3. Tape recording can be frightening.4. React to what you hear. Page 845. Slow down as you move to the sensitive territory.6. Don't rush to fill gaps in conversation.7. Pose the most challenging questions with simplicity and be direct.8. Take time in developing the relationship with the source.9. There may be source resistance, so be ready and make space for it.10. Try to keep professional distance and don't meltdown emotionally.Remember the value of followup questions as well. Often a source will give a partial answer to your question or may offer a response that is not completely understandable. Be prepared to ask followup questions such as ''can you explain that better?" or "give me an example of what you mean" or "I'm not sure I understand. Can you expand a little on what you just said?"And a final tip: When you are winding up the interview, make certain you know how to find your source later if you need to conduct a second, or followup, interview. Get a telephone number. It may not always be in the same place as the first interview. Remember to double check critical information before you leave or hang up the telephone.Research using ObservationThere are times when a portion of an article can be researched simply by going to a location and looking around. You might be writing a piece on flood damage, and a tour of a flooded area can tell you much more than reading books or talking to people who had previously experienced floods [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]