For this paper, you will conduct an interview with an individual whose skills, knowledge, or experiences seem pertinent to the argument of your second essay, and then creating a 2-3 page essay based on an argument you make about the field that they are in or related to the type of work that they do.  DUE TO THE SHORT NATURE OF THIS CLASS, YOU NEED TO BEGIN THIS STEP IMMEDIATELY. Because interviews impinge not only on your own time as a student but also on the time of an innocent stranger, it is vital that you prepare yourself adequately in advance. The interviewee will have his or her own responsibilities, and taking time out of that busy schedule to help a student is an act of generosity. To repay that kindly deed, you should prepare your questions in advance and be punctual and organized. If an individual refuses to talk with you, do not badger her, but seek a different respondent for this assignment. The interview should have a clear purpose, rather than simply being a “fishing expedition” to see what facts you turn up. The purpose might be gaining the perspective of an expert or insider within the field, explaining a tricky or technical issue, or providing the reader with information normally unavailable in books. You will need to find the interview subject early in the writing process and set up the time in advance. It is sometimes more convenient to arrange for the interview to take place over the phone or via e-mail if that is preferable to both parties. REMEMBER: Prepare your questions in advance before meeting with the interviewee. This interview is for academic purposes, not the Jerry Springer Show or Hard Ball. Mainstream media of lowbrow taste often engages in confrontational or aggressive questioning in order to spark disputes, embarrassment, or scandal. That sort of tomfoolery is both inadvisable and unnecessary for genuine research. Often mass-media interviews serve primarily as a source of “sound bites,” snippets of quotation that sound neat, but end up water-down or simplifying the debate rather than engaging in a sincere, nuanced analysis. Collecting sound bites is not your purpose here. You are not inflating your paper with neat-but-empty catch phrases; you are seeking to understand something better as a part of your argument. You are seeking to become an expert on the subject at hand. Think about what sort of person would be a useful candidate for an interview. A professional who works within the field? An academic who studies that issue in particular? A published author who has already written books on that topic? A person in the local community who has dealt with this issue in his or her personal life? Identify that person and make arrangements to contact him or her. Authors can often be contacted through the publisher of their books or the editor of their journals (though this may take a week or two). Scholars can often be contacted through their respective departments, or through campus directories. Allow yourself enough time to get the interview done and write the paper.