Final Informational Interview Paper Assignment

BN301 Informational Interview Paper Assignment
Spring 2000

This paper is designed to help you learn more about your chosen career field or to explore career options if you are undecided about your career goals. After submitting a proposal describing your interviewees (see below), you will conduct in-depth interviews with three individuals in a career field in which you have an interest. If you are undecided about your career goals and are interested in more than one field, you may interview people in different fields. The people you interview do not have to be people with hiring power; they can simply be people working in the type of job that you think might interest you upon graduation.

NOTE: You may NOT interview family members even if you plan on joining the family business, and you may not interview Stetson current students, faculty, or staff. Stetson alumni are fine; current Stetson students are not. Although not against the rules, certain people such as current/former employers, internship supervisors, close friends, girlfriend/boyfriend, and old family friends may be of limited value as interviewees, especially if you already know a lot about their jobs. You will probably get more out of interviewing people youíve never met or that you donít know very well. On the other hand, sometimes close friends can be more honest and open about their jobs than can strangers.

You must conduct at least one of your interviews ON-SITE at the interviewee's workplace and indicate in your proposal which interview will be conducted on-site.

The entire project ó in five phases as described below ó will culminate with a thorough analysis of what you learned about those jobs and how your informational interviews have influenced decisions about your job search as you approach graduation. The full project accounts for 525 points, which is a significant portion of your semester grade.

Overview of the five phases:

Phase I: You will submit a Proposal for Informational Interview Paper during the fourth week of class (Feb. 3). Sample proposal available. Double-spaced. 75 points.

Phase II: You will turn in a double-spaced draft of your first informational interview, following the format described below, during the seventh week of class (Feb. 24). 100 points.

Phase III: You will turn in a double-spaced draft of your second informational interview, following the format described below, during the tenth week of class (March 23) 100 points.

Phase IV: You will turn in a double-spaced draft of your third informational interview, following the format described below, during the thirteenth week of class (April 13) 100 points.

Phase V: You will edit the drafts of all three informational interviews, according to instructorís suggestions, and write a detailed analysis (as described below) of what you learned about your career goals based on those three interviews. You will integrate all three revised interviews, along with your analysis, as a coherent, double-spaced paper, on the last day of class (April 25). The final paper should be 8-10 pages, double spaced. The paper MUST BE TYPED, so if you are not able to do so, please make arrangements to have it done and allow enough time. More information, with suggested questions to ask in your interviews, is available in the Informational Interviewing section of this Coursepack. 150 points.

Details about the Five Phases:

Proposal for Informational Interview:

Write a few sentences about your current career goals.
Provide the NAMES, TITLES, and COMPANY/ORGANIZATION NAMES of the 3 individuals you plan to interview for your informational interview paper.
You MUST supply actual names of prospective interviewees to receive full credit.
You must also provide a rationale for why you have chosen these particular people.
Your prospective interviewees MUST BE VERIFIABLE. You must supply a business card with each informational interview paper you later turn in (or have interviewee(s) mail/fax to me a 1-sentence verification of the interview on COMPANY LETTERHEAD), so you may want to identify interviewees from whom it will be easy to get business cards or alternate verification.
Because you must conduct at least one of your interviews ON-SITE, you MUST indicate in your proposal which interview(s) will be on-site. If you don't, I won't grade your paper.
A length of 200 words is a good goal to shoot for
Your proposal should be in narrative form (not merely a list).
Sample available.
Due fourth week of class (Feb. 3).
75 points, divided as follows: 20 pts. for each name/title/co. name/rationale supplied and 15 pts. for writing competence. You lose 20 pts. for each name, etc. you fail to supply.

In part, this exercise is to help you get an early start on your paper, but if you decide to change your list of interviewees after submitting your proposal, donít worry; itís not set in stone. Please check with the instructor, however, if you wish to change your interviewees.

Preliminary Interview Papers (Phases II, III, and IV): Some things to keep in mind as you schedule your interviews: Instructor has a small database of former students in careers that relate to most business majors who are willing to be the subjects of informational interviews; check with her if you're stuck. On-site, in-person interviews are preferable since they give you a better feel for your intervieweesí workplaces; therefore, at least one of your interviews MUST be on-site; telephone and e-mail interviews are acceptable for the other interviews. People who agree to do e-mail interviews sometimes turn out to be unreliable, so be sure you have alternate ways of reaching e-mail interviewees and/or have backup interviewees lined up.

Preliminary papers should follow the suggested format shown below. You can deviate from this format, but remember that a parallel format will be required for the final paper, so youíll find it MUCH easier to follow it for the preliminary papers.

DO NOT write your papers in transcript form (e.g., "I said ó He said" or "Q&A"). And remember that your interview paper should not be a report on the interviewee or his/her company. What I am most interested in is your responses and reactions to your interviewee and his/her job. For that reason, direct quotes usually are not especially helpful in these papers. Preliminary papers should be about 2 pages, double-spaced. 100 points each.

Suggested Format for Preliminary Interview Papers (required for final paper)
I. Brief (1 paragraph) description of company/organization (size, location, type of business itís in, etc.)
II. What you learned about the job that your interviewee held that reinforced what you already knew
III. What you learned about the job that your interviewee held that surprised you
IV. What you liked about the job that your interviewee held
V. What you didnít like about the job your interviewee held

IMPORTANT! YOU MUST ALSO ATTACH TO YOUR PRELIMINARY PAPERS A BUSINESS CARD FOR THE INTERVIEWEE WITH A PHONE NUMBER THAT WILL ALLOW INSTRUCTOR TO VERIFY THE INTERVIEW. EVEN IF YOU DO NOT CONDUCT THE INTERVIEW IN PERSON, YOU MUST ASK THE INTERVIEWEE TO SEND YOU A BUSINESS CARD. SUPPLYING THE INTERVIEWEE WITH A SELF-ADDRESSED, STAMPED ENVELOPE SHOULD FACILITATE THIS PROCESS. The ONLY acceptable alternate verification is to have your interviewee(s) mail/fax to me a 1-sentence verification of the interview on COMPANY LETTERHEAD. Simply giving me interviewees' phone numbers or e-mail addresses or having them call/e-mail me is NOT ACCEPTABLE. If you think you will have trouble getting a business card or alternate verification from any interviewee, it is best to choose a different interviewee.

Academic Honesty: DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT fabricating or plagiarizing an informational interview from sorority/fraternity files, former students, Web page, or any other source. Familiarize yourself with the universityís policies on Academic Honesty, especially Section A (Cheating); Section B (Fabrication and Falsification); and Section D (Plagiarism); found in the Student Handbook section of Campus Connections (pages 16-17 of the 1999-2000 edition). In accordance with these policies, offenders are subject to a minimum penalty of a zero for the plagiarized assignment, and a maximum penalty of a failing grade in the course and a referral to University Judicial Affairs.

Final Paper (Phase V): The beauty of the final paper is that, by the time it is due, it is mostly complete because you have written the earlier drafts. For the final paper, you need to integrate the previous drafts, as described below. Thus, the bulk of the final paper will consist of cutting and pasting the drafts smoothly into the integrated format described and adding some transitions. Itís quite possible that you wonít end up using the entirety of your previous drafts in the final paper; you will probably pick and choose which elements are the most important according the format described. NOTE: It is very important that you note corrections and editorial suggestions on the drafts that are returned to you and FIX those portions of the drafts that you use in the final paper.

The paper should follow the writing-style conventions described in the "Why Is It Red?" handout in this Coursepack. If you would like to see successful papers by former students, ask instructor.

The double-spaced final paper should be 8-10 pages, which should break down as follows: at least six pages to summarize the individual interviews according to format described below, and at least two pages of detailed analysis.

NUMBER YOUR PAGES AND DO NOT USE ANY KIND OF COVER PAGE!

Grading will break down as follows:

Effective integration of previous interview papers according to format described below = up to 50 pts.
Detailed analysis = up to 50 pts.
Correction of previous writing errors = up to 50 pts.

Significant deductions will be taken for any preliminary interviews missing from final paper or that I am seeing for the first time in the final paper.

The paper MUST BE TYPED, so if you are not able to do so, please make arrangements to have it done and allow enough time. 150 points.

Format for Final Paper Integrating All Three Interviews
I. A description of your career goals before you conducted the interviews

II. Brief (1 paragraph) description of companies/organizations (size, location, type of business, etc.)

A. 1st Company/Organization
B. 2nd Company/Organization
C. 3rd Company/Organization

III. What you learned about the jobs that your interviewees held that reinforced what you already knew

A. 1st Company/Organization
B. 2nd Company/Organization
C. 3rd Company/Organization

IV. What you learned about the jobs that your interviewees held that surprised you

A. 1st Company/Organization
B. 2nd Company/Organization
C. 3rd Company/Organization

V. What you liked about the jobs that your interviewees held

A. 1st Company/Organization
B. 2nd Company/Organization
C. 3rd Company/Organization

VI. What you didnít like about the jobs your interviewees held

A. 1st Company/Organization
B. 2nd Company/Organization
C. 3rd Company/Organization

VII. VERY IMPORTANT: A detailed analysis of the experience.
Some questions you MAY want to address in your thoughtful, detailed analysis follow. You do not have to address all of these questions; neither should you necessarily limit yourself to these questions:

What did you get out of the informational-interview experience?
What did you learn overall?
What did you learn about yourself?
What did you learn about what you value in a job and in a workplace?
If you interviewed people in more than one field, did one job stand out over the other(s) and provide you with clearer career direction?
What did you learn about how to break into your preferred field?
What did you learn about how to succeed in your preferred field?
How do your skills/grades/experiences measure up to whatís required for entry or success in your preferred field?
Have your ideas about pursuing your preferred field have changed now that you know more about it?
If you still want to pursue your original career direction, what is your strategy for seeking a job in this field?
If you have decided against your original field, what fields are you now considering, and how will you go about finding out if another field suits you better?

If you would like to see an example of a successful final paper by a previous student, see instructor.
You must also hand in a duplicate copy of your paper for instructor to keep!

NOTE: For those students planning to attend graduate school or who otherwise feel that the informational interview would not be helpful to them at this time, an alternate research-paper assignment is available (http://www.stetson.edu/~khansen/bn301/research_paper.html).

Go to Syllabus.
Go to Online Coursepack.