Courses

Whether you’re writing an article, a nonfiction book, a screenplay, or even a novel, interviewing will likely play a pivotal role in your research. Interviewing is not an innate ability. It’s a skill that can be learned, and which requires practice to perfect. In this course, we will dissect the interview process from start to finish, from how to find the right sources to establishing best practices for setting up meetings. You will learn how to craft provocative questions, along with methods for putting subjects at ease so they open up; how to target your approach based on the age, background, and experiences of the interviewee; how to translate complex ideas and scientific information into everyday terms; and methods for handling sensitive and traumatic topics. We will go over note-taking, recording, and transcribing technologies and create a post-interview plan for scouring notes to extract the gems. The course will include guest speakers with diverse experience in interviewing, plenty of teamwork, plus real-life interview assignments for students to conduct between sessions. By the end of the course, students will have a clear roadmap for how to conduct interviews that generate the material they need for their work.