Reporting Interview

8/8/2019 Reporting Interview

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/reporting-interview 1/8

WRITING REPORTS -3REPORTING INTERVIEWS

16.0 Objectives16.1 Introduction16.2 Different Stages in Conducting a n Interview

16.3 Reporting an ~ntkrv iewExamples of Reports

16.4 Punctuation :The Apostrophe16.5 Usage :Word Study16.6 Let Us Sum U p16.7 Key Words

i 16.8 Suggested ReadingI 16.9 An swers to Self-check Exercises

I16.0 OBJECTIVES

In this unit we shall show you how to conduct an interview and how t o report it. Aftercompleting the unit, you will be able to write reports o n th e interviews you conduct.

16.1 INTRODUCTION

A n interview is usually a meeting where a p erson is asked questions by oth ers to decidewhether he can enter a university o r take up a job. Ano ther kind of interview is ameeting between an important person a nd oth ers who want to know ab out his activitiesand po int of view. In this unit we shall discuss the secon d type of interview and how itcan be rep ort ed. This kind of interview is an exercise in personal relationship-one-to-one interplay of mind and personality between the person being interviewedand th e on e asking the questions.

16.2 DIFFERENT STAGES IN CONDUCTING ANINTERVIEW

# Stage 1Aft er you identify the perso n you wish to interview, y ou have to get in touch with himand fix an appo intment. Th e key to successful interview is good preparation. Find ou tin advance the relevant b iographical facts abou t the person you have t o interview so that

Jyou may base some of the qu estions on the m.

Now you sh ould write down a lot of questions to ask during the interview. Thesequestions provide a framework fo r the interview, but they n eed no t be asked in a rigidsequence. O ften it is mo re effective to bring them in casually as the conversation flows.

Rem emb er that-interviews are hum an interactions, not questionnaire exercises. Sochange your questions or discard some of them if the situation requires it. Thispreparation helps you in many ways. You know what to ask and you have time to think

how best you can ask the questions. Besides youc an convince the interviewee that youare interested in him and in th e subject you a re discussing by putting intelligentquestions.

Stage 2W hen th e interview begins it is better if you dev ote th e first few minutes to pleasantries.

After developing rappo rt with th e interviewee, you shou ld proceed with yourquestions. A sk a few gene ral questions first. D o no t ask your difficult questions in the

beginning. If you have any embarrassing questions, bring them in to the conversationwhen th e moo d is fairly relaxed.



Afun dam ental rule of interviewing is to let the interviewee talk. D o not interr upt oncethe conversational tap has been turn ed o n. Bu t the interviewee should know that youare really intereste d in what he is saying, Grow th and continuity in an interview arisefrom conv ersation. Tra nsition s shou ld occur naturally and logically during th e

discussion- ne answer suggesting another question.

stage 3Th e end of an interview is also as important as the beginning. Th e end should be smoothand meaningful. You should not ta ke mo re time than you are given unless you feel that

the intervieweeis

also keen o n continuing the m eeting. Just before you wind up , youshould check your notes and ask for clarifications, if you have any dou bts. You shouldask for copies of any docum ents that have been mentioned during the interview.

While taking notes, listen fo r key phrases that ar e significant and take them down infull. It is better to use a tape-recorder, but d o no t depend on it excessively.

16.3 REPORTING AN INTERVIEW

Before starting to write the rep ort of an interview, you should examine your notes an dask yourself : What has this person said that is interesting and significant?" A fter

finding the most significant par t of his stateme nts, you sh ould ma ke it the leading partof your repo rt. Yo ur impressions of the interviewee's personality should be worked inas the report develops, but this should not be allowed to o bscure the main theme .

After writing the leading portion, you have to decide how to proceed to the substanceof the interview and plan the main body of the rep ort. If you want to m ake your reportpurely inform ative, you can write the body of the repor t in a question-and-answer fo rm.You can ad d explanatory passages to provide an element of continuity. O r you maydevelop the body of the re port by switching back and forth while writing about th evarious points. In your reports use direct quo tations that will tell the read er what th einterviewee wishes to convey and also those that illuminate his perso nality. You maygive a suitable title to your repo rt.

Examples ofReports

Example 1

He re is a repo rt of an interview (adapted fro m a report published in The Timesof India,

11th July, 1987).

LhmcingToHerOwn Tune

Um a Sharrna has been trained in Kath ak, Kathakali, Bh arata Natyam and Manipuri.Trained both in the Lucknow and Jaipur gharanas of Kathak, under G uru S underPrasad and P andit Shambh u M aharaj, she has been very particular a bou t not neglectingeither the Hind u element or the Muslim element in her Kathak compositions.Mo reove r, she has done d ance compositions based on the poetic works of writers like

Kalidasa, Tulsidas an d Surd as as well as those of writers like Gha lib, Iq bal an d Faiz.

Uma Sharma has been-described as wayward, impulsive, temp estuous, temperam entaland credulous. Like man y, she claims to be the maligned, the v anquished, who has, allthe sam e, made it despite all odds.

Cautiously ou tspok en, she reflected at length abou t her contribution to dan ce and herattitude to ward s the world of dance. H er speech is devoid of affectation. As an adeptin Kathak, Um a Sharma's views on dance are interesting.

Q. D o you follow the traditional approach to Kath ak? Don 't you try to experimentand innovate?

A . I try to experiment with everything I do. I like to go verg dee p into the theme I amdoing and am very particular abou t creating the right setting, environment, andcostu mes. If it is a historical ev ent, I try t o read as much as possible. My reading

always affects my perform ance favo urably . I remember doing 'A r~arka li' or theBharatiya Kala Kend ra. I read a lot abou t Mug hal history but the challenge was tokee within the framework of Kathak.



I am constantly trying to innovate and exp er~m ent.Mo re recently, I have tried toknow wh at lies in th e intricacies of Spanish Flemenco. I w ant to take tw o weeks'vacation in Septem ber and spend it in Spain. A s I will participate in the M adridFestival along with Mario M aya- pain's topmost Flemenco dan cer- am

confident that I will learn a lot abou t Flemenco. I would also like tos pe nd som etime on a study of gypsies' danc es.

Q People say that your high connections have led to your success. What a re yourcomments?

A People who mak e such accusations are ust against me. Over the years my enemieshave im ea se d , which is inevitable when o ne does good work. When I was awardedth ep ad m a Shri there was a lot of talk abou t my contacts though I was not evenaware that I was getting it. Anyway, th e majority of my adm irers don't accept suchtalk. S o I am not interested in all that.

An d then if I was so well connected, why have I been ign ored by the ICC R a nd th etwo'Festivals of Indi a?

Q Wh at is your attitude towards th e present day critics?

A Som e critics have been spreading vicious rumours abo ut me that I have put onweight and th at my institution is a mono lithic structure whe re nothing is taught.Th eir illusions will be sha ttered if they visit my institute and see th e work I amdoing. M ost critics today write abo ut th e great m asters with such flippancy that it is

surprising. Criticism involves a lot of tho ugh t. My advice to prese nt day critics isthat they must try to understand th e art they review.

Q W hat ar e your views on 'Guru-Shishya Param para'?

A In my view the 'Guru-Shishya Paramp ara' is almost dead today though I try mylevel best to carry on the tradition in my school. I don't take a fee or even ask mystudents for a glass of water. All I ask them is to do 'Pranam' to their G uru and d o

hard w ork every day. I know that the attitude of the stu dents towards their gumshas changed. I c an recaH that as a stu dent I h ad g reat respect for my teachers.

Today I cann ot expect this from my students. T he 'Seva Bhavana' is just not there.

Glossary

'wayward: hangeable

ik~'~uleiveaving a tendency to act suddenly without thinking a bo ut the suitability ofone's acts

tem'pestuous : iolent

,temperalmental: aving frequen t changes of temp er

'credulous oo willing to believe

'vanquished : onq uered, defeated completely

'adept: xpert

'flippancy: he quality of being disrespectful abou t serious subjects

Self-check Exercise 1Read th e passage given above and h s w e r the following :1 Wh at ar e the main schools of Indian classical dance?

2 Which school of Ind ian classical dance does U m a Sh arma mainly represent?

............................................................................................................3 Wh o were her gurus?

...........................................................................................................



4 ' f i a t are her views on 'Guru-Shishya Parampara'?

5 What are the biographical details given by the reporter?................................................................................................................................................................................................................

6 Which was the tough question at the interview?

When was it asked- n the beginning, the middle, or the end?..............................................................................................................................................................................................................

After interviewing a distinguished teacher, write a report of the interview. You may ask

the teacher why he took up the teaching profession, and his opinion about the

usefulness of the courses he is teaching. Give some biographical details also...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................



Example 2

The following report of an interview with former President Gerald Ford by anAssociated Press reporter illustrates another way of reporting an interview (Quoted in

Warren K. Agee :Reporting and Writing the News, Harper and Row Publishers, New

York, 1963).

Former President Ford says Resident Reagan is "naive" if he thinks budgetcutswill be

easier than tax cuts to sell Congress.

And because of that, Reagan should hold off on the last two years of his three-year, 30

per cent tax cut programme until there is "visible evidence" Congress will reduce the

growth of federal spending, Ford says.

In an interviewwith the AssociatedPress at his home in the California desert, Ford said

efforts to reduce federal spending always tried to generate formidable coalitionswhich

band together to protect their own appropriations.

"My own experience in Congress would lead me to the conclusionttih the House and

Senate would be more amenable o a reduction in taxes than they willbe to an effort to

reduce expenditures."

~ l o s s a ; ~

na'ivdnar 'i:v/ :having or showing no experience

'formidable: ausiig anxiety and fear

ap ,propri'atloo: omething, especially money, set aside for a particular purpose

16.4 PUNCTUATION :THE APOSTROPHE

Awriter of reports should be careful about punctuation. In this section, we shalldiscuss

the use of the apostrophe.

Apostrophe is the sign(') used in writing

i) before or after s o show possession.

Examples

Jawahar's shirtChildren's clotlles

Women's clothes

a boys' school (apostrophe placed after the plural ending - s)ii ) to show that one or more letters or figures have been left our of a word or figure.

Examples

don't for do not'87for 1987

iii) before s to show the plurals of letters and figures

Examples

There are two t's in letters.Your s's look like 8's.



Sell@Exercbe3

Use apostrophes where necessary.

1 You better mind your ps and qs when the Professor of English is here.2 You ys and js are similar.3 Youre absolutely right.4 Alls well that ends well.S After a moments thought he shookhi6 head.6 1wonder if your parents neighbounwill come.7 Why dont you join theBook Loven Club?8 I will tall you whatll hnppanh yean time.

hII.CbbdrIkrurdna4

bwri to&a lollowingparrwr win8&e puuerrive form8 of nouns :1 the win@ of ths k t t od ly

2 the gold rings of the princess.

3 hesitation of three seconds.

4 fashions of girls.

5 the response of the audience.

6 the cries of the women.

7 the whisper of the breeze.

8 the ripples of the streams.

16.5 USAGE :WORD STUDY

In the first report given in section16.3we used the following words :

credulous, adept, affect, lie, take, confident, majority, accept, illusion, advice.

These words are often confused with some other words which appeartobe similar. In

this section we shall help you to distinguish between the following pairs of words:

Accept, ExceptAdapt, Adept

Advice, AdviseAffect, EffectAllusion, IllusionBring, TakeConfidant, ConfidentCredible, CredulousLay, LieMajority, Plurality

i) Accept, Except

Ac'cept is a verb; it means (i) 'to take something offered', e.g., I cannot accept yourgift. (ii) 'to believe or admit', e.g ., I accept your reasons for being late.

Ex cept, as a verb, means 'to leave out, exclude', e.g., You haveto follow the rules

I can except no one.



Ex cept, as a preposition, means 'excluding, deliberately omitting. ' e.g., Everyon e

went t o the meet ing except you.

ii) Adapt, Adept

Andapt s a v e r b meaning ' to m ake suitable for new need s, different conditions,

etc. ' e, g. , He had t o adapt himself to the new surroundings.

'Adept as a noun m ean s 'a person wh o is highly skilled in something,' e.g., She isan ad ept in the a rt of cooking.

'Adept as an adjective me ans 'highly skilled'

iii) Advice, AdviseAd'vice is a noun meaning 'opinion given by one person to ano ther on how the

othe r person should act. ' e.g ., I asked the doctor for his advice.

Ad 'vise i s aver b meaning ' to te l l somebody what on e th inksshould be done. ' e .g . ,

I advise you not t o go there now.

iv ) Affect, Effect

Af'fect is a verb. It me ans (i) ' to cause a change in'. e.g ., The weather affected her

health, (ii) ' to pretend t o feel', e .g., H e affected illness so that he could avoid goingto w ork .

Ef'fect, as a noun , means a result ', e.g., T he weather h ad an effect upon he r health.

Ef'fect, as a verb , means ' to cause or br ing about ' , e .g . , She ef fected her escape.

v) Allusion, Illusion

Al 'lusion means 'an indirect or implied reference', e.g., H e mad e an allusion to th e

lack of discipline in this count ry.

I1 'lusion r ef e rs ' to the cond i tion o f s eeing th ings w rong ly ', e .g. , ~ o tniy magicians,but ordinary people also create il lusions.

vi ) Bring, Take

Bring means ' to come with '. e.g., Bring the book when you come here.

Take has a num ber of meaning; : for exam ple

i) to g et possession cf ; e.g . . Th e enemy forces have taken the a i rpor t .

i i) to car ry f rom on e place to another , e .g . , Take the book when you go home.

iii) to have, e.g ., 1 want to ta ke a vacation.

vii) Confidant, Confident

'Confidant (feminine: confidante) is a nou n. I t m eans 'a person t o whom o ne tells

one's secrets . ' e.g., S he is my confidante in the matte r.

Confident is an adjective. It mea ns 'feeling confidence, believing in one's ability.'

e.g ., H e spoke in a confident voice. I 'm confident I can d o it.

viii) Credible, Credulous

'Credible mean s 'deserving or worthy of belief . ' e.g., A credible news report.

'Credulous means ' too willing to believe, especially without proof. ' e.g ., Sh e is

credulous; she believes everything.

ix ) Lay, Lie

Lay is a transitive verb and takes a direct object. e.g., Lay it on th e table. ( lay,laid, laid).

Lie is an intransitive verb and do es not ta ke an object. e.g., My shirt was lying onthe floot. ( l ie, lay, lain).

x) Majority, Plurality

Mai'ority me ans ' the greater num ber ' e.g ., The majority of doctors believe that

smoking is harmful t o health.

Plu'rality me ans 'the largest num ber of votes in an election. especially when less

than a majority'. e .g., H e won a plurality of votes, but not a majority.



16,6 LET US SUM UP

An interview is purposeful conversation. There are different stages in conducting an

interview.

(i) Find out the biographical facts about the person you wish to interview and prepare

a list of questians to ask. (ii) Create a pleasant atmosphere at the beginning of the

interview and ask your difficult question when the mood is relaxed. (iii) Check your

notes ind clarify your doubts before you wind up.

In your report, put the important points in the leading paragraph. You can use direct

quotations. You can also add biographical details and explanatory passages. You may

give a title to your report.

16.7 KEYWORDS

alpstrophe : he sign (') used in writing to show that one o r more letters or figures have

been left out of a word or figure (as in don't)

'interview(noun) : a meeting where a person is asked questions by another

,punctulation: he division of written matter into sentences, phrases, etc. by means of

signs such as a comma, a full stop, a question mark, a semi-colon, a hyphen, etc. ,

re'prt : an account of events, experiences, etc.

16.8 SUGGESTED READING

A daily newspaper.

16.9 ANSWERS TO SELF-CHECK EXERCISES

Exercise 1

1 Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Bharata Natyam, and Manipuri.

2 Kathak.

3 Guru Sunder Prasad and Pandit Shambhu Maharaj.

4 She thinks that the 'Guru-Shishya Parampara' is almost extinct now. But she wants

to continue it at her institution.

5 The reporter has mentioned the names of Uma Sharma's guru and has written about

her interest in comparative studies of various types of dances. There are a few

comments on her temperament.

6 The tough question was about her high connections. It was asked in the middle.

Exercise3

1 p's, q's 5 moment's

2 y's, j's 6 parents' neighbours

3 You're 7 don't, Book Lovers' Club

4 All's 8 what'll, year's

Exercise4

1 the butterfly's wings 5 the audience's response

2 the princess's gold rings 6 the women's cries

3 three seconds' hesitation 7 the breeze's whisper

4 girls' fashions 8 the streams' ripples

Documents

Reporting Interview