For this assignment, you will conduct a taped oral history / interview with another individual and submit a 2–3 page, double-spaced written account of that interview and a partial transcript.
Interview
You can choose whomever you’d like to interview for this assignment. The topic of the interview is the “American Dream,” but you can take that interview in many different directions. It can explore an experience of immigration for the interviewee or his or her family; it can refer to possibilities for upward economic mobility; it can refer to hopes and dreams for the future for oneself or one’s future; or to some other way you or your interviewee might interpret it.
The interview should be semi-structured, meaning some mix of general questions and some improvisational question-asking depending on the responses and interests of the interviewee. Before the interview, write down 5 or 6 questions you might ask and practice with your recording device. During the interview you may want to keep some running notes by hand to help you find things afterward on the tape, although you don’t have to if this feels distracting. After the interview, have the interviewee sign a consent form. (Although institutional review board clearance is not required for oral history interviews, having signed consent forms is good practice.) After the interview, you should immediately type up your notes and summarize the conversation while it’s still fresh in your mind. Also note details about the setting that might be helpful to convey to a reader: what was the setting like? Was there anything striking about how the person was dressed or spoke? What was the tone of the conversation like? etc.
Post-Interview
You can download a trial version of Express Scribe Transcription Software for free on your computer. Using your notes to help you, select a 20 minute passage of the interview that seems particularly compelling for transcription. The transcription software will allow you to slow down or speed up the recording to assist with typing at an even pace. Pay close attention to nuances of language and emotional affect. If someone laughs, cries, or expresses other emotions you might want to note this in parentheses in the text, i.e. (laughter), (angrily) etc.
Write-up
In your 2–3 page (double-spaced) write-up, offer a description of the interview, convey the general themes, the tone, and setting of the interview, what you learned from it, what it says about the “American Dream” to you, and anything else that feels relevant. Offer quotes from the transcription to support your points. In capturing quotes, you can leave out “ums” and “ahs;” if there is a word missing that is needed to help the reader understand something you can add it in brackets [ ]; if there is a phrase, clause, or sentence that distracts from the point, you can cut it if you put in ellipses (i.e. …).
Along with your 2–3 page write-up, turn in the verbatim transcription.
This assignment is due during Session 6.
