First, conduct a three-question interview based on your Final Project topic, while keeping in mind that the information you gather may be used as evidence in your Final Project. Try to choose a person who can speak with authority about the topic; for example, you may want to choose someone recognized as an expert or someone with first-hand experience. You can conduct the interview in-person, over the phone, or through the Internet (e.g., e-mail, instant messaging, or video chat); it will be important to record the interview or take precise notes of the interviewee’s responses. Follow the suggestions provided in the unit’s reading to help the interview go smoothly.
After conducting the interview, find a reliable source to either verify or refute one piece of information gained through the interview. While your interviewee may have a certain level of expertise on a topic, the source you find will either validate that expertise or show there is a different perspective on the information. After finding the source, choose a short passage that best verifies or disputes the interview information and respond to the following prompts in paragraph format:
- What questions did you ask and which responses might work well as evidence in your Final Project? You can summarize, paraphrase, or directly quote the information, but be sure to use quotation marks around word-for-word responses. You do not need to include the entire interview transcript.
- How does the interviewee’s responses compare to the reliable source you found on the same topic? Paraphrase relevant information from a short passage in the source you found to either support or refute the interviewee’s information. Be sure to use in-text citations with any sentences reflecting ideas from the source.
- At the end of your post, provide a complete APA 6th edition style citation for the source you found and copy/paste the original text that you paraphrased.