Find one or two professionals in the field you think you will enter when you graduate (or are in currently) and interview them about job-related writing and other forms of communications (presentations, talking with clients on the phone, etc.). You may interview professors, people in industry, even family members if they are or have been professionals in your intended field. Then, write up your findings as a short (1-2 pages) internal report. This assignment involves four steps:

• Setting up an interview
• Conducting the interview
• Synthesizing the results
• Managing not only standard conventions of good writing but also the special conventions of professional reports.

Planning and keeping on schedule are essential to success. [The interview can be conducted on the phone.]

Interview Questions

The following questions have been adapted from John Lannon, Technical Writing, 6th edition. In some cases, you may have to modify the questions. For example, many professionals rely on oral communication as much as they do on written communication; in such cases, you should interview them about the kinds of speaking they do as well as the kinds of writing they do. You may add other questions or modify the ones listed here. These questions are provided as guidelines only.

1. What percentage of your time is spent writing, editing, or presenting?

2. What types of writing, editing, and presenting do you do?

3. Who are your audiences and what are their needs?

4. What things do your audiences expect from your documents or presentations?

5. What is your biggest writing-related challenge on the job?

6. What about deadlines? How do they influence the way your write on the job?

7. What standard and predictable processes (writing techniques, organizational templates, heuristics for brainstorming, etc.), if any, do you employ in profession-related writing?

8. What advice do you have for students?

Some Tips for Success

• Plan this project out in advance and, as much as possible, stay on schedule. The thing that is most likely to cause you to fail is to try to do everything at the last moment.
  
• Sift through your data and make a decision about what information is important, how important it is, etc.; organize your memo based on your decision about the data.
  
• Use a context/task/purpose opening and forecasting. It is not an absolute requirement, but I think you should practice with these techniques; they can be real timesavers once you master them.
  
• Use formatting techniques such as white space, bulleted lists, and headings.
  
• Write a conclusion. Remember it can be used not only to sum up your main points, but also to discuss their significance.