I had a really hard time at first finding any quotes because so many faculty members didn't want to comment on something as controversial as the Iraq war. I even had one person only give me a quote on the condition that she would remain anonymous. Fortunately, I got enough other quotes that I did not have to use hers.
I thought it was a good exercise because it helped me learn new techniques for getting quotes. For instance, when I was talking to someone in Financial Aid, I asked her if she new anyone else in Mandelle who would be willing to comment. She ended up leading me to four other people who gave me quotes.
While I didn't particularly enjoy hunting down people for quotes at 8:30 in the morning, I feel like I improved my interviewing skills because of it.
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4 comments:
I had similar experiences woth poeple not wanting to talk, you should share some more of your tips if you are willing becuase i didn't really have a good method and didn't have time to even get extra back-up quotes.
I had a different experience with interviewing. The staff of the library's first floor were amazing in terms of quotes, information, and general insights. But I think that the rest of the class might have had a tough time interviewing them after I 'made the rounds,' probably because they got bored with being interviewed after the first few sessions. Personally, I had more of a problem with cramming structure into my writing; I felt like I was more inserting quote after quote into the paper than forming a cohesive piece of writing.
I spoke with a lot of people who didn't want to be interviewed. I wish I had remembered to ask sources if they could refer me to other people who might be more willing to talk. It sounds like you had a very successful interviewing process. Thanks for posting your tip!
I went to the cafeteria and found that a lot of the staff there was willing to talk. Perhaps the academics are just afraid of being labeled? And I agree, hunting down quotes at 8:30 am is not very fun. :)
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