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+--- Thread: Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay (/Thread-Need-Topic-Ideas-for-Interview-Essay)
Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay - katelynn - 10-28-2018
I'm finally at the tail end of Straighterline English Comp II and I've saved my interview essay and proposal letter essay for last. They're probably the easiest ones but I'm BLANK when it comes to choosing a topic for them.
Basically, I have to interview some type of professional about an issue they're passionate about and trying to solve. The interview essay example was written on no-kill shelters and the student interviewed a woman who's run a shelter for 10+ years. The proposal letter has to be based off the interview essay, so the topic won't change. For the no-kill shelter interview example, the following proposal letter would be addressed to the local mayor (or someone else in power), requesting that they help fund the shelter.
I hope that explained my situation well enough. There are endless people I could reach out to for an interview, but I struggle to think of something that's a big enough issue that it would require sending a hypothetical proposal letter to someone in power.
Please help, ya girl is strugglin'.
RE: Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay - SweetSecret - 10-28-2018
What are your personal interest areas?
RE: Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay - Ideas - 10-29-2018
Anything political seems like a good topic. Gun control, healthcare, illegal immigrants, the "student loan bubble", homelessness (especially in some areas), minimum wage increases, etc.
RE: Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay - SweetSecret - 10-29-2018
What about finding companies who moved their pay from minimum wage up to the $15/hr being discussed by many states, and seeing how that change effected their company? You could then possibly send that to states considering making the change.
Homelessness would be easy to do, as you could go interview people on the streets or through agencies to get opinions. One thing that you could cover on that is how much Obamacare helped many of them, and what the effect would be for many if that were to be lost.
Or, find people who have been homeless prior to turning 18 & discuss what lead to their homelessness & what they experienced before vs after turning 18. Specifically, most of them should have received services/housing/fostering prior to 18, and lack of that leads to street-based sexual exploitation which often lead to prostitution charges right after turning 18. It's a very unfair situation, especially if they weren't able to acquire things like personal identification to get a job.
On healthcare, you could do a study about HPV in boys & men. Many of them are unaware of how dangerous it can be for them and that condoms don't really offer full protection from it. You could talk to males who have acquired it about how it affected their lives.
RE: Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay - davewill - 10-29-2018
It's election season! I bet if you were to contact one of the "Yes/No on" campaigns, you could interview someone, especially if you promised to send a version of your letter into the local paper as a letter to the editor or to publish it on your blog. It's a little late in the election cycle, but you might even manage a local candidate if you tried.
RE: Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay - Sapientes - 10-29-2018
Just saying, the interview assignment itself is only worth 10 points. You could try submitting a short note stating you couldn't find anyone to interview and just accept the zero. I don't think it counts for much in the research assignment but you can check the rubric to be sure. Just giving you options you might not have thought of
RE: Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay - jsd - 10-30-2018
(10-29-2018, 10:08 AM)Ideas Wrote: Anything political seems like a good topic. Gun control, healthcare, illegal immigrants, the "student loan bubble", homelessness (especially in some areas), minimum wage increases, etc.
I'd advise being careful about this though... I did a political topic for a course at Patten University, and the grader clearly disagreed with my conclusion and marked me down for reasons way outside the scope of the syllabus/posted rubric. it was an 11 point swing in the grade for my overall project, not justified by the rubric. I lost the appeal with the dean saying 11 percentage pts wouldn't be enough to change my grade anyway (even though I got a B at 86% and obviously 11 pct pts would mean an A at 97%).
No big deal in the grand scheme of things -- it was just one paper that I still did good enough on in a class that excelled at. But people get really touchy over their convictions, enough to override their logic (like saying 86% vs 97% is the same). Easier to take the non-controversial path when it's just an essay that wouldn't change anyone's mind in the end anyway.
RE: Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay - SweetSecret - 10-30-2018
I agree, I have had that happen on a topic in the past regarding controversial eating habits related to health... the teacher just didn't want to facw the facts.
RE: Need Topic Ideas for Interview Essay - katelynn - 10-31-2018
Hey guys, just wanted to let everyone know I have an appointment set to interview a teacher who wants to speak about the fact that teachers have to pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets, and she'd like that to be changed. I'm interested to hear about it. I hope that'll be good enough. Thanks for all the suggestions!