Scientist Interview and Story

For the midterm assignment, choose a Rutgers (or local) practicing scientist whose work interests you and interview him or her. You may be already familiar with this person from your class work, or you may be interested in learning more about what he or she is doing. For a listing of some Cook College scientists that includes their recent publications, browse through the Biotech Web site.

1. Once you have chosen a scientist to interview, find his or her most recent major publication and read it, jotting down questions that you think might lead to an interesting response. Try to isolate the main issues motivating the research and identify possible real-world applications of the study.

2. Develop a set of questions that will help you come up with a transcript of about 4 pages of notes and set up an interview time as soon as possible. (Faculty scientists will have office hours that you can take advantage of.)

3. Be friendly and upfront about the purposes of this interview, and suggest that the interview may be published as a result of the class assignment in a Web-based journal or in The Daily Targum. If the scientist would rather you not publish the interview for some reason, then assure him or her of confidentiality.

4. You may also follow the lead of many prominent science writers in offering to let the scientist read your story before it is published. You may of course refer the person to your instructor's e-mail address if he or she has any questions about the interview process.

5. Try to avoid an interview by e-mail. They're less interesting and can make writing the story more difficult (less to write about).

6. During the interview, take good notes or perhaps tape-record the session (with permission, of course). Be as professional as possible and notice what topics excite and engage the scientist the most. Don't hesitate to ask for clarification if you don't understand the answer to something you have asked. As far as possible, treat this as if it were a real interview for publication--it just might be.

7. After the session, take half an hour or so and immediately record any impressions or ideas that you should remember. If you're not sure something is important, jot it down anyway. What struck you the most about your conversation?

8. Use your interview notes to write a six page story about it, suitable for publication in a journal, or academic science magazine. Proofread carefully!

9. Hand your story in, along with the transcript and any notes you have, as your midterm assignment.

Story Format Six numbered pages, double-spaced, one-inch margins, in a 12-pt serif font like Times New Roman. Do not use a font like Courier or a sans serif font like Arial or Helvetica.