INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
What is it?
● Conduct historical research through recorded interviews between a narrator
with personal experience of 1971 and a well-informed interviewer
● Have an opportunity to connect with someone who has living memory of 1971
● Find out realities of the wartime
● Learn to build rapport
Identifying the contact:
● Try to find a person who can share their personal experience on 1971 with you
● Your family member, relative, neighbor
● Ask help if needed! Try talking to your family members who help you find
someone, contact liberation war museum for guidance/ assistance, talk to your
neighbors.
Approach:
● Contact the individual you are interested in interviewing. If you found the
interview through common friend or acquaintance, ask your
friend/acquaintance to introduce you.
● Inform them that the informational interview assignment is a part of your
participation in the Academic Program.
● Request a 30-minute to 60-minute in-person interview at a time convenient for
them.
Interview:
● Dress and act professionally.
● Establish rapport and demonstrate your interest in the interviewee’s comments.
● Take a picture with the interviewee
● Try to take a formal written consent for the interviewee
● The questions below are provided as a guide. You may modify and/or ask
different questions based on what you want to learn, or where the conversation
is going.
Assignment Submission:
● Date of Submission: 01 December 2024
● Submit in Turnitin
● Total Mark: 10
● Word limit: 700 to 800
Format:
● Font: Times New Roman, Size :12
● Space: Single space
● Paragraph: Justify
SUGGESTED QUESTION
Organize your questions well in advance. A good structure for the interview is to ask
factual and descriptive questions, followed by feeling and opinion questions.
These are the questions you may use to prepare for the interview. However, you can
come up with your own question as well.
Factual: Warm up questions
● Where did you spend the most time during the war?
● What job did you do?
● How old were you when the war started?
Descriptive:
● How did you feel about the war?
● What were your family’s or friends’ feelings? Did you live with family, friends, or
coworkers? In what ways did the war change your activities or habits? Were you
or others in your community treated differently because of your
gender/ethnicity/race of other factors?
● If so, how did you or others react? What were some of the first changes in your
life after the war started? What different responsibilities did you have to take on?
● What social activities were you involved in at work or after work with coworkers?
How did you entertain yourself outside of work?
● Did you or others get married during wartime? What were the weddings like? Did
you worry that our side might not win?
● Did you know anyone who was killed or wounded in the war?
● Tell me about corresponding via letters or otherwise with friends or family in the
service. What effect did the war have on your physical and mental health or
others you knew?
● Did you have any worthwhile experiences because of the war? What was the
most memorable experience? Most memorable character? Most humorous
experience?
Feeling:
It’s worth remembering that for some people talking about the war may be very
emotional. Be prepared for this and try to be sensitive.
● 'What’s your strongest memory of the war?'
● 'When did you feel most afraid?'
● 'Do you remember a time that you laughed?'
● 'What was your most exciting / terrifying / amusing moment in the war?'
● 'How did you feel when Victory was announced?'
● 'At the time, how did you feel about the Pakistanis?' (This is a very different
question to, 'What do you think of the Pakistanis?')
WRITING THE PAPER
Please follow the following link to help you guide with the paper:
⮚ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/oral-history/
