Writing an interview article requires careful planning, effective questioning, and strong storytelling skills. Whether you’re writing for a magazine, newspaper, blog, or academic assignment, following a structured approach will help you craft an engaging and informative piece. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to write a compelling interview article.
1. Research Your Interviewee
Before conducting the interview, research your subject thoroughly. Gather background information from books, articles, social media, or past interviews. Understanding their achievements, expertise, and perspectives will help you craft meaningful questions and avoid redundant inquiries. Your goal is to uncover new insights that haven’t been widely discussed.
2. Prepare Thoughtful Questions
Well-structured questions are the foundation of a great interview. Here’s how to create effective ones:
- Use open-ended questions instead of yes/no questions to encourage detailed responses.
- Ask about personal experiences, motivations, and opinions to make the interview more engaging.
- Keep your questions coherent and focused on a central theme to maintain a clear narrative flow.
For example, instead of asking, “Did you enjoy working on your recent project?” try, “What was the biggest challenge you faced while working on your recent project, and how did you overcome it?”
3. Conduct the Interview Professionally
During the interview:
- Keep the conversation natural and respectful to build rapport.
- Use active listening techniques, such as nodding or summarizing points, to show engagement.
- If needed, adapt your questions on the spot to explore unexpected but interesting topics.
- Record the conversation (with permission) for accuracy and take notes to highlight key points.
A recording can help you capture tone, pauses, and emotions, which add depth to your final article.
4. Structure Your Interview Article
A well-structured article includes the following sections:
Introduction
- Start with a hook: an intriguing quote, anecdote, or surprising fact about the interviewee.
- Provide background information on the interviewee and why they are relevant to your audience.
- End with a thesis statement that sets the stage for the key themes of the interview.
Body Paragraphs
- Organize the content thematically rather than presenting a strict Q&A format.
- Integrate direct quotes to preserve authenticity and highlight key insights.
- Maintain a logical flow, using transitions between topics to ensure readability.
Conclusion
- Summarize the main takeaways from the interview.
- Reflect on the impact of the interviewee’s insights.
- End with a memorable final thought, quote, or call to action for readers.
5. Edit and Proofread for Clarity
After drafting your article:
✅ Check for clarity and coherence – Ensure each paragraph flows naturally.
✅ Verify accuracy – Double-check facts, quotes, and attributions.
✅ Edit for grammar and readability – Use concise language to maintain reader engagement.
These steps will help you craft a compelling interview article that captivates your audience and delivers valuable insights.
Writing an interview article requires a thoughtful approach to crafting an engaging narrative. Start by preparing thoughtful questions, researching the interviewee’s background, and considering the article’s tone and scope.
During the interview, take notes and aim for a conversational tone. Follow up with a summary of key points and clarify any questions. After the interview, organize your notes and begin writing. Focus on capturing the interviewee’s unique perspective and use quotes effectively. Use subheadings, paragraphs, and transitions to create a flowing narrative. Edit carefully to ensure accuracy and clarity.
Whether you want to become a better writer or you are applying for a journalism position, knowing how to put together an excellent interview paper is a valuable skill. Mastering the steps involved in writing and conducting interviews is undoubtedly a career builder.
Writing an interview article aims to provide your readers with an engaging and insightful piece about a particular subject.
Before writing your interview article, you will have to conduct the interview. This requires extensive and systematic preparation to reach your intended goal.
1. Finding the Appropriate Background Information
You may have to research to have a specific focus for your questions. Look for background material on your interviewee. You could try to find information on them from available biographies.
The person you will interview may fit into a particular specialization or expertise. As such, your interviewee’s background, achievements, and personality should be the article’s focus.
If the person you are interviewing has participated in other interviews in the past, you should read them. As you do so, look for areas of interest not covered in the previous articles. Remember that you want to find something new for your interview essay feature that may not have been featured in other pieces.
While researching, identify any holes in the information you found in the past articles. Should you find these areas, form the most appropriate questions to answer for the lacking information. The items you ask for should fill the knowledge gap on the chosen subject. Focus on the issues the interviewee may not have heard before.
2. The Right Questions For a Profile Interview
It is vital to come up with the right questions for your interview. You do not want to have a list of randomly assembled queries. Writing an article based on such will likely result in a vague and inconsistent piece that may leave a bitter taste in your readers’ mouths.
The questions you formulate should be tied together in a common theme. Having a subject matter will help shape your interview article into a coherent and well-organized.
Use open-ended questions as much as possible. These questions give the respondent enough berth to provide the appropriate answers. Issues answered with a simple “yes” or “no” are unlikely to provoke an unprecedented response. You should ask your interviewee questions that require a thoughtful reply.
Rather than close-ended questions, ask questions that begin with interrogative pronouns such as who, when, where, what, and why. Such queries are more likely to provide you with the response you desire.
For the most distinctive response, narrow your questions to those that will draw out your interviewee’s motivations, drives, passions, and ambitions. Asking about these things will take things to a deeper level of discussion and bring substance to your piece.
For a realistic feel, look at some magazine interview article examples. Take note of the questions asked and which issues resulted in the responses that provided the required information.
3. How to Interview Someone For an Article
Once you have your questions, it is time to conduct your interview. It may be beneficial to have a recording device at hand so that you can record the conversation.
Taking notes is essential, but it may only take you so far. A recording will preserve what is said and how it is reported. Interviewees may communicate more through the tones, pauses, and intonations they use while answering questions.
Make the interview natural and conversational. Try to treat your interview questions like guidelines rather than a script. You can rephrase or adjust your questions if you do not stray from the main discussion.
Keep the interview friendly and respectable. If the interviewee feels comfortable talking with you, you will likely get additional information. Maintaining a respectful tone will assist in building rapport with your interviewee.
As you continue your interview, you may come upon a new area of interest that was not in your question line. Should this happen, do not be afraid to digress. You could form new questions that could shed some light on the unexplored subject and add to the crux of your article. Make sure to investigate each line of your question thoroughly.
If the interviewee deviates too far from the main topic, you must steer the conversation back to the essentials.
After the interview, transcribe the interview session. A typed piece of your meeting could assist you in identifying the main points and strengths in your interview.
4. APA Interview Format
- Introduce the interview. The APA format requires you to introduce and elaborate on the purpose of your interview. It may not be relevant to interview someone for information that may be found in written sources. Conducting your interview should provide information unavailable through other research channels.
- Identify your source. Introduce your interviewee in detail. State their background, unique qualifications, achievements, and area of expertise as they relate to your article. Also, you could explain why you chose to interview them.
- Provide the context. Present the context of the overall conversation of your interview. This could be the specific question you posed to the interviewee when explaining their response in the body of your piece.
- Use quotes. Rather than paraphrasing, use exact quotes to cite specific information the interviewee provides. According to the APA interview format, a quote that employs more than 40 words should be marked aside as a blockquote.
- Cite your source. Include an in-text citation in parentheses to fulfill the APA interview format requirements. The citation must be placed directly after a quote or paraphrased text. You should add the interviewee’s first initial and last name and the date when the interview took place.
5. Write Your Paper
An interview paper should comprise an introduction, body, and conclusion. Your interview essay introduction should have eye-catching information that will hook your reader’s attention and drive them to read the rest of your piece.
The body should be made of paragraphs that provide details on the main points of the interview. Provide the information that the interviewee presented as an authority on the subject. These ideas should be closely connected to your thesis statement.
In conclusion, summarize your interview’s main arguments and finish with a memorable statement.
Remember to cite any additional sources you may have used for research or in the body of your text.
Conclusion
A well-written interview article speaks to the reader and makes them feel like they participated in interviewing the featured expert. To make this possible, you must craft the piece engagingly and outstandingly.
With the above steps in mind, you will be able to write and conduct interviews this most effectively. This will be the most rewarding skill once you have mastered it.
Rhetorical Analysis of Sample for an Article