Essay Examples and Interviewing

1. OBSERVATION ESSAY
EXAMINING USE IN ARTICLES

2. George Plimpton
1970: Atlanta
George Plimpton Takes Dictation

3. The room was cleared
except for the
entourage he would
take to the ring, along
with two interns
assigned to the fight,
and the Reverend Jesse
Jackson. I was allowed
to stay. I crouched in a
corner with a notebook
open. Ali stripped
quickly.
He pulled on a pair
of white boxing
trunks and turned
slowly in front of
the mirror. "I am
the champ," he
said softly. "He
must fall." He tried
out the Ali shuffle,
his white gym
shoes snapping
against the floor.

5. "You, fellow," Ali said
in a sepulchral voice,
"you best be in good
shape, because if you
whup me, you've
whupped the greatest
fighter in the whole
wide world."
Sepulchral (adj.) -
Suggestive of a
sepulchre,
appropriate to a
tomb; dismal,
gloomy,
melancholy.

6. "You, fellow," Ali said
in a sepulchral voice,
"you best be in good
shape, because if you
whup me, you've
whupped the greatest
fighter in the whole
wide world."
Sepulchre (n.) -
A tomb or burial-
place, a building,
vault, or
excavation, made
for the interment
of a human body.

7. Tom Wolfe
There Goes
(Vroom! Vroom!)
That Kandy Kolored
(Thphhh-hhh!)
Tangerine-Flake
Streamline Baby
-

8. Anyway, about noon you drive up to a place that looks like an
outdoor amusement park, and there are three serious-looking
kids, like the cafeteria committee in high school, taking
tickets, but the scene inside is quite mad. Inside, two things
hit you. The first is a huge platform a good seven feet off the
ground with a hully-gully band—everything is electrified, the
bass, the
guitars, the saxophones—

9. and (two) behind the band, on the platform, about two
hundred kids are doing frantic dances called the hully-gully,
the bird, and the shampoo.

12. The Shampoo: The dancers "pass the soap from one to
another," "wash each other's backs," "wash that man right
out," or "come up with any number of ludicrous contortions
charging the air with electricity." Agile dancers "inject a
sliding technique reminiscent of slipping on the soap," which
is an excuse for "splits and other acrobatic
gyrations." The basic step is
the Watusi, with the Pony
being used to change
Partners.

13. The dances the kids are doing are very jerky. The boys and
girls don’t touch, not even with their hands. They just ricochet
around. Then you notice that all the girls are dressed exactly
alike. They have bouffant hairdos— all of them—and slacks
that are, well, skintight does not get the idea across; it’s more
the conformation than how tight the slacks
are.

14. It’s as if some lecherous old tailor with a gluteus-maximus
fixation designed them, striation by striation.
lechery (n.)
habitual indulgence of lust

15. It’s as if some lecherous old tailor with a gluteus-maximus
fixation designed them, striation by striation.
stria (n.)
a narrow streak, stripe, or band of distinctive colour,
structure, or texture; esp. one of two or of a series.

16. At first, with the noise and peripheral motion and the
inchoate leching you are liable to be doing, what with
bouffant nymphets rocketing all over the place, these
customized cars do not strike you as anything very special.
Obviously they are very special, but the first thing you think
of is the usual—you know, that the kids who own
these cars are probably skinny little
hoods who wear T-shirts and
carry their cigarette
packs by winding them
around in the T-shirt up
near the shoulder.

17. inchoate (adj.)
immature
lech (v.)
to behave lustfully

18. Naturally, most of the artifacts that these kids’ money-plus-
form produce are of a pretty ghastly order. But so was most
of the paraphernalia that developed in England during the
Regency. I mean, most of it was on the order of starched
cravats. … But the Regency period did see some tremendous
formal architecture.

19. Adrian Nicole
Leblanc
c. 1995: The Bronx

20. INTERVIEWING

21. INTERVIEWING – BEST
PRACTICES
Take Notes
Record the Interview (Ask Permission)
Prepare a List of Questions
Pay Close Attention
Empathize

22. TYPES OF INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
Ask Open-Ended Questions
(e.g. – What was it like? How do you feel about it?
Why do you think this?
Avoid:
Questions About Facts and Figures
Cliché Questions
Yes or No Questions

23. Personal Interviews in MLA citation
Personal interviews refer to those interviews that
you conduct yourself. List the interview by the
name of the interviewee. Include the descriptor
“Interview,” “Conducted by [your name],” and the
date of the interview.
Ex.: Smith, Jane. Interview. Conducted by John Smith, 19 May 2014.
For the in-text citation, simply include the
Interview subject’s last name in parenthesis:
(Smith)

24. Personal Interviews in APA citation
As a personal interview is not published
or “findable,” it should not be included
in an APA reference list. Instead, a
personal interview should be
referenced as a parenthetical citation.
For example: (J. Smith, personal
communication, May 17, 2008).