1 WS 201 Online Interview Assignment 1) Interview Assignment: Part A: Interview a woman who is of grandparent age. For traditional age students in the course this means that you will need to interview a woman who is 58 years of age or older. For non-traditional age students in the course this means that you will need to interview a woman who is grandparent age, which will be determined by your own age. You will explore the following topics with her: 1) marriage, 2) family, and 3) children. Below are some questions to help guide your interview: Womanhood: 1. How did you learn what it meant to be a woman? 2. What influence did your family, friends school, church, news/newspapers/media play in your ideas of womanhood? 3. Did you feel like you adhered to the standards of womanhood at the time? Did you resist any of these conventions? If so, how? 4. Do you remember the first time you felt gendered? Marriage, Family and Work: 1. What were you taught about marriage and your role in this institution? 2. What influence did your friends, family, school, church, and/or media play in your views on marriage? 3. Did you plan to marry? At what age? 4. Did you feel you were expected to marry (social or family pressure)? 5. Did you know anyone who remained unmarried or un-partnered for their life time? What are your thoughts on those who choose to remain single? Has this changed over time? 6. Did you know anyone who cohabited or divorced? What are your thoughts about those who cohabit or divorce? Has this changed over time? 7. How were women and work framed when you were growing up? What jobs were you told were appropriate for women? 8. In your community, was it common for both mothers and fathers to have employment outside the home? 9. Were you expected to work? Expected not to work? 10. Did you want to work? What kind of career did you have in mind? Was your career path influenced by the jobs you were told were appropriate for women? 11. Did you think you would continue to work once you had children? 12. If you work or worked outside of the home, how do you feel about it? 2 13. How did you handle the combined roles of career woman, mother, and spouse/partner? Children 1. Did you plan to have children? At what age? 2. Did you feel like you were expected to have children (social or family pressure)? 3. Do you know anyone who chose not to have children? What are your thoughts on those that remain childless? Have your thoughts changed over time? 4. If you and your spouse/partner do not have children, how have family, friends, and/or society in general reacted? Were you questioned why you did not have children? How were you made to feel by not having children? 5. What influence did your friends, family, school, church, media, etc. play in your decisions regarding your children? 6. How were your parenting roles split up between you ...

1. 1
WS 201 Online Interview Assignment
1) Interview Assignment:
Part A: Interview a woman who is of grandparent age. For
traditional age students in the
course this means that you will need to interview a woman who
is 58 years of age or
older. For non-traditional age students in the course this means
that you will need to
interview a woman who is grandparent age, which will be
determined by your own age.
You will explore the following topics with her: 1) marriage, 2)
family, and 3) children.
Below are some questions to help guide your interview:
Womanhood:
1. How did you learn what it meant to be a woman?
2. What influence did your family, friends school, church,
news/newspapers/media

2. play in your ideas of womanhood?
3. Did you feel like you adhered to the standards of womanhood
at the time? Did
you resist any of these conventions? If so, how?
4. Do you remember the first time you felt gendered?
Marriage, Family and Work:
1. What were you taught about marriage and your role in this
institution?
2. What influence did your friends, family, school, church,
and/or media play in
your views on marriage?
3. Did you plan to marry? At what age?
4. Did you feel you were expected to marry (social or family
pressure)?
5. Did you know anyone who remained unmarried or un-
partnered for their life
time? What are your thoughts on those who choose to remain
single? Has this
changed over time?
6. Did you know anyone who cohabited or divorced? What are
your thoughts

3. about those who cohabit or divorce? Has this changed over
time?
7. How were women and work framed when you were growing
up? What jobs
were you told were appropriate for women?
8. In your community, was it common for both mothers and
fathers to have
employment outside the home?
9. Were you expected to work? Expected not to work?
10. Did you want to work? What kind of career did you have in
mind? Was your
career path influenced by the jobs you were told were
appropriate for women?
11. Did you think you would continue to work once you had
children?
12. If you work or worked outside of the home, how do you feel
about it?
2
13. How did you handle the combined roles of career woman,
mother, and
spouse/partner?

4. Children
1. Did you plan to have children? At what age?
2. Did you feel like you were expected to have children (social
or family
pressure)?
3. Do you know anyone who chose not to have children? What
are your thoughts
on those that remain childless? Have your thoughts changed
over time?
4. If you and your spouse/partner do not have children, how
have family, friends,
and/or society in general reacted? Were you questioned why you
did not have
children? How were you made to feel by not having children?
5. What influence did your friends, family, school, church,
media, etc. play in your
decisions regarding your children?
6. How were your parenting roles split up between you and your
spouse? What
functions did each person perform with regards to the children?
How involved
was your husband and in what specific ways?

5. 7. Did you discuss parenting techniques and approaches before
you had children?
During?
8. What did you teach your children about what it means to be a
boy/man or a
girl/woman? Was it different from what you learned?
9. Looking back on being a mother, what did you like/dislike
about it? Is there
anything you would change?
Note: You should feel free to also create your own questions as
they relate to the topics of
marriage, family, children or womanhood in general.
Part B: After conducting your interview, you will compose, edit
and submit a formal
paper in which you do the following:
o Compare and contrast your interviewee’s comments on
marriage, family and
children with your own beliefs/thoughts keeping in mind the
influences that shaped
your understanding of these topics (media, family, church,

6. school, etc.).
o Examine your interviewee’s response in the context of
historical events. Where did
they grow up? What was going on around them? Were they
aware of other historical
events taking place? How would their beliefs be different if
they had grown up
elsewhere (keeping in mind the period in which they grew up)?
o Critical Analysis: Connect your thoughts and observations in
your interview
compare/contrast to the topics, themes and vocabulary in the
course readings and
any additional outside sources you find relevant. You MUST
include a minimum of
4 CITATIONS, of which at least 3 must come from course
readings.
3
o Attach a copy of your interview questions and notes with your
final paper.
Paper Formatting and Submission:
o The paper will be written using New Times Roman (12 point

7. font), double-spaced,
1-inch margins, APA style, and will be a minimum of 5 full
pages in length. The
cover page and reference page are NOT counted as part of the 5
page minimum
length. Additionally, be sure that the settings in MS Word do
not add an
additional space between paragraphs. As this is a formal paper,
you should write
an introduction, body, and conclusion consisting of well thought
out and well
developed paragraphs that include smooth transitions from one
idea to the next.
(Note: A complete paragraph should consist of a minimum of
three (3) well-
developed sentences that create a unified idea.)
o Citations: Please use proper APA citation for all cited
materials in-text and in your
Reference List.
citing an
interview. Please refer to the APA guidelines for “personal

8. communications” in the link provided for you in the Module 3
folder, or on the main “Course Content” page of Blackboard.
Failure to cite your interview properly will significantly reduce
your grade.
o Filename: Please save your paper using the following naming
convention:
yourlastname_interviewpaper (For example, if I were submitting
this, my filename
would read: goebel_interviewpaper.doc). Note: MS Word will
add either .doc or
.docx to the end of the filename DO NOT type this into the file
name.
o Submitting Your Final Draft: Within Module 3, you will find
an icon labeled
“Interview Assignment Submissions.” When you are ready to
submit your final
revised draft, you will click on this icon, and under Section 2,
“Assignment
Materials,” there is a button labeled “Browse My Computer.”
Click on this button,
navigate to where your paper is saved on your computer and
upload your file.

9. o The assignment is due by 5 p.m. (CST) on Wednesday, July 9,
2014. I will contact
you if I do not receive your paper to ensure there were no
technical difficulties.
Remember NO late work will be accepted, so leave yourself
enough time to
troubleshoot any problems that may arise.
The grading rubric for the Interview Assignment is located in
the course syllabus.