Because they are records of conversations, interviews can seem unshaped. They can seem simply the back and forth of unrehearsed conversation. How then can we analyze (or produce) interviews rhetorically?

Published interviews (whether published in print or through some sort of sound recording) are shaped in several ways. Interviewers research the background of the person to be interviewed and prepare questions that will help them keep the interview focused around their purpose. (Sometimes interviewers order their questions so that, as the interviewee responds, the person will be led into unplanned detail or into events she or he had hoped not to discuss.) When interviews are prepared for publication, some of the interviewee’s answers might be shortened, or re-arranged, so that the order of answers helps readers or listeners see a focused purpose.

This brings up ethical questions about how interviewers represent the people they interview—which we will discuss in this chapter. We will also use the examples in this chapter to help you see (and hear) how interviews are complexly shaped—even when they seem conversational—and to think about how to produce interviews that help you learn.

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