Meaning of Work Assignment
Read chapter 12, â€œWriting About People: The Interview,â€ in William Zinsserâ€™s On Writing Well. Choose a person to interview about his or her job. If possible, consider interviewing someone in an occupation you find interesting. Be sure to explain to the individual that, although the interview will be used for a class project, you will disguise his or her identity to maintain anonymity. Ask permission to use quotations from the interview in your paper.
The interview questions should be open ended. Along with your own questions, consider including these:
â€¢ What is a typical day like at your job?
â€¢ What do you like and dislike about your job?
â€¢ If you could do it over, would you choose the same job? Why or why not?
â€¢ Would you want your children to choose a similar profession? What is your reason?
â€¢ What about your job gives you the most satisfaction? The most dissatisfaction?
â€¢ Describe an ideal job. What characteristics would it have?
â€¢ What role does your job play in your life? What meaning does work have for you?
If the individual agrees, you may want to use a voice recorder to record the interview. If not, be sure to take good notes. After the interview, transcribe the recording and/or develop a transcript of the interview from your notes.
Choose 10 interviews from Studs Terkelâ€™s Working to read. While reading, analyze each interview and search for similarities and differences among the individuals interviewed, as well as your interviewee. Using the 10 interviews that you read and the transcript of your own interview, consider the following questions:
â€¢ How does the meaning of work differ among the individuals?
â€¢ What similarities exist in regard to the meaning of work among the individuals?
â€¢ After analyzing the interviews in Working and your own interview, what do you feel most people expect, want, and need from their jobs?
â€¢ Did anything surprise you about the interview you conducted? Did the interview change your view of the individualâ€™s occupation?
â€¢ Were your intervieweeâ€™s perceptions of work similar or different from the interviews you read in Working? Explain.
â€¢ What did you learn about work from reading the interviews in Terkelâ€™s Working?
Write a 7â€“10 page paper (12 pt, Times New Roman, double spaced) describing the results of your analyses and interview. The footnotes and bibliography should be in Chicago format and will not be included in the page count.
Although there are a number of ways you can structure your paper, it should include the following components:
â€¢ Introduction. Briefly outline the points you plan to make in the body of your paper.
â€¢ Body. In paragraph form, address the questions listed above. Do not hesitate to make liberal use of quotations from Terkelâ€™s interviewees as well as the individual you interviewed. Quotations will help you make your points.
â€¢ Conclusion. Summarize your analysis. What did you learn about work from this the assignment?
â€¢ Appendices (Do not count toward the page limit)
- Appendix A: Include a table detailing the 10 interviews you selected from Working. Provide the name of the interviewee, his or her occupation, and the relevant page numbers.
- Appendix B: Include an abridged transcript of the interview you conducted. For example, this could be three representative questions with answers from the interviewee.

Meaning of Work Assignment Read chapter 12, â€œWriting About Peopl...