Oral History Assignment:

Changes

 

 

During this semester, you will find a person over the age of 60 you want to interview and ask this person to talk to you about what they consider the greatest change they have witnessed and/or experienced during their lifetime. He/she may talk to you about a global, political kind of change, such as the world becoming more democratic. Your interview subject may talk to you about a social or cultural change, such as the growth of a more diverse population in the United States. So much has changed in the last century – how we communicate, how we travel, how we work – that you should be able to find someone who can talk about such a change. Whatever the person decides to talk about, encourage them to talk to you about something that they have a personal connection to and feel strongly about. They need not have been a part of this change, but they should have experienced this change in some way so that they can talk about it in a personal way. For examples of student oral histories from past years, please see http://www.clarkhumanities.org/changes.htm.

 

Interview your subject as many times as you need to in order to get enough details for your completed oral history. After completing the written oral history, you will prepare the text and an originally created graphic for publishing on the clarkhumanities.org web site.

 

 

  1. Find a person to interview. This person must be 60 or more years of age and should be a good story teller. They can be a relative of yours, a friend, a neighbor, or someone you’ve never met before. The most important thing is that they are willing to talk to you, they are willing to have their words transcribed and made into a published oral history (which can be posted anonymously if they wish), and they must be good at talking. Due date for finding a person to interview: ___________________
  2. Find out what they believe is the most significant change in their lifetime. Do some research on what they will talk about. You will need to write about a page of notes on this topic. Due date for notes: ____________________
  3. Create a series of 15-20 questions relevant to the topic and to this person. Due date:____________
  4. Set up a time and place for the interview. Show up on time. Come prepared to record the interview (bring extra batteries, tape, etc.). Be respectful of their time. Don’t interview them until they are exhausted (20-30 minutes is probably the max for any one sitting). You should interview your interviewee for at least 20 minutes, or you will not have enough information to work with.
  5. Type or write up the interview (questions and answers) in a verbatim transcript. Due date for transcript: _______________
  6. Create an introduction that provides some background on the person and some specific details about the topic. Word count: 150-175 words. Due date: ______________________
  7. Edit the transcript down to just the interviewee’s words. This is what we call the oral history. You will need to move parts around, incorporate some of your questions into the text, and take out irrelevant or unimportant parts. Do not, we repeat DO NOT, use phrases/sentences in this oral history that do not appear somewhere in the transcript of the interview(s). Your introduction goes atop the oral history text. Give it a title. Word count: 850-1000 words for the oral history text; 150-175 words for the introduction. Due date for your oral history transcript(s), your edited oral history with the introduction, and the recording: __________________
  8. Submit the introduction and oral history text (not the transcript) to turnitin.com. Failure to do so will lower your grade by up to three grades. Due date:________________________
  9. Save oral history as an html file with accompanying graphic saved as a jpg or gif. The graphic must be original: a picture of the person you interviewed, a picture of the topic they talked about, something you’ve drawn and scanned. You must be able to show that this is an original image. Web page with image due: _______________________ (creating a podcast may be an option here too)
  10. Bring signed permission form for publishing oral history web page: _____________________

 

Requirements for Oral History

·        video or audio recording of the interview (due at step 7)

·        verbatim (word-for-word) transcript(s) typed or hand-written from the interview(s) (due at steps 5 and 7)

·        a 850-1000 word oral history with introductory paragraph (see examples at clarkhumanities.org) edited from much longer transcript(s) (word count does not include the introduction) (due at step 7)

·        a signed permission form for web publishing (due at step 10)

·        oral history text w/ introduction saved as web page in specified format w/ accompanying image (due at step 9)

 

 

Scoring Rubric

5

·        introduction effectively, interestingly provides specific info about the topic and the person

·        purposeful and significant editing is demonstrated between oral history and Q/A transcript

·        lengthy transcript(s) shows verbatim transcription, logical follow-up questioning, and outstanding research

·        text retains strong voice of interviewee and focuses on topic; doesn't ramble unnecessarily

·        introduction and text meet word guidelines

·        writing is flawless; no distracting typos, spelling, mechanical, grammar errors

·        meets all deadlines with excellent work; all requirements are met and/or exceeded

 

 

4

·        introduction effectively provides specific information about the topic and the person

·        mostly purposeful and significant editing is demonstrated between text and Q/A transcript

·        lengthy transcript(s) shows verbatim transcription, logical follow-up questioning, and very good research

·        text retains some voice of interviewee and focuses on topic; generally doesn't ramble

·        introduction and text meet word guidelines

·        writing is nearly flawless; virtually no typos, spelling, mechanical, grammar errors

·        meets all or nearly all deadlines with excellent work; all requirements are met and/or exceeded

 

 

3

·        introduction provides adequate lead-in to text; may show general info on person/topic

·        generally effective editing is demonstrated between text and Q/A transcript

·        transcript shows verbatim transcription, some follow-up questioning, and adequate research

·        text retains some voice of interviewee and focuses on topic; generally doesn't ramble

·        introduction and text meet word guidelines

·        writing is mostly flawless; few typos, spelling, mechanical, grammar errors

·        meets most deadlines with good work; nearly all requirements are met and/or exceeded

 

 

2

·        introduction is very general and/or may not adequately lead in to text

·        editing may not be purposeful, effective; portions of final text may not be in original Q/A

·        transcript may not show verbatim transcription, follow-up questioning, or adequate research

·        text retains little voice of interviewee and may not focus well on topic; may ramble

·        introduction and text may meet word guidelines

·        writing may contain some flaws; some typos, spelling, mechanical, grammar errors

·        meets some deadlines, sometimes with incomplete, inadequate or unfinished work

 

 

1

·        introduction shows poor attempt at following samples and directions

·        little or ineffective editing is demonstrated between text and Q/A transcript

·        transcript shows poor transcription, lack of follow-up questioning, and/or poor research

·        text retains little voice of interviewee and may not focus well on topic; may ramble

·        text and/or introduction do not meet word guidelines

·        writing contains many flaws; many typos, spelling, mechanical, grammar errors

·        meets few deadlines or fails to meet deadlines with complete work