Student Interview Questions at the Beginning of the Semester

One of the key issues we're interested in is how you write and what you think about your own writing skills.

• What's your most comfortable approach toward writing a paper?
• How might your approach to writing differ from that of other writers?
• What specific approaches, resources, or techniques do you draw on in your writing?
• Tell me what you think are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer?
• What are the most important things you've learned in previous writing classes?

At CSU, most teachers encourage students to get feedback on papers--from peers, Writing Center tutors, or teachers.

• What do you think in general about asking other people to help with a paper?
• Have you ever asked for help on a paper? From whom? In class or out of class? At what point in the writing? What kinds of help did you get?
• When teachers ask you to work in groups to review papers, do you find that you get helpful comments to revise your paper? Why? What kinds of comments?
• Would you prefer to pick your partner or group members for in-class peer review or be assigned to groups by the teacher? Why?
• How do you pick the people you choose to work with in class? Out of class?

  We're also interested in how you get in touch with classmates and teachers:

• Are there any faculty, staff or students here that you've worked with closely through the past year?
• How do you typically get in touch with your classmates or teacher outside of class?
• Do you ever use electronic mail? When? (inside or outside of classroom?)
• Have you ever sent a paper by e-mail to someone for comments?

And finally, we would like to know about your experiences writing on a computer.

• Do you own a computer or word processor? What kind?
• Have you ever written on a computer or word processor?
• Do you prefer using a computer or word processor to writing by hand or vice versa?