Writing an interview paper provides students with a contextual framework for research inquiry because it helps them to identify and develop their own conceptual and investigative skills through dialogue with another person. Before the actual interview, it is important to choose a subject to interview and to organize the background material, to set up the interview in the subject's characteristic surroundings, and to prepare a list of questions that identify the subject's base of authority and reflect facts and ideas. Guidelines for writing the interview paper are as follows: develop a hypothesis or meaning statement about the subject; provide a setting and a beginning; convey a sense of the personality through quotations and action descriptions; report the information of the interview by means of anecdotes, descriptions, and significant details; present a time perspective by relating the person's past experience to the present conditions; and conclude the interview with a sense of closure. (Excerpts from effective student interviews are included.) (MAI)