Interview

Paper One: The Interview

        I conducted my interview through both email and the phone with a young female doctor who is currently working in hospitals and urgent care areas within the Tri-cities region and is also actually from around the same area. She offered a great deal of information and advice not only from a doctor’s point of view but from the standpoint of a young woman also. Through this interview, I gained quite a bit of knowledge about what types of things I need to research as well as some information regarding my topic and subtopics.

        When asking about the format most people within this particular discourse community use in writing research papers and studies, I was informed that APA is generally the style that is used within scientific and medical settings. I was also told that these studies use a more formal style of writing. Medical journals and research papers mainly have very specific and targeted audiences, and certainly use a more sophisticated and formal language. After these more general questions were addressed, I then began to ask things that were more targeted to my particular topic.

        The next questions I asked dealt mainly with the positive and negative effects of the media’s portrayal of body image on a young woman’s health. When I asked if this influence can work as positive reinforcement for young women to become healthy The answer I received basically stated that yes, these images and influences could possibly help encourage young women who may be overweight or obese to get in shape and get healthy. The stories revealed via the media about extreme weight loss could show them that it is possible and offer support for those struggling to reach a health weight. I then proceeded to ask if this influence can negatively affect a young woman’s health, I was then told that yes, these influences could easily affect a young woman’s health negatively.  They could lead to one or more of several different eating disorders, and could ultimately cause one’s health to drastically decline.