Conclusion: A Meet With Metcalfe

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience and opportunity that good friends granted me. Without networks, I am constantly told, there is no journalism and having friends who own a buzzing business such as Basildon Leaflets, (go to http://www.basildonleaflets.co.uk/index2.html for more information about what they do) enables me to slowly build up an online portfolio. I hope to continue working with them furthermore into the future through my course and after.
Researching for my feature article was fairly simple- my story based upon a gentleman who is within parliament and therefore already on the Internet. Once finding the sites to use, filtering through and highlighting useful facts leading up to the interview was tedious, but if I had not done so, I would not have been prepared.
When deciding on what questions to ask, i searched current, local news sites to gather up information and this formed my prepared questions. I also researched interviewing techniques so that I was completely comfortable and found websites such as http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/2007/03/26/13-simple-journalist-techniques-for-effective-interviews/ which helped an amateur such as myself seem more professional. Of course, these questions that I formulated were not enough to add up to half an hour alone, so I was aware that some of these questions will need to be expanded upon in order for me to get a more useful interview.
I also purchased a voice recorder. I did so because I am not yet familiar with shorthand and found it easier and quicker to use. I just had to be careful not to delete the interview by mistake.
During the interview, I was naturally nervous. The interview took place within the heart of the House of Commons and one felt rather out of her depth. After a small tour and a couple of coffees, the interview began and fortunately I felt as though the interviewee was helpful, kind and thorough with his explanations.
Ther information I came out with was sufficient enough to create a feature that I later became very proud of. This is the building block for my future career and a hitting-the-ground-running situation for me to be at now that I begin my future at Middlesex University.