Writing a report

My classmates' views about friendship

The authors of the two texts express their understanding of friendship. The author of the text in iExplore 1 compares friendship to buying a house in that we can only choose our friends from the people we meet like buying a house out of affordable choices. The author of the text in iExplore 2 believes that having a good friendship with another person is like riding an elevator that can elevate you both to be better. Now you are contributing a report to a column in your college's website for overseas students. This column is designed to highlight the outlook of Chinese young people on various issues. The theme of this month is "Friendship is ____________." You need to carry out an interview among your classmates to find out what they think of friendship, and then summarize their opinions. The following steps may help you with the project.

 The following steps may help you with the project.          

Step 1 Collect ideas

The authors of the two texts use different things to describe friendship. Review the two texts and summarize their ideas.

• Friendship is like buying a house because 

  
  

• Friendship is an elevator when 

  
  

• Friendship is a cage when

  
  

Step 2 Design questions and conduct interviews

As we can see from Step 1, simile and metaphor can convey ideas in a vivid way. You may encourage the interviewees to make a comparison when they explain their viewpoints. So questions for your interview may be: What do you compare friendship to? And why? 

Then conduct interviews with at least 10 classmates. During the interviews, remember to take notes and ask for further explanation if necessary.

Step 3 Analyze the results

It cannot be a well-organized report if you just list what you have recorded. You may group the interviewees' views:

• similar ones vs. different ones

• positive ones vs. negative ones
  

Furthermore, you should present the reasons behind the viewpoints to help others understand the grouping.

Step 4 Write your draft

Write the report after analyzing the results. The following points are for your reference.

• Indicate your purpose of writing the report.

• Group the interviewees' viewpoints.

• Present the reasons behind the viewpoints.

• Make a summary of all the viewpoints. If you don't agree with your classmates' views, talk about your own view about friendship.
  

Step 5 Revise your report

Read your report to a partner. Ask for their advice and revise your report. You can also improve your report by reference to the following checklist.