Professional Writing is

Music
Defining Professional Writing with John Norberg
Matthew Mohamed
4/11/2008

Delve into the nature of professional writing through the perspective of a field expert, John Norberg.
Mr. Norberg relates through an interview his views, feelings, and descriptions of professional writing not
just in his own employment of speech composition but as a whole field. The interview responses
consider the definition of professional writing, the use of ethics, the issue of public image, how
professional writing is art, and more.
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April 11, 2008

Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Rhetoric as Art: Meeting John Norberg .................................................................................................... 3
At First Glance ........................................................................................................................................... 4
Analyzing Methods ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Creating Interview Questions ................................................................................................................... 4
Gaining Trust and Keeping Interest With the Respondent ....................................................................... 5
From Questions to Answers: An Analysis of Responses ............................................................................... 6
The First Draft: Vietnam and Education............................................................................................ 6
What is Professional Writing? ........................................................................................................... 6
What Does a Professional Writer Do? .............................................................................................. 7
How It Feels Composing a Rhetorical Symphony...................................................................................... 8
Professionalism and Ethics................................................................................................................ 8
Publicity............................................................................................................................................. 9
The Art of Speech Writing: Tricks of the Trade ............................................................................... 10
But… How Does It Make You Feel? ................................................................................................. 11
A True Artisan ................................................................................................................................. 12
Who Can Write? .............................................................................................................................. 12
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 13
Appendix A – Original Interview Questions ................................................................................................ 14
Appendix B – Interview Transcript .............................................................................................................. 16
Interview Transcription ........................................................................................................................... 16
Qualitative Section .......................................................................................................................... 16
Quantitative Section ....................................................................................................................... 20

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Professional Writing is Music

Defining Professional Writing With John Norberg

Introduction
Communication can be considered one of the greatest assets of humanity; the ability to go
beyond body language and guttural grunts to truly define abstract thought and manufacture ideas.
Communication can take many forms, and some immediately recognizable forms are as music, poetry,
and painting. That which binds them together as art is their communicative properties, specifically their
ability to invoke emotion and provoke thought and discussion by their use. Though rhetoric may not
necessarily considered art by popular culture, in many ways it fits all the criteria of artistic expression. In
fact, sometimes rhetoric as an art is not popular at all by cultural standards, and yet still creates a
resonant effect in society. Such are the feelings of John Norberg, Senior Writer for University Relations
at Purdue West Lafayette, who relates for an interview his understanding of and feelings for his role as
the foundation of a modern rhetorician. He explains the gravity of his work and his feelings toward the
hidden significant difference he makes in the lives of everyone at Purdue.

Rhetoric as Art: Meeting John Norberg

Speeches are amazing things to hear, especially when the person orating truly has the ability to
speak. My favorite contemporary political orator and presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, is one of
those people; his speeches bring audiences to their feet and make them scream at the tops of their
lungs when he comes on stage to talk. His voice carries over people who are chanting his name like a
rock star, and his words reach the hearts of those who claim to want change. But are they really his
words? If the person who writes his speeches is anything like John Norberg, it is entirely possible that no
one will ever know, perhaps not even if they ask Barack himself.

John Norberg was kind enough to allow me to talk with him about what he does, but only because it was
part of a class project. He works as the speech writer for the recently elected President of Purdue
University, Dr. Francé Cordova. John as a personality is very humble, so any effort outside of a direct
question about his occupation toward those who have first-hand knowledge will have little to say about
his full-time job. When he (or at least his position) was considered for my assignment, he could not be
found connected to Purdue on any web searches except for his work with the Journal and Courier and a
few books he wrote. It took me going all the way to Dr. Cordova’s office in Hovde Hall and asking the
secretary at the door about who wrote the University President’s speeches to find out if there even was
a person who wrote he speeches. She kindly pointed me towards a corridor nearby, and walked me to a
small but comfortable room with a kindly and spectacled man at a desk. It was here that for the first
time I met John Norberg. John is a man who, even though he is the sole speech writer for a highly
respectable university president, still considers himself as just another writer. It was this very humility
that allowed him to remove the “popular” influence from his perspective towards art.

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At First Glance
“…Sorenson? Kennedy’s speech writer? You NEVER see, to this day, he never talks about
it. You know. Kennedy had a speech writer, you know, all these great things that he said,
it came from the speech writer. Still won’t talk about it. And I think that’s what a speech
writer should do. You are not there to be out in public.” –John Norberg1

I only spoke with John for five minutes the first day I met him; I was crunched for time to get to
the bus before it left and I knew that he would be busy with his work, so I kept my initial questions to a
minimum. It was all very general, simply asking his permission, but I realized immediately from his
attitude and statements that I was working with someone who I felt was very different than me,
especially with regard to maturity. Here was a man who, in only five minutes, had made sure that I was
not a reporter for the University’s newspaper and that the interview was indeed for a class as I had said,
and then changed my whole perspective of writing. I then told him I had trouble finding him as a speech
writer with Google. He replied to me that I wouldn’t be able to find him as a speech writer online
because he believed speech writers should be behind the scenes. This struck me as unnerving because I
had visions of glory as a writer with my double in a Creative Writing major, and in that moment I realized
that if I was to write in my primary major of Professional Writing, I too may have to be behind the
scenes. I thanked him for his time and left, we having agreed on a time and place for the interview as
the following Monday, March 31st, at 10:30 a.m.

Analyzing Methods
“Any report on people conveys an attitude toward them: sympathetic, indulgent, critical,
dispassionate. The attitude may not be made explicit but will in any event be expressed in the way the
people are presented to the report’s readers.” -Weiss 2

Creating Interview Questions

“In general, if there are difficult questions to be developed, it is important to establish a reliable
research relationship… Otherwise they will communicate their absence of confidence in the questions.”-
Weiss 3

When I wrote out the questions I was going to ask John, I had to keep in mind the readings we
had done for class, as well as my goal of better understanding professional writing. I knew that any
questions I gave to John would have to be ethical and answerable, and since there were personal
questions regarding his feelings toward his job and his educational background, I felt that some
precautions were necessary. The first few questions were to get a sense of his professionalism and his
history with writing, and these were tailored to be as neutral as possible when addressing potentially
awkward or distressing topics. I wanted questions that would show John for what he was, and really
maintain his true personality. Clarity is difficult for me, so I took this heavily into consideration.

1
Norberg qualitative question 8a
2
Weiss 200
3
Weiss 76

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When the qualitative questions were finished, I realized after looking at the syllabus that I had
no idea was expected later on concerning the project. Things were listed, but they were not entirely
clear to me, so I decided to put a section for quantitative questions and ask those if I had time. These
turned out especially helpful, since it was with these that I was able to determine what I may have
missed or been unclear in the qualitative questions. If it was already stated qualitatively, I could
reinforce that quote with a numeric answer. Furthermore, I geared all the qualitative interview
questions as a positive bias, where the expected answer was “yes.” I did this so that any answers that
came back with “disagree” would stand out. Furthermore, due to the uncertainty of what would be
expected of us, it felt safer to have a set of quantitative questions to have and use provided that the rest
of the class had done the same. Quantitative questions are useful only with a relatively large sample
size, but with the whole class contributing quantitative questions (or improvising qualitative ones) I
could be sure I was prepared for anything the instructor expected. Questions were designed in three
easy steps, each accounting for an idea.
The first idea was to make fully aware to the audience the scope of education and background
for John the respondent so that he would be trusted as an “expert”, which has come up in the readings
as a rather dubious quality (as I detail in the section “The First Draft: Vietnam and Education”). The
second idea was to fully understand the interviewee as personality, as a character with a history and a
story to tell. This would attract the attention of the audience, make them connect, and then give that
attentive audience a look at the feelings and ideas that are being shared. The third idea was to see a
general overview of his day (not included in transcript but included in recording – it so happens that
writing all day does not entail a great need for explanation) and then use quantitative analysis to
provide numerical/binary data for any class exercise that might occur.

Gaining Trust and Keeping Interest With the Respondent

“Keep in mind that you are at least as interested in the topics of the interview as a reader of
ultimate report will be. If you are bored by the material, you can be sure its readers will also be bored.”
–Weiss 4

During the interview, there were multiple times where the topic question was breached in favor
of a side-note or discussion about something partly relatable. With the knowledge that there was
sufficient time for minor deviances, I took these in strides and used them to develop a sense of trust
with John. These asides not only ended up helping my understanding of John as a person but gave
crucial information regarding things that were helpful to the interview after all. I understood that there
was potential for straying too far, but it was my decision to make the interview seem like a rather one-
sided conversation or discussion instead of an inquisition. I felt this gave John the impression that not
only was I listening, but that I was genuinely interested in what he had to say.

4
Weiss 82

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From Questions to Answers: An Analysis of Responses

The First Draft: Vietnam and Education
“Well, I just have a bachelor’s degree, and my bachelor’s degree is actually in American
Literature, from DePauw University. 1970…” –John Norberg5

The first three questions were meant to establish John as an expert in his field, in reference to
the forum discussions made on how to define an “expert” of writing. In every aspect, John appeared
increasingly more expert when considering the qualifications set by Susan M. Katz in “Writing Review as
an Opportunity for Individuation”. With regard to personal authority, “In rhetoric and composition…
[expertise is] deriving from knowledge and ability in two spaces: a domain content space and a
rhetorical process space” (Peeples 124). 6

The first interview question sparked a description of John’s escape from the Vietnam War draft,
and he described how the experience of seeing people he knew being sent overseas made him
reconsider the importance of education in his life. Things I felt were important from these responses
included the necessity of graduate and doctoral degrees, of which there are none, as he states that
“people don’t commonly get Ph.D.’s for journalism, or even Master’s for that matter” 7. His degree in
literature paved the way for his acquiring a job in journalism, where he honed his skills in interviewing
and gathering information; this experience was no doubt invaluable when he had to develop the
rhetorical context of his speeches. His literature degree, since he made no further comment, I can only
speculate on how it affected his work. Judging from what is taught in Purdue’s English 230 (Great
Narrative Works) and 267 (World Literature 1600-Now), I would expect that the literature degree helped
him better judge rhetorical contexts by considering time, place, and audience.

What is Professional Writing?

One of the major questions for the class was what could be defined as professional writing. This
same question was given to John in order to get into his thoughts about what he felt his job meant. The
questions concerning his feelings and experiences about writing were six through nine, questions that
discussed his own definition of professional writing, his ethical standards when writing speeches, and
how he felt about being the writer for someone of recognition. In response to my question of the
definition of professional writing, John said “Well, I guess, I don’t know, professional, what is
professional? The word professional means you get paid for it, for one thing. It essentially means: you’re
an amateur, you do it for free; you’re a professional, you’re doin’ it for pay.” 8

When considering how he and the university he worked for might see professional writing differently,
his answer was more specific;

5
Norberg qualitative question 1
6
Peeples 124
7
Norberg qualitative question 3
8
Norberg qualitative question 6

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“I suppose the definition they [Purdue] are using is more of a business type of a, a type
of thing. You know, there are things that I like to write, you know, there are books that I
like to write, and speeches that I like to write, whatnot, that I don’t have time to get to,
because I am busy writing the needs of Purdue, right now. I mean, that’s… My job is to
write for Purdue. So, professional writing is writing for someone else, I suppose. Writing
for the needs of an organization, the individuals within the organization.” 9

This is in accordance with Katz’s second statement on social authority, which recognizes “when an
individual is viewed as an expert by a community… he or she gains certain benefits including greater
respect, access to resources, and power and influence [that designates one as “expert”]” (Peeples
125). 10 Via his employment by Purdue and his being valued as a columnist for Journal & Courier, he has
set up his foundation for being socially accepted as an expert writer.

His reply was almost what I had expected, but what caught me was his inclusion of “business.” Including
business redefines professional writing from a personal act to a social act, and then goes further to state
that it is not only a social act but a totally selfless act: an act of service for others. This new definition
completely eliminates the idea that an individual writing the piece may have a substantive personal
influence in the document. His response ties in to the class reading of divisions of labor, specifically
Killingsworth and Jones’ “Division of Labor or Integrated Teams”, in which John’s act of writing the
authors would have considered as “recursive: the process flows from planning to drafting and back
again” (Peeples 331) 11, with John being one of only three editors; the President, his immediate superior
(head of University Relations), and himself. In the same article, it is said that “the emphasis in Taylorism
and its descendants has fallen upon time and cost efficiency, whereas the emphasis in human relations
management falls on worker motivation” (Peeples 323) 12. John is in a Taylorist situation, where his work
is never known to be by his hand, and yet his personal ethic drives him to find worth not in the glory of
public view but in the product itself.

What Does a Professional Writer Do?

John also expressed why he thought that it was absolutely necessary that professional writers
exist when he spoke about how he provides his service to Dr. Cordova;

“We help people communicate. So, the president at Purdue, I help –her, or him,
or whoever’s got the job—communicate to students, to faculty, to staff, to alumni, to
state legislators, to national organizations, even international—She [President France
Cordova] has all these different groups that she needs to communicate with. And they
need to understand her, and what she’s doing, and where she’s going.” 13

9
Norberg qualitative question 6
10
Peeples 125
11
Peeples 331
12
Peeples 323
13
Norberg qualitative question 6

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John, at this point, became noticeably excitable, with his excitement staying almost the whole interview.
I realized as I was talking to him that the further I delved into how he felt about writing and what his
efforts meant for his clients (e.g. Cordova), the more he talked with energy and leaned forward to look
right at me. Being there, in the chair, I could sense through the shroud of humility a distinct and vibrant
pride. Even with this sense of pride, he committed himself to saying “we” instead of “I” anytime he
discussed a generalized statement. When I told him I was glad that he showed such fervor in his
responses, he came back quickly with the agreeable statement, “Oh, it’s fun, I enjoy it. I love it.” 14 He
speaks more on his love of writing in the section “But, How Does it Make You Feel?”, but for now let it
be known that he is not just respected and earnestly thanked by Dr. Cordova – he received the same
treatment from Martin Jischke, Cordova’s predecessor. When Jischke took office, John was hand-picked
as the speech writer. It is here that Katz’s third position falls into play, that of situational authority:
“Situational authority is based on the immediate needs of a particular organization at a particular time…
the individual’s expertise has to be valued by the organization if it is likely to lead to authority” (Peeples
125). 15

He is completely justified in enjoyment of his work and for feeling part of a group—for some
companies, it is not a matter of whether the employee enjoys the work so long as it gets done. Such is
the case stated by Killingsworth and Jones, “When they are closed out of one of the phases of the
process, they tend to be critical of their organization’s practice” (Peeples 335). 16 This is certainly not
how John has experienced it.

How It Feels Composing a Rhetorical Symphony

Professionalism and Ethics
Further discussion about the way John feels towards professional writing brought up ethics,
which turned his demeanor very quickly into a serious one. When asked about the ethics required by his
line of work, he became a little more reserved and, though laughing at a joke at first, began speaking
quieter and chuckling less when he spoke about plagiarism,

“Plagiarism! You have to be very… if you are using somebody, something, from
somebody else, you quote it! Absolutely. You cannot… take someone else’s material. It
must be contributed… contributed… very, very strictly. And you know, with the university
president even more strictly than anybody else. So, A, not to put these in any order, but,
you have to make sure that if you are using someone else’s ideas that it is fully
attributed. To the person, and to the individual source.” 17

14
Norberg qualitative question 6
15
Peeples 125
16
Peeples 335
17
Norberg qualitative question 7

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His sudden seriousness had caught me off guard when he responded, and as I maintained myself he
continued with his thoughts that developed into several different areas of possible ethical issues, one
being truthfulness and honesty. It was apparent that honesty was a major factor in this man’s agenda:

“—We do not lie. Just do not do that. It has to be the truth, it has to be honest (Lightly
bangs fist). We report numbers, if, you know, we’re using numbers, they got (bang) to be
accurate (bang), we don’t fudge ‘em.” 18

His hand-banging had gotten my full attention, and I realized just how serious this man really was. He
was showing to me first-hand the very things that he felt were most destructive to the reputation of the
speaker and the writer, and these were infinitely important pieces of information. I questioned him on
how he might approach the issue of the necessity for perfectionist accounting. He stated that not only
was rounding all right, but it was also better ethically than putting the real number itself when in the
right situation. He states that,

“—You know, in a speech you cannot say, “It’s gonna cost us $86,000,000; $86,346,000,
I don’t know how to count; you’re gonna have to round that off. Cause people’s ears
won’t pick it. People’s ears will get so confused. So we, we slightly round off numbers.
But I’m saying, you know, if you have, if your university numbers aren’t great, you gotta
use that number. You still have to use that number, and it’s important.” 19

As Ornatowski puts it, a good writer is,

“one who can negotiate successfully the subtle boundary between, on one hand, the
stylistic and formal demands of clarity, objectivity, neutrality, format, and effective use
of visual devices, and, on the other hand, the institutional, social, and situational (read:
political) demands placed on text” (Peeples 178) 20.

The mood was still jovial, but it was obvious that what he was saying meant a lot to him and was
not something he preached and then did not follow. Incidentally, it was at times like these during the
interview that I felt I could really trust what this man was telling me. Not because of what he was saying,
but because of the pure and unadulterated emotion that he gave through body language and voice in
his words.

Publicity
A major question for me was the acceptable amount of publicity the author of a speech should
have. Because I am working towards a double major in professional writing and creative writing, I went
into the interview with the idea that a major novelist could generate the same fan base as a major
speech writer. I couldn’t have been more wrong in the way John saw things. I knew that Dr. Cordova was
a truly respected individual—perhaps with international recognition in her job as an astrophysicist—but

18
Norberg qualitative question 7
19
Norberg qualitative question 7
20
Peeples 178

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now she was the president of a Big Ten university, and John was the one who lent her the right words
when she spoke.

The gravity of being in a position like Dr. Cordova carries a lot of ethical and social baggage
when stepping up to the podium for a speech. As her speech writer, John doesn’t want his name out for
everyone to see; again, what he does is a service to those who want it, and it is not for him to publicly
take credit for the speech; that is the job of the speaker, the orator. He feels strongly when he says,

“Yeah, I don’t think speech writers should be, publicly, talked about and some speech
writers do. And, this is an issue. When George W. Bush gave his Axis of Evil speech, some
years ago, I think it was the wife of the guy who wrote it was online, that night, telling
reporters it was her husband who wrote it. And, if he asked her to do that, I don’t know.
But they, people, you know, have written books, you know, about being speech
writers.” 21

John’s description of how President Bush’s writer was publicized online does not make John condemn
that writer; John seems to think that is part of his freedom. However, John also therefore holds a
different ethical standard and demonstrates a different ethos, in contrast to “the implicit adoption of
the values of bureaucratic and ‘scientific’ management … suggested by the predominant concern with
such issues as increased specialization, automating, and efficiency…” It is when corporate concerns
dominate the individual that workers lose willingness to work; if an example is necessary, just look at
the result of communism in the U.S.S.R. Workers begin to feel that their work is banal and
unappreciated. In contrast, John chooses to remain in the shadows, taking pride from the sidelines like a
bystander.

The Art of Speech Writing: Tricks of the Trade

Something that really stood out as a quirky ethical issue was John’s insistence on working with
the interests of the people. Over and over, in various places during the interview, he would bring up the
importance of standing audiences. He said the difference between a sitting audience and a standing
audience translated into a great difference in the length of a speech. He said that a sitting audience
would get bored and aggravated after so many minutes of non-stop lecture if they were standing,
whereas if they were sitting they could handle twice as much and still be relatively comfortable.

In one of the asides, John describes his experiences at a presidential campaign speech he was
told to cover as a journalist. He was the only one to take notes on the speech, and when he asked the
campaign officials about who wrote the speech, he was amazed to find that the candidate had done the
whole speech off of a few note cards; the vast majority of the speech had been done on the spot. That
candidate lost that year, and the next campaign he won four years later. When John studied the
differences, he found that the year the candidate had won was the year he had a stump speech—a
memorized set of lines that was given at the more minor campaign stops. John felt it was due to the
consistency and timeliness of the stump speech that gave the candidate an edge. He also felt that this

21
Norberg qualitative question 8a

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was an imperative of every speech writer, because consistency meant everything when trying to get a
message across to many different people. His point: “Always have a stump speech.” 22

I felt this was a great piece of advice since it gave importance not only to organization but to
consistency of thought and peace of mind for the speaker, who after saying the same thing over and
over, can expect and prepare for the same repetitive questions.

In another aside, when I asked him why he felt the way he did about writing for Cordova, he
responded in the same stark and serious tone he had used before as he said,

“It’s theirs [the client’s]. It’s their speech, it’s not yours. When I write it, I hear their voice.
And I consciously focus on how do they say things, how do they talk. It’s not mine.” 23

And he doesn’t just stop there, either. John has worked both for magazines and newspapers, learning
how to perfect his ability to cancel out his own words and use the presumed diction of the person he is
writing for. He has a very professional grasp on how to be an effective speech writer, and told me that
not only does he pay attention to all the usual details like gathering information and considering his
audience, but he goes so far as to time the speech rate of the person he is writing for so that he knows
down to the second how long that speech is going to last given the words he chooses to use. He does
this for many reasons, but especially because of the aforementioned issue with standing audiences.

These small extras that he has picked up are exceptionally important: as a speech writer, the
little things in the speech are just as important as anything else. When it comes down to getting to the
point, he can; when it comes down to making a certain timeframe, he can. All of these things help to
increase timeliness, efficiency, and organization; the very things that the bureaucracy wants, but John
does it without the pressure of the bureaucracy. In effect, John as a writer represents the best of
everything: self-driven, productive, organized, and utterly capable. Was it fear of Vietnam that made
him this way? Or does it just make him feel good?

But… How Does It Make You Feel?

As previously noted, John takes a great deal of pride in his work even though he doesn’t
necessarily have to prove it to the world. When I asked him about his exact feelings, he gave me a
fantastic description. I asked him how it made him feel to have his words come out of someone else’s
voice. He told me he just loves it—at least when it works out right:

“I feel great when it works right. It’s my job, is to make it sound good, I feel good. When I
go to a speech and I see it’s being well-received, when I hear people laugh at the right
time, if I used humor, or be inspired, or be informed, I feel very good. And I don’t need to
have it publicly known. I enjoy going to a speech, for instance, let’s say the president
[Cordova] is talking to the parents of incoming freshmen, of new freshmen. None of
them know who I am, I can go sit in the audience and I go stand by the door when

22
Norberg qualitative question 4
23
Norberg qualitative question 8a

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they’re leaving, and I listen to ‘em talking. And I can hear what they are saying, ‘Oh, boy
that was really interesting,’ you know, I feel good about that. I don’t need to say, ‘I
wrote it! I wrote it!’ No, no, that’s not the point, I know, I know, I know inside myself…” 24

And not only that, but he even offered a story that goes to give example to the way he feels
when he listens:

“It’s the old story of a man who was up on top of a cathedral, you know, and he’s
worried about some detail in a gargoyle, you know, getting it just right, and someone
says, ‘Don’t worry about it, no one can see it from down here!” You know, just get it
done. And he (the artist) says, ‘But I can see it, I know.” So when it goes well, I know.
And that’s the important thing.” 25

A True Artisan
As a master of his craft, John practices with skill and deftness his expertise. But does that make
it an art? As part of the quantitative section of the interview, I asked John if he believed that what he did
constituted as art or just another profession. His answer, on a scale of one to five with five being the
highest, said,

“Yeah, five (5; I strongly agree). It’s an art form. I believe this is writing, it’s
communication, and you know, you could say it’s science, you know, it’s facts, you know,
types of things, but I believe that all writing is music. Writing has rhythm, it has beat, it
has tempo, it has all the elements of music. And a writer is, you’re writing music, you’re
conducting an orchestra, and you know, that’s art.” 26

John believes it is an art form because it carries many of the distinct characteristics that define another
form of art: music. He parallels the two as forms of communication and self-expression, but I think he
sees it as much more. There is something called “flow”, a term used to express the totality of awareness
within a moment – the point at which one’s focus is entirely on the task at hand. Music is often used to
achieve this, such as when athletes use it before matches to concentrate shortly prior to competing. The
fact that music and writing are, to John, so much alike may actually drive him into a self-sustaining bliss
when he works; a time when he is completely into his work and physically expressing his full potential.
In fact, he states that one should be completely exhausted when finished writing; that if all the energy
didn’t go into the paper, it wasn’t being worked hard enough. Not only is this telling of the man, but also
of the mindset to which he sets himself, and the parallels to that of the focused athlete.

Who Can Write?

Being at a school full of engineers and scientists, I wanted to know if my degree was going to be
worth what my teachers claimed it would be, and not as some fellow students would like to think. I
knew that I wanted to write professionally, but I felt that John might know a bit more than I would. I

24
Norberg qualitative question 8a
25
Norberg qualitative question 8a
26
Norberg quantitative question 1

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asked him if he thought that writing professionally required a high level of expertise, and if it was
something that not everyone could do. He responded,

“Yes, I feel strongly about that (5; I strongly agree). Not everybody can write. And most
people, if they’re honest, will tell you that. I have people tell me they can’t write… who
do absolutely great work [professionally, other than writing], but they are not good
writers. They’re really important, but they need me to help them with that [writing]
aspect of it. 27

His answer was more than a relief- it empowered my understanding of what I would be responsible for
as a professional writer and how I could potentially be expected to “help” people of influence who
counted on me to make them be communicatively adept. This understanding can also be seen in his
discussion of the stump speech in the section “The Art of Speech Writing: Tricks of the Trade.” For the
most part, it let me realize that no, not everyone can write- and that is good because it means a writer’s
services are in need.

Conclusion
As a person double-majoring in Creative and Professional Writing, I have had to struggle with
the pros and cons of each. In the beginning, I believed that on the one hand, creative writing tended to
produce less money on average but was driven by love of expression. In contrast, I thought professional
writing could pay very well, yet depending on the situation there may be little to no self-expression. I
believe I have found my happy medium in speech writing. I completely understand why John loves his
job so much: speech writing is one of the few professions that can be found wedged in the overlap of
two very distinct sectors within a school of thought. It is relatively easy to be a mixed electrical engineer
and computer engineer, or a sculptor and a potter or even painter. But writing as a discipline grounded
in sophistic history, philosophic history, folk lore, and eventually fiction and otherwise… things become
very complicated, very unclear- to the point that writers can’t even use modern words, instead relying
on old Greek like ethos and pathos to communicate what they mean. Speech writing is that truly happy
medium- it combines the artistic and philosophic with the rhetorical and sophistic in a potentially world-
changing profession that pays well. When a person can engage a congregation and watch them sway to
the bass tones of argument and the serene chimes of simple persuasion, what about it isn’t harmonic?

27
Norberg quantitative question 9

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Appendix A – Original Interview Questions

I. Qualitative Interview Questions
1. So as to establish you as an authority, what is your highest degree, and in what field?
a. From where did you obtain these degrees?
i. College?
ii. Graduate Studies?
iii. Doctorate?
b. What, if any, was your concentration or field of interest?
2. Besides speeches, what does your education or background grant you professional
qualification for?
3. What was your first professional experience with this field?
a. College internship?
b. Graduate teaching assistant?
4. Besides President Cordova, what major experiences would you like to describe of your
professional history?
5. What first made you interested in this profession?
a. Was there perhaps a person of interest?
b. Was there perhaps a specific class?
c. Other?
6. How would you define professional writing?
7. What code of ethics, if any, do you follow when writing a speech?
8. As the speech writer for a person of international recognition, what is your opinion of your
work with regard to your own public image as a professional writer?
a. Do you feel that professional writers who should be behind the scenes? Why do you
feel this way?
b. Do you feel that writing professionally should carry with it a sense of honor or
respect? Why do you feel this way?
c. How much input do you personally have in speeches?
i. What I mean by this is that works of art tend to carry a “voice” that reflect
the artist. Do your speeches have a “voice” insofar as representing your
style of writing?
9. How did you first become interested in working for Purdue University?
a. What is your official title as recognized by the University?
i. Do you have a rank of office?
b. Do you work solely for President Cordova?
c. Are you the primary writer for administrative speeches?
10. Speaking of speeches, I think a great to really expand on this particular subject of writing for
President Cordova is perhaps a walkthrough of a typical day in or out of the office. Is this
something you can do?
a. Requires follow-up questions dependent on context, but overall it is pretty much
“how does that make you feel?”

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II. Quantitative Interview Questions

1. I feel that professional writing may be considered an art form.
2. I feel that professional writing is necessary for the eloquence of businesses and
administrations.
3. I feel that professional writing is a key component of creating a strong professional image
for businesses and administrations.
4. I feel that my work is necessary to the social success of my organization.
5. I feel that professional writing is a publicly/widely respected institution/career.
6. I feel that professional writers should take credit for their work.
7. I feel that professional writing is a highly prized field of study by businesses and
administrations.
8. I feel that professional writing in any administration should be respected and held with
honor.
9. I feel that professional writing requires a high level of expertise, and is not “something
anyone can do.”
10. I feel that overall, professional writing is a strenuous and demanding profession.
11. When someone hears a speech I wrote, they are entirely my words and my literary voice.

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Appendix B – Interview Transcript

Transcript as assigned for class.

Interview Transcription
The following eight interview questions were picked for transcription on the basis of relevance to
the original goals, but specifically those which emphasize the knowledge, feelings, and ethical
beliefs of Mr. Norberg concerning the art of speech writing as a means of professional writing. I
have, for the sake of respect and space, omitted any stuttering if there was any. Please reference
original scripted questions as indicated by number and section. Times of starting question are
posted with syntax, “(RECORDING NUMBER, MINUTES ELAPSED:SECONDS ELAPSED).

Qualitative Section

Question 1
INT: (Roughly 1,0:00)So, to as establish you as an authority, what is your highest degree and in what
field?

Here I try to get an idea of the educational history of the interviewee to better judge his
professional caliber.

NOR: Well, I just have a bachelor’s degree, and my bachelor’s degree is actually in American Literature,
from DePauw University. 1970…

He appears to be checking my ability to interview and my ability to write notes, as if to gauge my

adeptness and preparedness as well as pace himself.

INT:Ok.

Generic assurance that I am listening.

John relates his history in Vietnam, his escape from the draft lottery. He was #346. It was during this time
that he “gave serious consideration” to his future, since he realized that without a good degree “the
government had that planned for me.

Question 1.b becoming Question 2

INT (1, 3:33): So then do you have any other concentrations or fields of interest? I know you said you
were very interested in writing… Did you have, like, professional or creative writing courses, did you take
anything on the side that you may have thought was…

Even though I asked about concentrations, I don’t think I was specific enough to show my
intention in wanting knowledge in collegiate activities, but what I received ended up answering
#2 instead.

NOR: Oh, I took a lot of writing courses in college, I’ve written four books, four published books…

INT: Ok.

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NOR: …all published by Purdue Press. But I am just a professional writer; I’ve written for the Journal and
Courier, I still do, I write a column for them… I’ve written for them since 1972. I’ve written magazine
pieces for Indiana magazines, national magazines, I’ve written four books, I still freelance… for
magazines… I’m currently a columnist for the Journal & Courier…

John appears to have trouble remembering all of these, but a critical issue for John is humility; it
may very well be that he has done more and is being careful about what he chooses to express.
This may not actually be the case either, considering his openness with everything else, but I
noted this as he spoke.

Question 3
NOR (1, 2:01): I like writing, I always wanted to be a writer. So, I decided that I wanted to get a
newspaper job, although I had no journalism experience. So I started with a paper, just kinda learned it
on the job.

John relates his origins in loving writing and his first pursuance of a writing-based job. He gets
excited about it as he talks.I know that John doesn’t get drafted, but I want to hear what he did
instead of Vietnam, and to reassure him that I am focused and listening, I ask him if he was
drafted after all. He says no, and describes how he felt that night as he watched some of his
friends, who were picked as #1, and explains how all the telephone lines were jammed as so
many called home to share their fate with their families.

INT: So, then you ended up going to college at DePauw…

I realize we have gotten off track and try to get back with a redirect.

NOR: Yeah.

INT: And then…

NOR: Yeah, DePauw University…

INT: So, then, you don’t have a doctorate, or…

NOR: No, people don’t commonly get Ph.D.’s for journalism, or even Master’s for that matter.

I concluded with the inquiry about a doctorate, to ensure that I am not missing anything
pertinent in his educational history. He explains that for his line of work it would have been
overkill to pursue a higher degree. I remained hesitant to ask this and he seemed hesitant to
respond; it may be that this is an uncomfortable subject for him. My original questions were
about graduate work and internships, but I have included his piece on Vietnam to help explain
why perhaps there was none - he apparently went immediately into the workforce. Furthermore,
it seemed unethical to ask about any home-related issues that may have also contributed.

Question 6
INT (1, 17:07): How would you personally define professional writing, like, as a job, as a major
represented here at Purdue, or do you not have an understanding of it?

This came out poorly in retrospect, but fortunately he understood what I meant. The “it” refers
to how Purdue defines professional writing, and I believe that is how he answered, but it could

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have also been taken in poor context as ‘do you not have an understanding of professional
writing?’ After a semester of linguistics, this should not have happened. His subsequent chuckles
during his response led to the belief that he did indeed understand but also understood that an
error was made.

NOR: Well, I guess, I don’t know, professional, what is professional? The word professional means you
get paid for it, for one thing. It essentially means: you’re an amateur, you do it for free; you’re a
professional, you’re doin’ it for pay.

Though this may have been a joking jab at the question, it is also necessary to see how he
defines “professional” as opposed to how Purdue defines professional.

INT: Yeah.

NOR: I suppose the definition they are using is more of a business type of a, a type of thing. You know,
there are things that I like to write, you know, there are books that I like to write, and speeches that I
like to write, whatnot, that I don’t have time to get to, because I am busy writing the needs of Purdue,
right now. I mean, that’s… My job is to write for Purdue. So, professional writing is writing for someone
else, I suppose. Writing for the needs of an organization, the individuals within the organization.

John is clear that professional writing is dependent on the needs of business; with his
understanding through experience, he declares that professional writing is a social act, and not
just a means of earning money.

INT: Excellent.

This was a response to how his answer tied beautifully into the readings of the social aspect of
professional writing, and yet he dove even further:

NOR: People within an organization, they may be great leaders and may have a number of talents. Some
of them have great writing talents, some of them don’t, there’s just all varying degrees, and they need
people that… Communication Is just.. just absolutely essential, you know. Just, you have to be able to
communicate. And that’s what we do. We help people communicate. So, the president at Purdue, I help
–her, or him, or whoever’s got the job—communicate to students, to faculty, to staff, to alumni, to state
legislators, to national organizations, even international—She [President France Cordova] has all these
different groups that she needs to communicate with. And they need to understand her, and what she’s
doing, and where she’s going. And we help her… accomplish that. That’s our job: communicate.

John seems very excited at this point, very enthusicatic about his abilities and their relevance to
his organization. This showed immense pride, even through his humility.

INT: Excellent. I love the fervor you have in what you do, that’s –

NOR: Oh, it’s fun, I enjoy it. I love it.

Question 7
INT (1, 20:38): And in your writing, I mean, I’m sure that there is some things that because of Purdue, or
because of… I wouldn’t so much say biases, but like your own interests… You wouldn’t be able to say.
And so, by, I guess my next question is what code of ethics if any do you follow writing a speech?

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NOR: Well, you follow really strict code of ethics, (flustered) I don’t even know where to start…

(Laughter from both parties)

NOR: First of all…

INT: Within five minutes, hopefully!

The joke was only half funny; it was now roughly half an hour into the interview and John had
been exceptionally thorough in his answers. Time was not an issue yet, but it was an issue that
needed to be avoided. John is becoming increasingly more comfortable in his responses at this
point and is continuing with the same fervor as before.

NOR: Nope! Nope. Plagiarism! You have to be very… if you are using somebody, something, from
somebody else, you quote it! Absolutely. You cannot… take someone else’s material. It must be
contributed… contributed… very, very strictly. And you know, with the university president even more
strictly than anybody else. So, A, not to put these in any order, but, you have to make sure that if you
are using someone else’s ideas that it is fully attributed. To the person, and to the individual source.
Secondly, uh, true, we do not lie. Just do not do that. It has to be the truth, it has to be honest (Lightly
bangs fist on emphases). We report numbers, if, you know, we’re using numbers, they got (bang) to be
accurate (bang), we don’t fudge ‘em.

Though he appears excited, he also has a calm sense of seriousness, showing his respect for the
seriousness of the issue.

INT: So, you don’t go, you know, like, instead of saying, like, exactly like thirty-four percent, you say a
third… you make sure that you say…

It is necessary to know just how meticulous numbers are needed to be in this type of serious
situation.

NOR: Yeah, you can do a little fudging like that, you know, in a speech you cannot say, “It’s gonna cost us
$86,000,000; $86,346,xxx, I don’t know how to count; you’re gonna have to round that off.

INT: Right.

NOR: Cause people’s ears won’t pick it. People’s ears will get so confused. So we, we slightly round off
numbers. But I’m saying, you know, if you have, if your university numbers aren’t great, you gotta use
that number. You still have to use that number, and it’s important.

Question 8a.
INT (1, 32:12) And then, I was actually gonna ask, as a speech writer for personal, for as a person of
international recognition, what is your opinion of your work with respect to your own public image, as a
professional writer? For instance, uh, cause I know that’s vague, um, you had actually mentioned to me
the first day I met you that you prefer to be, not so much unknown but behind the scenes.

It is important to understand his views of professional writing for himself, and how it affects his
image, and just what kind of public awareness he feels is due to him.

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NOR: Mhmm. Yeah, I don’t think speech writers should be, publicly, talked about and some some speech
writers do. And, this is an issue. When George W. Bush gave his Axis of Evil speech, some years ago, I
think it was the wife of the guy who wrote it was online, that night, telling reporters it was her husband
who wrote it. And, if he asked her to do that, I don’t know. But they, people, you know, have written
books, you know, about being speech writers. Let’s take a classic example, who is it, Sorenson?
Kennedy’s speech writer? You NEVER see, to this day, he never talks about it. You know. Kennedy had a
speech writer, you know, all these great things that he said, it came from the speech writer. Still won’t
talk about it. And I think that’s what a speech writer should do. You are not there to be out in public.

Again, a very serious tone. He feels strongly about this.

INT: That’s the job of the person you are writing for.

A recognition of listening, careful to not place words in his mouth.

NOR: It’s theirs. It’s their speech, it’s not yours. When I write it, I hear their voice. And I consciously
focus on how do they say things, how do they talk. It’s not mine.

INT: And how does that make you feel, to know that those are your words and their voice?

NOR: I feel great when it works right. It’s my job, is to make it sound good, I feel good. When I go to a
speech and I see it’s being well-received, when I hear people laugh at the right time, if I used humor, or
be inspired, or be informed, I feel very good. And I don’t need to have it publicly known. I enjoy going to
a speech, for instance, let’s say the president [Cordova] is talking to the parents of incoming freshmen,
of new freshmen. None of them know who I am, I can go sit in the audience and I go stand by the door
when they’re leaving, and I listen to ‘em talking. And Ican hear what they are saying, ‘Oh, boy that was
really interesting,” you know, I feel good about that. I don’t need to say, ‘I wrote it! I wrote it!’ No, no,
that’s not the point, I know, I know, I know inside myself… It’s the old story of a man who was up on top
of a cathedral, you know, and he’s worried about some detail in a gargoyle, you know, getting it just
right, and some says, ‘Don’t worry about it, no one can see it from down here!” You know, just get it
done. (Coughs). And he says, ‘But I can see it, I know.” So when it goes well, I know. And that’s the
important thing.

John is very expressive when he speaks this, and is very earnest to get across that it is never
about him. However, he also expresses later that this feeling he has may be influenced by his
already being published several times and that he has a regular column.

Quantitative Section
1 – Strongly Disagree 2 – Disagree 3 – Neutral/Refrain 4 – Agree 5 – Strongly Agree

Bias of statements are purposely geared toward positivism so as to exemplify those chosen as not
agreeable.

Question 1
INT (2, 27:10): So, would I be correct in saying that you feel professional writing or speech writing is an
art form?

This is meant to find whether John sees his work as “just a job” or if he feels he offers creativity
and identity to a speech even though it is his job not to use his own voice.

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NOR: Yeah, which is strongest?

UNCLEAR: One or five?

INT: Five.

NOR: Yeah, five. It’s an art form. I believe this is writing, it’s communication, and you know, you could
say it’s science, you know, it’s facts, you know, types of things, but I believe that all writing is music.
Writing has rhythm, it has beat, it has tempo, it has all the elements of music. And a writer is, you’re
writing music, you’re conducting an orchestra, and you know, that’s art.

Once again, John exhibits the excitement of his interest in his profession, showing how even
though he has no heard personal voice, he is still being creative and inventive.

Question 9
INT (2, 32:36): I feel that professional writing requires a high level of expertise, and is not “something
anyone can do.”

A common belief, especially in technically-driven schools, is that not only is writing something
anyone can do, but that it is secondary to the sciences. His response as a respected master of
the written art has the authority to judge this for its truth.

NOR: Yes, I feel strongly about that.

~off record comments~

NOR: Not everybody can write. And most people, if they’re honest, will tell you that. I have people tell
me they can’t write, I (UNCLEAR) people who do absolutely great work [professionally, other than
writing], but they are not good writers. They’re really important, but they need me to help them with
that [writing] aspect of it.

His response goes to show that even those who hold positions of power and responsibility still
find it greatly to their benefit to employ a professional communicator instead of going at it
alone.

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