For narrative-style writing and ethnographic writing, conversations (and interviews within an ethnography) should be written as dialogue. That means that each time a new person is talking, a new paragraph is started. If you are only putting one short line of dialogue in, it could be wrapped up into a paragraph, otherwise, it should be its own paragraph like below.
Note: The interview transcript should be written as a transcript. See the interview assignment for more information.
I asked Sam if she'd mind if I interviewed her on the topic and she said she'd be more than happy to speak to me more about it.
"How long have you been coming to the zoo?" I asked.
"Well, I originally came here as a kid, myself. But, I've been coming here more regularly since I had kids of my own. So, I've been a member for about 6 years now, ever since I had my oldest," she replied. Her kids were starting to get a little wiggly at that point, so I decided to get to my main question.
"That makes sense. I haven't been here much since I was a kid either. So, I'm doing some research on zoos and their economic impact and sustainability. What you do know about the Detroit Zoo's conservation efforts, if anything?"
"Hmm. Well, I know that they don't sell bottled water so that they aren't contributing to single-use plastics. So, I always make sure to bring water bottles for me and my kids. Also, they have all those signs everywhere and in the bathrooms about what they are doing to reduce waste, like hand dryers instead of paper towels. So I know they are making efforts to cut back on their waste," she said.
Not every line needs to be quoted as dialogue. If the interviewee was long-winded, you might want to summarize parts of the interview and only quote the most important lines.
Dialogue tags (I said, she asked, etc.) should be used when needed to clarify who is speaking but are not always needed in every instance.
Every time the speaker changes, a new paragraph should start.
The start of each new paragraph/speaker should be indented just like any other paragraph.
See page 6 of this example ethnography by a former student to see how to format this.