The present invention is directed to a method for detecting an interaction between a ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule and a second molecule. This method involves providing a nucleic acid construct that contains a promoter sequence, a nucleotide sequence encoding the RNA molecule, and an RNA polymerase blocking site. The nucleotide sequence encoding the RNA molecule is transcribed in vitro to produce an RNA transcript corresponding to the RNA molecule. Transcription is halted by the RNA polymerase blocking site under conditions effective for the RNA transcript to remain tethered to the nucleic acid construct. The tethered RNA transcript is contacted with the second molecule and any interaction between the tethered RNA transcript and the second molecule is detecting and identified based on said contacting.