Below appears a copy of the assignment sheet for the profile essay that will be distributed in class; more information may yet be provided, so check back for updates. Some emendations will be made for divergent media, as webpages format differently than printed text.
The English Department notes that for the second major paper in Composition I, the profile, “Students will write a 4-6 page essay that profiles an individual, group, place, or event based on a personal observation.” Such an essay will need to clearly identify a subject of discussion, articulate a thesis offering a dominant impression of that subject, and reinforce that thesis through ample and appropriate experiential and observable evidence, and through exacting explanations of the same.
Profiles offer profilers a chance to closely investigate their subjects, to come to know them better. The profile which you are expected to compile will gather together information obtained from your own direct observations of and experiences with a given place (and only place for this assignment) and use that information ethically and selectively to create an overall idea of what matters about the chosen subject. Watching, participating, and interviewing are the primary methods through which to collect the information that leads to effective profiling, so putting together the profile will require you to go out into the world, moving beyond the focus on self that undergirds the earlier literacy narrative and into broader contexts.
The English Department notes that students successfully completing the assignment will prove themselves able to do the following:
write a profile that functions as a written portrait of the student's chosen subject
depict the subject in an engaging manner that conveys the subject's significance and unique attributes
give important background information that contextualizes the subject
establish a clear perspective, or "angle," on the subject and craft a clear, focused thesis that establishes that angle
support that thesis with well-paragraphed details, including-but not limited to-specific information about the subject, sensory images, figurative language, and dialogue or anecdote
use tone and language appropriate for a clearly defined, public audience
evidence clear, well-edited writing that is free of proofreading errors and errors of grammar, mechanics, and syntax
Development of the listed abilities should be paramount in your mind as you work on the profile. Being able to give a targeted, detailed description of a person, group, location, or event, one which creates a specific dominant impression of it, is helpful in many endeavors. To do so with a minimum of errors helps you to appear educated, competent, and trustworthy, all of which will be to your benefit.
Submission Guidelines
Drafts for early review are due in advance of the submission draft, so that problems in the profiles may be addressed and strengths enhanced. A hard-copy, typed version of the draft is due at the beginning of class on 14 February 2014 so that it may be reviewed during class time by a classmate; it will be taken as a 10-point minor assignment. An online version must be submitted to the instructor via D2L as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file before the beginning of class time on 21 February; it will also be taken as a 10-point minor assignment. Both drafts will benefit from being completed or nearly-completed papers; the more work done in advance, the more commentary is possible, and the more use you can derive from those comments. Please be sure to take the comments on early drafts seriously and correct problems in the text as it appears in those early drafts, as it is only in those drafts that revision is possible.
A submission draft—a polished, finished version of the profile—must be submitted via D2L as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file before class time on 28 February 2014; it will count for 150 of the 1000 total points for the course. The score for the submission draft will be calculated according to the following criteria:
Clarity and Appropriateness of Thesis (20 points)
Is there a clearly articulated thesis or a clear implicit thesis? Is the thesis one which identifies a dominant impression of a specific subject?
Clarity and Appropriateness of Evidence (35 points)
Does the paper make use of relevant specific sensory, experiential, narrative, and anecdotal data in support of the dominant impression?
Does it avoid details which distract from the dominant impression?
Does the paper account for the provenance of all such data?
Is the information appropriately and effectively integrated into the paper?
Clarity and Appropriateness of Explanations of Evidence (35 points)
Is the relevance of the information used to support the dominant impression made clear?
Is the means through which the data supports the impression made clear?
Effectiveness of Organization (30 points)
Does the paper follow a reasonable order of discussion?
Does it move from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, and section to section smoothly and well? Does it deploy transitions that effectively indicate the relationships among the ideas expressed?
Adherence to Assigned Formatting Standards (10 points)
Is the paper submitted through D2L as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file? Is it typed in double-spaced 12-point Times New Roman with one-inch margins, and with headings and page numbers as appropriate? Are paragraphs indented rather than being offset by blank lines?
Adherence to Conventions of Academic American English (20 points)
Is the paper relatively free of errors in proofreading, grammar (including but not limited to subject/verb agreement, pronoun/antecedent agreement, and sentence fragments), mechanics (including but not limited to homophone confusion and mistaken spelling and punctuation) and syntax?
Is the writing in the paper consistent with college-level discourse? Does its vocabulary and phrasing reflect entry into higher education? Do its tone and register reflect academic treatment of the subject being discussed—even if the dominant impression is one removed from “normal” academic discourse?
Notes
The profile should treat a subject with which you are familiar from direct observation or experience; the old adage about writing what you know applies here, and the opportunity to closely examine your own life and the places in it is well worth taking. At this point, write from your own experience and observation rather than seeking to negotiate the written experiences of others. Pulling from outside resources other than interviews with citation will incur substantial grade penalties, likely in the evidence section. Papers pulling from outside resources without citation will be investigated as plagiarized. Please do not do it.
Examples of profiles are easy to find. Obituaries, such as are found in the relevant sections of the Stillwater NewsPress or the New York Times, offer many. Those detailing places will be available in forthcoming issues of CCC and are currently available in descriptions of setting such as can be found in gazeteers, travel narratives, RPG campaign settings, and a number of articles in Texas Monthly.
Some discussion of profiles, which may well help this class, appears on my course blog, here. Among the discussion is at least one example of the kind of writing requested.
Rubrics by which the instructor review draft and final submission draft will be evaluated appear in a PDF document attached below.
More information is forthcoming.