3.3: Classmate Profile: Writing Assignment
- Page ID
- 49551
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Writing Assignment
For this assignment, you will interview a classmate and write a profile about that classmate.
For the interview and profile, you will need:
- Paper for notes and a pen or pencil
- A phone or other recording device
- An English dictionary
- A list of questions
Initial Interview
Your instructor will pair you with a classmate. Ask your classmate the following questions. Take notes.
- What is your full name?
- Where and when were you born?
- What is your current living situation (who do you live with and where)?
- What do you think are the two most important events that happened in your life?
- Tell me about two activities that interest you most.
Writing Interview Questions
On your own paper, write 15 questions that you can ask your classmate. Under each question, leave space for notes.
Use the answers to number 4 and 5 above to focus your questions. In other words, if your partner tells you they are interested in sports, write several questions about sports such as 'What type of sports do you like?' and 'Why do you like....?'
Write open-ended questions. Open-ended questions invite a longer and more detailed answer, and often start with 'how,' or 'why.'
Second Interview
Interview your classmate. Follow the suggestions below.
- Interview your classmate and take notes on their answers to the questions.
- Consider using a recording device.
- Follow Celeste Headlee's advice and be a good listener.
- To start the interview, ask your classmate the standard background information to get the name, place he or she was born, age, etc.
- Ask your 15 questions
- Use open-ended questions and follow up questions; try to get more detail. For example, if you ask, "Do you like your job?" and he answers "yes," follow up with, "Why do you like it?" If he responds, "Because it gives me a lot of free time," follow up with, "What do you like to do in your free time and why do you enjoy it?"
- You can ask for more information after the interview. Ask you classmate for their contact information so you can email, call or text them with any questions you think of later.
Writing the Profile
Write a profile about your classmate. Use the information you learned from reading and watching profiles in the Chapter Exploring Profiles and analyzing profiles in What is a Profile.
- Use your notes to write the profile. Be sure that the profile:
- Is one to two pages with double-spaced lines
- Keeps your audience, genre, and purpose in mind as you write the profile
- Audience: Your classmates
- Genre: Profile
- Purpose: To convince other students about the interesting lives of students in the class
Grading Criteria
Follow the bullet points in the grading rubric below about how to write a profile. A grid rubric is attached.
- Content (30 points) Your profile should...
- Have a focus on one positive aspect of your classmate (his or her education goal, a past or present important life experience, an important value(s), etc.)
- Include at least two of the following: The history of this person's achievements, a description of the person or what their life was in the past or what is happening in the present, a photo, or a quotation from the person
- Be one to two pages double-spaced
- Be based on the interview questions and answers
- Reveal a rich and interesting conversation with the person you interviewed
- Organization/Format (15 points) Your profile should...
- Start with a sentence that shows the focus of the profile
- Include the person's first name in the first or second sentence
- Use at least two signal words for cohesion and coherence
- Look like a profile (see the examples in Chapter 1 and 2)
- Vocabulary/Style/Tone (20 points) Your profile should...
- Have a formal, positive and friendly tone
- Use the third person voice (the person's name and he/she/"my classmate")
- Be written in your own words. Do not copy from any other source
- Use sufficient vocabulary to describe your classmate and the focus in detail
- Grammar and Sentence Structure (25 points) Your profile should...
- Use the verb tenses needed to talk about your classmate and his/her life events (present simple and continuous, past simple and continuous, and future)
- Include a variety of sentence types
- Be carefully edited for accuracy
- Mechanics (5 points) Your profile should...
- Use correct capitalization, punctuation (periods, commas, etc.) and spelling
- Notes/Mind Map (5 points)
- Have sufficient and accurate notes taken before writing to complete the writing task