15.3: The Assignment

SLO-Establish a clear framework of essay and paragraph organization appropriate to the writing task and the thesis  -Employ rhetorical strategies consistent with the purpose of the writing task -Cultivate students’ awareness of purpose and audience when assessing a writing situation -Enhance students’ abilities in organizing, developing, and revising their essays

Activity: To further look into the authority of an author, find an expert using your own research topic. You can start by looking at the author of articles you have read, Ted  Talks, experts featured in documentaries, speeches or panel discussions. Write a short essay that informs the audience about the expert’s life and their contribution to their field. This is not an argumentative essay. It is important to practice other rhetorical genres of writing. This assignment can be a stand alone assignment or it can be combined with a research project by keeping one or two of sources found for this assignment and adding them to a longer research essay.

To write the profile essay, you will be using several rhetorical strategies: biographical writing—narrative, description, dialogue, and report. The profile essay requires observation acquired firsthand or through research.

 

This assignment requires inductive reasoning and to write in a responsible and ethical way because you are writing about other people. Inductive Reasoning means that you will come to a conclusion after exploring the answers that you received from watching and reading interviews and doing additional primary research.

 

Writing Prompt: Using the information from the interviews, observations, and other primary source material, write a detailed profile piece that presents information with a clear purpose that teaches the audience about your chosen expert. Your essay should include biographic information about the person, why this person is important to the overall field of the chosen topic, the field in which they work, or their place in a social/cultural/ political/scientific landscape. Your essay should also include the expert’s answers to questions you might have developed at the beginning of your research. You should incorporate the answers into your essay as narrative or as short quotes. Lastly, in your conclusion, include what you have learned from this experience.

 

Tasks

Figure out who you want to be the focus of your profile. Use your research question if you have one already.

Depending on your topic, “expert” may also mean someone with first-hand experience.

Find key primary sources and do research.

• Interviews, panel discussions, or speeches with chosen expert
• Any other primary sources—autobiographies or research written by the expert, speeches, Government documents, laws, or any other primary source that you need to fill in the blanks and answer any other questions you might have.  This assignment is meant to be short and straightforward. Don’t get lost in articles. Save some of that energy for your main research essay.

To write the profile essay, you will be using several rhetorical strategies: biographical writing—narrative, description, dialogue, and report. The profile essay requires observation acquired firsthand or through research.

 

This assignment requires inductive reasoning and to write in a responsible and ethical way because you are writing about other people. Inductive Reasoning means that you will come to a conclusion after exploring the answers that you received from watching and reading interviews and doing additional primary research.

 

Profile Essay Outline

Below is an example of a possible way to outline your Profile essay. Overall, your outline will depend on the kind of information you find about your expert. While everyone will be profiling a different person, there are a few elements that every essay should have.

Introduction

Introduce the topic- Let the reader know what field or industry you are researching. You might also define any terms specific to that field.

Short Bio- Use a transition to then introduce the expert. This is where you will give brief information about the person. You can add where they are from, things that might show up on their resume and any awards or accolades.

Current Occupation- The short bio will lead into what the expert is currently doing. If this is a historical figure, you might mention what they are best known for here.

Body Paragraphs

Your body paragraphs will depend on how much information you find and what type of information. The main element that you should consider is whether you are going to organize your information topically or chronologically.

Topically- This means you will pick the aspects/categories that you want to focus on and then use one paragraph for each. Remember, since this is a profile, you will base the information under each category on what the expert says and their experience.

For example: Chicago Housing Policies explained (Natalie Moore's definition and perspective)

The Impacts of Living in certain neighborhoods in Chicago (Moore's time living on the South Side)

Headlines about inequality in Chicago (Moores contribution to reporting and investigating for WBEZ)

Should more people care about housing inequity in Chicago? (Moore's message to her audience and her goals)

Chronologically- This means ordering the information from the past and leading up to the present.

 

 

Assessment Tool:

Development and Details
Excellent	Excellent use of detailed examples, instances, and descriptions to fully support main ideas. Uses well thought out explanations to discuss the expert’s opinions. The expert’s role and contribution to the field is clear.
Adequate	Generally, offers adequate support from expert for main points; incorporates sources in a responsible way that clearly furthers student's purpose. Adequate explanations.
Emerging	May occasionally include information that strays from the expert, but has adequate information. May contain some confusing explanations, but otherwise consistent.
Lacking	Lacks explanations or explanations do not work. Some examples and descriptions are confusing. Constant repetition. It is not clear who the expert is. Does not meet page or word count.

Documentation and Synthesis
Excellent	Integrates all sources correctly and smoothly. Sources highlight the experts voice and opinion. Excellent synthesis and connection between sources. Offers correctly formatted Works Cited page that reflects cited sources.
Adequate	Generally, integrates sources smoothly. Demonstrates the ability to distinguish student’s ideas from source’s ideas and to distinguish student’s words from source’s words. Adequate Synthesis throughout.
Emerging	May occasionally include errors in citations, but errors do not interfere with reader’s ability to identify sources. An attempt at synthesis is visible. May rely on secondary sources.
Lacking	Lacks explanations or explanations do not work. Some examples and descriptions are confusing. Constant repetition. It is not clear who the expert is. Does not meet page or word count. Does not use any primary sources.

Rhetorical Genre and Strategies
Excellent	The purpose to inform is clear.Excellent ability to write a detailed, nuanced thesis at the end. Uses strategies that promotes clarity of expression, effective seamless transitions with organization that highlights the rhetorical mode.
Adequate	Generally, presents clear main points that are sustained throughout the essay. At times purpose is unclear. Generally, uses strategies to highlight rhetorical mode but has some ineffective transitions and focused, ordered paragraphing
Emerging	May occasionally present main points or paragraphs that lack clear purpose or distract the reader or has logical breaks. Repetitive transitions. At times, written as a transcript.
Lacking	Does not have a thesis statement nor any main points. Overall, essay has no clear purpose. Does not attempt to answer prompt. Not focused on one expert. Does not have ordered paragraphs. Does not show the ability to use paragraphs. This is not a profile essay.