profile of a community member

On your first writing assignment for Comp 106, you began to write about your community by analyzing a place or artifact with personal and public significance. You wrote about ballparks, memorials, cider mills, bookshops, and parks. You started creating a mythology of your community by telling stories, identifying values and concerns, and contemplating the significance of various community dynamics.

Now, continue to build that mythology, continue to write (about) your community by profiling a prominent community member. To write a profile means to write biographically about a person. Describe the person and his or her role in the community. Tell some of the person’s stories. Talk about what the person does and what his or her impact is. Paint a picture of the person’s identity in relation to your neighborhood or town. You might want to pick someone associated with the place or object you analyzed, but this is not a requirement for the assignment.

I do require that you conduct at least one formal interview with the person and hand in a list of questions you asked the person as well as formal, typed notes from the interview. When you conduct an interview, I highly recommend recording the interview. I require, though, that you prepare for the interview by writing out a list of questions and also that you take thorough notes covering what the person says in response to you. Write down key quotations that capture the individual’s voice. In your paper, draw on these quotations. Give the interviewee a voice.

Also, I require that you do some outside research on the person. You may also conduct other interviews with relevant individuals, getting their impressions of the person. You may also find articles and/or other print or online information about the person. I am requiring that you cite at least three outside source besides the interview you conduct with the person.

Most importantly, say something fresh and original about the person. Don’t just summarize and report dry facts and figures. Do some of your own analysis and interpretation. Make an argument about how you see this person fitting in to your community.

Part of the purpose of the assignment is to get out in your community and meet new people, so I am also requiring that you do NOT profile a relative, family member, or close friend. Choose a person you would like to get to know—not a person you already know well.

See syllabus for further requirements for written work. Be sure to format your paper and document your sources using MLA citation style.

Due dates: Thursday, February 15 (bring 3 copies to class), hand in a complete draft.
Thursday, Feburary 22, hand in a final draft for me to grade.