First Year Seminar/Section 19/Dr

Due: The essay is due in class on Monday, October 3^rd in class

(hardcopy & electronic copy submitted to www.turnitin.com)

Purpose. The purpose of this writing exercise is to work on gathering information about a person through personal interviews, synthesizing the gathered information and composing an engaging, interesting essay that vividly conveys a sense of the person.

Assignment[1]. Write a profile-style of biographical essay (750-1250 words - approximately 2-3 pages, double-spaced, typed) about a person that is a member of the campus community. You should imagine that your audience for this essay is the readers of the Monmouth College campus newspaper, The Courier e.g., primarily students, but also faculty, staff, and alumni. Choose a person as your subject whom you want to know more about and whom your imagined audience will find interesting. Take care not to choose someone who is an immediate supervisor or your own professor, or someone you already know well, as your subject.

q That you gather enough information about your subject in order to write a meaningful essay.

q That you carefully and thoughtfully select what information you will present and how.

q That your profile-essay is vivid, engaging, and interesting while also being informative.

1. Choose your subject. Email me one paragraph describing who you plan to write about and why this person is intriguing to you (and to your audience, as well) and a list of ten questions that you intend on asking the person. This stage needs to be completed no later than Monday, September 26^th.

2. Gather your materials. Arrange to interview your subject (perhaps more than once). You may want to also find ways to observe them or ask other people about them. In gathering your materials, take as many notes as you can – both on what the person says as well as what you observe about them.

3. Construct a working outline for your essay. Think about the best way to present the information.

4. Complete a rough draft. Remember to “show” as well as “tell” through descriptive devices (dialogue, metaphors, action verbs, details). Work to make the biographical significance of your essay clear without tacking on a moral at the end.

5. Revise your essay. You may want to ask someone you trust to read the essay or take your draft to the Mellinger Writing Center. Consider the following questions as you revise:

a. Do I create a vivid, specific, detailed picture of my subject? Where do you want more information?

b. What do you think is the dominate impression of the person? What do you think is the significant point that I’m trying to create? Do you find my portrayal significant? Engaging?

c. Is my essay clearly organized? Where do you get confused? Where do you find yourself wanting to know more about the subject? Where is there information that you don’t care about?

Formatting requirements . Use 1” margins and a standard 12 point font (Times or Palatino). At the top of the page (not on a separate cover sheet!) put on the left or right hand side. Center the title above the essay. Make sure to include the following information at the top of the page: Your Name, First Year Seminar Section S/19, Professor Schell, Date.

1. Please bring a hard copy of the essay to class on the day it is due. You will also need to turn in the following materials. Please put your paper and the supporting materials into a two-pocket folder, with the final version of your paper on the right and the supporting materials on the left.

q Rough draft with indications that you have looked it over and made some corrections.

2. You must also submit your final paper to Turnitin.com in order to receive credit for the paper. The site can be found at www.turnitn.com. When you are ready to submit the paper, log on to your account (using your own login [email address] and password) and then access the click on the class, then the assignment (Biographical Paper) and hit the submit button. A window will prompt you to select the file from your computer. You will need the following codes:

If you have trouble submitting the paper, please email me a copy of the paper as an attached document so that I can upload it. Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to do this.

[1] This assignment is adopted from Steve Price’s “Biographical Essay Unit Plan,” distributed to the Monmouth College ILA instructors in August, 2005. Steve Price is an assistant professor in the English department and the Coordinator for Communication Across the Curriculum.