Profile Essay

12/03/2006

Write a profile about someone who has an unpleasant job, one you would never want to have. For our purposes, a job is defined as something that someone is paid to do, so you can't, for example, interview your parents who had the unpleasant task of raising you, or talk to a homeless person about living on the streets. Your essay also cannot be about you, no matter how much you hate your job. Some suggestions for interview subjects might be the person who washes the dishes in Louie's, the people at Animal Control responsible for euthanizing unwanted animals, your former high school lunch lady, one of the people at LSU whose job it is to clean the restrooms, a mortician, someone who runs a dog excrement removal service, etc. However, do keep in mind that your profile subject must be someone that you know, or can meet, and can interview personally (you can't just read about someone you've never met and base your essay on that individual).

• Your essay must given the reader a dominant impression of the subject of your interview. Who is this person? What does s/he look like? How old is s/he? Where is s/he from? How would you describe this person's personality? What does this person do when s/he is not at work?
• Your essay should also give the reader a clear idea about this job. Why is it so unpleasant? Why did this person go into this line of work?

In addition to the criteria above, your essay should also describe the subject of your profile in such a way that readers feel they know this individual and have a vivid picture of him or her in their heads.

And here are some other things to keep in mind when writing about the person you're profiling (taken from Shannon McGuire's Independent Study Guide for Advanced Composition):

• When choosing your subject, bear in mind that the eccentric, the erratic, the beloved, the dashing, and so on are obvious choices. But don't overlook
  the person who may seem ordinary on the surface but who is quietly remarkable in some ways.
• Use straight description sparingly. You don't want the effect of simply cataloging the things about the person that meet the eye. What you're after
  when you use description is the sense that outward appearance reveals or belie inward traits. For instance, habitual tossing of a head of long,
  luxurious hair or fingernail tapping may be worth mentioning as significant indicators of character.
• In the descriptions you do use, try to appeal to different senses, if possible.
• Use narrative liberally. Through narration, the individual may be shown in action. And as a part of telling the story of some of his or her
  experiences, it will be perfectly natural to have him or her speak in his or her own voice, through dialogue. You'll have "instant concreteness" and the
  most lively and convincing form of evidence for the dominant impression you are trying to create. Dialogue contributes to the narrative illusion of
  reality, and matters like a person's vocabulary and his grammar can be revealing.
• Choose for narration several small incidents rather than one long one. A personality is more completely revealed through various isolated events than
  by behavior on one occasion.
• Although you will want to create a dominant impression about the individual, don't feel obliged to simplify his/her character. If your sense of
  the person you're sketching is that he or she is complex, unfathomable or even paradoxical, that is a legitimate dominant impression to create in your
  sketch.
• Consider using the opinions of others in your sketch. The reaction of a person's children to his or her homecoming or of his or her employees to his
  arrival at work can tell us a lot about him or her.
• Keep in mind the DOMINANT IMPRESSION you are trying to create. Let your guiding principle to which details and examples you ought to include be the
  quality or qualities of character which you feel are essential.
• Careful control of tone is very important in creating an effective character sketch. Consider early on in the writing process whether you want
  to write from a middle distance to your subject, from "up close," or with detachment. In the final stages of revision, be alert to the subtleties of
  word choice which largely create tone.
• Avoid the temptation to moralize tediously about the character's vices and virtues and to over-sentimentalize, especially with beloved characters.

The final draft of your essay must be at least 800 words in length and include a works cited page (you'll need to cite your personal interview). This length requirement doesn't include your works cited page, title or name, just the essay itself. Failure to meet this length requirement will cost you a letter grade on this assignment.

The final draft of your essay is due in my computer as an attachment file no later than 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, September 20th. In addition, you are required to submit a topic description of your essay by 11:59 p.m. September 11th and to attend both peer review days for this assignment (see syllabus for exact dates). Failing to submit your topic description by the deadline will cost you a letter grade on this assignment. Also, failing to attend these peer review days will cost you a letter grade on your assignment for each day missed! In addition to these formal opportunities to evaluate your work, I am happy to give you feed back via the internet during the course of the assignment providing you don't submit material to me at the last minute or sent it to me repeatedly within one 24 hour period. To that end, I will not look at a rough draft for this assignment after 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, September 19th. Also, you may seek further assistance with your work at any time by visiting the Writing Center in the basement of Coates Hall.