A Sense of Doubt blog post #1787 - Feature Article Assignment - ENG 102 - LCC
So, we're back to this. I do a lot of writing each week, but a lot of is shared with students only. So here's my new feature article assignment, inspired from an idea by my colleague Amber Lemiere.
I am kind of proud of how I tried to promote the idea of voice by writing these instructions in my own unique voice.
FEATURE ARTICLE ASSIGNMENT - ENGLISH 102 - WINTER 2020
LENGTH: at least 500 words
FORMAT: Standard font and margins; double-spacing; one sided printing of pages; student header.
CITES: None, probably. No need to cite quoting yourself. Since all quotes may be the things you would say to an interviewer, none of it is cited. But if for some reason you cite something else, either a print document or some other source (song, movie), then these instances should be cited as they constitute "source use."
DUE for PEER REVIEW: Tuesday January 14th to class on paper - three copies
DUE FOR REAL - Thursday January 16th on paper and digitally to Canvas (Word format file).
Points = 40
CAVEAT IMPERIOUS: This assignment will be scored pass/fail: all or nothing. Each student may re-submit multiple times until the work is “publishable,” meaning error-free, exhibits elevated style, and a unique writer’s voice. Points will only be awarded when the work meets these conditions. The author will repeatedly submit the work until the instructor approves these conditions. The submission timetable will be agreed upon between student and instructor.
EXPLANATORY PLANET:
Pretend you have interviewed yourself and are writing a feature article profiling yourself for some well-read blog, online or print magazine, top-rated newspaper (like the NY Times), or some other content outlet.
This process may work best if you actually review questions asked of profile subjects and consider your own answers. You need not ACTUALLY interview yourself by asking the questions of yourself and answering them because if overheard and seen people may look at you funny and wonder if there’s a phase shifted double in your aura space that cannot be seen with the human retina. However, the process of reviewing good questions and thinking of what your answers may be could help produce the right content. One link provides a long list of excellent questions.
As you prepare to write your profile feature, find a theme, what journalists call “an angle.” Have you failed a lot? Maybe perseverance in the face of many failures is your theme. Do you try to give back to the community? Perhaps selfless volunteering is your theme. Do you have a central motto you live by? Perhaps this motto is your theme. A theme (angle) can be anything; these are simply three choices. Whatever you choose, the theme will provide the main focus and concentration of your article.
Start your profile with an entertaining and surprising hook and then introduce your angle/theme in what journalists call “the lead.” After setting up the lead well, shift into background mode, giving context and key information on your subject (which is you). Make readers want to meet you.
Next, shift into the highlights of the main idea, the angle. Use narrative mode if applicable. Be descriptive. Illustrate. DETAILS. Help readers to VISUALIZE. Invoke other senses as appropriate. This part may be a series of experiences, one experience, reflections, or any number of structures. Look at examples.
QUOTES: “Quotes are not used to fill up space. Use quotes to tell your story, using the subject’s words to develop the profile’s main points. Each section of a profile should contain at least one quote that ties the material together. Find pithy, meaningful quotes to provide maximum effect. Reserve the best quote that best encapsulates your angle and use this for your concluding paragraph. This leaves the reader with a clear picture of the main theme that you are trying to get across” (Foster, 6).
Wrap up with a “frame.” Create a frame for your story by returning to the angle set up in your lead as you conclude. Re-introduce the theme. Save your best quote for last to leave the reader hearing the voice of your person profiled (which is you, BTW, just in case you’re getting confused). And, yes, I just repeated the same directive about the best quote, but the first instance came from the source I was quoting, and this repetition is from me: after all, I like to inculcate as many of you know.
NOTE ON FORM: This is a feature article NOT a transcription of an interview. One set of examples shows the interview transcription style, which is NOT the format for our work. I included those samples because the lead-hook and background were well done, but the rest is not applicable.
TRUTH: Does your profile have to be true? Well, sure, this is the intention, isn’t it? But you say you want to embellish? You say you want a revolution? To fictionalize or not fictionalize is the question? If you don’t make your content completely outlandish, I am not going to know. Then again, if you describe how you’re an alien from another planet, you might just manage to write the very best profile in the class. Who am I to tell you that you are not REALLY from another planet? After all, you may find a kindred spirit in me. My own super powers were obliterated when my rocket ship passed through a cloud of Gold Kryptonite on its way to Earth. I mean, seriously? Can you prove that it didn’t happen any more than I can prove that it did?
IMITATE!!!! I am sharing many links of sample profiles from a variety of sources from just a short time investment scouring the Interwebs. Choose at least one example and imitate it in its use of writer’s voice, its structure, and other elements. How did the author construct a hook? How did the author introduce the lead? How did the author weave through background and then introduce quotes and unspool the story of the person being profiled? What other aspects of writing well can you learn from this example and apply to your own work? Be a Lion! Be a Pirate! (You knew that bit was going to return, didn’t you?)
REFLECT: After completing your profile as well as including the content literally at the end of your profile, I.e. after, write a short reflection on how you composed the feature by explaining what examples you read, analyzed, and then imitated: explain what elements you borrowed from these examples. EXPLAIN YOUR VOICE. What voice[s] did you like in the examples that you read? How did you model your own voice on this (or these) voices? For what AUDIENCE were these articles written? Explain what reader you had in mind by explaining how your word choice, sentence construction, and other writing elements were intended to connect with this reader. After all, my entire document is written in my voice, and my intended reader is not just you but me as you, what I would like to see if I was you, hence the whimsy.
A NOTE ON THE REFLECTION (added Sunday 1/12) : The reflection part does not factor into the 500 words minimum and is also not subject to the "publishable" assessment.
WORKS CITED
Foster, Joel. “How to Write a Profile: 8 Tips for a Compelling Piece.” The Write Life. Nov. 12, 2016. Accessed: Jan. 08, 2020. https://thewritelife.com/writing-a-profile-story/
EXAMPLES
one good short example:
https://neilshurley.com/writing-samples/sample-profile-piece-johnny-ashmore/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/30/top-feature-stories-2017-america-off-the-beaten-track
https://www.buzzfeed.com/sandraeallen/23-of-our-favorite-feature-stories-we-published-this-year
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/profiles
https://d4n12i.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/examples-of-profile-pieces/
ONE EXAMPLE - FOR COLLEGE
http://www.cheylin.com/pages/uploaded_files/Jessica%20Smith%20-%20Interview-Profile.pdf
good hooks and background – but interviews not quite features
https://celebrityscribe.com/celebrity-interviews-and-feature-articles/
HOW TO
BOTH EXAMPLES AND HOW TO - NY TIMES MODELS
https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/putting-personality-on-paper-writing-about-people-using-times-models/
A GOOD HOW TO WITH EXAMPLE
https://www.poynter.org/archive/2002/hearts-and-guts-writing-the-personal-profile/
VERY GOOD HOW TO WITH MANY QUESTIONS
http://journalism-education.cubreporters.org/2010/08/how-to-write-profile-story.html
https://thewritelife.com/writing-a-profile-story/
https://studymoose.com/how-to-write-a-personality-profile-essay
https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Feature-Article
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/writing-a-compelling-profile-of-a-person-2316038
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2001.09 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1650 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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