WRT 114 / Unit 4: Literary Journalism Assignment: The Profile

 News is plot, event, what happened last night or this afternoon or is in process right now.  News breaks fast, somebody writes it up, the gun’s barely fired before the world’s clued in.  Story’s a wider map and involves any number of whys, relating to personal history, family background, the times, place, cultural background, the detached perversity of genes.  Story makes a stab at explanation, figuring out how such or another wonderful or terrible thing could have happened.  News enjoys a brief shelf life, turns stale fast, grows a quick crust.  Story addresses complicated possibilities and reasons, therefore lasts longer, maybe forever.

—Beverly Lowry, “The Shadow Knows”

Throughout the process of reporting, I tell people “It’s my story.” I often tell them, “Imagine I’m making a movie of your life. I have to trail you around with a camera because I’m trying to show people nothing but your life.  I have to see your bedroom, meet your friends, see how you are with your mom.  I’m going to watch you, and I’m going to see it differently from the way you do.  I’ll talk to other people about you.  I’ll be here for a while, and then I’m going to disappear and write my story about your life.  It won’t be the story of your life. It will be one tiny piece of what we’ve talked about.  You will tell me one thousand things, and two of them will end up in the story.”

—Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, “(Narrative) J School for People Who Never Went”

 Introduction

Literary journalism (or new journalism) is defined in Tell It Slant as a form of creative nonfiction that “allow[s] writers the luxury of a first-person voice and the use of literary devices—scene, imagery, and so forth—in the service of reporting” (Miller & Paola 97).  As author Beverly Lowry explains, literary journalism ventures deeper into complicated human material that the news may only touch upon; literary journalism “makes a stab at explanation.”  It’s also important to remember that a literary journalism piece doesn’t pretend to be the only version of the story.  Note how Adrian Nicole LeBlanc reminds us that her point of view is always invariably subjective, no matter how diligent she is in aspiring to present “the truth.”

A profile piece is a type of literary journalism that focuses on the identity and experiences of one individual.  Profile writing requires journalists to immerse themselves in the world of their subjects for a period of time.  When writing profiles, journalists use techniques of interviewing, close observation, and reporting to create an in-depth portrait of the individual they are shadowing—often an individual whose story speaks to larger cultural concerns.  The idea is that through the lens of this one individual, your reader should gain access to some element of culture that would have otherwise remained inaccessible or invisible.

Your Task

For this assignment, you will profile an individual whose story provides insight into a particular subculture or into some facet of culture that would interest a general audience of readers.  Begin by locating your subject and gaining his/her consent to write this story.  You will need your subject’s permission to conduct multiple interviews, and to shadow them—spend time observing them as they go about their daily routines, activities, and ways of being in the world—inasmuch as this is possible without being too intrusive.  While you will need to have a clear project in mind in choosing the person you want to profile, make sure to keep an open mind and let the story take shape based on what you learn from your subject, rather than leading with your own assumptions.  The story you ultimately uncover may surprise you.

Basic Guidelines

Your profile piece, which will count for 20% of your overall grade for the course, should be 6-8 pp. in length; you’ll also submit a 2 pp. critical reflection on your writing process and the choices you made in researching and composing this essay.  Both the essay and reflection piece are due _________.

The Ethics of Profile Writing

In writing your profile, it’s important that you consider the ethics of revealing versus concealing your subject’s identity and the particulars of his/her personal life.  You should discuss this openly with your subject, and consider questions like:  Could information revealed in your essay produce negative consequences for your subject if read by the wrong person?  Could information revealed in your essay produce negative consequences for someone close to your subject?  If the answer is a clear “yes,” then you’ll need to carefully weigh your options as a writer and figure out the most prudent and sensitive path forward while still working to tell the story.

 Research

Your research for this assignment will take the form of interviewing, observation, reporting, researching for context, and fact-checking.  You may need to do some additional online research to educate yourself and enrich your discussion in the essay.  You may need to talk to people besides your subject: people who know your subject, or others who have similar stories.  There is no easy way to quantify how much research you’ll need to do.  Instead, you must figure out what it will take to get the job done.  This unit will be more research-intensive than previous units, but please remember, this essay is not a research report; it’s a story.  We’ll read several literary journalism pieces and at least one profile so you can see how other journalists go about structuring their narratives.  Ultimately, you must put in the time necessary to gather enough material to write a substantial story.  Give yourself time to develop your profile gradually.

Crediting Sources

In literary journalism and in most researched creative nonfiction, writers tend not to include reference pages, but they do make sure to credit any published sources that they quote, by including the writer’s name, title of the work, and date (if possible), in the sentence in which the quote is introduced.  Alternatively, you may also use endnotes to credit your sources so as not to interrupt the flow of text.  You do not need to cite any interview material you collect.  The most important thing to remember when borrowing the ideas of another source is that you need to be responsible for differentiating between your own ideas and those of another writer.  Do not blend your ideas with another writer’s so as to conceal that you are using another source.  It’s much better to show or credit your sources by introducing them with language like this: “According to X, in her 2012 article “XXXX”…”.

Using the Tools of CNF

One of your goals in writing this piece is to draw the reader in by establishing a sense of urgency or importance to the topic.  Remember to use the tools of creative nonfiction—scene, exposition, description, dialogue, imagery, metaphor, lyricism, and so on—to construct an essay that has a sense of immediacy and interest for the reader.  Consider how your own subjectivity and positionality come into play in writing this piece, if at all.  Even though you are not the central focus, you will still be a peripheral presence in the story.  You’ll need to be conscious of your own speaking voice and how the things you say cast a certain light on your subject and reveal something about your own character and ethos.

 

Guidelines-

• In the profile piece, you will focus on one individual of interest and attempt to tell his/her story.   In telling the story of one individual, a good profile piece also raises larger questions about the culture as a whole.  You may report  on a local issue, event, or an issue that’s become popular/relevant nationally for their generation (for example, an inquiry into technology use, transitioning to college, student loans, volunteer work, etc.).
• Begin by drafting an assignment specific to the writing project , and then do the readings that model some approaches to this type of project and/or moves I’d like you to notice and learn from.
• Keep in mind that when writing literary journalism, some of the major moves you will need to make include finding a topic, conducting research through interviews, observation, and online/print research, recording your research, putting the pieces together and arranging them to develop a story line, framing the essay, writing in the gaps, and figuring out how to begin and end the essay.  Use the tools of creative nonfiction to craft scenes, characterize their subjects, and incorporate concrete details into their observation/descriptions.
• When working as “reporters,” you may find that new ethical considerations and dilemmas arise.  We’ll discuss  the ethics of interviewing, conducting observations, and reporting. We’ll read our work out loud to  peers in small groups and provide feedback on questions of bias and representation.  We will also examine and  articulate your identity positions explicitly in relationship to the other characters in their essays, and write about the ethical risks posed by identity differences between a writer and his/her characters.

Critical Reflection:

 Your critical reflection should be approximately 2 pp. in length.  Begin by recalling the research you did and the processes of planning, interviewing, and reporting involved in developing this essay.  Reflect on crucial moments in your process: struggles, dilemmas, insights, breakthroughs, and shifts in perspective.  Respond to any of the questions below that speak to your experience in researching, composing, or revising this essay, or address the issues that were most central for you:

• How did you choose your subject for this essay?
• Discuss your experience as an interviewer. How did you come to the right questions?  Were there moments of frustration and/or breakthrough in trying to get your subject to open up to you in the ways you wanted?  Are there things you would do differently next time?
• What kinds of additional background research did you do, and how did you come to realize what kinds of research would be necessary for this essay?
• Discuss a few examples of moments when you found yourself inhabiting the role of reporter. What happened, and how did you inhabit this role?  What would you do differently next time?
• Discuss a moment in the process of researching and writing this essay when your thinking took a sharp turn.
• Describe your most significant discovery or intellectual breakthrough in researching/composing this essay.
• What aspects of this project are you most proud of?
• What are you still struggling with?
• Discuss some quotes or key passages from our readings during Unit 4 that influenced your thinking about how to craft your profile piece, how to represent yourself as a speaking self in the essay, and how to arrange your material into the final draft.

 Grading Rubric (to be modified and developed as needed):

• Efforts to provide a focused, complex, and nuanced treatment of the issue.
• Aggressive, thorough, and innovative research; strong interviewing practices.
• Use of research and the tools of CNF in crafting a coherent, interesting, and detailed narrative replete with description, characterization, quotes, and backstory.
• Strong pact with the reader, as established through precise choice of language and tone, use of context to ground the reader, ethical treatment of subject matter, ethical representation of subjects, and a mature, in-depth, well-researched approach to the topic.
• Thoughtful decisions about framing the essay, and strategic arrangement of material.
• Efforts to raise important questions about one’s subject and to forge discoveries through moments of reflection and analysis.
• Thorough proof-reading that demonstrates the writer’s complete control over sentence structure, word choice, use of verb tenses, point of view, and use of punctuation to make the reader “hear it” the way the writer imagines the essay sounding.
• Thoughtfulness and care in composing critical reflection; explicit connections to course readings.

 

Literary Journalism Unit Grading Rubric

Criteria/Grades	A (90-100)	B(80-89)	C( 70-79)	D-F (69-)
Efforts to provide a focused, complex, and nuanced treatment of the issue.	Focused , complex, nuanced	Focused & complex	focused	Lack of focus
Aggressive, thorough, and innovative research; strong interviewing practices.	Effective use of research and interview	Some use of research and interview	vaguely	minimum
Use of research and the tools of CNF in crafting a coherent, interesting, and detailed narrative replete with description, characterization, quotes, and backstory.	Strong	acceptable	occasional	Little or none
pact with the reader, as established through precise choice of language and tone, use of context to ground the reader, ethical treatment of subject matter, ethical representation of subjects, and a mature, in-depth, well-researched approach to the topic.	Strong, Clear, fair and consistent	To certain degree	vaguely	none
decisions about framing the essay, and strategic arrangement of material.	Purposefully and thoughtfully	Appropriate	vague	none
Efforts to raise important questions about one’s subject and to forge discoveries through moments of reflection and analysis.	Insightful, reflective and relevant	Reflective and relevant	Superficial	none
Articulation of your positions explicitly in relationship to the other characters in the essay, and the ethical risks posed by identity differences between a writer and his/her character ( positionality and subjectivity).	Clear, fair and logical	Clear and relevant	implicit	none
proof-reading that demonstrates the writer’s control over sentence structure, word choice, use of verb tenses, point of view, and use of punctuation to make the reader “hear it” the way the writer imagines the essay sounding.	Thorough, complex and appropriate	Clear and appropriate	implicit	none
Thoughtfulness and care in composing critical reflection; explicit connections to course readings.	Complex and insightful	Reflective and making some connections	Reflective and implicit	little