Project 2: Community Profile

Guidelines and Checklist
Context
As a student at the University of Arizona, you
have a variety of opportunities to publish your
writing for the UA community, including The
Daily Wildcat, UA News, Arizona Alumni
Magazine, and countless organizational
newsletters. For this project, you will take on the
persona of a reporter for one of these UA-based
publications.
Purpose
To create an in-depth profile of a specific UA community that
• makes thoughtful claim about the shared values, goals, and literacy practices of this community
• provides context for its goals and membership
• informs your audience of how discourse in that community functions
• highlights a prominent individual in the community
• promotes relevant activities sponsored by the community
Rationale
One way we are identified as a member of a group is by what we do and how we communicate with other
members. Communication is prompted by a specific purpose, to a specific audience, and to complete
specific actions. Repeated communications, or genres, help define the discourse of a community.
Researching the literacy practices and genres of a specific community will help provide you with insights
into a community with which you are a new or a longtime member.
• Discourse Community: A group of people organized through a set of shared literacy practices,
values, and goals.
• Genres: Texts that allow community members to accomplish activities and goals (e.g.
academic/professional publications, newsletters, listservs, social media posts, etc.)
Research
• Genre Analyses: Research and analyze two different texts from your selected community. What
information is available to the general public? What information circulates inside the group?
• Personal Profile: Research a prominent individual who is a knowledgeable and experienced
community member. This research can be completed through researching written, audio, or video
texts or if you have the opportunity, through a personal interview.
In this profile, you should consider the following questions:
• What information about community activities should you highlight?
• What are the most interesting aspects of this community’s use of language and literacy practices,
especially for your target audience?
• How much description of location, activities, and membership is needed for your readers?
• What images could you include to enhance the readers’ understanding of the community?
• How could you effectively integrate dialogue, description, and/or narrative into this profile?
• What are your own biases about the group you are profiling? How much of this bias should be
reflected in your profile?
• How will you address the “so what” question to your audience? In other words, why should the
audience care about the community and be engaged in reading your profile?
Language and Voice
In a profile, the focus is on the group being profiled, so third-person pronouns (He/She/It/They) are
expected. However, writers often have personal connections to the profile group, which means
first-person pronouns (I, We) can be used strategically. Continue to develop your own style and voice as a
writer.
Format Requirements
● ~1,500 words
● Provide an engaging title for the profile.
● Include at least one appropriate and engaging visual that supports your claim.
● Use MLA format (See How Writing Works pp.561-572; Writer’s Help 2.0)
○ Include in-text citations and a Works Cited in MLA format.
○ Cite all source material (quotes, paraphrases, summaries, facts, and visuals).
○ Note: Plagiarism is not accepted.
■ Essays including plagiarism will not be read but returned to the student for
correction.
Course Objectives
After completing this project you will have made progress towards the following student learning
objectives:
● 1A. identify the purposes of, intended audiences for, and arguments in a text, as situated within
particular cultural, economic, and political contexts.
● 1C. analyze how genres shape reading and composing practices.
● 1D. read in ways that contribute to their rhetorical knowledge as writers.
● 2C. incorporate evidence, such as through summaries, paraphrases, quotations, and visuals.
● 2E. support ideas or positions with compelling discussion of evidence from multiple sources.
● 3B. produce multiple revisions on global and local levels.
● 3C. suggest useful global and local revisions to other writers.
● 4A. follow appropriate conventions for grammar, punctuation, and spelling, through practice in
composing and revising.
● 4E. apply citation conventions systematically in their own work.
Final Draft of the Community Profile: 150 points / 30% of the Course Grade
Grading Criteria
Checklist Score
1. Have you composed an informative profile of a specific UA community? Does this profile address
the “so what” question?
2. Do you make a thoughtful claim about the shared values, goals, and literacy practices of this
discourse community?
3. Does the profile effectively address your Rhetorical Situation: author, context, audience, and
purpose?
4. Have you synthesized relevant, contextualized evidence from the personal profile, genre analyses,
and research on the community’s membership and activities?
5. Is source material (quotes, paraphrases, summaries) logically integrated with your own writing?
6. Have you successfully integrated relevant dialogue, description and/or narrative?
7. Do you effectively use specific Rhetorical Strategies to address ethos, pathos, and logos?
8. Do you provide a clear organizational structure for the profile with an effective use of Rhetorical
Modes?
9. Do paragraphs show internal coherence and unity?
10. Do you use logical transitions within and among paragraphs?
11. Do you successfully use a variety of sentence structures?
12. Is your use of language clear, concise, appropriate, and engaging for your purpose and your
audience?
13. Are there few minor errors in mechanics (grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization)?
14. Do you include at least one appropriate and engaging visual that supports your claim?
15. Do you include an engaging title for the essay; are there few minor errors in MLA format; and is
source material accurately documented in MLA format?
Total:
Final Draft Grading Scale
10 – 9 = Exemplary; final draft quality; may need minor editing
8 = Accomplished; late draft quality; needs focused improvement
7 = Developing; middle draft quality; needs significant improvement
6 = Emerging; early draft quality; needs extensive improvement
5 = Unacceptable; attempt does not meet minimum expectations
0 = Missing item