You can tell a lot about a person by their keys. Imagine the keys in the picture above have been left behind by a person of interest in a crime

You can tell a lot about a person by their keys. Imagine the keys in the picture above have been left behind by a person of interest in a crime. You have been hired to do a profile of this person to better understand who they are, including their attitudes and beliefs. Assume that any identifying information that could lead the authorities to this person has been exhausted. All we have are the keys and whatever you can glean from them.

Your job here is to make observations, then draw inferences from those observations. This is how Sherlock Holmes solves his mysteries, by “seeing” things no one else can see and drawing conclusions no one else is able to.

Your next experience is to practice this method, not to solve a mystery, but to understand a person—and to see the limits of observations in drawing those conclusions.

Based on very little information, you need to try to describe a person who is a stranger to both you and your audience.

AUDIENCE

A nosy, curious person who is looking for insights into the subject of your study. Think of them as a client.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the writing is to catalog your observations and inferences in a way that will be understandable and accessible to your audience.

PROCESS

1. Observe.

Spend around ten minutes looking at the keys. Write down as many different observations as you can. Observations are directly observable facts, such as there are two regular keys and two car keys and one key chain. Don’t make any judgments about these observations, simply observe. While you’re observing what is there, you should also be thinking about what’s absent. What sorts of things do people put on key chains that aren’t here?

2. Draw inferences.
What conclusions can you draw based on your observations? Who is this person? What is their gender? What do they like? How old are they? What do they do (or not do) with their time? What are their attitudes and beliefs?

3. Extend inferences.
Based on those initial inferences, what other conclusions can you draw? What does this person do with their weekends? Who are their friends and associates? This will require speculation, but make sure it’s speculation grounded in observation and earlier inferences.

4. Report findings to client.

Consider an approach and format that delivers the information in a way that will be useful to your client. Be sure to be mindful of connecting your inferences to your observations, so the client can appreciate your evidence. Also, they’d probably like to know how much confidence you have in your various conclusions. What do you know? What do you suspect? What’s merely possible? What’s wild speculation?

Include as much information as you can that’s still grounded in specific observations, as well as your level of confidence in each of these conclusions.

Due by the start of next class. MLA format. 250+ words.

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