Character Sketch Assignment
Pre-Writing
 First decide which character you are going to study
 Write a list of character traits that you think describe your character,
including as many character traits as you can think of
 Look at the character traits that you have listed and find evidence in
your novel that has led you to this conclusion.
 Look at the major events that have occurred to your character in the
novel. Beside each event jot down how your character reacts to these
events.
Character Trait Examples
John was hardworking, thoughtful, a little dull, unimaginative but
sincere.
Hardworking-never stopped for a rest until all the work was done
Thoughtful-worried about his wife and wanted her to have company
A little dull- did not understand his wife’s need for excitement and change
Unimaginative-seemed set in his ways as he always wanted to do the same
things in the same way everyday.
Sincere-was truly caring and deeply loved his wife
Drafting
Now look at your character study template and decide:
 What information will you use?
 How will you organize the information?
Your character sketch should begin with an introductory paragraph that
identifies the character traits that you will be describing in your character
sketch in more detail. Your sketch should describe your chosen character
both physically, his/her appearance, and his/her personality traits. Each
trait that is identified should have several examples both through direct and
indirect quotations to provide proof of the trait.
Each character trait should be described in at least one paragraph and
should be in depth.
Your character sketch should be 3-5 pages long. It should give a detailed
portrait of your character, describing them by their actions and their
reactions to major events in the story.
Attention to detail and to sentence structure and spelling needs to be
considered.
In order to receive a 4 in any area group writing must be without error, and
also be original and creative.
An assessment that states the obvious is not considered to be original or
creative. For example:
Oscar the Grouch was grouchy. In one episode he yelled at Big Bird for making too
much noise. He also yelled at Ernie for waking him up in the middle of the afternoon
to invite him to a party.
Oscar the Grouch was a loner and did not want to make friends. He often asked to be
left alone and made it difficult for any to learn much about him.
Creative and original:
Oscar the Grouch was a sad and lonely character. He used anger to hide his true
emotions. In one episode Oscar became very angry with Big Bird for making too
much noise. In reality he was not angry but hurt that he had not been invited to the
party. He was surprised to see how many people were at Big Bird’s nest, so the viewer
knows that he was not aware that a party was going on. Oscar said to Big Bird,
“…it’s bad enough that I never know what is going on, but you are making way too
much noise.” Oscar deliberately points out his frustration at not being invited. This
is also evident by Oscar’s change of mood after Big Bird responds to his anger. When
Big Bird asked Oscar why he did not know about the party, because Big Bird had left
him an invitation 3 days ago in his mailbox, Oscar changes his mood and realizes
that he threw out the invitation as junk mail. Oscar then stays at the party and
thanks Big Bird for the good time when he leaves.
Oscar used his brusque manner as a shield to protect him from being hurt….
Character Sketch Evaluation Rubric