Read at least 10 columns by the person you choose. Append a page to your paper listing the dates and sources of the columns.
Here are some of the matters you should address as you analyze your columnist:
Subject Matter: What kinds of subjects does your columnist write about? Does your sample permit you to conclude that the favorite subject categories for your particular columnist are X and Y?
Voice: What voice does your columnist adopt? Are all of most of the columns written in the third person? Does he or she use the first-person voice repeatedly or often or occasionally?
Tone: What tone does your columnist adopt in his or her writing? Are the columns uniformly serious in tone, formal, informal, humorous, sarcastic, acerbic?
Ideology: Is it possible to characterize your columnist as liberal or conservative based on your study sample? Or does your columnist write mainly about subjects that don't lend themselves to ideological positioning?
Audience: Based on your reading, what kind of audience is the columnist aiming at.
LENGTH: Three to five pages.
SPECIFICS: You should quote extensively from columns to support the points you make.