1. Profiles
Ch. 5

2. Objectives Choose a compelling subject for a profile.
Understand the concept of a theme, and write a profile that supports a central theme.
Create a storyboard that highlights thematic events and details.
Conduct preliminary research and field research to gather information about your subject.
Use selective description and details to illuminate your subject and theme.
Include images in your essay to enhance a reader’s understanding of the subject and theme.

3. Portraits in words Profiles are portraits in words
Usually of people, but also places and events – virtually anything that can be portrayed in writing
Publications that frequently publish profiles include
Vanity Fair
Rolling Stone
Forbes
Vogue
The New Yorker
60 Minutes
Your social media profiles are a form of self-portrait

4. Profiles that communicate and solve problems
Read the profile on Kris Wittenberg on pg. 164
What is the issue or problem that readers can grasp and relate to in this profile?

5. A student’s essay proposal
See the example of a Profile Essay Proposal
Your proposal should include the following:
1. subject of the profile
2. source of interest
3. the central theme
4. research methods and visual materials
5. audience and relevance

6. Invention
Spend five to ten minutes brainstorming and creating a preliminary list of people, places, and events you might want to write a profile about.

7. Profiles and communication goals: tracing a theme
Start with a subject that intrigues you
Make the subject meaningful to readers
A meaningful profile is more than a collection of facts and information; it says something readers perceive as useful and relevant to them.
Support a central theme that gives meaning to the facts
Profiles move gradually toward the view/central theme
Readers should be on the trail of the central theme from the beginning
Read and analyze “Old Dameron” on pg. 171

8. Profiles and Communication Goals: Tracing a Theme
Themes in portraits

9. Profiles and Communication Goals: Tracing a Theme
Themes as portraits
Analyze one of these portraits for thematic relevance
Make a case for a meaning – a theme – you think the portrait conveys
To guide you analysis, ask yourself some of the following questions
What is the first thing you notice when you look at the portrait – what draws your eye?
How old is the subject?
How would you describe the subjects body language and mood?
What is the subject wearing?
What is the setting?
What is the occasion, if any?
What objects or details are highlighted in the portrait, how do they relate to the subject?
What is in the foreground and background – in other words, what is prioritized or put at a distance?

10. Profiling a Place
After reading the two web postings about Venice Beach, California or pgs , write a response that describes:
The central theme that each writer wants to convey
What key details the writer presents in order to express and support the theme

11. Profiling an Event
Synthesizing perspectives on an urban music festival pg
What exactly is the view of the festival that the writer conveys – in other words, the central theme of the profile?
Are causalities and their substance abuse the main themes of the profile, OR
Are they outlying details that frame a larger picture?
If these are not the main theme, what is?
How do the incidents described at the beginning and end of the profile relate to the to the middle of the piece, and the main theme that you take away?

12. Writing a Rough Draft Focus on the central theme The opening
Question, issue, or problem that the subject raises and the view your profile will support
The opening
Put readers on the trail of the theme
This will give your profile a purpose and a direction
Pose a relevant question or present an issue or problem
Use an informal, or inductive pattern, like in the your narrative essay

13. Special Considerations of the Essay
Using First or Third Person
If the writer interacts with the subject, use a combination of both
If the writer does not interact with the subject, only use third
Use descriptive language
Describe settings and locations

14. Storyboarding
Create a story board using the template in the blog