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