Introduction
A profile essay is about a person, event or place. The goal of this literary work is to be informative. The tone of this type of work should be journalistic, but it still should retain literary traits. In a profile paper, you should focus on the subject matter and express your feelings in an immersive and interesting way. This is not an easy task, because you need to describe a character and things surrounding the character in just a few pages. But you will find this type of literary work really fulfilling, and it will greatly help you improve your writing style. But working on a profile essay is something that requires some patience and practice. In this post, we will show you how to write a profile essay.
Choose the subject
The first thing you need to do is to pick the subject matter. The subject can be an individual, place or event. You will find it easy to write a profile paper if your subject is a person and that person is a familiar figure. But the opposite can also be true. Your subject may or may not be intriguing. You can also choose events, but you have to make sure that the events have something important to convey to the reader. Only you can decide it only you can decide whether writing about them is a good idea. To present your ideas, you may also need to be argumentative. For college students, picking celebrities or presidents is not a very good idea, mainly because you are not writing for a government organization. Here are some good topics. You can choose any one of them:
- Your idol
- Your favorite place
- A summer morning
- Your sibling
- Your first public appearance
- Your first best friend
- Your favorite song
- Your family’s pet
- The first time you saw your partner
- The symbol of your city
- The president of your country
- Your professor
- Your dearest memory
- Your favorite dish
- Your favorite country in the world
- Your experience of writing the first love letter
Useful tips
If the subject is a person, it is a good idea to start writing the essay by providing some background information about the person you are going to write about. Before diving into details, give your readers some basic information about your subject. Before giving less important information, give more important information. You should also explain the reason why you have chosen the person. Here are some more tips:
- It is a good idea to read a lot of examples. Good examples can give you the instruments and tools that you can apply in your work.
- Carefully choose a topic. To be ready for an interview, learn about the person as much as possible. Make sure you can reach the person. Be realistic. An interview is a great part of this type of writing.
- Learn as much as possible about the subject matter. Do your own research. To make sure that you are ready for taking an interview, prepare questions and analyze sources.
- If you need to describe some events, make sure that the events are believable. If you need to be argumentative, make sure your arguments are logical.
- Do not deviate from the facts and make sure you do not end up making a false impression by providing too many personal opinions.
- Provide vivid examples, add jokes and engage your senses. Instill life into your work.
Hopefully, these tips will help you avoid common mistakes in writing a profile essay. A profile essay is vivid and original when you like producing every word of it. But you should always keep in mind that you may need to take a different approach for your particular needs.
Writing the essay
If you are writing the first profile essay in your life, you will wonder how to write a profile essay that can hook the readers. Keep in mind that working on a profile essay requires some patience and practice. To describe a person, an event or a place, you must observe carefully. Observations and interviews are of utmost importance. But the description is not supposed to be simple. You must show your reader how you interpret the subject and other ideas personally. To make your paper lively, it is also a good idea to use dialogues, quotes, and anecdotes.
Your essay can be either subjective or objective, or both. Your perspective should play an important role in the description of the paper. Try your best to maintain honesty and fairness. The events you describe should not be irrelevant. Try to exert a dominant impression and make your point of view as clear as possible. You can present arguments and make statements to back up your position. Do not present the transcript of your interview as an essay. Students often try to do this.
Be careful about the structure of your essay. It should clearly have a beginning, middle and an end. If you are writing this essay for a magazine, you can construct your essay topically. In this style, writers can move from one subject to another. Keep in mind that your essay should have 3 main sections, and you must know what you need to write in each section. The points below will give you an idea about the good organization of your paper.
Opening section
In the first paragraph of this section, you should try to introduce a topic, provide some background information and capture your reader’s attention. To hook the reader, using an anecdote is a good idea. Make sure your sentences are descriptive and informative. The details you are going to present in the middle section will be largely determined by what you say in the opening section. At the end of this paragraph, you should put a strong statement. The main purpose of writing your essay should be reflected in the statement. If it is catchy, your readers will feel interested to read further.
Middle section
In this important section of the structure, describe places, persons and objects that are important for the essay. Also, provide notable characteristics of the subject. To make a lasting impression, you can make anecdotes. If necessary, provide further background information. Do not present too many personal opinions. These opinions can harm your objectivity. To connect with your reader, write in a warm tone. Avoid giving a detailed description of the events of taking the interview for this piece.
Do not hesitate to provide details that you do not agree with. Try to avoid general explanations. Provide as many details as possible. Rather than expressing your emotions directly, show your readers how touchy it is.
Closing section
What insights have you gained from your observations and interviews? You can present the insights in the closing section. Try to make this section memorable. To express your main idea in a compact form, it is a good idea to use a good quote. You can also illustrate the theme by describing an incident.
But remember that there may be some variations of the structure because nothing is set in stone. For example, in some cases, you need to publish your interview as it is. This is called transcript style. In this style, the questions are in bold, and the answers are quoted directly. Sometimes you need to write a dual or multiple person profiles that requires the organization of the material in different ways. In this form, you need to treat multiple interviews sequentially and individually.
Conclusion
Remember, if you do not put much emphasis, you may end up writing a dry profile essay. Your readers will not find it interesting if it reads like a list of facts. The conclusion of a profile essay gives you a chance to make the subject memorable.
The main parts of your essay should be summarized in the last paragraph. It is also an opportunity to show how the facts and ideas presented in the paper are connected. In this part, you do not need to make new points. This part of the essay can also give your piece an emotional spin. Make sure your readers feel strongly for the subject of your work.
