1. Profiles

2. Purpose and Audience What is your main purpose?
To inform readers about some aspect of everyday life (places and activities around us that we rarely get to know intimately)
To give readers a behind-the-scenes look at an intriguing or unusual activity
To surprise readers by presenting unusual subjects or familiar ones in new ways
To offer a new way to look at and think about the cultural significance of the subject
To bridge the distance between outsiders’ perceptions and the lived experience of people as they try to communicate, construct their identities, and define their value
What are you assuming about the audience?
That audience members know nothing or very little about the subject
That they will be interested and possibly amused by a particular aspect of the subject
That they will be intrigued by the perspective the writer takes or fascinated by certain quotes or descriptive details

3. Basic Features Detailed information A clear, logical organization
Writer’s role
Perspective on the subject

4. Detailed information about the subject
Describing strategies include:
Naming
Detailing
Comparing
Most information in a profile comes from observation and is therefore described, but information may also come from
Interviews
Background research
To give information from sources you can
Quote
Paraphrase
Summarize
You should always research your subject thoroughly

5. A Clear Logical organization
Ways to organize
Narratively
Guided tour of a place or story
An array of topics

6. The Writer’s Role
A spectator or detached observer--the writer’s position is like that of the reader— an outsider looking in on the people and their activities
A participant observer—the writers participates in the activity being profiled and acquires insider knowledge
Sometimes writers use both roles

7. Perspective on the Subject
This is the main idea or cultural significance that the writer wants readers to take away from reading the profile.
Profiles create a dominant impression through their description and narration. But they also analyze and interpret the subject, conveying their perspective explicitly through commentary as well as implicitly through tone.