So, you’ve got confused by that assignment, haven’t you? A profile essay. What’s that? Students frequently fail to understand this essay type correctly from the first try. However, there is some good news, too. A profile essay turns into a piece of cake after you find out how to write it well.
That type of academic assignment wants a student to describe a place, a person, an event, or anything else that has details one could mention if they would like to. So, it is a paper with a descriptive purpose that is built around the chosen subject one has to disassemble into lesser details thoroughly and attentively.
Essays of that type are usually the featured assignments for future journalists. In fact, writing high-quality profile essays is one of the pillars of every journalist’s job, as the process requires them to research a lot regarding the event, place, or person that is the core of their paper.
The Goal of a Profile Essay
Before we proceed with the explanation about how to write a profile essay on a person or a subject, one might want to find out about the goal of profile essays in detail. Simply put, a profile essay is an assignment that supposes a student to describe the chosen subject completely. The more details you include in the writing, the better. However, professionals also recommend doing whatever you can to keep the reader (for college, university, and high school students, it’s their professor) interested and willing to continue reading.
So, everything starts with the topic. A new and original topic of a profile essay will bring you some additional points and benefits even before your professor actually starts reading its contents. And yes, though a prof may seem to know everything, it will be great if you’ll be able to provide them with some facts that are new for them.
Now, let’s discuss the preparation process. Stay alert: it is as important as writing itself.
How to Start a Profile Essay: Preparation
The pre-production stage is a vital part of any project. Academic papers become much easier to complete when you invest enough time and effort in their preparation.
Here below, you’ll find a step-by-step guide on preparation and writing your profile essay. Try not to miss too many details. That’s how you increase your chance to get the highest grade possible. Your academic success is surely worth a couple of hours spent to prepare, isn’t it?
Determine Subject
Don’t underestimate the critical meaning of this very first stage of profile essay writing. Of course, some professors prefer their students to work on previously assigned topics. In that case, your subject does not depend on you, and you work with what you’ve got.
On the other hand, there are more liberal professors who offer students to choose the topic they like the most on their own. Obviously, the latter gives you more opportunities, though you may feel lost among the varieties of possible topics to pick.
So, in case there is the possibility for you to come up with a free topic, make sure that your topic is interesting to you, first of all. Another key feature of a suitable profile essay subject is its searchability. Before you approve the topic you like, check if you can find enough reference materials to craft a detailed paper. If you have doubts after that, you might want to go in for another subject concept.
How to Write a Profile Essay: Tone and Style
A profile essay is an academic paper at its core. However, the style you can use here is a bit different. It’s more flexible in terms of formalities and literary devices used.
A profile essay supposes students to write in the first person when their profile essay is anyone’s personal interview. Your professor will expect to see how you describe your chosen subject, so the manner of your writing should correlate with the rest of the essay.
The first-person writing suits here better than that of the second-person solution due to the nature of profile essays’ contents. Still, try not to overuse it unless you want to make a paper less effective. Don’t focus on yourself too much to avoid distracting the professor from the topic.
It will be useful to find a profile essay example for college students online to check here. That visual demonstration would be the perfect way for you to understand the point.
Proceed With Profile Essay Writing
Now, when you know enough about the purpose of profile essays and also found out how to prepare for writing them, it is time to switch to the main academic process. Of course, it’s writing.
Essay Structure
As it was mentioned above more than once already, a profile essay has a lot in common with other essay types. In Particular, its structure is typical. Just like an average academic essay, a profile paper consists of three blocks:
- introduction;
- main body;
- conclusion.
Below we’ve shown how to write a profile essay on a place or a person in detail. See what should be included in every block of your future paper and how to make the final draft be worth the highest grade.
IntroIn an introduction, your main mission is to keep and boost the attention of your professor about the paper. It is something likely to be a preview. Here, you should let them know more about the topic and things they are going to find further in an essay body.
The introduction should reveal some basic information and contain slight descriptions of a person, a place, or an event that is the current paper’s subject. Additionally, a good intro paragraph is the one able to hook the reader, to get them interested and involved in the reading process.
Many students make the same mistake here. It’s simple. They think their professor just can’t get interested in their papers because the prof knows everything about the topics they discuss. That is not true, and you can use the advantages of your topic to intrigue the professor (who is your main reader here) in the intro.
Your prof will be excited enough to find out an uncommon fact about the person or a less famous detail about the event you are writing your profile essay on. Don’t miss the opportunity to give them that intriguing hint in your paper’s intro.
And of course, the last but not least important element of an introduction is the thesis statement. Usually, it is the final sentence of the paragraph explaining the reason and/or the goal that you had in mind while picking the topic and crafting the essay.
BodyAs always, the main body is the place to present the core information that makes your profile essay exist. Regarding the introduction, your reader would expect to read more about the person, event, or anything that you marked as your paper’s subject in the topic and the intro.
The main essay body should be possible to read it smoothly with no interruptions or difficulties of any kind. What’s important here, too, is that the paper should not be a source of boredom. Make sure it is not dull or secondary regarding the existing materials and references you used.
Feel free to go in for small and interesting details, less common facts, and, possibly, answers that the person provided you with during a private interview (this works for profile essays on a person only, of course).
Simply put, an essay body is like a picture. When you write someone’s personal profile, that’s all about portraying their biography, achievements, traits, lifestyle, etc. If your subject is an event, then describe it chronologically and add comments proving your thesis statement.
The point is that you can be creative while illustrating the subject for readers, but the proper balance between your imagination and private comments and the actual situation or personality should be kept perfectly.
Finally, while working on the essay body, make it simple for the reader to understand what is written. Avoid using the info that can provide uncertainty, break the chain of real events, or make the professor confused due to the use of unchecked facts and random, unintentional delusions.
Explain each question, focal point, or the fact you insert in the essay’s body as long as you find it necessary to exclude any inconveniences, even the slightest ones. The professor should have a clear view of what you wanted to say by the last paragraph of your paper.
ConclusionA conclusion is a must-be part of any academic essay, including profile papers. A summary paragraph reflects the facts and comments you brought up for discussion previously in the main body. Mostly, the best way to write a suitable conclusion and finish an essay strongly is to logically tie the info from the body paragraphs to a thesis statement displayed in an intro.
Please note that the final part of the essay is not a place for new facts or concepts. You can only restate what was already mentioned. Don’t confuse your professor if you want to get the top grade.
Afterword
As you can see, profile essays are not too difficult to complete. You should choose the topic attentively, take time to do preliminary preparations, and keep up with the common essay structure. Usually, that’s more than enough to craft a worthy academic paper of any type.
However, if you don’t feel confident enough, you can ask for expert help online. Professionals will provide you with profile writing tips and recommendations. If necessary, they can assist you with writing, too. Don’t lose control over your academic success: use any opportunity to get the highest grade possible.