A profile essay is a type of essay that centers on a certain person. One of the most common profile essay assignments is one in which the author “profiles” a certain person, offering information about who that person is and why they are important.
For this essay, you will pick a living person to interview who you admire and write about said person. Interview this person as many times as necessary.
Do not pick a dead person. You cannot interview a dead person. Do not pick a living celebrity who you don’t know personally. You can’t interview someone unless you know them.
A profile essay does not have the same structure as a narrative essay or an argumentative essay. The type of writing for a profile essay is less rigidly structured, and an author can take several different approaches.
Prepare to write 1,500 words for this essay, and make sure to cite the personal interview with signal phrases throughout the body of the essay and a Works Cited page entry for each time you interviewed your subject. Let me be clear — this part of the assignment is non-negotiable: papers short of the length requirement will be returned ungraded. Also, essays without a Works Cited page will be returned – ungraded.
Any time you render a full account, you answer what is commonly known as “reporter’s questions”–the who, what, where, when, why, and how questions reporters ask themselves to make sure their reports of news stories are complete. Your profile should be descriiptive, using sensory language (touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste) to describe the person and related events. Profiles include action and details, provide a clear sequence of events, and use dialogue and direct quotations. Describe your subject in such a way that the details and facts help the reader visualize your subject and their experiences. Experiences happen in some place at some time, and good essays describe these settings.
I suggest you follow this basic outline:
Introduction: Introduce the topic, assuming the readers do not know your writing prompt. Make sure your introduction grabs the readers’ attention. Use at least one introduction strategy. Invest your readers in the topic. Make them care about it. End the introduction by stating your thesis statement, which should include a forecasting statement (sub-divisions).
Body Paragraphs: Follow the MEAL PLAN (Links to an external site.) for each body paragraph. Use evidence, examples, direct quotations, events, and people to support your paragraphs.
Conclusion: End your piece in a strong and interesting way. Sum up your main argument, but also include a strong conclusion strategy. You might want to predict what the future holds or explain the lasting impact of this event.
The following website includes thousands of sample profile essays for your reference: (Links to an external site.)
An “A” essay meets all of the above criteria, reads fluently to an adult reader, is cohesive (all ideas come together logically), is unified (each paragraph focuses on one idea), and persuasively presents textural references that support your case. An “A” essay is excellent, overall.
A “B” essay generally meets all of the above criteria successfully but may contain limited adult literacy errors that impede the clarity of the content for the reader. It may lack cohesiveness in some parts of the essay, paragraphs may lack unity, has some flawed logical elements, and does not present as persuasive an argument as an A paper.
A “C” essay does not meet one of these criteria: the essays do not include an accurate MLA works cited list, lack unified paragraphs, include inaccurate in-text citations, lack logical connections between ideas, or provides limited persuasive arguments that support your case.
A “D” essay does not demonstrate these assessment criteria: in addition to the flaws in a C paper, a paper that receives a grade of D contains significant adult literacy errors that detract from the reader’s understanding of the content, lack an MLA works cited list, lack in-text citations, lack development to the minimum required word counts, do not provide persuasive arguments that support your case.
An “F” paper lacks development, accuracy, logic, and readability. In addition, any plagiarism that appears in an essay will result in a grade of F on the assignment (if it is the first offense) and a grade of F in the course if the second.
Does your introduction use at least one introduction strategy?
Does each body paragraph follow the MEAL Plan?
Does your conclusion include a concluding paragraph strategy (Links to an external site.)?
Is your essay at least 1,500 words?
Does your essay follow MLA manuscriipt format?
Did you perform a spell-check? Did you fix the errors spell-check advised you to fix?
Did you read the rubric and make sure your essay meets the requirements?
Did you include dialogue and direct quotations?
Did you include a Works Cited page?
