Essay: Writing a Profile: Observe, Perceive and Describe
THE ASSIGNMENT
Write an essay about an intriguing person, place, service, activity, establishment, or event. This profile essay will be based on your observation and interview. You may have an interview(s) and should present what you have learned in a way that both informs and entertains the audience. You should consider your audience to be the people who are not familiar with your chosen subject. You must convey a particular impression or interpretation of the subject. That is, you carefully choose details of scenes or people and put these details in a particular way.
Organize your profile around a controlling theme or "angle" -- a unique or fresh perspective on your subject. An important part of writing this essay is bringing the subject to life for your readers. Make them see it, hear it, smell it, feel it and even taste it if possible.
Major writing skills: description, narration, dialogue, definition, and classification. Spatial order. You should be able to show what you sense by using figurative language such as metaphors and similes. Help your readers see, smell, touch, taste, and hear what you experience.
You also need to know the concepts of information control, objectivity, and focus.
Invention -
Things to Do:
Field Trip
This time, do not use your memory. In other words, do not choose a topic that you already experienced in the past. Instead, you need to have a fresh field trip(s) to observe and interview. Before the field trip, read chapter 15 and prepare for the trip. Take a pen/pencil and notes, a voice recorder, and/or a camera/smart phone with you.
Thick Description
When you arrive at the chosen place, try to find out several vintage points where you can observe the place very well. Record whatever you sense using five senses. Do not limit yourself to collect the details. If necessary, have an interview(s) with key people to know more. Stay, perhaps several hours, until you collect the sufficient information for drafting. You may have fifteen pages of written notes.
The General Organization
Organize your material chronologically or topically.
Use spatial order to present the subject's characteristics.
Choose items or relevant information that reflects your thesis and its reasons efficiently. Arrange the items in the best appealing order.
Make the narrative readable and dramatic.
Set the scene vividly and show what you have observed.
If you use topical order, make sure each paragraph has its topic sentence.
The Ending
Try to frame the essay by repeating an image or phrase from the beginning.
Or restate the interpretation.
End with telling an image, anecdote, or bit of dialogue.