Choose a subject to profile.
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To create an informative and engaging profile, your subject—whether it’s a person, a group of people, a place, or an activity—should be
- a subject that sparks your interest or curiosity;
- a subject your readers will find interesting and informative;
- a subject you can gain access to and observe in detail in the time allowed;
- a subject about which (or with whom) you can conduct in-depth interviews.
Note: Whenever you write a profile, consider carefully the ethics involved in such research: You will want to be careful to treat participants fairly and with respect in the way you both approach and depict them. Discuss the ethical implications of your research with your instructor, and think carefully about the goals of your research and the effect it will have on others. You may also need to obtain permission from your school’s ethics review board.
Make a list of appropriate subjects. Review the “Consider possible topics” on following selections by Edge, Coyne, Thompson, Dillon, and Chambers, and consult your school’s Web site to find intriguing places, activities, or people on campus.. The following ideas may suggest additional possibilities to consider:
- A place where people come together because they are of the same age, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic group (for example, a foreign language–speaking dorm or fraternity or sorority), or a place where people of different ages, genders, sexual orientations, or ethnic groups have formed a community (for example, a Sunday morning pickup basketball game in the park, LGBT club, or barbershop)
- A place where people are trained for a certain kind of work (for example, a police academy, cosmetology program, truck driving school, or boxing ring)
- A group of people working together for a particular purpose (for example, students and their teacher preparing for the academic decathlon competition, employees working together to produce something, law students and their professor working to help prisoners on death row, or scientists collaborating on a research project)
TEST YOUR CHOICE
After you have made a tentative choice, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I feel curious about the subject?
- Am I confident that I will be able to make the subject interesting for my readers?
- Do I believe that I can research this subject sufficiently in the time I have?
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Then get together with two or three other students:
Presenters. Take turns identifying your subjects. Explain your interest in the subject, and speculate about why you think it will interest readers.
Listeners. Briefly tell each presenter what you already know about his or her subject, if anything, and what might make it interesting to readers.