If you have ever taken the time to interview someone or write about a character, you probably have an idea of what a profile essay is.

During your school life as a student, your professor will test your writing skills by asking you to write different types of essays. A profile essay is one of the most commonly written essays by students. For you to write compelling profile essays, it is important to take the time to learn how to write the best profile essays. You need to know how to pick the right title for your essay, write the introduction and body, and conclude your essay. In this article, you will get all the information you need to write the best profile essay to guarantee high grades.

What is a profile essay?

A profile essay can be described as a form of descriptive written work that focuses on describing a person, place, or event. A profile essay should we written in a way that offers a comprehensive summary of the subject while ensuring the information is provided in a balanced and non-bias. When writing a profile essay on a person, you will need to interview the person. For events and places, you will need to attend the event or visit the place to get all the data you need.

When you are asked to describe a civil rights activist, a notable past event, an organization, or a city, you are simply being asked to write a profile essay on the subject. Preferably, your profile essay should respond to questions you come across when trying to understand your subject, as these will be the same questions in the minds of the essay readers.

A well-written profile essay can fetch good grades for your academics. It should demonstrate in-depth research, organizational skills, and knowledge on the subject.

The purpose of a profile essay

As mentioned above, profile essays are meant to describe a place, event, or person. To meet the required objective, a profile essay’s purpose is:

• To detail observations and knowledge acquired about the subject
• To give the reader a deeper understanding of the place, person, or event being written about
• To show your ability and competence in writing profiles on subjects.

When writing a college profile essay, the professor assesses your presentation, organizational, and research skills. Profile essays are some of the most confusing types of writings. To ensure you get it right the first time, it is ideal to follow a preset writing guideline.

Preparing to write a profile essay

Like any other essay writing assignment, a profile essay requires you to prepare adequately before you start writing.  

Read successful profiles

The first thing you need to do to write a profile essay successfully is to spend time reading good examples of existing essays. There are numerous profiles of people, events, and places online. You can also find good reading material in magazines and newspapers. Always ensure you read as many as you can.

When reading the samples, ensure you note how these are written in terms of structure, subject liens, choices of topics, the introduction, body of the essay, and the conclusion. All these notes will play an important part when you need to structure your essay correctly. Also, take note of the type of words uses and the writing style, as it is essential to ensure you write it in the right tone.

Choosing your subject

The subject is the main part of the profile essay, and thus should be taken seriously. Some professors will leave it to the students to pick the subject, while others will give a specific topic to write about. When left to choose your own subject, you are left to choose a place, event, or person. You can choose to write a profile on a famous person, a politician, or a veteran for people profiles. This makes it relatively easy as you can find a lot of information on these subjects online and in books.

If you choose to focus on a less-known subject, you need to be creative in writing your subject lines. This is the only way to catch the reader's attention and arouse their curiosity on the subject. You can tell how best to use your wording styles and subject lines from reading written profiles.

When choosing a subject, ensure it is something interesting. This will ensure you stay motivated to gather enough material and that the reader will be interested in your profile essay. If it is a profile essay that requires an interview, avoid writing about celebrities or people you cannot meet.

Understand the tone and style of a profile essay

Even though the profile essay is an academic type of writing, the tone of voice used should not be too professional. Profile essays are more flexible in terms of writing styles than other types of academic essays. Profile essays are written in the first-person approach, especially when writing an interview with a subject. The use of first-person is more acceptable in profile essays because of the nature of the essay. Even so, only ensure you use the first person approach where necessary to avoid distracting the reader with too much focus on yourself as the writer. You can learn how best to make proper use of the first person by reading more samples before writing.

Writing your profile essay

Now that you are well prepared, it is time to get down to the real task of writing. A successfully written profile essay should be able to attract the reader's attention from beginning to end. An engaging and impressive subject like and first paragraph determine how interesting the essay is. The beginning of your article creates a first impression on the reader.

The introduction of your profile essay is the attention grabber. It should be written in a way that makes the reader ways to read further. The body of the essay must fulfill the expectations the reader got from the introduction. The topic of your essay should be clearly crafted. It should give the reader an idea of what to expect in the essay.

Structuring the essay

Like any other essay, a profile essay is also written in paragraphs and sections. It requires having an introduction, the body, and a conclusion. The introduction should comprise of several lines written to interest the reader. The body should be a comprehensive discussion of the subject, while the conclusion should summarize the points in the body.

The introduction paragraph

This acts as a preview of the essay that gives the reader a vague idea of what the essay covers. The sentences you use in your introduction act as the starting points of your essay. These sentences should be informative and descriptive of the subject. It acts as a leading statement meant to create an interest in the reader.

When writing down the points in the introduction, they should follow the order you intend to use in the essay's body. Your readers are interested in learning surprising and new facts about the subject. Therefore, the introduction should give them the confidence that your essay will fulfill their desire. The best way to start essays is by starting with a surprising fact about the subject or a quote related to the topic.

At the end of the introduction paragraph, you should include a strong statement representing the main purpose of the essay.

The body of the essay

This is the main part of the profile essay. It is where the reader will find all the information they want to know about the subject. Like any other writing, the body of a profile essay needs to flow smoothly and easy to understand. It should keep the reader interested to the end while ensuring it fulfills their needs for reading the essay.

Points and explanation

The body should describe the details and provide answers. You can represent the ideas in point form, followed by a comprehensive description of the point. Ensure you follow this structure for all your points. If you are interviewing a subject, the questions are the main points of the paragraphs, followed by a detailed explanation, the subject's answer.

Though not strictly required, it is always a good idea to include a summary sentence at the end of each paragraph. This helps the reader to finish reading the point with an easy understanding of the point discussed.

Style of writing

When writing the topics and explanations, you should do so in an enjoyable and focused manner. The explanation paragraph should not be too short. It should be an expressive narration to the reader, making it easy for them to form a mental image. Avoid listing the explanation in point form without proper descriptions. All your paragraphs need to be written consistently based on the answers provided to the questions during the interview.

Be consistent

It is important to ensure consistency in your writing by connecting your paragraphs with the sentences you used in your introduction. It would be best if you also linked your paragraphs together using transition sentences. This is done to give the reader a clue about what to expect in the next paragraphs. This helps keep the reader on track, and it provides the essay with a good flow since all paragraphs are linked.

Keep it balanced

A profile essay should offer a comprehensive idea of the subject. Therefore, it needs to present information on the subject in a way that maintains a balance between reality and imaginary. It should present facts about the subject written in a way that is easy to understand. Avoid using any unclear or confusing points in your writing. Each point should be fully explored to ensure it answers all the questions the reader may have. By the time the reader is done reading the essay, they should have a deeper understanding of the subject.

The conclusion of the essay

This is the last part of your profile essay. It acts as a reflection of the points discussed in the body of the essay. The conclusion should give the reader a thorough idea of what the essay was about in just a few sentences. It should allow the reader to feel that their expectations were met in the essay, as promised in the introduction. The conclusion is the final word of the essay that brings together the discussion, overall idea of the essay and the topic.

Editing and finalizing your profile essay

The best-written profile essays should not only be interesting but also easy to read. This is achieved by ensuring you use simple words that can be understood by different readers. A perfectly written profile essay should also be grammatically correct. Even when you have valid points, a poorly written profile essay loses its effectiveness. Ensure you read your essay and correct any errors before submitting it. you can also gain much by seeking help from online essay help services such as Homeworkholics.

By following the points highlighted in this article, you will be able to write a well-structured profile essay.