Planning Sheet
Planning Sheet
Order Description
The Profile Essay
Using the plans you outlined in last week’s Profile Process Piece assignment, you are now ready to compose the Profile essay. Be sure to read this week’s lecture and Chapter 5 in your text for more information about writing profiles, keeping these key components in mind:
Profiles take a specific angle that shares a significant issue, important contribution, or surprising quality of a person, place, or event.
Profiles are not full life stories; instead, they share a fresh perspective on a larger issue.
Profiles require writers to take a close look at a subject and use detail and description to bring the subject to life.
The subject of the Profile should focus on a local person, place, or event, meaning the subject should be a part of the writer’s local neighborhood, community, or town.
The audience of the Profile essay is the local community. Imagine the readers as neighbors and local community members.
The best topics and angles are those that are interesting to the writer. Be sure to choose a subject that is fascinating to you and that you’d like to learn more about. Also consider that your chosen subject and the angle you choose should be of interest to your audience. Outside research is not required for this essay and is discouraged. If there has been published information regarding your subject that will help add insight to your essay, please include it; however, all research you do must be documented in APA style (for in-text citations and a Reference page).
Profile Process Planning Sheet: Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation
Week 1 Assignment
Please answer the following questions in complete sentence and paragraph format. Although this is not a formal essay assignment, please note that proper spelling, grammar, and sentence structure are required. This week’s lecture and Chapters 2 and 3 in your text will help you work through some of the terms within the rhetorical situation.
Defining Topic, Angle, Purpose
• What is your chosen topic? (For example:a profile of Barb Collins, a volunteer at the local homeless shelter; a profile of “Shipwreck Days,” a citywide flea market and festival; or a profile of Burdick’s Grocery, the oldest family-owned business in town.)
A profile of James Brian, a local trader who operates a delivery service business around his home town and now expanding his delivery services to the neighboring towns
• What personal angle can you present on this topic? (Consider what is new about the topic or what unique perspective can be shared about this topic.)
James started his company ‘el-delivery’ in 2003 right after completing university education. After tar making for one year without getting an employment opportunity, James decided to venture into entrepreneurship. There being no delivery services in his home town, James identified this as the right opportunity. Using money that he had borrowed from family members and friends James bought a motorbike that he would use to deliver commodities to his customers. He would take orders from customers, buy the commodities and deliver them right at the door step of the clients at a fee. Since then the company has grown and now own two delivery vans and several motorbikes.
• What is your purpose for writing? (What do you hope to accomplish? Why are you writing?)
The purpose of writing is to describe how James turned his small delivery service company operated from his room into a big prosperous company that has many clients from different parts of his state and that has now relocated to a more spacious office so as to accommodate the ever increasing number of clients.
Analyzing your Readers
You will be writing your Profile essay to your local community. Imagine you might submit the Profile to your local newspaper or have it shared in a community newsletter; the readers of those publications make up your target audience. In two to three paragraphs, define your local community and describe what makes it unique. What are the needs, expectations, motivations, backgrounds, demographics, and experiences of community members? How will those influences impact your word choice, level of formality, and overall message?
Kingsland community boasts of being one of the most affluent communities in the United States. The occupants are mostly young professionals working in the towns’ banks, hospitals and other organizations. Kingsland being an administrative center is home to many governmental departments and hence receives visitors from different regions day in day out.
There are major food outlets and supermarkets in the region which cater for the increasing number of occupant especially those working in nearby facilities. Because of this many people tend to spend most of their time at work or in their homes explaining the boom of the delivery services as people prefer eating from food joints rather than preparing their meals at home.
The population mainly comprises of young people who are married and have small families of an average of one child per couple. Older people tend to move out when they retire to more quiet and less involving neighborhoods. Since this is a well informed audience I will be important to choose a professional tone when addressing this type of audience. Since the James profile is to be read by people who may not have heard about his services it is important to include all the fine details so that the reader can get a clear impression or a clear image of James and his company. This type of audience also requires one to use a vocabulary rich language as people here are well educated.
Reflecting on the Role of Writer
Whether you realize it or not, your personal relationship to the subject plays a key role in shaping the Profile essay. Remember, your personal brand is shaped, in many ways, by your community influences. Just as you make choices in terms of how you present your brand through writing, personal choices will also impact how you present the subject of your Profile. In two to three paragraphs, discuss your personal relationship to the subject. How have personal impacts, needs, motivations, and relationships shaped your topic, angle, and purpose?
I have used El-Delivery for almost 5 years. Being a supporter of local companies I find that James is doing a good work to the community. Because of the large number of professionals in the area, business has been good on James side. Apart from making home food delivery, El-Delivery has started assisting people move in and out of Kingsland. Property and commodity prices has gone up, infrastructure has also developed leading to emergence of more food stores, Chain stores and other businesses.
With the ever increasing population I would encourage James to keep on doing the good job of providing fast and reliable delivery services to his clients. However, competition is a major threat and hence I would advise the local community to support one of their locals by choosing El-Delivery as their preferred delivery service provider.
