samples profiles, writing homework help

A Profile may be a new genre of writing for you: it isn’t a typical academic essay, with a clearly-stated thesis up front. Profiles allow for greater creativity in the decisions a writer can make to impact readers. However, profiles generally do the following:

• Provide some insight into the subject
• Include key specific details about the subject
• Are organized in a rational way that readers both understand and appreciate

So: What are some of the traits of an effective, reader-centered profile? This discussion board topic is designed to help you explore answers to this question by comparing three different profiles.

It is crucial that you remember that *none* of these profiles were written for our Project 1 assignment. As such, none of the three is an exact model for you to follow as you construct our own profile draft.

Rather, your goal here is to identify specific elements in each profile that you think are effective, and why. It is also helpful to identify elements of each profile that you don’t think work well, and why.

Please read the following three profiles:

• “The Tuskegee Airmen Plane’s Last Flight” by Owen Edwards, found in Chapter 6 of the course eBook
• “Magic in the Motor City” by Jay Walljasper from the Project for Public Spaces website
• “Mandolin Brothers” from the PlaceMatters website (make sure you click the “read more” link to ensure you’re reading the whole profile)

In your initial discussion board post, please write 1-3 paragraphs in which you do the following:

1. Explain what you think the most effective parts of each profile are, and why.
2. Identify at least one example from each profile where effective specific details are incorporated. Explain why you find the examples you’ve chosen as “effective”.
3. Identity one example (from any of the three profiles) where secondary source information is used to enhance the profile for readers. Again, explain how this example you’ve selected is effective.
4. Finally, react to these profiles, keeping in mind our Project 1 profile assignment. What are key takeaways from these profiles for you? What techniques do you hope to employ in your own profile? What techniques don’t you hope to employ in your own profile? What have you learned from these readings that will help you draft your own profile?

As always when we have a Discussion Board topic, read your peers’ postings and learn what you can from their discussion of the sample profiles. Respond thoughtfully to at least one of your peer’s postings. While all the Habits of Mind are involved in all work for this course, you’ll need to demonstrate Engagement and Openness as you read these sample spatial profiles. You’ll also need to employ Metacognition as you think about how you can transfer what you learn from these profiles to your own Project 1 work.