A profile article is an academic paper that aims to explore a person’s character or group/business background. The peculiar feature of any profile paper is the ability to analyze the chosen subject using personal interests, educational or even family backgrounds. One of the powerful examples of a profile article may become an article by Michael Lewis The Ballad of Big Mike that represents a story of life and success of Michael Oher, whose past and surname was too odd (Lewis 1).
With the help of the strategies and information of this article, it is quite possible to learn one of the most serious lessons on how to create a captivating profile paper, what strategies are better to use, and what kind of information can make a paper more powerful.
After reading the article under consideration, it is possible to find out that the author made use of several different researching and writing strategies. The author properly identifies the subject of his article and presents enough background information about Michael Oher. To achieve success from the very beginning, it is very important to use those researching strategies, those results lead to a clear identification of a subject and representation of its worth.
This is why the success of any research strategy is the presence of clear backgrounds. Writing strategies have to be a proper continuation of the already used researching strategies in order to introduce the ideas according to the way they intend. To succeed in writing, it is necessary to divide a paper into several not too long paragraphs, which depict one concrete idea in a captivating way.
Another powerful strategy is to use meaningful comparisons to make the reader be closer to information; Lewis’ approach may be used as a good example: “he looked like a house walking into a bigger house” (Lewis 1) or “Big Mike, in company, seemed as lost as a Martian stumbling out of a crash landing” (Lewis 3).
Finally, it is possible to present some parts of dialogues or original thoughts to prove that this profile article is true and meaningful. The success of the used strategies is obvious: I was really captivated by each word in the article about Big Mike and could not believe that a story about a football player was so interesting to me. This is why I found it rather helpful to adopt the above-mentioned strategies to my personal project.
To present a proper profile paper, qualitative and quantitative investigations have to be conducted. With the help of qualitative methods, it is possible to find out some interesting details from the person’s past and present. Attention to the details, words, and things will certainly make a paper more readable.
Data collection and analysis of interviews, personal blogs, and other people’s thoughts and attitude help to reach an in-depth understanding of a person’ behavior. Qualitative methods may be used to evaluate personal achievements and development year by year.
In a profile article, it is better to present information that may influence other people’s lives: personal experience and real-life examples may encourage the reader to believe in personal powers; personal problems and challenges may show that the reader’s troubles are nothing in comparison to the others; and both happy and tragic ends may teach the reader not to make mistakes or, at least, be able to learn on them.
“His mother was addicted to crack cocaine and that his life experience was so narrow that he might as well as have spent his first 16 years inside a closet” (Lewis 2). This information may capture the reader’s attention and provoke different emotions. This is why my profile should be full of real-life examples and situations, which make me evaluate this life and change it considerably to achieve success and recognition among my family, friends, and class.
Works Cited
Lewis, Michael. “The Ballad of Big Mike.” The New York Times. 2006. Web.