Writing a journalism profile story

Story about Adelphi swimmer While every profile story unfolds differently, you will notice several components that all of the stories share -- and that your story should have: They all have pretty good leads. They also have good endings.

By creating a compelling story, good profile writers can benefit from this high-need area of freelance writing. Profile writing involves disparate parts of the brain in order to produce an emotionally involving piece.

An effective profile comes from thorough research, thoughtful interview questions and an ability to organize large amounts of information into a concise story.

Hearts and Guts: Writing the Personal Profile | Poynter

Here are eight steps to getting the most out of your profiles. Research your subject For my first profile assignment, I interviewed a jazz great who enjoyed a five-decade career in music. Being young and unaware of his music, I asked him how long he had been playing. The musician playfully laughed at me and replied that he had been playing most of his life.

He then asked me if I knew anything about him. The feeling of embarrassment sunk the rest of my interview. But from this defeat, I learned the importance of researching my subject. Start by checking out their website. If the business or individual maintains a blog, you will want to read the available posts to understand their identity.

This will clue you into what is important to your subject. Explore past articles written about your subject in other publications. What is the general angle of these articles? Note if there is repetitive information.

This will help differentiate yourself from previous material written about the same subject.

How to Cite

Allow your subject to do 90 percent of the talking It may be tempting to interrupt your subject with your own commentary, ut resist this at all costs. Through digressions, subjects will often provide entertaining stories. Do not be afraid of pauses. Often, this is when your subject is thinking about your question.

Allowing them time will elicit more detailed answers. Record your interviews We tend to think we remember more than we actually do. Memory biases can result in sloppy writing that is loose with the facts.

Handwritten notes are great, but it can be difficult to record every word a subject says.

Good Examples of Profiles in Journalism | the Vagabond Journalist

Mistakes in note-taking can be costly when it comes time to write the profile. Use a recording app to ensure that you capture your entire interview.Most profiles do not tell someone’s internal resume – feelings, thoughts, who they were at different points in their lives. Every life has a plot, where the internal and external resumes are.

Most profiles do not tell someone’s internal resume – feelings, thoughts, who they were at different points in their lives.

Every life has a plot, where the internal and external resumes are. Take a look at some (or all) of these profile stories below.

Narrative journalism is a form of journalism differing from straight news stories, which offer readers only the basic who, what, where, when and why of a story. Narrative news pieces are longer than straight news and allow the writer to employ more elements of prose writing. At a time when the vast majority of entrants to journalism have degrees - welcome because journalism in a complex world is an intellectual pursuit - it is worth pointing out that writing for. 5. Write for a national audience. Obviously, your story will be grounded by your familiarity with your own school. But you should seek a variety of perspectives and several expert opinions.

All, except for one, were written by my college journalism students within the past two years. So, you should be capable of doing just as good of a job. 5.

Write for a national audience. Obviously, your story will be grounded by your familiarity with your own school. But you should seek a variety of perspectives and several expert opinions.

Sep 15,  · The story tells the story in a way that is sympathetic to Wayment, describing his negligence in a situation that got his son killed, the guilt he felt for what happened, as well as the rumors and allegations that spread as to what could have happened.

Exercise: plain English

. Take a look at some (or all) of these profile stories below. All, except for one, were written by my college journalism students within the past two years.

So, you should be capable of doing just as good of a job.