PROFILE || a minor discourse || master in writing a PROFILE

 P  R  O  F  I  L  E

What is a profile?

Ø  A profile is an outline or a short article giving the description of a person.

Ø  Its focus is to provide readers with basic information about the person, and give them a sense of the person's character.

The Profile should include…

1. Name
2. Date and place of birth
3. Education and Occupation
4. Nationality
5. Information about family
6. Main personality traits
7. Special contribution
8. Why people like/respect him/her
9. Place of work and positions held
10. Award and honors, if any
11. How he/she is special.
12. Highlight the attributes which make him/her an exceptional being etc.

Points to remember…

1.      A profile is always written in third person.

For example:

He is the most popular personality. (√)

I am the most popular personality. (X)

She is one of the best sports women in India. (√)                                      

2.      Only significant and impressive points are to be included.

3.      Unnecessary or unrelated points to be omitted.

For example:

He got The Nobel prize in 1913. (√)

He had got white hair. (X)                                               

4.      It should convey factual information.

5.      Predictions are to be neglected.

For example:

Sarojini Naidu is called “The Nightingale of India. (√)

Raghu will become the PM of India. (X)

6.      Use proper punctuation marks and spelling.

7.      Organize the information in a sequential order.

8.      Use linkers wherever necessary i.e., as, and, when, since, for, while, etc.

Types of profiles:

There are majorly two kinds of profiles.

1.      Tabular Profile

2.      Paragraph Profile

You will be given either tabular information or a bio-sketch of a person and ask you to write a profile. If the tabular information is given you have to write paragraph profile. If the bio-sketch is given you have to write a tabular profile.

How to write a tabular profile?

Collect all the essential information about the person from various sources (books, newspapers, net … usually given in the question paper itself when it is the examination). Identify the key features of the tabular profile from the given bio-sketch and prepare a table.

Draw a table and insert the information regarding the person.

Write the information as short as possible.

Ex1: Write a short profile (tabular) using the information given in the answer for the question Ex2.

Profile
Points	Details of the person
Name	Pusarla Venkata Sindhu or PV Sindhu
Profession	Indian Badminton player
Date of birth	5-Jul-95
Place of birth	Hyderabad, Telangana
Family	PV Ramana – father – Volley ball player
	PV Vijaya – mother – Volley ball player
Education/college	St. Ann’s College for women, Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad
Nationality	Indian
Special contribution	Silver Medalist at 2017 Rio, Summer Olympics
Height and weight	179 cm, and 65 kg
Coach	Pullela Gopi Chand (Badminton)
Awards and honours received	Arjuna Award – 2013 and Padmashri - 2015

How does a paragraph profile look like?

Ø  A paragraph model profile resembles the biographical sketch but it is short.

How to write a paragraph profile?

Ø  Keep all the essential information about the person in a table if possible. (It will be provided in the question in examinations)

Ø  Write a title apt for the person and a caption under it.

Ø  Write profile in two or three paragraphs as it is the minor discourse.

Ø  Organize the paragraphs. Each paragraph has to deal with one idea.

Ø  For example, the first paragraph should deal with the personal details and family information. The second paragraph should reflect the professional life, interests and career. The final paragraph should provide the information on his/her achievements, awards, rewards etc.

Ex2: Write a profile (paragraph) using the information given in the answer for the question Ex1.

PV Sindhu

(The Ace shuttler)

The one and only Indian women shuttler ever won the Olympic medal is Pusarla Venkata Sindhu. People call her PV Sindhu. The Indian Women Badminton player was born on 5^th of July, 1995 into a sports family. One can proudly say that she was born in Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana.

               Not only her father, P.V. Ramana, but also her mother, P.V. Vijaya, are volley ball players. Though they are interested in volley ball, they never forced her to play it. They gave freedom to select her interested career. She is studying; apart from the name and fame she got, at St. Ann’s College for women, Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad to complete her graduation.

               She is about 179 cm of height and weighs about 65 kg. It’s her physical ability that helps her to shoot aces. Pullela Gopi Chand, the eminent guru, found the caliber of Sindhu and made her the champion. She is the first Indian woman badminton player who got Olympic Silver medal at 2017 Rio, summer Olympics.

Practice Questions:

Qn1: Read the given bio-sketch below carefully and prepare a profile using the information.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

(Scholar, Writer, Poet)

Rabindranath Tagore was a rare and great personality. He was a scholar, freedom fighter, writer and painter and above all a humble man. His contribution to Indian Literature was immense. He won the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his collection of well-known poems 'Gitanjali'.

Tagore was born on May 7, 1861 to Debendranath Tagore and Sharada Devi at Jorasanko in West Bengal.  He did his schooling in the prestigious St. Xavier School. He has written thousands of Poems and lyrics and about 35 plays about 12 novels, numerous short stories and a mass of prose literature. He was called as 'Vishwa Kavi'.

Besides the famous ' Gitanjali' his other well-known poetic works include ' Sonar Tari', 'Puravi', ' The cycle of the spring', ' The evening songs' etc. The names of his well-known novels are: 'Gora', ' The wreck', ' Raja Rani', ' Ghare Baire', ' Raj Rishi' etc. ' Chitra' is his famous play in verse. ' Kabuli Wallah' and ' Kshudita Pashan' are his famous stories.

In 1901, he founded the Vishwabharati University- earlier known as Shantiniketan at Bolepur in West Bengal. This was founded with the aim of evolving a world culture, a synthesis of eastern and western values. Our National Anthem 'Jana Gana Mana ......' was written by him.

Qn2: Read the given bio-sketch below carefully and prepare a profile using the information.

SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN

Mathematician

Srinivasa Ramanujan was a great Mathematician, who became world famous at the age of twenty-six. He was born at Erode in Tamil Nadu on 22 December 1887. 

Ramanujan could not complete his college education because of illness. He was so interested in mathematics that he learned on his own. He found out new formulas for solving mathematical problems and wrote articles about them. Professor Hardy a scientist in the Cambridge University saw one his article and impressed by his knowledge, took Ramanujan to England.  

Ramanujan was considered as the master of theory of numbers. The most outstanding of his contributions was his formula for p (n), the number of 'partitions' of 'n'. It was in 1914, while he was working in Trinity College he developed the 'Number Theory' and for his valuable contribution, was elected fellow of Trinity College on 18th October 1917. He returned to India in 1919 and began Research. He passed away on 26 April 1920. Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in his honour. Indian National Science academy and many other scientific institutions in India are giving various awards in memory of this brilliant mathematician.

Qn3: Read the given bio-sketch below carefully and prepare a profile using the information.

N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY

Chairman of Infosys Technologies

N.R Narayana Murthy, chairman of Infosys Technologies one of the biggest IT empire in India, was born on August 20, 1946 in Karnataka. Murthy obtained his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (B.E.) from University of Mysore in 1967 and his Master of Technology (MTech.) from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur in 1969. 

In 1981, Murthy founded Infosys Technologies along with six software professionals which later became one of the leading software companies. Personally, Murthy is known for his simplicity and helping mentality. He founded the Infosys Foundation, a social welfare trust for helping the needy.

Murthy was honoured by 'JRD Tata Corporation Leadership Award' in 1996-97, 'Alumni Award' in 1998, 'The ET Businessperson of the Year Award' in 2000-2001 and 'The Max Schmidheiny Award' in 2001. The credit goes to Mr. Murthy for making India one of the known names in the IT world.

Qn4: Read the following information and prepare a profile using details mentioned.

Profile of Sachin Tendulkar
Name	Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
Date of Birth	24th April, 1973
Place of Birth	Mumbai-Maharashtra
About family	Wife-Anjali Tendulkar, Daughter-Sara Tendulkar, Son-Arjun Tendulkar
Occupation	Veteran Indian Cricket Player
Achievements	1. Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha-nominated)
	2. Bharath Ratna (2013)
	3. Padma Vibhushan (2008)

Qn5: Read the following information and prepare a profile using details mentioned.

Profile of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Name	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Date and Place of Birth	31st October, 1875; Nadiad-Gujarath
Date of Demise	15th December, 1950; Mumbai-Maharashtra
About family	Wife-Jhaverba, Daughter-Maniben Patel, and Dahyabhai Patel
Occupation	Lawyer; Political Activist; and First Deputy Prime Minister of India
Achievements	Bharath Rathna (1991)
Famously called	Iron man of India

Qn6: Read the following information and prepare a profile using details mentioned.

Profile of Satyajit Ray
Name	Satyajit Ray
Date and Place of Birth	2nd of May 1922; Calcutta, India
Date of Demise	23rd April, 1992
About family	Wife-Bijoya Ray, son-Sandeep Ray, father-Sukumar Ray and mother-Suprabha Ray
Occupation	Director, producer, screen writer, lyricist, music composer, calligrapher, illustrator and writer

 

Qn7: Read the following information and prepare a profile using details mentioned.

Profile of Latha Mangeshkar
Name	Latha Mangeshkar
Date and Place of Birth	28 September 1929; Indore-Madhya Pradesh
About family	Father: Deenanath Mangeshkar, Mother-Shevanti Mangeshkar
Occupation	Play back singer and music composer
Achievements	Bharath Rathna (2001)
	Padma Vibhushan (1999)
	Padma Bhushan (1969)

Qn8: Read the following information and prepare a profile using details mentioned.

Profile of Albert Einstein
Name	Albert Einstein
Date and Place of Birth	14 March 1879 Kingdom of Wurttemberg- Germany
Date of Demise	18 April 1955; New Jersey-US
Fields worked in	Physics and Philosophy
wife	Milaca Marci
Awards	Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921
contributions	contributed to important advance in science such as space exploration, applications of light and atomic energy. His theories led scientists to understand new ways to look at energy, matter, gravity, space and time.

 

 

Qn 9Given below are the details of the famous badminton player Saina Nehwal.

 

Personal Information	Saina Nehwal, parents: Harvinder Singh Nehwal, Ushan Nehwal Birth: 17th March, 1990 in Dhindar, Haryana. Present living in Hyderabad
Physical features	Height – 165 cm Weight – 60 kg Right handed player
Coach	Vimal Kumar
Rewards	Rajiv Gandhi Khel Rathna, Padma Shri, Arjuna Award for Badminton. Olympic medals, Badminton at the 2012 summer Olympics – Women’s singles
Highest Ranking	1st rank in Badminton

Now based on this information write a profile of Saina Nehwal.

Qn10.Sarojini Naidu was the one of the main leaders of India’s freedom struggle; she was born on 13^th February 1879 in Hyderabad. Her father was Dr. Aghoranath Chattopadyaya and mother was Varasundhari. She passed her matriculation from university of Madras. Sarojini had interest in poetry from the very early age. Later she was known as ‘Nightingale of India’. Her works includes ‘Golden Threshold, The bird of time, the broken wing, The Indian weavers etc.’ She was awarded ‘Khaizare-Hind’ by British Government. She became the first Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She died on 2^nd November 1949. Now prepare a profile using the above information.

Qn 11. Read the following information about Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in Space.

Points to be covered	Details of the person
Date and place of birth	13 January, 1949, Patiala
Information about the   family	Wife: Madhu, an expert interior decorator Son: Kapil
Occupation	Air Force – got his commission in 1971
Training received	Trained at the Space Centre in Star City, near Moscow.
Achievement	Went into space in the Soyuz T-11 on april3, 1984 and returned to earth on 11 April, 1984.

Now, write a short profile of Rakesh Sharma in a paragraph based on the above information. (TS – SSC March 2016)

Qn 12. Practice all the questions above. If the question is in tabular form change it into paragraph model. If the question is in bio-sketch model change it into tabular form.