The Critical Profile

(4 Credits)

In this course, we’ll tackle the challenges of producing successful profiles, with an emphasis on practical solutions to frequently encountered problems. (Topics will include composing a seductive yet brainy lede, translating jargon and technical arcana for lay readers, wresting vivid scenes from dull subjects, and handling uncooperative subjects.) We’ll study how various journalists, writing about figures in a broad range of fields, from politics and retail to scholarship and the arts, have negotiated the profile’s challenges. We’ll read pieces by some of the genre’s most talented practitioners and meet several of those journalists in class.