Saturation Reporting or Writing a Profile

Saturation reporting or “profiles tell about people, places and activities.  Some profile writers try to reveal the not-so-obvious workings of places or activities we consider familiar.  Others introduce us to exotic places or people—peculiar hobbies, unusual places of business, bizarre personalities.  Whatever their subject, profile writers strive most of all to enable readers to imagine the person, place or activity that is the focus of the profile.  Writers succeed only through specific and vivid details […] [that] also must help to convey a writer’s perspective—some insight, idea or interpretation—on the subject” (St. Martin’s Guide to Writing, 74). 

Basic Features:

• A “saturation” report is writing about a place, a person/ group, or an activity that you know well or can get to know well at first hand. 
• Writing a non-fiction article using fictional techniques.  There will be scenes, characters and characterizations, dialogue, and a subtle, rather than overt statement.
• The appeal of information and facts.  You are writing non-fiction, and the reader will want to “know” about your subject; in short, be sensitive to this thirst for facts on the part of your reader.
• Author identification—your point of view can be quite flexible.  You can be an active participant in the action; you can remove yourself; you can come in and then move out.
• Microcosm—you are focusing in on some particular subject, but in so doing, you are saying something more.  As you capture one isolated segment of today’s world you say something, then, about the total world. 
• Implication—much of what you attempt to “say” in your article (because of your use of fictional techniques) will be said through implication—through dialogue, through your manipulation of detail.
• Reporting—you will observe your subject with a keen eye—you will note interesting “overheard” conversations—you might want to interview.
• Form—you might write your article in pieces—conversations, descriptions, interviews, facts, and then piece it together, finding the best form for your subject (time sequence, etc.).  A “patchwork”—working sections together with no transitions—can be quite acceptable.
• Choice of subject—you can pick some subject from present or re-create some subject from the past. 

Writing Directions:

Write a 3-4 page saturation report/ profile of a person, place, or an activity on your campus, in your community, or at your workplace.  Be sure to follow the guidelines of the features mentioned above.   As usual, be sure to follow the conventions of English and format the paper in MLA style.