assignments ENGL389 Topics in Writing: Ethnographic Writing
SOURCES: BACKGROUND INFO & INTERVIEWS
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Overview: This is the final of the four installments that makes up your ethnographic essay. It is purposefully titled: I’m not asking you to make stuff up to try to make a good story. I’m not asking you for a hallmark greeting card, happy-ending to your story. I’m asking you to consider the good and the bad--the big and the little--and tell me what you see. You’ve spent a semester doing this work. You might have a little clean up work to do with your research, but, by and large, you should be ready to tell me what makes this culture a culture.
Details
In order to successfully complete the entire essay--the full, complete final piece--you need to weave together all four of the pieces you have written or will write. And you need to do it fairly quickly because we start all class workshops soon--and those workshops are for your complete draft (explained in more detail below). So, you will not turn in a draft of your analysis. Instead, we’ll meet for a conference, like we did before midterm, for you to read your writing and talk to me about where you are at with the piece, where you hope to go, how I can help you, and what your plan is.
Because there is no sense in writing some long paper that you are then just going to chop up and rearrange into your longer essay, This installment looks very different from previous installments. You need to answer the following questions. You just have to answer them. Come to the conference with these answers written out. Bring two copies: one for me and one for you.
Here are the questions (1 to 2 pages, double-spaced & typed FOR EACH):
Once you’ve answered these questions (about one to two pages, double-spaced and typed for each), include one more double-spaced page that identifies the following:
Specificss
What to do when you are going to be workshopped.
What to do when you are workshopping someone else’s writing.
The
Details
In order to successfully complete the entire essay--the full, complete final piece--you need to weave together all four of the pieces you have written or will write. And you need to do it fairly quickly because we start all class workshops soon--and those workshops are for your complete draft (explained in more detail below). So, you will not turn in a draft of your analysis. Instead, we’ll meet for a conference, like we did before midterm, for you to read your writing and talk to me about where you are at with the piece, where you hope to go, how I can help you, and what your plan is.
Because there is no sense in writing some long paper that you are then just going to chop up and rearrange into your longer essay, This installment looks very different from previous installments. You need to answer the following questions. You just have to answer them. Come to the conference with these answers written out. Bring two copies: one for me and one for you.
Here are the questions (1 to 2 pages, double-spaced & typed FOR EACH):
- What are some of the issues/ideas that this community/culture cares about? Perhaps it’s not so easily defined in a word or one idea. Perhaps it is a mix and a mesh of things. That’s OK.
- What are some of the tensions/worries/problems that might be said to exist in or potentially divide the community/culture? Again, same as above, this might not be something super obvious or easy to answer. Easy isn’t the point.
- What have you learned about yourself in relationship to this culture/community/site? What as being in this site made you start to think about? In what ways do you feel connected to this community? In what ways do you feel very separate?
Once you’ve answered these questions (about one to two pages, double-spaced and typed for each), include one more double-spaced page that identifies the following:
- A potential organization for your piece--like a narrative outline of your finished product.
- A summary of the parts of your first paper you know you will use as well as parts you think you can cut.
- A summary of the parts of your site description you know you want to include and parts you know you want to cut.
- A summary of your interview material that you know you want to include and parts you know you want to cut.
- A summary of your research material that you know you want to include and parts you know you want to cut.
- A short summary of things (artifacts, site description, interviews, research) that you feel like are still missing from your piece, stuff it would be feasible to do before you have to turn in the final draft.
Specificss
- Your final essay should be between 15 and 25 pages, typed and double-spaced in a reasonable font, 12 point font size.
- It’s due on the last day of our class, 30 April 2018.
- Everyone needs to come to a conference for the "seeing what there is to see" paper. Sign up for that here.
- Everyone has to be workshopped for their final ethnographic essay (all the parts together). Sign up for a workshop day here. You’ll pass out or otherwise make available your draft the class prior to your workshop (see details below for the job of the workshop participants--workshoppers and workshoppees).
What to do when you are going to be workshopped.
- Prior to the class where you will be workshopped, you need to make your writing available. If you sign up for one of the first workshops, your piece will be in rougher shape. If you sign up for a later workshop, you should be sharing more polished work.
- Sign up for a workshop day here.
- On the day you pass out your work, you must communicate the following: what you like about your piece; what you are worried about; what, very specifically, you would like help with on a macro level (so big issues--not grammar and punctuation).
- On the day of your workshop, expect to sit and listen while your colleagues discuss your work. Don’t expect to talk. Expect to listen. This is not a defense; it is a workshop.
- Collect the written feedback you get from your colleagues, and write a summary of what folks seem to be saying to you. Include that summary along with your final draft of your essay when you turn it in on the last day of classes. Use this feedback to help you complete your final ethnographic essay.
What to do when you are workshopping someone else’s writing.
- Read their stuff with care and kindness. The job of a workshop is not to critique, but to help. You’ve been doing this work all semester long. This time is no different. We are just doing it as an entire class.
- Comment in the margins the way you would normally: ask questions, highlight strong sections, point out places you’d want more information or different information, tell your writer places where you are confused.
- Write your writer a feedback letter like I’ve been writing you all semester. It shouldn’t be longer than one page, but it shouldn’t be shorter than a half page--typed, single-spaced, name of the writer and your name.
- On the day of the workshop, you’ll give your commented on paper back to the writer with your written letter on top. You’ll give me a second copy of only your letter.
- On the day of the workshop, expect to talk, out loud, with each other, about the writing (not the writer). Your letter should guide what you have to say.
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