English 101
Sections E and F
Paper #3
Lindsay Schaefer
The Ethnographic Research Essay & Portfolio
Essay minimum length: 6+ pages
Rough Draft #1 due date: Mon., 4/7
Rough Draft #2 due date: Bring essay to one-on-one conference (4/11, 4/14, or 4/15)
Final Draft due date: Wed., 4/23
The traditional research paper, with its emphasis on the reporting of existing knowledge, correctness
of citation and documentation, and logical and linear thinking, has been under assault for the last
two decades. Compositionists such as Richard Larson (1982), Robert Connors (1997), and Bruce
Ballenger (1999, 2000) have accused the research paper of being a-rhetorical and tedious--an exercise
in fact-finding, gathering, and regurgitating designed mainly to please the teacher. Rather than
conforming our freshmen college composition essays to this traditional, and weary, form, we’ll be
tackling a more involved and innovative process of researching, interpreting, and conveying.
The Form
Ethnography is an in-depth observation technique used by anthropologists to study different
cultures. This third essay requires observing either a place or a group of people outside the range of
your everyday experience. For example, you might spend the day in a courtroom, loiter in an art
museum, volunteer at a homeless shelter, visit a nursing home, sit in the lobby of a hospital, attend a
poetry reading, observe the 2:00 a.m. waitress shift at a diner, watch interactions at the airport,
monitor a city council meeting, tour behind-the-scenes at a factory, or participate in a support group
meeting. The goal is to uncover the “secret life” of this “culture.” Obviously, be respectful and
discrete!
The Emphasis
Careful and conscious observation, interviewing, and discovery, conveying that sense of discovery
and scene to your reader through concrete detail, use of primary and secondary sources, and
organization.
The Process
Ethnographic research is time- and labor-intensive, and yet it can be a valuable undertaking for
students because they become experts in a specific area and can then relate their findings to the rest
of the class. Students choose communities or cultures that they will conduct fieldwork in by
becoming participant-observers, conducting interviews, and collecting written and spoken
documents. They listen to what stories are told and valued by community members, what rituals are
observed, and what the community’s rituals and traditions exactly are. In doing so, they work to
make the “familiar strange and the strange familiar,” the most famous tenet of traditional
anthropological ethnographic work.
The Skills
 Using writing and discussion to work through and interpret complex ideas
 Identifying behaviors, patterns, rules, and rituals and other commonalities among a group of
people
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Interpreting and critically analyzing choices with regard to language and form made
in your own writing and the writing (and language) of others (students in the class and
members of studied populations)
Experiencing multiple modes of inquiry using text (field research, library-based inquiry, web
searching)
Acknowledging several possible interpretations of text (events, written texts, prevailing
arguments) and using writing to support their interpretation
Considering and expressing the relationship of your own ideas to the ideas of others
Using written, visual, and/or experienced-based texts as tools to develop ideas for writing
Experiencing and understanding the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes
Staying reflective throughout your process of writing
Considering the relationship between language and power
Practicing appropriate means for documenting work (MLA style) and integrating quotations,
paraphrases, etc.
The Commitment
Students must commit themselves to an extended study of a particular “culture” early on. Your topic
choice should be finalized early on. Finalize your topic by turning in your research proposal (a
document we’ll start in class); I’ll return it to you either approved, or if I foresee difficulties we can
further discuss. This early commitment is crucial in order to plan time to locate a group relative to
this “culture,” contact and gain permission from the group you’re interested in studying, interview
members of the group as well as other informants, observe the group/culture, and reflect on field
notes and other gathered materials.
The Portfolio Data (this is in addition to the 6+ pg. paper plus works cited page . . . for an
example, see the portfolio for the essay “Parents who have Lost a Child”)
 At least four, 5-minute freewrites (if experiencing difficulty, try using a prompt – a single
word, image, “artifact,” etc. to get you going)
 Observation/Exploratory Notes (many, many, many notes) – at least 1 set should be in the
double entry format
 “Artifacts” [various “found” items such as brochures, pictures (you took while there or just
pictures you saw on location), pamphlets, maps, letters, personal items, misc. objects, etc]
 Interview Transcript & Notes
 Questionnaires, surveys, or other generated materials
 Secondary Sources (these could be articles acquired from our library visit, stories from
magazines, newspaper articles, etc.)
 Other materials generated through both in-class and outside of class activities (compile and
keep everything!)
This data will then be assembled into an ethnographic portfolio to be turned in with
your final essay. The content and strength of the portfolio is considered in conjunction
with the completed essay to determine your overall grade on this assignment. This
assignment requires two drafts: the initial draft will be reviewed by classmates, and we
will review the second draft (increased in sophistication) during
one-on-one conferences.