Unit 3: The Ethnography Project
The What:
For your final unit of the semester, you’ll be writing an ethnography. An
ethnography is a method of studying and learning about a group of people in
their own environment which relies on observations and interviews as primary
sources of information. Ethnographic accounts are both descriptive and
interpretive: Descriptive because the ethnographer observes critical details
about the group and relays them in their writing, and interpretive because the
ethnographer must determine the significance of what she or he observes.
Your assignment is to write an ethnography about a group of people that you are not a part of, but that you
are interested in. This is not a research essay where you will only spend time in the library reading about a
topic. Instead, the largest part of this project will entail field research whereby you gather first-hand
information about your chosen group based on personal interviews and your own observations. You will
then draw on supplemental sources in order to think through the information you’ve observed and
gathered. Your essay will combine your observations, your interview, your secondary research, and your
interpretive analysis to generate a commentary about this particular group--and, ideally, a commentary that
has a broader implication about groups in general.
The Why:
One of the university’s goals for students is to engage in multidisciplinary approaches, and the ethnography
project is a way to enact that. It’s a social science discipline that combines the observational and empirical
aspect of the hard sciences with the descriptive and interpretive aspects of liberal arts.
Another goal of this project is to engage in self-directed work. Since some of you may not end up taking
another class focused solely on scaffolding your writing process (i.e., a process which requires pre-writing,
drafting, receiving feedback, and revising), it’s important for you to practice these steps independently.
Therefore, there are major due dates listed below, but it will be up to you how you’ll work on meeting those
major deadlines.
The How:
Below are the major steps for completing this project:
I.
Proposal
Due: Friday, November 13th
Worth: 10 points
You will submit a typed proposal that includes the following:
A. A paragraph that explains which group you have chosen (give a brief description) and why
this group of people interests you.
B. A bullet-pointed list in which you write, “What I think I know about this group”
C. A bullet-pointed list in which you write, “What I want to know about this group”
D. An initial overall research question about the group that will guide your paper. This should
not be a fact-based question that you can answer simply, such as a “what” kind of question;
it should be broader and more analytical, possibly a “why” kind of question. You might also
list a series of questions you hope to answer in studying this particular group.
E. An alternate group in case your first choice doesn’t work out.
II.
Observations & Interpretations
Due: Wednesday, November 25th
Worth: 20 points
Set aside a specific time – or a series of times – to observe this group of people interacting and take
detailed and descriptive notes on what you see. Please use a double-entry format to record your
observations in the column on the left, and then use the right side to begin interpreting those
observations. In other words, what do you make of what you see?
III.
Interview
Due: Wednesday, November 25th
Worth: 20 points
Choose a member of this group that you would like to interview. Ask this person if he or she would
agree to be interviewed, explaining the class project. Utilize at least 10 interview questions to ask
this person related to your overall research question about this group. Arrange a time for the
interview, and, when you actually conduct the interview, I’d recommend both taking
notes and using a recording device as accuracy in quoting is critical. Always ask the interviewee for
permission if using a recording device.
IV.
Research
Due: Wednesday, November 25th
Worth: 20 points
In addition to the observations and interviews, which serve as primary sources, you will also need
at least two (2) secondary sources, which will come from your own research.
V.
Draft
Due: Monday, November 30th
Worth: 30 points
In your five (5) page draft, you’ll start to put together the various pieces that you’ve been working
on. You’ll need to orient your readers to your project, explaining what you’re working on and why
you’re interested in working on it. You’ll need to summarize key elements of your observation and
key pieces of your interview, utilizing your secondary research to help you to explain and describe
what you’re observing. You’ll want to move back and forth between painting a detailed picture of
what you’ve observed and hypothesizing the general principles that make this group (and perhaps
other groups) operate the way they do. Questions you might keep in mind are: Why do these
people do what they do? What is the purpose of their behavior? How is my position as an observer
and interpreter coloring the picture that I’m getting?
VI.
VII.
Peer Response
Due: This will occur during the week of November 30th – December 4th
Worth:30 points in total (10 points per class)
Revision
Due: Monday, December 14th
Worth:100 points
More specific details about revising to come.
“While we teach, we learn” – Seneca
Student Teaching Mini Writing Lessons
In continuing the spirit of self-directed work, another component to this final unit will be a series of
student-taught mini lessons on writing. Rather than simply having me tell you what I think are successful
writing techniques, I’m asking you to look back at writing that you've found effective (in your own life as a
reader) and try to isolate and discover what made it effective. Then, you’ll be sharing your findings with
the class to help us appreciate and adopt that technique in our own writing.
Here’s what you’ll need to do:
1. Read some writing: Look back at some writing that you’ve enjoyed or found successful/worthy of
emulation in your life. This can be anything from a book you read when you were 6 to your
chemistry textbook to a cool article you found online -- as long as there’s something that the writer
does that you think would benefit us to pay attention to and to try in our own writing.
2. Select a passage: Choose a passage which illustrates a move the writer is making that you find to
be effective. You can define “effective” however you’d like.
3. Name the move: If it already has a name, great, just tell us what the name is (e.g., is the writer
using a metaphor?). If it doesn’t have a name, or if you’re not sure what to call the move, that’s even
better. Give it a name so that we can talk about this technique.
4. Get ready to teach: For about 15 minutes on your assigned day, the class is yours. You should
spend that time doing the following:
 Show us the passage which demonstrate the technique
 Name and explain what the technique is and why you find it so striking or useful
 Explain what genres, styles, settings, purposes the technique would be useful for. In other
words: where, when and why should I try to use this technique?
 Develop and share an interactive activity that allows us to practice using the technique
Since you will need a handout which includes the passage, your explanations and your interactive task, I am
happy to print copies for you. My only request is that you email me an attachment of your handout by 6:30
a. m. on the day that you are presenting.
On the back side of this sheet is a model for what this activity might look like
Handout by Dan Messier
MESSING WITH CONVENTIONS / UNDERMINING EXPECTATIONS
selections from Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
“Major Major had been born too late and too mediocre. Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve
mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even
among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the
rest, and people who met him were always impressed with how unimpressive he was” (93).
“He was polite to his elders, who disliked him. Whatever his elders told him to do, he did. The told him to
look before he leaped, and he always looked before he leaped. They told him to never put of until the next
day what he could do the day before, and he never did. He was told to honor his father and mother, and he
honored his father and mother. He was told that he should not kill, and he did not kill, until he got into the
Army. Then he was told to kill, and he killed” (95).
Why I chose it: What I find brilliant about Heller’s technique here is the way that he works against his
expectations of what the reader already knows. In the first passage, he knows that his readers are probably
familiar with the born great/achieve greatness/greatness thrust upon them convention (which is actually
from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night), and he plays against it by making it about mediocrity. This makes
the tone of the section stirring and inspirational, even as the content is about something as unimpressive as
mediocrity.
The second selection shows Heller doing this in a more sardonic way. Here he shows one of his characters
aptly fulfilling every proverb -- only for those seemingly positive actions to take a dark turn when it
becomes clear that this blind followership might lead to contradictory and destructive ends.
What I’m calling it: Messing with conventions/undermining expectations
Where one could use this technique: Almost anywhere, I’d suggest. Heller’s literary language wouldn’t fit
as well in a scientific report, of course, but all writers could benefit from thinking about their readers’
expectations and from messing with or undermining them in subtle but meaningful ways.
How can we try it now? Try this: Spend a few minutes making a list of as many proverbs or clichés as you
can think of. Then, alter each of them by changing just one word. What changes result in the funniest or
most meaningful disruptions?