English 101: Short Paper #3, Looking Outward Due Monday, March 4th 2-3 pages typed

Option #1 Looking Outward: Ethnography

An ethnography is a form of research that is often used in the field of anthropology. An ethnographer writes about cultural practices and rituals-even common, ordinary ones like shopping or riding the bus. To create your own ethnography, you must first choose your subject. Attend a church service or a family or cultural ritual; take a long ride on the subway or bus, or park yourself on a blanket at the park, the beach or a bench at the mall. Take field notes on what you observe. Describe in intricate detail the ways people speak, dress, act, and interact with one another. Consider talking to the people around you and asking questions to incorporate interview into your report. For instance, if I were to write an ethnography about my own family reunion, I may note the following: The children play games at the picnic tables near their parents while the teenagers pull away from the group both physically and emotionally as they sit on the grass outside the pavilion and text on their phones. Age is not the only factor that creates divisions within the group; gender also plays a role in how the group members behave. The women and men do different tasks; the men relax and play cards while the women organize the food table and set up chairs. When asked how about this disparity, one woman laughed and replied, Let him play cards. He s not touching my macaroni and cheese! Remember: A strong ethnography includes close observation, interview if possible, and descriptions of human actions and interactions. Your goal is to use language to reveal the beliefs, behaviors, codes, and rules that are both explicit and implicit in your observed cultural practice or ritual. Be sure to arrange your paper logically, beginning the paper with an introductory paragraph that provides an overview of the event or ritual you choose to observe.

Option #2 Oral History

Interview a parent or a family member about his or her life. Did this person live through an important historical moment? Tell an interesting story from this person s life that will captivate the reader. Ask the questions and then tell the story in your own words. Put direct quotation marks around your interviewee s exact words. The majority of this paper should be in your own words. If you choose this option, you will need to interview your parent or grandparent, collect the data and form it into a narrative, shaping the paper with your own language.

Option #3 Walking Description

Mission Walk through your neighborhood (or any neighborhood) and describe what you experience using language that captivates the reader. Take the reader along on your journey you navigate your way through the crowded or quiet streets of your neighborhood and as you reflect on

what you see, hear, smell, and touch. The key to a good walking description is knowing what details to include and what details to omit. "[Flneurs] are opening their eyes and ears to the scene around them. They are not treating the street as an obstacle course to be negotiated; they are opening themselves up to it. They are wondering about the lives of those they pass, constructing narratives for them, they are eavesdropping on conversations, they are studying how people dress and what new shops and products there are (not in order to buy anything just in order to reflect on them as important pieces of evidence of what human beings are about)... While cities bring together huge numbers of people, paradoxically they also separate them from each other. The goal of flneur[s] is to recover a sense of community... To do this, they let down their guard, they empathize with every situation they see. There's a constant risk they will be moved, saddened, excited - and fall in love. -Alain de Botton The translation of the French word flneur means stroller, loafer, lounger, or saunterer. Poet Charles Baudelaire embraced the word, using it to describe a person who wanders the city, living in the moment, simultaneously observing and partaking in the action. For this paper, you like Baudelaire, will wander through a neighborhood, viewing it not only as a means to an end but also as a space for observation, contemplation, and reflection. You will write a descriptive essay that vividly captures your walk or stroll through this place. Observe The first step towards a strong descriptive essay is keen observation. Jot down some notes about the neighborhood as you walk through it. Pay special attention to what is unique or distinct about this neighborhood. What makes this neighborhood different from all other neighborhoods? Note the noise the level, the types of businesses, the natural landscape. What types of houses line the streets? Are they apartment buildings or single family homes? What type of architecture do you observe? What do you notice that you have never noticed before? Is your neighborhood crowded and busy, or are the streets quiet and tree-lined? Describes the businesses, the trains, the sky. What kinds of birds do you see? Can you name them? What types of trees line your street? Consider bringing a tree or bird guide along with you on your walk. Draft Create a narrative of your walk that combines both your observations and your reflections on your observations. Use vivid language that allows the reader to see the neighborhood as if he or she were there walking with you. Appeal to the readers senses of sight, sound, touch, and smell. You can organize the paper chronologically, following your walking pattern, or topically, focusing each paragraph around a different sense. Be sure to include a thesis sentence that serves as a foundation of your paper and guides the writer through your walk. Revise

Tighten your draft not just by editing it for grammatical errors. Mark spaces where you need to develop your description further. Highlight the strong points and the draft. What makes these strong? How can you strengthen the rest of the paper so that Print out a hard copy