Dear Reader, When I first began the Ethnography assignment, I thought it would be just a simple research project and

a paper; which, as it turns out, is exactly what this was. But what was different about this is that although our methods for examination were rigidly defined, our topic was not; we could examine whatever we wanted to, and of course, this would be something that is important to us. For me, this would be chorus. There wasnt really any pre-writing; no rhetorical triangles, just a plan of events as they would be carried out chronologically. It was kind of refreshing really, I never really thought the rhetorical triangles were helpful in the process of actually coming up with unique thoughts. They were just an organizational tool for us. Im not discrediting its validity though; organizing thoughts on paper is definitely a helpful tool. It just gets kind of mundane after the first few times. My first draft was actually much longer than I expected it would be, but everything kind of just fell into place. The Swales criterion provided a solid framework for me to drop my thoughts into, so the paper just kind of wrote itself. That being said, though, the first draft was definitely rough. The final draft was definitely an improvement over the first draft; there was a fairly entertaining introduction, after which it delved into the nitty gritty of how exactly the Chamber community of Northwood qualified as a discourse community. I had to proofread several times to ensure that I used my interview answers appropriately, and that I didnt seem too aloof or analytically machine-like; I was, and always will be, a part of this community, after all.

Overall, this exercise was a nice throwback to the days of structured writing; there wasnt really much deep thinking involved, just a binary yes/no sort of answer to the several criterion that I had to apply to Chamber, as well as some analysis/rationale as to why I chose that particular response. Overall, the process was refreshing, albeit a little bland. I hope you enjoy it! Sincerely,

Shounak Dattagupta