Writing Project 3: Ethnography

Exploring and Engaging a Community

Overview: In Writing Project 1, you examined

a practice, behavior, or ritual in your personal
life to better understand your identity and,
directly or indirectly, how you represent a
community. Similarly, in Writing Project 2, you
used primary research methods, namely
interviews and observations, to learn about the
ways in which a community is defined by its
people, objects, places, and activities.

In Writing Project 3, you will compose an

ethnographic essay that teaches others about
the community you researched in WP2. You will
continue to investigate this group or
community in order to inform others about
what these cultural phenomena suggest about the community and its values, beliefs, and
behaviors. Doing so will give you and your readers greater insight into how the group or
community understands and defines its own identity.

Even if you think you already understand the target community, one of the goals of the
project is to challenge your own preconceptions and assumptions by reflecting deeply on
what defines this group. To this end, you will engage in research as a participatory observer,
meaning you will engage in primary research (i.e. interviews, observations, field notes) as well
as secondary research in the form of popular sources (i.e. newspapers, magazines, websites)
and scholarly sources (i.e. peer-reviewed journal articles) to understand this cultural
phenomenon from the inside out.   

Requirements
1. Drawing upon your observations, field notes, and interview materials, your project should
present your reflections and insights on the community or group you have researched.
Your primary insight should derive from your synthesis of the data you have accumulated:
your observations, field notes, and interview materials. You should discuss/analyze this
material at length, explaining how it supports or frames your insight, what it suggests
about the role of specific beliefs, values, and behaviors in defining the community, and
drawing conclusions about why and how the community defines itself.
2. Your project should include at least three secondary sources—two from popular sources
(i.e. newspapers, magazines, websites) and at least one work of academic source (i.e.
peer-reviewed, scholarly articles or books). The academic source should be used to
provide a brief overview of the background and contextualize the community.

3. The essay portion should include a narrative structure that tells the story of how you
conducted your research. Your essay should be organized in such a way that a reader can
follow your thinking and reasoning from paragraph to paragraph and within each
paragraph. Your primary insight should help to structure the essay for the reader.

4. The micro-documentary should highlight your culture/community in a visual way.

Consider what might reinforce your main idea visually, and convey in another way the
significance of your ethnography, and/or appeal to your readers from a different register.

Deliverables
Part I: 1000 word essay including a title, abstract, and references page formatted to adhere to
the APA style guide. Note that the abstract is not calculated as part of the overall essay word
count.

Part II: 2-4 minute documentary film uploaded to YouTube. We will screen your micro-
documentaries as part of a film festival the last week of class.

Project submission
• Rough Draft: Your rough draft/ micro-doc outline will be submitted to Canvas for instructor
meetings.  
• Final Draft: Your revised, proofread draft should be submitted as an APA document to
Canvas and you till provide a YouTube link for your micro-documentary.


Tips
• Get started early.
• Lay out a schedule out and stick to it.
• Think visually!
• Visit the Writing Center or instructor office hours for assistance with any part of the writing
process.


Due Dates
Filmmaker (Matty Steincamp) Talk TBA
Rough Cut 11/13
Instructor Meetings 11/15 & 11/20
Polished Draft & Micro-Doc 11/25
Class Film Festival/Party 11/26 - 11/30