Project 4 My Lessons

Seth Markus
6/4/10
Writ 1133-33
Project 4 part 1
What is an Ethnography Hand-Out?

• What is an ethnography?
o An ethnography is the scientific study of one human cultural phenomenon
o An example of an ethnography would be the study of people that live off the grid (no home or electronics, i.e. off the land) because…
• What are the parts of an ethnography?
o First step: Hypothesis:
 Provable/disprovable statement in which data should be collected to see if guess was correct.
• Testable statement
 An example of a hypothesis: Students at DU typically prefer hip hop over country.
• This statement is a statement which can be tested and proved, thus is a hypothesis
 An example of a hypothesis which is not really a hypothesis:
• The color yellow is better than the color blue.
o This statement is neither testable nor disprovable (even though it’s obviously not true ) thus, it is not a hypothesis.
o Second step: Data collection:
 Collecting data in an ethnography consists of surveying or many interviews.
 Questions should be predetermined.
 Try to stay away from “yes-no” questions
o Third step: Data analysis
 Look for a pattern within the data
 What does it all tell you, do not leave out some, look at all of it
 Does it seem like your hypothesis was correct or disproven?
o Final Step: Come to a conclusion
 What does the data point to?
 Was your hypothesis right or wrong? Why?
 What were the flaws and barriers with your study
• My assignment:
o I would like if everyone did an ethnography of people who shop at Abercrombie and Fitch. (because I would love to understand this weird phenomenon)
o 5 parts to this assignment
 Start by making a hypothesis
 Create a list of questions
 Collect data
 Analyze data
 Write a 4-6 page paper explaining whole process and analysis of data.
o Break up of paper
 ½-1 ½ page intro explaining topic and hypothesis
 1-2 page for questions list, data collection process, and data collected
 3-4 pages on analysis
 ½ page conclusion



Seth Markus
6/4/10
Writ 1133-33
Project 4 part 2
How to do a Successful Revision Hand-Out
• Why revise our papers?
o No one is a perfect writer, no writing is perfect piece of work
o However, every time we re-read our writing, we make changes that make it a stronger piece.
o Every time someone new reads our writing, it is a new perspective and opinion
 since everyone interprets the same piece differently, they will see things you did not which will make it a better essay
o the more times the paper is revised, the better it will be
• What is the goal of revising
o To eliminate all small errors
 Grammar
o to get new perspectives to see the paper in as many different ways as possible
o make the piece of writing as good as it can be
• What is the process taken to revise successfully?
o If rough draft is already finished, set it down for a day or two, then reread it yourself and make any changes you feel are necessary
o Next have one or two people you find to be better writers than yourself read your paper and make corrections and give you their opinions on the your paper’s flow and clarity
 Flow is how well the ideas go from one to the next
 Clarity is how understandable your ideas are
• An example of successful revising
I also tried to ask follow up questions to these core questions, depending on the answers given, so I could get a clearer picture painted. I interviewed countless people, some in depth and seriously, others quickly. Those who were quick interviewees were because they gave flippant answers. After I finished conducting the interviews I looked at all the data and attempted to find a pattern within it.
o As you can see, in this part of a paragraph I wrote, I had my professor read it (a better writing than myself) and he made comments as to how I could make this section better
o Here is my final result for this section of this paragraph:
I also tried to ask follow up questions to these core questions depending on the answers given so I could get a clearer picture painted as to the real reason people play Second Life. I interviewed countless people, some in depth and serious, others quickly. Those who I only got quick interviews from, I did so since they gave flippant answers and I did not have time to waste on silly responses.
o As you can see, I fixed everything that was asked by my professor. The goal of revising is to fix the mistakes or weaknesses with the piece and that is what I did here.
• My assignment
o I would like if everyone wrote an essay arguing for or against medical marijuana across the country.
o The breakdown:
 Outline and research sources
 Rough draft
 Revise draft
 Final draft
o In-between each draft, at least two people should read and make corrections. Class time will be given.