How do I write an ethnography?

Question

I have to write a 12 page ethnography on LDS. I've already done all of my research (2 church observations, 2 interviews.) I have about 25 pages of notes. But my problem is I have no idea where to begin in writing an ethnography. I've searched online. My teacher wasn't that much of a help (it's an upper level sociology class, so everyone else is either a sociology major or minor.) Can you explain to me how to do one, give me a basic outline, or a good website? Thanks!!

Answer 1

I used to teach this stuff, and this is what I used to tell my students, in sum:

1 page of  introduction to the problem and questions you are wondering about

1-2 page literature review: describe what others have said about this issue and what they haven't said

1-2 page methodology--how you collected your info and found your informants and did your interviews

3-4 pages of presenting the data--what people said, what you observed.

3-4 pages of analysis--what it all means, what kinds of generalizations you can make. Explain how it relates to the original problem you said earlier in the paper that you were going to deal with.

1 page of conclusion where you summarize everything.

Also, students always take too long to do their introduction. It's hard to get into writing at first, so there's lots of extra stuff. Most can be cut out if you go back for another draft.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I would check out James Spradley

Answer 3

You might want to run it by your teacher before writing and when you have a draft but you could go the Geertzian route and give the information while telling a story of your experience.  For help with that, you might try reading Clifford's Writing Culture, Geertz's Interpretation of Cultures and Geertz's Works and Lives.  The pros of this method are that it's fun to write narrative and many people prefer reading it to reading articles.  The cons are that it's easy to get lost in the narrative and forget to include the information you need and that some people are ardently against the strong narrative style of the Geertzians and if you teacher is one of them, you'd need to avoid that.

Answer 4

You just describe the information you've acquired organizing it with some sort of focus. What is your focus? You've only got 12 pages, so that's an extremely short ethnographic piece of writing. Pin point a focus and get writing. Writing a basic outline is part of the writing process. It would be dishonest for you to use any outline I could provide.