Prompt:
Now that you have done a significant amount of fieldwork and analysis of your sub-culture, it is time to put all that you have done together into one coherent, cohesive, and cogent document: the mini-ethnography. Don’t let the “mini” part fool you: this paper should be at least ten to twelve pages in length, and it should attempt to give as full an account of your fieldsite/group as possible. Think of this paper as your chance to say what you have to say about this sub-culture.

Write a ten to twelve page paper in which you do all of the following:

• Discuss your positioning, assumptions, and preconceptions about your chosen sub-culture that you had before you began your fieldwork. You should be able to draw on your first paper to help you out with this.
• Discuss and analyze spaces and artifacts associated with your field site. You should be able to draw on your second paper for this.
• Discuss and analyze any interactions or interviews you had with members of your sub-culture. You should be able to draw on your third paper for this.

While these three aspects need to be included in your paper, they don't have to be organized in three different sections or in the order they're listed in here.

• Develop an interpretation (or even multiple interpretations) of the sub-culture using all of the observations and interviews you have conducted so far. Your main task in this paper is to convey something important about your sub-culture to interested readers who aren't familiar with it.
• Focus on answering questions like “what’s going on here,” “where’s the culture,” and “what’s the story.” See Fieldworking, p. 438 for more details.
• Develop an organization for the paper that goes beyond the “Frankenstein” technique of pasting your previous papers together. See Ch. 8 for some ideas.
• Include an informative and interesting title for your paper.
• Proofread your paper carefully before handing it in.

Remember, this is not a list of questions to ask, and your paper should not be organized according to the bullet points. Rather, you should develop a main idea (or thesis) about your sub-culture using everything you know about your sub-culture. This main idea (or thesis) should reflect the research and analysis you've done; in other words, it shouldn't state something immediately obvious to an outsider.

Format Requirements

• This paper must be at least ten, double-spaced pages long, and if you plan on going more than twelve, clear it with Derek first.
• A “page” is a sheet of paper with at least 250 words on it. Set your documents to have one-inch margins all around, and use the Times New Roman (12 point) font.
• Your name, my name, the course section, and the date should appear in the upper-left corner of the first page (do not use a cover sheet). Your last name and the page number should appear in the upper-right corner of every page (use “header” function).

Important Dates

• Tuesday, April 13: drafts due to group members and Derek. Your final paper grade will be affected by late or incomplete drafts.
• Thursday April 15-Tuesday April 20: Conferences. No class on these days.
• Thursday April 22: Mini-Ethnography Due.