Descriptive Essay

"Autoethnography"

In 3-4 pages, write a first-person analytical account in which the primary source of analysis is your experience of being a member of a group—a “subculture.”  The goal is tell an engaging story while asserting a coherent thesis.  Use descriptions of “the way it is” or “how things are done” in your subculture of choice to flesh out your story. 

While the observations are objective, the implications are subjective—they are your assertions and interpretations as an insider aimed at an audience of outsiders. These implications are what constitute your theses and the most weighty and central part of your papers. 

Keep in mind the balance between the personal and the analytical, the subjective and the objective. For instance, don’t write 4 pages of thick description about the noises of football games, the colors of the jerseys, etc without at least an implied argument about what you think these observations add up to. On the other hand, don’t write claim after claim without descriptive observations and step-by-step explanations—or “evidence."

*Double-spaced, Times New Roman font, size 12, 1-inch margins.