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1) ​Field notes​ – Please do not resend notes you have already submitted, but just new ones since the last submission. Be especially careful to avoid problems on which I have commented in earlier field notes.

3) ​A final paper​: 4-8 pages double-spaced, with 12-point type. I do not care about margins or font. Longer is not necessarily better so don't pad it, but make it as long as it has to be to be good. Spelling, grammar, style, typos, etc. ​do ​count in a college paper. So if you have writing issues, you should start early with the paper and get feedback from a writing tutor or literate friend. If you want help from me with grammar or writing style, you could submit your paper one week early and I will help you improve it.

Here is what I am looking for in the final paper for Merrill 90F Field Study. First of all, you can write any kind of a paper you like. Could be an extended poem or song. Could be a short story. But if you want to go with the more standard approach, then here is what a paper might look like (again, it doesn’t have to; this is just a suggestion). The paper is an opportunity for you to write about the work you and/or your field organization are doing and how it fits into the wider context of the issue the group is trying to address and the economic, social, cultural, and political world in which we live. So the paper should in some way address the following kinds of questions (but do not just write an answer to each question – organize the response in a coherent college paper).

● What issue or issues is your organization working on? ● What are the causes of the problem/opportunity/issue on which the group is

working? ● What is the group's and your strategy for addressing the issue. ● Does the group address the structural changes that would really fix the

problem or address the issue, or do they just deal with helping individuals adjust to the reality of the status quo? (You can, of course, argue that just helping individuals adjust is a worthwhile enterprise and nothing to be critical of, but you have to make an argument rather than just assume that is the case).

● Use concrete examples from your field experience (your own work or what you have observed about others) to support whatever arguments you want to make.

● A good paper is based on evidence (which you should have in your field notes or in things you have read or heard, etc.) AND will have a point of view or opinion from you about what you think about your group’s work or your work and whether or not it could be made more effective, be focused on different goals, etc. Don’t be afraid to disagree with me, or your organization in expressing your ideas.

● There is no need to footnote information you got from your own field notes or experience and any form of citation for ideas you take from others is fine with me

(in the text in brackets, at the foot of each page, in end notes, etc. and whichever form of footnotes you like). Basically, you need to footnote any information that might be questioned so the reader can know where you got the information, e.g. quotes, statistics, an idea from someone else your are using or developing or applying to your experience.

● So, in general, I want you to do more than just tell me what you do or your

organization does. I want you to ​evaluate​ the nature of that work and whether or not it is ​effective​ work, why it is effective if it is, or how it could be made more effective. Perhaps your paper will focus on some specific aspect of the work your organization is doing or that you think they should be doing, etc. Sometimes, practical projects, such as a resource guide for your agency, that is introduced by a very short (page or two) paper explaining why you think this is an important resource for the agency might be a great final project and something useful for your organization as well. Up to you.

Remember that I am very happy to meet with you to talk about your paper. You can email me ​[email protected]​, or call me 831-345-8469 to set up a Zoom meeting. Suggest one or two day/times to meet and I will send you an invitation to a Zoom meeting for one of them. I could help you focus your paper or, if you really are lost, give you some basic ideas for your paper.

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