1. Observing your world

2. Identify your subject
• Be specific; define your subject with unique
characteristics
Nowhere else in the world can we find the
array or number of geysers, hot spring, mud
pots, and fumaroles found in Yellowstone.

3. Background
• Tell your reader WHY this subject is worth
talking about.
As an American, I was raised to believe that
the simple act of passing one’s soles across a
nubbly plastic mat sporting a cute syaing will
somehow dislodge an accumulated eight
hours of filth, muck, and germs…The Japanese
remove their shoes at the door.

4. Assembly
• Chronologically 1:00
• Most surprising
discovery 2:30
• Most important
observation
4:00
6:15

5. Details, details, details!
• Show your reader what you saw by providing
concrete details.
Three more dollars earned you a trip to the
salad bar – featuring Lady Lee peas, which the
cook poured expressionlessly from the can.
They made a gentle splattering sound as they
slid into the copious salad-bar vat.

6. Big Picture
• Place your observations in the larger context of
your field. What questions are left unanswered?
How are your results atypical?
I realized that I had unknowingly committed the
most egregious of cultural misunderstandings.
Forget the glaring red bouquet, my self-conscious
sobs, or my battle with the chicken feet; I have
absolutely no idea whose funeral I attended.

7. Being objective
• Know your purpose and audience
• Social science observations vs. descriptive
essays of a personal experience

8. Visuals
• Again – know your purpose and audience
• Visuals can work nicely in combination with
written observations.

10. Observation Assignment
• Using worksheets, take notes while you observe
an area on campus. You will observe the area AT
LEAST twice (you may do more if you want) for
30-60 min.
• Write a one page (double –spaced) summary of
what you observed. Consider how the two
observations differ or are the same. What might
we learn from this?
• Bring this to class on Tuesday along with your
notes.