This dynamic English Composition course asks students to both create and engage with texts, in a variety of forms, that examine human societies and cultures through research and observation. In this class, students will read and write voraciously about ethnographic research and learn fundamental strategies for finding and honing a topic, taking notes, conducting research, and writing a fieldwork project. Research for this course will not be confined to the library or the Internet, rather students will be asked to observe, listen, interpret, and analyze the behaviors of those around them and include these perspectives in their own writing.

Throughout the semester, students will also consciously consider what it means to write academically at the college level via regular self-reflection and revision. In doing so, students will strengthen their rhetorical knowledge and further develop an iterative writing process that they can apply to written assignments across genres and disciplines throughout college and beyond. This course is uniquely designed for students who are interested in pursuing majors in the social sciences including anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies.

Note: This course will blend classroom and online instruction into a hybrid format. You will need to be able to complete a significant portion of the work online. While you can complete all of the work using campus computers, we recommend that you take this class only if you have computer and Internet access from home.

Required Text

FieldWorking: Reading and Writing Research 4th ed. by
B. Stone Sunstein and E. Chiseri-Strater (Bedford St. Martin’s/MacMillan)

City College Blackboard: Other reading and writing materials, PowerPoint slideshows, educational links and videos will be posted online on Bb during the semester. Please Note: You must use your CCNY email address in Bb (log in to the CCNY Portal, click Blackboard, then Update Email in the Tools menu). If you add a non-CCNY domain email address in this window, you will not receive important course announcements.

Photo: “Post it notes” by HopeMedia Stock Photography is licensed under CC BY 2.0

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.