You are required to write a seven to nine page (225 words per page) book report on an ethnography of your choice that has been approved by me.  To gain approval bring the book to me before or after class or during my office hours.  My GTA will record your selection.  Please note that your report must be on the approved book.  Nevertheless, you may change your book at any time so long as you inform us and go through a new approval process.

Thousands of ethnographies have been written so you should have considerable latitude in choosing one that suits your interests.  If you have a problem selecting an ethnography on a particular topic or area of the world, visit me and I will see what I can do to assist  you.

To help you gain an idea of what I consider to be an excellent book report, copies of previous book reports for this class are on file in the Geosciences Library (basement of Bessey Hall, east end).

The book report will count 25% of your total class grade and is due the day indicated on the course syllabus. If you wish, you may turn in a rough (but readable and complete) first draft on or before 22 April for comments and a preliminary grade. I will return your draft with my comments to you on 25 April. You then have the option of changing the report or resubmitting it unchanged on 29 April the day the book report is due.

Format:
In general, the report should follow the outline described below. Be aware that this is an all purpose outline and it may be impossible or difficult to answer some of the outlined questions. For example, in older ethnographies ethnographers don't describe their methods. In such a case, simply state that the ethnographer did not describe his or her methods, and move on to the next topic.

I. Introduction: a clear statement of the central theme, focus, issue, or problem the ethnographer investigated.

II. Methods: describe the methods the ethnographer used to collect data (e.g., interview, observation) and the techniques (e.g., statistical, case study) used to analyze the data.

III. Body of paper (about two-thirds of the report):

A. Provide a chapter-by-chapter survey of the contents of the ethnography and evaluate how well it supports the stated goal(s) of the ethnography.
B. Discuss the most important issues of the ethnography and attempt to relate them (whenever possible) to what you have learned from the lectures or assigned texts.

• The paper should be computer printer or typed. Papers may contain editorial changes (e.g., corrections of misspelled words, insertions of new words or sentences) as long as they don't make the paper too difficult to read. Please use standard editorial marks when making these changes.
• Do not type on erasable bond paper--that is, typing paper that can be easily erased with a pencil eraser.
• All ethnographies must be approved by me. To accomplish this, please bring the book to class or to my office so I may look at it.
• Final Note: Failure to take an exam or turn in a book report on the day assigned will result in 0 grade. Only an illness, family emergency, or some dire extenuating circumstance will persuade me to give you a make-up exam (essay format) or to extend the book report due date.  Retain a copy of your book report in case the one you wrote or submitted to me disappears (e.g., even if your dog eats it you should have a duplicate).

The following links contain lists of ethnographies most of which have paragraph descriptions that you may to use to select an ethnography for your book report :

• Wadsworth-Thompson once there, click on "case studies" or "cultural anthropology".  You will arrive at a variety of book titles that you can click on for further information. 
• Waveland Press Ethnographies
• Waveland Press Web Site
• Additional List by Geographic Area

Search Strategies at Love Library

The best way find ethnographies at Love Library is to use a "subject" search.  Here is how you can do it.  First log-on to love library at http://iris.unl.edu  Once there, select "Catalogs" and then "UNL Libraries Catalog".  Under "Search catalog by" select "subject".  A subject search screen will appear and in it type "social life and customs".  The result will be more than 5,00 entries.  At this point you can begin to scan through the entries or, more productively, you can use the "limit search" option at the bottom of the page to search within.  For example, using the "words in title" option you can add words such as "women" or "Africa" or "Indians" to bring up ethnographies or groups of ethnographies that deal with topics specified.

Writing Assistance Center

Instructors love to read well written papers and become frustrated with poorly structured papers with incomprehensible prose.  Poor writing leads to a poor grade.  If you have problems writing or you simply wish to improve your writing, seriously consider the Writing Assistance Center (WAC) run by the English Department.  It is a wonderful resource to help you outline, draft, revise, and edit your paper.  You may make a one hour appointment for assistance by calling 472-8803.  They are located at 129 Andrews Hall and their web site is http://www.unl.edu/english/wac/wacmain.htm .