Starting to Write your Observational Essay

After conducting your interviews and observations, write briefly on the following questions.

1. What visual or other sensory impression is most memorable?

2. What does this single impression tell me about my subject?

3. What is the mood of the place? How do people seem to feel there?

4.What is most memorable about the people I observed/talked to?

5. What activity is most striking about my observation? What is most likely to surprise/interest readers?

6. What was the most important thing I learned? Why is it important?

7. If I could find out the answer to one more questions, what would the question be?

8. What about this subject says something larger about our lives and times?

9. What generalization or judgment do these personal reactions lead me to? The answer to this is the formulation of your thesis statement. For more information on that, you might look at p. 149 "formulating a tentative thesis statement."  A thesis statement, by the way, may change as you draft your essay. If it does, you can alter it to reflect the real direction of your essay.

Bruce Ballenger, author of "The Curious Writer", suggests you "sketch" as part of your pre-draft work. The sketch should include:

1. At least TWO  incidents that occurred during your observation or interview or that your subject told. You want to use your storytelling skills  here, focusing on action, gesture, setting, objects, characterization.

2. At least two strong quotations from your subject

3. A paragraph of background information including physical descriptions of people and places, and maybe process narration of activities that may be unfamiliar to readers (i.e. How does X groom a dog, from beginning to end?)

4. A possible strong intro and possible ending that references the intro.

After answering these questions, you should begin to write your draft. It's usually best to begin with an image, a scene, or a quote. For help getting started, consult The "Drafting" section starting on p. 150 of your book if your essay is more "observational" (like "Soup" or "I'm not leaving 'til I eat this thing") or on p. 216 if your essay is more "reflective" like "Black Men and Public Spaces" and "Are Families Dangerous?". Also, look at some of the sample pieces for inspiration. The book is full of others that weren't assigned. How do the writers start their pieces?