Episode 1: Introduction to the Series | Writing-Up Research as Thematic Narrative

ABOUT THE SERIES
This video series explains how to write-up ethnographic or qualitative research. It addresses the complex, multivocal nature of social scientific narrative. The approach is based upon a strategy outlined in the book Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes by Robert Emerson, Rachel Fretz, and Linda Shaw (1995). I have elaborated and creatively illustrated their ideas, making them more accessible to students across the social sciences. This series contains 14 short videos (between 2-4 minutes each) that must be watched in order. The collection also includes worksheets and other learning resources, listed below and per episode. This series is ideal for doctoral students and early career scholars who are not yet well-versed in writing and publishing.

MY PERSONAL HISTORY WITH THESE IDEAS
I was introduced to the book that inspired this series while a doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the early 2000s. As a PhD student at the Department of Education and Information Studies, in the field of Information Science, I also took methods courses at the Department of Sociology. There, I studied qualitative methods with Melvin Pollner and Jack Katz, reknowned sociologists. In Professor Katz's course on data-gathering methods, we read from Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (Emerson, Fretz & Shaw, 1995), with a focus on its opening chapters. Later, while writing-up my own ethnographic dissertation on information in the hobby of gourmet cooking, I struggled to write and had no principled approach. (My own dissertation is not an example of the thematic narrative, taught in the video series.) Years later, I discovered the penultimate chapter in Emerson, Fretz and Shaw, entitled "Writing an Ethnography," and then learned about the thematic narrative and excerpt-commentary unit, featured here. Over the years, I taught this writing system to hundreds of students in my course at the Faculty of Information, Information Ethnography, and also presented it at conference workshops (with Hugh Samson). The videos are based upon my creative adaptation of Emerson, Fretz & Shaw's ideas in the chapter "Writing an Ethnography."

REFERENCES
Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (1995). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes. University of Chicago Press.

ALL WORKSHEETS (These are duplicated in the Description box below their relevant video; and are available again in the concluding episode [#12]).