Order Description
According to authors Sunstein and Chiseri-Strater, “Fieldworkers investigate the cultural landscape, the larger picture of how a culture functions: its rituals, its rules, its traditions, and its behaviors. And they poke around the edges at the stories people tell, the items people collect and value, and the materials people use to go about their daily living. By learning from people in a culture what it is like to be part of their world, fieldworkers discover a culture’s way of being, knowing, and understanding” (4).

The term fieldworker has different meaning in agriculture than is does in the research process, but for this assignment you will merge the definitions. You should be going out into the “field,” either literally or figuratively. Choose a research site and take a fieldtrip. Ideas that might trigger your choice are to join some planters during their spring work, attend your first farmers’ market, or how about a farm auction? Figuratively, your field could be online. You could research something like the Farm Kings by watching a season of their reality shows, reading through their blog, and stalk the farm on Google Earth. Or, maybe play something like the Scarecrow game https://www.scarecrowgame.com/ (Links to an external site.) or FarmVille. This link looks like it will make suggestions for phone apps https://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Top+10+iPhone+charts/feature.asp?c=29927 (Links to an external site.) . Your job in during a virtual field trip is to determine how “real” your experience is. You might also choose combine both options completing some extensive research online, then visiting a location like Whole Foods or Chipotle.

The basic requirement is to conduct primary research by visiting a farm-related site yourself. Prepare yourself for the fieldwork in the following ways:

Think about where farmers gather or who you know that belongs to that culture

Put on your agricultural lenses

Choose somewhere that you have not visited before. This should be a new experience.

Talk to people using the farm knowledge you have acquired in this class

Consider any ethical concerns you should be careful of. Your interviews, observations, or surveys should in no way harm (emotionally, physically, or mentally) anyone you come in contact with. In other words, prepare to get permission before you publish anyone’s information, especially photographs

REQUIREMENTS:

For your field trip blog, you are required to collect at least two primary sources of your own. You should post:

Photographs of the event or location you attended

Fieldnotes analyzing visual rhetoric

Questions used for conversations and a partial transcription of the answers that are pertinent to your blog post. Print out and use the following worksheet to ask questions. Field trip for spring online students.docxPreview the documentView in a new window

At least four hours-worth of fieldwork should be conducted

SUBMISSION:

Write and post your essay (not just a list of answers to the questions on the worksheet; it should be engaging and entertaining) and graphics on your blog.

Post the link to your blog for grading.

Reference:

Sunstein, Bonnie Stone and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater. “Stepping In and Stepping Out: Understanding Cultures.” FieldWorking: Reading and Writing Research. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2007. 1-63. Print.

Rubric
Field Trip
Field Trip
Criteria Ratings Pts
Analyze and Connect
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10 pts
Primary Research
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10 pts
Visual Rhetoric
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8 pts
Articulation
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8 pts
Secondary Research
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8 pts
Writing Mechanics
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3 pts
Citation
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3 pts
Total Points: 50