FIELD RESEARCH

The field research component is designed to introduce students to Capture of Dialogue, Thick Description and Creative Rumination. These techniques will be of great assistance in the construction of the final Literary Journalism piece. Field observations are important because we often look, but don't see. Description is about seeing. Capture of Dialogue introduces attribution, which gives your prose authority by signaling to the reader that the content is authenticated. And, Creative Rumination is a link to past experience. This is enables writer to make a meaningful connection between the content of the field notes and some analogous situation that occurred in the past. Filmmakers do this with a dissolve shot to some earlier activity that is supposed to give the reader insight and assistance with understanding the ongoing events.