essay about a place, English homework help

Feb. 1: Site Visit Notes Due

Feb. 4: Detailed outline of essay due (bring 3 copies for peer workshop)

Feb. 8: Draft 1 due at conference     

Feb. 15: Peer workshop of essay (bring 3 copies)

Feb. 18: Final observation essay due

Detailed instructions:

PART I. In the article, “The Beauty Happiness Connection” that your wrote your summary on, talks about how some studies have found that being in beautiful settings creates a sense of happiness. Choose a setting that you find beautiful in the D.C. area to visit (a park, a museum, an architecturally beautiful cathedral, mosque, or synagogue). You’ll find below a list of places in and around DC that I find beautiful just to get an idea, and you are welcome to use these places as long as you find the space beautiful as well. Then select a space within that place where you can observe the people visiting that space. Take notes on the people you see and their body language, their expressions, how long they stay, their tone of voice if they are talking – anything you can observe. Then, find a place that you find ugly (and that many others might as well). This would be a place that most people would not choose to go because of its beauty. Remember that you must each space for at least one hour each, and during that hour you must give your full attention to observing the place and people’s behavior in that place. You should NOT be texting, talking, or doing anything other than watching and taking notes.

(NOTE: You also have the option of observing just a beautiful place (but you need to do it for 2 separate hours – i.e. don’t watch for 2 consecutive hours. Or you can do the same with just an ugly space. The idea is to observe how people react to the space around them.)

Possible beautiful places to visit:

National Cathedral or National Cathedral gardens 

Botanical Gardens 

Any of the museums on the Mall 

Sculpture Garden 

Roosevelt Island 

Any of the memorials

Meadow Lark Gardens 

Bird house at the Zoo

And the ugly spaces: 

Construction site

A city block that is all plain office buildings

Food establishment with plastic chairs and dirty walls.

Bus stop 

Metro train

Some hints:

You will want to visit your place during hours when many people are present so that you can observe a large enough sample of people. 

You may first want to walk through the space, taking detailed notes on its physical qualities. Remember to use your senses!

If you are in a space where it might look strange that you are just sitting there, you may want to introduce yourself to someone in charge and let them know you are working on a school assignment to observe people. At the very least, be prepared to explain the assignment if someone asks what you’re doing.

PART II. Take notes on its layout, any objects, what people do there, how they move through the space, and any other details that seem interesting, revealing, significant, or strange. Pay particularly close attention to the way the place is set up to serve it’s purpose and to the way people within the space are interacting with that space. 

PART III. Develop your observation by analyzing the probable meaning(s) and function(s) associated with specific details of the place and the behavior of the people within it. Always explain the connections between evidence and interpretation. Do not use any of the following words (unless, of course, they’re in a direct quote): best, worst, great, terrible, awful, good, bad, should. These are all broad, value-charged terms, and the point of this essay is to help you develop your skills of 1) observation and 2) analysis and deduction.

Possible Outline:
(courtesy of Dr. Peebles)

Paragraph 1 (Introduction)
Begin your essay with a brief paragraph that prepares your reader for the essay to follow, introducing the place, its explicit or obvious purpose(s), and its intended audience(s). What are the usual expectations for a place of this kind? Conclude this paragraph with a thesis statement that focuses your evaluation and asserts the main point of your essay: based on what features make the place work and what features are distracting or damaging, what is your overall judgment of the place? The thesis statement alerts the reader to the terms of your analysis but does not discuss them in detail.

Paragraph 2 (Context)
This paragraph is your chance to describe your experience in the place(s). Use your description to demonstrate your understanding of the place(s), thereby establishing your credibility and qualifications for offering an evaluation. Deepen your introduction of the place (in paragraph 1) by considering what secondary, non-obvious purposes the place serves.

Paragraphs 3-7 (Body)
You may choose to develop your evaluation in as few as three or as many as five more paragraphs. Include at least one counterargument opposing a point of your evaluation and your response (i.e., “while the donation box appears to be empty and useless, its presence could also remind people of the importance of generosity. However, I saw that many people paid at the entrance desk and turned away from the donation box, suggesting that they might not be feeling very generous.”).

In each paragraph, focus on a specific feature of the place and discuss what its meaning and function is in that space. Remember that each paragraph needs to focus on one point (introduced by a topic sentence) and to develop the essay’s thesis. So, if one feature is so significant that it has multiple meanings or uses that you want to discuss, that will take several paragraphs.

Last Paragraph (Conclusion)
Conclude your essay with a brief paragraph that presents your full thesis and evaluative criteria to the reader and that gives your essay a sense of closure.

Works Cited
List your outside sources, including any brochures or websites you used to help explain or confirm details of the place, in correct MLA format at the end of your essay.