READ all the other student essays written by all the other students and
your own. Write an essay critique using the folllowing guidelines.
Describe patterns you see through the essays. Develop a hypothesis or question
to prove. Use concepts from the text. EX: "Culture change is a common thread
in all the essays. Cultural practices have changed through space and through
time."
Support your hypothesis with examples from individual essays. You may say,
"Many different marriage practices have adopted the euro-american style
wedding. Tom points out that in Kenya, Africa, both ceremonies are followed.
The first, blah, blah, blah. Then, blah, blah. The only difference (what
are the exceptions?) between the American way and the Kenyan way is blah.
These differences came about because of diffusion of ________." Then come
up with other examples from other essays).
Betty reports that in modern day ________ marriage customs have changed
because the people have less money today than in the past. Other changes
that are related to this change in the economy are in ________ (the same
country). Find other examples.
Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the ethnographic description that
each author provided about their cultural friend.
Evaluate the grammar, spelling, content, use of concepts, and cohesiveness
(flow--does it make sense) of the essays.
Select what you consider to be the best series of essays. List the reasons
why those essays are effective and convey a sense of the culture described.