Enthographic Writing Research: Writing it Down, Writing it Up, and Reading It

Wendy Bishop. Ethnographic Writing Research: Writing It Down, Writing It Up, and Reading It. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1999. 274 pages. $28.00 (paper).

As the title indicates, this is a practical guide to conducting, writing, and reading ethnography in composition, or what Bishop calls "ethnographic writing research." The simplicity of her title is misleading, however, because she doesn't only, as she promises in her introduction, -help readers conduct their day-to-day research" and "provide discussions that should help [them] to read ethnographic work ... with more critical sensitivity and insight" (pp. xii-xiii). She also candidly and eloquently delves into the methodological, political, and ethical complexities of...