Writing is a process.  By carefully attending to each stage of this process in our work, we all increase our chances of writing lively, interesting papers which easily communicate what we would like to say.  There are three general stages of writing to consider.

• Pre-writing: the time spent organizing and planning what we want to say.  Some people find it useful to make formal outlines of the paper before actually writing, while others work better with a looser plan.  This stage may also include free-writing exercises in order to help uncover what we are actually trying to say in the paper.  Tacking back and forth between what was learned during data analysis can help organize the points we want to make in the final paper.

 
• Draft writing: the first attempt to actually write the full paper.  At this stage, it is more useful to focus on getting our ideas across clearly and effectively than on producing a well-polished product.  Following the plan created during pre-writing but changing it as it seems necessary to do so can make this stage easier.  Sometimes, it is useful to write a section, take a break to do something else for a few minutes, and then return to write the next section.

 
• Revising: cleaning up the draft for the purpose of handing it in.  It is advisable to finish the draft at least several days in advance of the due date in order to ask for feedback from colleagues, fellow students, professors, writing advisors, etc.  At this stage, it is possible to step back from the paper for the purpose of re-evaluating choices made in earlier stages regarding organization, presentation of evidence, strategy of argument, conclusions and overall effectiveness.  Be sure to spell-check the paper and edit carefully for grammatical and lexical awkwardness as well!

• Ethnographic papers are generally centered around presenting a problem or issue in the guiding question.  They then proceed to explore this question or problem and analyze it in light of fieldwork.  It is, therefore, very useful to clarify early in the paper why the selected problem is important (both generally and anthropologically) and why it is worthy of investigation.

 
• Evidence for the thesis sentence and its supporting points is drawn from the author's fieldwork.  Be sure that the points presented as evidence are based upon description and analysis from fieldnotes and interviews and from what you learned through site documents (if available).  Be clear about how you learned the information described in the paper, what it means, and how it contributes to your central point.  Remember that this information and your use of it in the paper is the heart of the argument being presented!

• Since ethnographic evidence is both found and presented by the author of the paper, it will sometimes be necessary to use the first person in ethnographic papers.  Usually, "I" statements are useful when discussing both our own positioning in our research and in presenting some data.  This is in contrast to other kinds of academic papers in which the author's voice is not personalized, and reflects the fact that who we are as individuals affects our ethnography.   (See objectivity.)

• Ethnographic writing is evocative, descriptive, and lively.  It is academic writing that requires creativity in rendering scenes, sights, smells, feelings, and individuals as lifelike as possible on the page.  Help the reader to be where you were and to understand as realistically as possible what it was really like.

 
• Names of places and individuals are often, but not always, changed to pseudonyms in ethnographic papers.  It is important to follow the wishes of our informants regarding their wishes to be named directly or not.  Ask them and follow their wishes.  If using pseudonyms, take care to genuinely hide someone's identity while also retaining some sense of realism in the choice of the pseudonym.

 
• It is necessary to attribute ideas that are not one's own to their authors.  References should be cited in a consistent bibliographic style.  (Here is a simplified version of the APA style guide.)  Note that even unpublished materials (as many site documents may be) should be accounted for in the bibliography.  Since  much of the data supporting ethnographic papers is oral and not written, writers should be clear about how the information learned orally was gained and attribute it to that person in the text of the paper (using a pseudonym as appropriate.)

• guiding question
• thesis statement
• evocative description of the setting(s)
• methodology - what did you do and how?
• evidence - excerpts from fieldnotes, quotes, information from documents, pictures, diagrams, etc.
• data  - how many people you interviewed, how many times you visited, how much material you have
• portrayal of specific people, using pseudonyms if appropriate
• your own positioning in your research
• reflexivity - how you're representing all of the above
• fairness of presentation, including counter-evidence where it exists and enough data for readers to draw their own conclusions without simply relying on your interpretations
• theoretical component
• closure -  implications of the research for practice or future study
• bibliography
• appendix (if relevant)