Final Portfolio Example

Time is winding down and I need to start working on my final portfolio. Our teacher gave us examples of some portfolios of previous years to show us what she expects. One example was from a student named Meredith who observed a music venue in Muncie, Indiana called "The Living Room." Based on her portfolio, I now better understand what to do for my final paper. What I plan on doing is dividing it into maybe 10 or so segments, talking about different things involving Rita's, frozen custard, etc. in a way that's easy to read and organized. I believe that this is the best way to complete my project, and this can be seen in Meredith's portfolio. She used Scribd to display her documents, but I don't think I need that, because it's simply a lot easier to write it on my website itself, As long as I divide the sections, each page shouldn't be too long.

A Mind at Work

"A Mind at Work" by Mike Rose should aid me in my ethnographic project. I like the beginning section where Rose talked about his background in an immigrant blue-collar family. He mentioned how his uncle was a railroad worker and his mother a waitress; this shows me that I should try to use some form of allusion in my paper, because of the personal feel to it. The imagery in it should keep the readers attentive. Rose also mentioned some of the details of the work his family did, talking about the information his uncle studied and the trip he took to a museum to learn more about his profession. So I too should include information about how Rita's operates and some of the products they offer.
Another thing I've found is that around halfway, as he starts talking about his book, he defines and describes terms like intelligence and work, among others that are relevant to his study. I've already done this a little bit in my interview essay by explaining the difference between ice cream and frozen custard, but it should also help in my analysis paper. Also, Rose seems to have some sort of theme about intelligence and the relationship between it and skill. I too need to find an overall theme or thesis for my analysis. I have bits and pieces for what I want to talk about, but I don't have an overall theme yet.

Extra Research

My ethnography project is going pretty well so far, and I have some decent sources to back up what I'm discovering in Rita's. I like "The Franchise Mall" because of the press releases from Rita's, which should give me a good history about when Rita's started, when they've opened in other states, etc. One thing I might want to find out is how ice cream shops are decorated and designed, since I'm trying to get into Virginia Tech's architecture program. I want to see what in the interior design makes them stand out, compared to places like McDonald's and 7-Eleven.

I consider Rita's to be a pretty laid-back place because they really only receive customers on the weekend, and then only when the weather is right. The majority of the customers are college students, while there are still adults that come in, usually with their children. Just about all of the employees are college students, excluding Jim, an elderly man whom I assume to be the manager. Rita's is a relaxing environment that has a desire to serve quality Italian ice and frozen custard, and lives up to its motto, "Ice. Custard. Happiness."