Chapter 3: Observing

1
Chapter 3 Observing
2

• My task . . . Is, by the power of the written
  word, to make you hear, to make you feelit is,
  before all, to make you see.
• Joseph Conrad

3

• Seeing is of course very much a matter of
  verbalization. Unless I call my attention to
  what passes before my eyes, I simply wont see
  it.
• --Annie Dillard

4

• This chapter serves three important functions.
• It encourages writers to discover and learn by
  drawing on their senses.

5

• It provides early practice in selecting and
  focusing information so that all observed details
  relate to or help create some dominant idea.

6

• Finally, it provides practice in observing as an
  invention technique that will be used in the
  following chapters of this text, and in other
  readings we will do in this class.

7

• The real voyage of discovery consists not in
  seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
• --Marcel Proust

8

• This chapter, and this class, challenges you to
  begin seeing and writing-- with new eyes.

9

• Virginia Woolf once asked her nephews what
  awakened them that morning.
• The sun, they answered.

10

• What KIND of sun? she asked.
• Was it a WARM sun? A YELLOW sun? A GENTLE
  sun?

11

• She was teaching these young men that there was
  so much more to be seen, felt, observed than they
  might initially express.

12

• For Godsake, keep your eyes open. Notice whats
  going on around you.
• --William Burroughs

13

• Chapter 3, "Observing," explores the power of
  seeing and of sharing what you see.
• Your five senses allow you to navigate through
  each day, providing you with the vital
  information about the world and those who share
  the world with you.

14

• "Observing" will help you to tap into the power
  of your five senses, focus that power, and use
  the information you gain to learn more about and
  to explain yourself, your world, and those around
  you.
• After reading Chapter 3, you will be able to

15

• Explain the Techniques for Writing about
  Observation, including giving sensory details,
  describing what is not there, and focusing on a
  dominant idea.
• Describe People, Places, and Objects by zeroing
  in on specific details that fit overall patterns
  or impressions.

16

• Describe Events by weaving specific details about
  people, places, and objects into a chronology.
• Choose a subject for Observing and draft and
  revise an essay by first Collecting information
  and then Shaping that information to fit your
  subject, purpose, and audience.

17

• Apply Shaping strategies (such as Spatial Order,
  Classification, and Definition) to organize the
  specific details of an essay to fit audience and
  purpose.