explores a place, a person or people, or an animal.

collect details about the place through your observation. Use your senses and record everything for a specific period of time. Keep up with the time you begin and the time you end. Try to keep yourself out of the observation – you are the recorder, not a participant. Along with the obvious physical characteristics, include characteristics that might not be immediately observable such as the mood that the people present (or animals) might share, subtle patterns of behavior, freedom of actions, and other interesting actions. You get the picture.
CHOOSE: PERSON, ANIMAL, PLACE – Choose a place or person that is easy to visit. Think of the variety of people or activities that take place at your chosen site. What types of people go there? What kinds of activities occur at this place? Make notes on specific information about the people or things you observe while there. How many different characteristics can you note?
OBSERVATIONAL NOTES: How do people or animals interact with each other or with their surroundings? Take careful notes while there, recording even the most seemingly trivial details. They may give clues later to an idea or thought that you would like to pursue. You will submit these notes with your final essay.
PUBLIC RESONANCE: What meaning do your observations have? You will need to analyze the details in order to find a meaning, thereby giving your paper a central focus or purpose for the reader. A strong, specific thesis will relate the central focus to your audience.

According to most people there is not much to a cafeteria on a college campus. Well they are wrong and they are missing the big picture. At Lees- McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolinait is a little different then just going to eat. A majority of people thinks that a cafeteria is just a place to eat and then leave. This is true, but there is much more to it too. The cafeteria is a unique place with a whole mix of different people. The cafeteria joins people from all over into one place to gather together.
When this observation of the cafeteria was started, the overall importance was not noticed. It seemed that everyone would go and grab their food and sit down. It also seemed as if everyone was happy and satisfied. People really seemed happy after they ate and their stomachs were full. Looking a little more into it, there was a routine. People would walk around and scope out the options of different foods; then they would grab a plate and get their food, silverware, drink, and etcetera. After they had all they needed they would sit down. They would then go sit down at their usual table or in the same general area. The students would stay a little longer after they ate and talked to their friends. That is when it was noticed; people would usually sit with their same group of friends. The students would sit with only people they knew. This does make sense, most people would not sit with strangers but this is a school and these are your classmates. It’s a little community of people who see each other everyday and do not say anything to each other, not even a hello.
As more observing occurred. Something interesting was noticed. There are flags hanging around the cafeteria. There are flags from about twenty-two different countries hanging up on the wall. This should make people think about how there really are so many people from different places all being joined together in one place. The students see their peers all the time, almost everyday and do not even care to get to know one another. The flags on the wall are a red flag that show if other countries are coming to join the school; the students should at least be able to talk to each other. Especially when they are all drawn into the same place.
When students were asked why they did not socialize with students they did not know, they all had similar answers. Their answers were along the lines of they do not talk to people they do not know but the main answer was that they did not want to be rejected by someone or seem weird.The students understood the meaning of the flags and they saw that they were all joined into one place and they should communicate with one another but they decided not to. They made the cafeteria a place to just come and eat. Which that is its primary purpose but clearly there is more to it.
So, most people do not see much more than food in a college campus cafeteria. They should be able to see the bug picture now. They should be able to see the potential that Lees- McRae’s cafeteria holds. The students should see the uniqueness in the mix of all the different type of people who join together and gather in the cafeteria. Students should understand what the flags symbolize. They should see how the cafeteria is for eating but it can also symbolize so much more than that.