Letter of Inquiry

Myranda Hinkson, Molly Donald, Elizabeth Geary, and Christyana Wood

University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740

October 1, 2017

Laurielle Campbell, JD
191 E Jefferson St.
Rockville, MD 20850

RE: Ethnographic Research Project

Dear Laurielle Campbell:

We are currently students at the University of Maryland College Park enrolled in an Introduction
to Professional Writing class. As a part of this course, we are tasked with conducting a semester
long project in which we conduct ethnographic research. Molly is a Government and Politics
Major, while Myranda, Elizabeth, and Christyana are all Criminology and Criminal Justice
majors. You have met one of our group members, Elizabeth, as she works at the Public
Defenders Office under Shannice Anderson. We are all very interested in the type of legal
writing you practice as a public defender, as the impact of your words have the power to
potentially change the lives of others for the better. If you will allow us, we would like to have
the writing of you and your team be the focus of our ethnographic report. The report will be
beneficial to you as well, as it will use specific research to describe the procedures and methods
that you and your associates use to complete your written goals. This analysis can then be further
used however you see fit.

As this is a semester long effort, there are multiple separate assignments within the overall
project. These assignments include: a research proposal (9/11), an ethnographic report (11/15),
and an e-portfolio (11/28) as an cumulation of all of our work throughout the semester. In order
to complete these goals, we would require approximately four interviews between you and your
team by 11/5, and access to your office in order to take field notes. Additionally, we are required
to cite a few artifacts, such as examples of your written work or the tools you use to produce
them. We do understand that much of your work is confidential and that we could only have
access to what you are legally allowed to share with us. In light of this, we will keep all names
entirely anonymous and ensure that none of our research interferes with the important work of
you and your team.

We would like to meet with you to further discuss our research, as well as answer any questions
or concerns you may have about the research itself or the methods we plan to use. You can email
mollyrdon@gmail.com, mhinkson@terpmail.umd.edu egeary1@terpmail.umd.edu,
cwood6@terpmail.umd.edu, or speak directly with Elizabeth since she will be working either
under Shannice Anderson or Victoria Cherosky on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Respectfully,
Myranda Hinkson, Molly Donald, Elizabeth Geary, and Christyana Wood