How to Write a Quality FR/LR - Open Discussion

[PrettyDecent]

Hey fellas,

An excerpt from a post by Chase on the Beginner's Board, titled 'What's the best way to "level up"?':

Why Field Reports? [...] You amplify the learning of the night several times over, and essentially get 3 or 4 days' or nights' worth of learning out of a single outing.

Realizing how much more efficient my and other's learning curve could be with properly using this tool, I googled "How to write Field Reports", and lo and behold, like most other things in the seduction field, that it was a crossover term from academia. Specifically from sociological interactions, those of you with a psychology or law major may have heard the term previously. So here are a couple links describing what makes a good FR in academia:

- Writing a Field Report - University of Southern California
- The structure of Field Reports - UniLearning

The quick and dirty of both describe a process to writing FR's as such:
1.) Introduction
2.) Description of Activities - What, when, where, why, who
3.) Interpretation and Analysis
4.) Conclusions and Recommendations

The details of each describe utilizing a large amount of empathy. Lots of good info in there, y'all should check it out!

But I'd like to hear what people on here say makes a good FR/LR. How do you get the most bang for your buck for each FR/LR?

Cheers,
Nick

 

[Mr.Rob]

As far as writing the best field report to learn from or writing the best field report that would be interesting for someone to read.

I'm assuming you mean writing one for the best way to learn.

Either way cool topic. I don't have much to add as far as how to write one better or learn more from writing one but I'm curious to any pointers some may have.

About to read the links here. Good find!

-Rob

 

[trashKENNUT]

PD,

I really suggest looking up to ...

NarrowJ
Z Vaunswa/Zphix

This two, those guys are crazy when it comes to lay reports. and those two level up like it was a card game. Just check out how they write their stuff. That would be my suggestion.

z@c+

 

[Ross]

PrettyDecent,

Just thought I'd add in that when people ask a few questions at specific points in their interaction, it's much easier to give advice. Things such as "Did I do this part right?" or something along those lines opens the door for confirmation and advice, which, in my opinion should be the main point of a field report. Getting something to take away from the discussion of your successes and failures ensures you're always moving forward.

 

[PinotNoir]

This is a good topic for discussion.

I'd say that, compared with academic FRs, being concise is better here. I tend to be too "wordy," despite trying to improve. I re-read my FRs, and they are just always too wordy, but I can't figure out how to trim the fat while keeping details that I deem as important.

I think most FRs do have a 3-part structure: introduction, outing, conclusion/analysis. And since concision is better, this is good.

Also, sometimes less detail can make interpretations less biased. People are more prone to agree/accept/counter your interpretation if you write one with your outing; while if you only share the facts, you get a more diverse (and maybe more helpful) group of responses, but get less responses (due to people not being intrigued by just facts, like reading a school paper).

Other great things to include:

• Paragraphs
• Stylized text, e.g., bold, italic, underline, all upper-case.
• Headings/Sections
• Intriguing title to make people want to read it

If it's a LR, I think being wordy and presenting it as a story is good, because we already know it's a success.

if it's a FR, then I think less unnecessary detail is better.

If it's a FU, then I think a good middle ground is best. You want to give a lot of details so that people can assist you, but you don't want to give too much to make it like reading a book or alter people's opinions before their replies.

Lastly, doing/saying something different from the ordinary will also get more view/replies, and it will be enjoyable for the readers. Experimentations with unknown openers/approaches/pre-openings is always fun.

 

[Franco]

Good discussion here. I went ahead and added this to The Best of the "Off Topic" Board.

- Franco

 

[PrettyDecent]

Glad to hear y'alls thoughts on this!

I'll be tossing an FR or LR later today into the Field Reports section , and if you guys have any critiques/praise in terms of structure (e.g. "too much 'fat' here" or "too little/many questions asked"), maybe we can have a practical example of your tips in action.

~Nick