Observation allows you to learn about your subject by immersing yourself in it. For example, you might visit a mall to observe shopping habits in the last few days of the holiday season. Or you might study how activists approach students walking to the student center at midday. To keep track of your observations, you can take field notes, fill out an observation checklist, or record your observations in a voice recorder. Observing a subject firsthand allows you to understand it differently than you can through secondhand reports. Observation can also increase your credibility as a writer, in much the same way that a reporter on the scene has a degree of authority that a news anchor in a television studio cannot provide. You can read more about conducting an observation.