Once you have researched and gathered all the materials you need to support your review, you can start to make an outline plan and start writing.

Eventually you will write 1250 words. You might choose to write 200 words for both introduction and conclusion, leaving you 1050 words – you then need to split this into the different elements you will analyse in the review.

What themes or issues of genre will you cover, are they of equal importance or are some more weighty than others? If you are doing a presentation you can split the timings in a similar way.

Things to remember when researching and writing:

• Don’t start writing your essay without some sort of plan, even if you adapt the plan as you go. Use keywords as signposts rather than long form sections.
• Divide your essay into different sections and the content for each. Work out approximately how many words you’ll devote to each part. This will help to ensure that your essay ‘flows’ well and is appropriately structured.
• Use your image analysis to help you explore conventions and challenges to genre. Always keep bringing your argument back to details in the images to explore the wider debates.
• Use your introduction to define difficult terms in your own words and refer back to this when using your conclusion to sum up and make concluding statements about what you have explored.
• Make sure that your critical review is critical rather than narrative. This means that you should focus your efforts on analysis, interpretation, comparing and contrasting as well as questioning the work and theoretical ideas. It should not focus on recounting biographical or historical information unless it has a significant relation to practice which is built into your theoretical argument.
• Use quotations to support your argument and ground your own opinions.
• Compile a bibliography from the outset: Keep track of your references; don’t try to compile them at the end of the writing process. Use the Harvard referencing system; you’ll find a guide to this on the student website.

Padlet Link (Plan)

Padlet Link (Initial Thoughts)

Essay Plan

Introduction

• Theme: Changes to Documentary photography over the years and in particular the idea of “truth” using 2 photographs, one from the 1930s and one from around 2010.
• Summary of main ideas in the essay: Traditional ideas of documentary photography through to more recent ideas and in particular how we view what is acceptable when out comes to “A Truth” or “The Truth” and the need for transparency.
• Defining documentary photography: Many photographers have their own definitions (the word “truth” seems to be a constant)

Main body

• Description and analysis of both images
• Similarities and differences
• Traditional ideas
• More modern concepts including technological advances
• Transparency is more important than “the truth” but there has to be “a truth”

Conclusion

• There is a greater need for transparency due to issues such as the ease with which images can be manipulated and ethical considerations surrounding the subject of any images.
• “Truth” is still at the forefront of documentary photography but with transparency, the photographer can create images that have the power to inform, educate, change and preserve a lost history.