Developing my Professional Artefact

Having finally finished writing and editing my Critical Review, I am moving onto creating my Professional Artefact. I had initially thought about making some sort of information leaflet aimed at professional dancers which explained to them the typical areas of law affecting their industry, and where they can look to for legal advice and support. I felt that a leaflet format would be a great way for me to present my research in a concise, convenient way.  

Following a discussion with Paula, I came to the decision that a leaflet may not necessarily attract enough attention to the information I am providing. Think about how many times you have picked up or been handed a leaflet and had either a brief look or thrown it in the bin. So it was back to the drawing board for me!

I knew that I wanted to produce something informative yet eye-catching that combined both text and images to capture the readers attention. I found it particularly useful to view the artefacts created by past students and regularly had a look at the examples presented in Paula’s slides which can be found in her blog (http://paulanottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/final-21216-session-module-3.html). My artefact will be a completed product instead of a work in progress. I like to imagine that it is something that could be featured in a magazine in the future perhaps after further research of my own.

It was the posters and booklets that tended to spark my imagination as I knew from the start that this was the type of artefact I wanted to create. Finally, I decided to create an article. To start me on my way, I looked through old copies of magazine The Dancing Times and gained inspiration for layout, language and general format. Using these sources really helped me to get my head into article writing as it is something I have not done since studying English at GCSE level.

In terms of target audience, I imagined the sort of people who would read The Dancing Times and also the practitioners who would benefit the most from my research and the information I will be providing in my article. This means that particularly professional dancers and in general, dance industry practitioners would have the strongest interest in my artefact.

Yesterday, I spent a fair amount of time designing the format of my article, choosing the images I want to include and also doing a drawing of my own to feature in the article. This was me using my creativity to make something that is visually exciting yet professional looking and I must admit that I enjoyed drawing as it is not something that I ever really do. To inspire my drawing, I Googled ‘abstract dancers’ and ‘dancer silhouettes' and ‘abstract dancer silhouettes’ to find images that ignited my imagination and made me want to draw. Some of the images really were simple yet stunningly beautiful and it was along these lines that I created my own interpretation of an ‘abstract dancer silhouette’. Although time consuming, I really enjoyed playing around with the layout and format of my article, playing around with the document until i felt I had it just right. Again I very much drew inspiration from an article in The Dancing Times entitled Dance and its Disappearance by Paul Arrowsmith. It was an article which immediately caught my attention whilst flicking through the magazine and so I used it’s design as a basis for my own article.

Today I am making a start on the actual writing of the article. This morning, I started by simply Googling ‘magazine article writing tips’, in the hope of finding a few pointers to set my writing streak in motion. I found quite a useful article written by W. Terry Whalin entitled Some Basics on Magazine Writing. Whalin recommends;

• Establishing a rough word count before starting to write so that you can be specific about the information that is most important to include
• Focussing the article onto your area of research (something I am already secure in)
• Gathering and organising any data such as that from interviews (completed in my case)
• Summarise the point of your article into one sentence and never move away from this goal; ‘My article is about……..’
• Settle on the main points you want to make, choose any quotes you want to include and make a template of a beginning, middle and end; in other words an introduction, a body of text and finally the conclusion

Whalin urges you to consider; “Does it make sense? Are there areas that are missing?…Is the article focussed and targeted for the assigned publication?” (Whalin, 2016). I have to ensure that my article achieves its objectives and fulfils its purpose of providing interesting, thought-provoking research to the reader. 

Finally, I need to remember that every “article is unique from a creative source” (Whalin, 2016), and that I, as the writer, have to discover my own way of writing and putting my own twist on things. It is so fascinating reading something that is clearly in a certain writers style where their personality or enthusiasm for a certain topic emerges - I hope to achieve the same!

Below I have created a very brief draft for my article which will guide me through the writing stages from here on. It is simply to inform me of the sort of writing structure I should be using. My article is to inform the reader of my research and what I have learnt throughout this process as well as advising them on where I have found legal support for dancers can be sourced from… 

1. Title

• exciting, eye-catching, capture readers attention, brief yet descriptive of subject of article

2. Subheading (optional)

• Single sentence giving general overview of what article is about. Could perhaps begin with ‘Lily Grundy explores…’ or ‘Lily Grundy delves into…’

3. Body of text

• 2-5 paragraphs where the topic area is further explained and developed. Can include images and quotes to enhance the information provided.

4. Conclusion

• Summarises the topic area or gives a final opinion on the research presented 

I now have the next week to complete the writing of my article to then submit with my Critical Review - cannot believe the end is in sight!

Lil’ Blogger   

Bibliography

Arrowsmith, Paul (2012) Dancing and its Disappearance, The Dancing Times, October 2012 Ed.

Nottingham, Paula (2016) Final 2.12.16 session Module 3 artefacts, oral presentation, sourced from http://paulanottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/final-21216-session-module-3.html accessed 30.12.16

Whalin, W. Terry (2016) Some Basics on Magazine Writing, sourced from www.right-writing.com/basics.html accessed 30.12.16