In the last few weeks I have been producing a portfolio of work, which includes;

  • Five 250-500 word written pieces with quotes.
  • Multimedia package.
  • A blog.
  • A review.
  • Two photojournalism submissions.

In this evaluation I’m going to talk about key principles of journalistic writing and what I did throughout writing all my pieces of work.

Some of these stories have been written differently, some are news stories which include interviews and a formal style. Some are features that have a more relaxed style but are still topical to the target audience. Finally some are photojournalism pieces, all three of these ways of writing include one thing which is opinions both mine and other peoples.

I self sourced most of my stories, there was only a couple that I used the Internet for. For example when writing and producing my Halloween piece I came up with the idea because it was the time of year and I used youtube to help me with a style which is https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=halloween+makeup+tutorial. It was different when writing my Brexit vs home article, I came up with and sourced this piece when the UK left the EU so it again was a current event .

I used the Internet to find out facts and figures, but mainly I used interviewing to find out what I needed to know and because I went to interview people I made sure that I talked to my target audience age range.  The stories that I have written about are relevant to the audience because they are all current topics and things that people talk about all the time. I have used both types of research when writing my articles. Primary, I have gone out and interviewed people and got there opinions on the subject. Secondary, I have used the internet and website to help me get the facts and figures right. When thinking about what to write I thought about both me interests and my audience, I had to write articles that I was interested in and willing to spend time on but also the audience was going to like and read and I think I got that balance right.

When thinking about ethical standards, the only one that I could have come across is copyright but I made sure that any quote or image I used was copyright free.

When writing my articles I ensured accuracy and meeting deadlines but keeping to a schedule of having a minimum amount done by a specific time or day. I kept this accurate by keeping the same standard of writing though out.  When conducting interviews I keep it light hearted so the people that I was talking to felt comfortable with talking, so it was very informal and quick but still been professional.

I knew the information that I was picking out was key because it was interesting for me, I thought if I was captured by what I was reading then my target audience would be too. When it came to the concept of planning the only thing I did was think about what I was going to write before starting it, I didn’t write anything down, which is something that I would change if I had to go back. I think the blog piece was easier not better, just because it was all my own opinions that I could get down on paper.

When it comes to strengths and weaknesses about my copy I think there is a couple. I think my strength is Blogs and when it comes to writing my own opinions, I think this is because I just find it easy to get them opinions down on paper and because I am a opinionated person I always have one. Looking at weaknesses that would have to be my interviews because I think I could have gotten more information out of the people I were talking to, this would have giving me more to have a opinion about. Another strength would be time management because I personally think I am good at getting pieces of work done to a specific time.

I do think my work would be fit for publishing becasue the content I have written about is relevant to my target audience and If I was the reader, I would find it interesting and would want to read it. The only problem that I faced when producing my copy was the interview I did on the Black Friday piece because at one point when I tried to interview the lady it was very busy and at one point I thought I was going to be unable to complete it.

When looking back on my work, the only thing I would have done differently is to plan out my copy and story ideas before starting to produce them. This might have give me a more direct focus on how to write the article I was doing at the time.