PRP – Writing the Document

I found that beginning to write the document was very difficult. Although I had looked at a wide variety of sources it was a challenge to place them in a linear and coherent manner. So I decided to make a table or a form of database which I could constantly refer to and also put all the sources in one place and into perspective. The table consisted of the following fields:

1. Area (Multimedia, women, representation, technology?)
2. What is being said in the source (main points)
3. Who said it (author, title, section, page number)
4. How does this relate to my topic
5. Is it ‘for’ or ‘against’ my argument

This process not only gathered all the sources into one document but also gave me a clear idea of what my argument is and what I can use to back it up in the discussion. I began with writing the Literature review followed by the discussion. As I wrote the conclusion the question that will be tested in the second part of the project also became clearer. The Research Method, Introduction and Abstract were straight forward sections.

To improve my project I could have concentrated on time management, as I found that having a draft to constantly work on and revise would have benefited me further. However I spent more time researching rather than actually writing the document. I would have been able to develop the final document if I had allowed myself more time between versions of the drafts to reflect on what I had written. In addition to this I also found that referencing the document as I wrote it would have also saved me time. I learnt how to personalise and use the Refworks software package which proved to be very efficient.