Practical Work and Internal Assessment
What the domain tests
This domain assesses the file, project and viva work through which you demonstrate reporting, writing, design and presentation skills. It rewards process evidence-notes, drafts, sources and reflection-not a last-minute scrapbook.
Core rules and concepts
- Keep a dated practical file: index, report/feature, interview transcript, page dummy, advertisement copy, press release, photo caption, and a short reflection on each.
- Every field report needs a clear news peg, named sources with consent, verified figures, date and place, and a byline.
- A page dummy should show masthead, columns, headline hierarchy, photo caption and folio; a broadcast script should use two columns-visual and audio.
- The viva tests terminology: lead, byline, dateline, dummy, PTC, V/O, press release, defamation, RTI.
- Internal assessment rewards consistency: weekly entries, drafts with corrections, and a bibliography or source list.
Worked example
A four-week project on a leaking municipal tap: Week 1, observe and photograph; Week 2, interview residents and a ward officer, record consent; Week 3, write a 250-word report with a summary lead and a correction note from your teacher; Week 4, add a page dummy and a 100-word reflection on what you would verify next. Reasoning: the file shows evidence and revision, so the viva can ask why you chose the lead and which source was primary.
Traps that cost marks
Fabricated quotes, copied web text, missing dates or bylines, photos without credit, unlabelled drafts, and a file that shows only the final version with no evidence of process.