A complete lesson resource introducing photography students to primary and secondary research methods, audience profiling and Harvard referencing within a creative project context. This lesson supports students in developing the research and analytical skills required for successful project work and progression into higher-level study.

Using an editorial photography project as the context, learners explore how professional photographers conduct research, identify target audiences and use findings to inform creative decisions. The lesson includes teacher input, note-taking opportunities, discussion tasks, practical activities and independent research tasks.

Topics covered include:

• What is primary and secondary research
• Primary and secondary research methods
• Research sources for photography projects
• Harvard referencing and bibliography creation
• Academic integrity and avoiding plagiarism
• Editorial photography research techniques
• Target audience profiling using demographic, geographic and psychographic data
• Creating audience research surveys using Microsoft Forms
• Analysing quantitative and qualitative data
• Applying research findings to creative decision-making

**Further lessons to complete this whole brief will be uploaded to TES for download. These include topics such as introduction to photography, project planning, safe working practices, experimentation and development, shoot planning and creating contact sheets, exporting and presenting, using Photoshop to create a magazine cover and writing evaluations for creative subjects.
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Included activities:

• Retrieval and recall tasks
• Guided note-taking opportunities
• Editorial magazine research activity
• Target audience mapping task
• Survey design activity with example questions
• Data analysis prompts and reflection tasks
• Independent study extension activity

Bonus resources:

• Editorial photography Pinterest inspiration board
• Suggested digital tools including for survey creation and automatic Harvard referencing

Ideal for:

UAL Creative Media Production & Technology
Level 2 or 3 Photography
GCSE Photography
BTEC Creative Media
Art & Design
Secondary School
Further Education
Sixth Form Creative Courses

This ready-to-teach lesson helps learners move beyond simply collecting images for inspiration and develop meaningful research practices that directly inform and strengthen their creative work.