Preparing to get your message out

Drawing up a skeleton

Once the first questions have been answered, it is time to draw up a skeleton. In the world of film and video, nothing is produced without a script. Think of the skeleton of a written document as the script for a film. It is your tool to make sure you will not go ‘off script’. For a large written document, this could be a list of chapters.

Start with the one-line summary you have already defined. Next, expand it to three, five or ten lines that all summarise a chapter. Finally, give each of these lines one paragraph of descriptive text.

Example:

One-line summary:

ETF research shows that a move from school-based summative evaluation towards formative evaluation with social partner involvement has positively affected the employability of VET graduates in rural Algeria.

Chapters:

  1. Executive summary
  2. It is hard for Algerian VET students to find employment.

(Employment background. Data on employment levels of VET of graduates. Comparison rural vs urban. Examples of earlier efforts to improve the situation.)

  1. Employers complain that their skills are not relevant so they were asked what skills they needed.

(Changes in employment opportunities for young people in rural Algeria. Anecdotal evidence from employers and local authorities. Results of skills shortage mapping exercise.)

  1. This involvement started collaboration with schools, employers, trade unions and local authorities.

(Development of collaboration. How were meetings organised. Who represents SMEs and the informal sector. Who coordinated. What were the outcomes.) 

  1. Employers remained involved in evaluation processes.

(As a result of the previous, contacts between schools and employers were made and maintained. Employers now work as external evaluators at different stages of the learning processes.)

  1. Preliminary results on student employability are positive.
    (A limited tracer study revealed positive results, both in student employability and in employers’ confidence in education.)
  2. Future steps.

(A follow up project was already launched to roll out similar activities in other regions. The ETF is considering a lager tracer study next year.)

Once you have a skeleton, you will know exactly what source material you already have and what still needs to be gathered. You can ask for help on certain sections so work can be done simultaneously. This can help to shorten the production process dramatically.

Most importantly, you are much more likely to stick to the script, which will dramatically improve the accessibility of your publication.