Documenting Process, the Written Evidence & Academic Integrity

You’ll be able to

Assemble the 15 SI images so they read as a developing investigation
Write the required written evidence to make the inquiry and process explicit
Cite sources correctly and avoid plagiarism and prohibited AI use

The 15 images and the written evidence

The Sustained Investigation is submitted as 15 images — which may include detail shots and process images, not just 15 separate finished drawings — plus written evidence in two short parts with tight character limits: one identifies the inquiry, the other describes how materials, processes, and ideas were used to explore it. This writing is scored as part of the investigation; it is where you tell the reader the question so they are not left guessing from the drawings alone. Vague, generic writing wastes the clearest chance you have to earn the investigation row.

Documenting drawings well

Good documentation is deliberate photography of the right things — studies, experiments, in-progress states, and revisions alongside finished drawings. Shoot flat, evenly lit work without glare (drawings under glass or with graphite sheen are easy to ruin with reflections), straight-on and cropped to the paper, with color and value accurate so a deep charcoal reads as deep. Order the 15 images so a reader can follow the investigation — often roughly chronological, or grouped to show an experiment beside its result. The sequence itself argues that your inquiry developed.

Academic integrity: sources, plagiarism, and AI

Your portfolio must be your own original work. If you draw from a photograph you did not take, from another artist’s image, or from published imagery, you must move well beyond duplicating it and cite the source — copying a photographer’s image or another artist’s drawing without significant transformation and acknowledgment is plagiarism and can void the score. Generative AI may not be used to create the artistic investigation or the artwork; the drawings must be made by you. Working from your own reference photos is safest; when you use others’ imagery, transform it heavily and credit it.

Worked example

Rewrite this weak written-evidence sentence so it earns credit: "My drawings are about animals. I used pencil and charcoal and tried to make them realistic."

1.State the actual inquiry as a question about a drawing problem, not the subject "animals."
2.Tie materials and marks to why they were chosen — connect them to the inquiry, not just list them.
3.Point to an experiment or revision the images show, so the writing and images reinforce each other.
4.Cut empty phrases ("tried to make them realistic"), which describe a goal, not investigation.

Answer: A stronger version: "My inquiry asked how the direction and roughness of marks could make a still animal feel tense and alert. I built forms with directional charcoal hatching, then experimented with erasing back into the darks for sudden highlights of muscle. When early drawings read as calm, I revised toward sharper value contrast and more aggressive mark-making to push the sense of tension." It states the question, links each mark and medium to it, and points at experimentation and revision a reader can find — replacing goal-talk with real written evidence.

Watch out

A frequent, costly error is closely copying a found photograph or another artist’s drawing without transforming it substantially or crediting it. Readers are trained to spot it and the score can be reduced or voided. Prefer your own reference photos; when you use others’ imagery, transform it heavily and acknowledge the source in your documentation.

Checkpoint

A student makes a highly accurate drawing copied closely from a professional photographer’s photo, without changing much and without crediting it. What is the problem?

On the exam

Treat the written evidence as scored real estate. State your inquiry as a question, connect specific mark-making, media, and ideas to it, and point at an experiment or revision. Writing that merely names a subject and states a goal ("make it realistic") throws away easy points on the investigation row.

Checkpoint

When photographing charcoal and graphite drawings for the portfolio, what is a key technical concern?

Answer the 2 checkpoints as you read.