[FallenMan]

(Original post by TheHaylio)
I'm planning on taking books out of my college lbrary? And buying some!

I've done an essay based upon my title so i'm planning on using a lot my resources etc from that? 6000 words isn't that much in my eyes? Am i missing something that takes up a lot of time? As someone told me you are meant to take 120 hours o.0


Thanks for your responxe

Ah ok! remember that a local library can also be your best friend!
What takes up a lot of time is the research elements-what I suggest is you plan what you're going to write now. Put it into sub sections where possible, then find online articles, books, videos, movies, reviews, peoples opinions, expert opinions on your topic. Put these references into the sub section plan-make a note (where needed) of the author, title and publication date. It's mental how long it could take to find a suitable range of sources that fit smoothly into your piece. Keep in mind 6,000 words (or 5,000 in many places) may be close to 10 or so pages, excluding contents, title page and bibliography.


We were told it would take a very long time-yet as I started my first one late, in total I had about 5 weeks to do it-and I wasn't even one of the last to finish-mine was even printed into a proper book style. It's always best to save more time needed than less time-start by doing a big block of writing, it'll feel good when it is out of the way. Then I suggest, when you have finished, leave it for a few days-a week and re read it. You'll be clear headed and you can adapt anything needed

[TheHaylio]

(Original post by FallenMan)
Ah ok! remember that a local library can also be your best friend!
What takes up a lot of time is the research elements-what I suggest is you plan what you're going to write now. Put it into sub sections where possible, then find online articles, books, videos, movies, reviews, peoples opinions, expert opinions on your topic. Put these references into the sub section plan-make a note (where needed) of the author, title and publication date. It's mental how long it could take to find a suitable range of sources that fit smoothly into your piece. Keep in mind 6,000 words (or 5,000 in many places) may be close to 10 or so pages, excluding contents, title page and bibliography.


We were told it would take a very long time-yet as I started my first one late, in total I had about 5 weeks to do it-and I wasn't even one of the last to finish-mine was even printed into a proper book style. It's always best to save more time needed than less time-start by doing a big block of writing, it'll feel good when it is out of the way. Then I suggest, when you have finished, leave it for a few days-a week and re read it. You'll be clear headed and you can adapt anything needed

Thanks again!! So useful! How many sources will i usually need? Enought to actually back up my statements?

I'm planning on starting in 2 weekd and fingers crossed finishing before i go back to college, but i am taking a week off in the holidays! Is the tone like essay/evaluative or is it up to you?

[FallenMan]

(Original post by TheHaylio)
Thanks again!! So useful! How many sources will i usually need? Enought to actually back up my statements?

I'm planning on starting in 2 weekd and fingers crossed finishing before i go back to college, but i am taking a week off in the holidays! Is the tone like essay/evaluative or is it up to you?

It sounds a lot, but I would gather close to 40 good sources-remember, it should be an argument of sorts, so gathering quotes etc. that go AGAINST your view are worth just as much. But remember that you may only need to use about 30. But have extra sources in case something doesn't fit quite right or if you want to make another point you'll have something to support it already.

I reckon within every subsection make a mini evaluation, sum up what you've said and how it can link to your next paragraph. At the end, make sure to evaluate well, weigh up both sides of an argument and don't just leave 100 words to evaluate, give yourself another paragraph and really look at everything you have said.

I don't know if you do English literature- I do and the insane amount of essays seems to prepare well for the EPQ. you should get it all done, just prepare to invest a lot of time. It'll feel so good when you print it all out though!

[pascal_evans]

Hi, I want to do chemistry at uni and I have just been told about the EPQ and it is something I really want to do, but I have no idea what to do it on. I have had a few ideas and the most interesting one is 'the effects of pollution on the chemical composition of soil and how this can aid forensic analysis' but I am also quite interested in toxicology. Basically I am interested in forensic chemistry and would like some ideas for a topic

[Little Miss Crazy]

(Original post by garyheehee)
Is anyone doing EPQ with OCR?
If so does anyone know where I can get some examples/ how many sources you should be using?

I'm doing it with AQA, but as many as you want, our minimum is about 20, but you end up using LOADS more!!

[TheHaylio]

(Original post by FallenMan)
It sounds a lot, but I would gather close to 40 good sources-remember, it should be an argument of sorts, so gathering quotes etc. that go AGAINST your view are worth just as much. But remember that you may only need to use about 30. But have extra sources in case something doesn't fit quite right or if you want to make another point you'll have something to support it already.

I reckon within every subsection make a mini evaluation, sum up what you've said and how it can link to your next paragraph. At the end, make sure to evaluate well, weigh up both sides of an argument and don't just leave 100 words to evaluate, give yourself another paragraph and really look at everything you have said.

I don't know if you do English literature- I do and the insane amount of essays seems to prepare well for the EPQ. you should get it all done, just prepare to invest a lot of time. It'll feel so good when you print it all out though!

What subsections are needed? I really wish there was an example one for economics somewhere so i could see how people approached this!

Do you need sources/figures etc in your introduction??
TY!

[FallenMan]

(Original post by TheHaylio)
What subsections are needed? I really wish there was an example one for economics somewhere so i could see how people approached this!

Do you need sources/figures etc in your introduction??
TY!

By subsections, I mean different topics within your argument-what are you going to say in each paragraph and what evidence will you need to support or refute your claims? I'm no good at economics, so I'm sorry I can't be more of a help!

[georgejohnston]

I think I'm doing mine along the lines of 'pedagogical language changes and development across the 5 Key Stages', which means I would have to go into different English and literacy lessons and record them; but I'm not sure if there's scope enough to get the top marks - is there any way I can get quantifiable data along those lines?

[missdolly10]

do you think a magazine aimed at 15-18 year olds is a good idea- so there will be things for girls eg fashion pages and boys sport and then tv sections and agony aunt? some stuff on celebs?

[FallenMan]

(Original post by missdolly10)
do you think a magazine aimed at 15-18 year olds is a good idea- so there will be things for girls eg fashion pages and boys sport and then tv sections and agony aunt? some stuff on celebs?

Seems like a good basis-think someone in my class did a magazine of some sort. Talk to your teacher and see if it can be expanded, be challenged! For example, you could make 3 magazines (short ones) aimed at different target markets: women, men and kids. Your research could be other magazines, questionnaires (which can look really good as its your own research) and also typical conventions of these magazines. In some ways you could also look at the slight sexism in the magazines or the "dumbing down" of children.

[S_123]

(Original post by mimmo)
Does anyone have any thoughts for an English Literature orientated EPQ? Trying to think of ideas, help would be really appreciated

I did mine on Milton's 'Paradise Lost' With English, make sure it's a text and topic you're interested in because it will be impossible if you don't find what you're writing about interesting. It takes a lot of time but I'd say the EPQ isn't too bad for an English student compared to others as we are used to essays and our sources are mainly books/internet/people rather than questionnaires, etc. Go to your local uni library and find critics for the text(s) you are studying. You'll probably have to say which text you want to study and the title long before you've started writing the essay so don't worry if you change your mind I was planning to do 'Doctor Faustus' as well but I thought I'd shorten it to just 'Paradise Lost' to make it more focussed. In fact, as long as you justify why you did something, you will have no problem My question changed about 5 or 6 times before I did my last one If you need any more advice, don't hesitate to ask

[FallenMan]

The short film I made for my epq this year has nearly hit 200 views-if only I could have known about this sooner: would have been great to add to my log!

[TheHaylio]

Can anyone help me with distinguishing between primary and secondary sources?

I thought a primary source was one you had researched yourself?

Also what happens if the source you have is a journal, where they reference someone elses work? Do you have to mention that in your source log, stating it makes it less valuable? Thank you!

[jon_lester123]

At the moment, I am planning to do an EPQ which is relevant to History as I am wanting to study History at uni. I think I am going to do something on the reign of Elizabeth I - does anyone have any advice/guidance on any areas that one thinks would be beneficial/interesting to explore? I know, ultimately, that I will choose something that really interests me, but the topic is so broad to start with that I was wondering if any could suggest somewhere to start/break it down? Thanks in advance and apologies for the long message

[N0body]

(Original post by jon_lester123)
At the moment, I am planning to do an EPQ which is relevant to History as I am wanting to study History at uni. I think I am going to do something on the reign of Elizabeth I - does anyone have any advice/guidance on any areas that one thinks would be beneficial/interesting to explore? I know, ultimately, that I will choose something that really interests me, but the topic is so broad to start with that I was wondering if any could suggest somewhere to start/break it down? Thanks in advance and apologies for the long message

Heard the Dudley's are interesting to write about or one of the families.
But if you're doing A2 history about Elizabeth I then I don't think you can do your EPQ on Elizabeth I.
However I think you can go around this by doing something that is not covered in the A2 Elizabeth I course, which is rather difficult as it covers most of the important aspects of Elizabeth I.

[FallenMan]

(Original post by TheHaylio)
Can anyone help me with distinguishing between primary and secondary sources?

I thought a primary source was one you had researched yourself?

Also what happens if the source you have is a journal, where they reference someone elses work? Do you have to mention that in your source log, stating it makes it less valuable? Thank you!

Primary sources are your own original findings, this can be done through questionaires, case studies, interviews etc.
If you use something and in that piece references others, write down both and look into who these people are-are they respected in their field or are they placing a sort of bias on accounts? It could be considered to be less valuable due to this bias, but you could say that it made you look at a particular view in a different light.

[Americaniamh]

Would anyone who has some knowledge in the area of law-related EPQs be able to critique my question if I were to message it to them? Thanks!

[Jackkkkk]

(Original post by TheHaylio)
Can anyone help me with distinguishing between primary and secondary sources?

I thought a primary source was one you had researched yourself?

Also what happens if the source you have is a journal, where they reference someone elses work? Do you have to mention that in your source log, stating it makes it less valuable? Thank you!

Primary is any information that you have gained. It also includes any unprocessed RAW data that has been gained by others. So for example if you interpreted RAW census data (if you contacted the department of statistics for example) and analysed the raw data yourself that would be primary - even though you did not collect it ! So primary is more concerned with who interprets the data !


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[jada897]

Abnyone doing AQA know how they are doing the inital plan?

[lilyrawstorne]

I did an EPQ last year and I have to advise you to 1. Research in the summer and write down sources with notes.
2. Write a little every week/fortnight

I pretty much wrote the entire thing in a few weeks and had to lie heinously on my project log and reading list etc. I've no idea what I've got, perhaps it's not such a bad method!

I do advise it though, but pick something you'll find interesting. It gave me something to talk about in my personal statement and interviews too ...


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