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agxf

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by agxf

Hello,

I am currently undertaking an EPQ on the history of land law and how this has resulted in 21st century inequality. Currently my report sits at just over 9,000 words excluding any bibliography, abstract, apendicies etc., far above the 5,000 word limit. I am with the AQA exam board and as far as I am aware, this 5,000 'limit' is merely a recommendation for students. My EPQ supervisor is the ex-coordinator for the EPQ and says that my word count is not a problem, however, my EPQ coordinator has voiced some concerns in regards to this and has saiid that I need to get this below 8,000 at least. As I am covering an extremely broad time period, 1066 to 2023, there is a lot to cover and I am also exploring an incredibly nuanced topic in English Land Law. Therefore, after having reviewed my project a number of times, I cannot find a way to shorten my project without most, if not all of my sections losing a fair degree of clarity and the only other way to reduce my word count would be to cut out entire sections of my project, which again risks losing clarity in my report. Therefore, I would greatly appreciate if anybody who has any experience or knowledge in regards to whether this 'limit' is merely guidence or something which I should try and stick to and the penalties for going over, then it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!

See the specification, here. It says, "A project product which consists solely of a research based written report should be approximately 5000 words, for example a research report of a scientific investigation, exploration of a hypothesis or an extended essay or academic report in appropriate
form."

That's the only reference to 5,000 words. Clearly it's not a limit - it's a recommendation.

Your supervisor should therefore not mark you down for having written 9,000 words rather than 5,000. By the sounds of it, they're fine with the word count anyway.

That fact that the centre coordinator isn't happy with the word count is not ideal, as they could attempt to modify the mark awarded by your supervisor during the standardisation process. Given that your supervisor used to be the centre coordinator will hopefully mean that they feel suitably qualified to defend the mark they have awarded and resist any attempt to penalise you for the word count.

Given that you've explained clearly above why the word count is necessary, I think you should leave it as is. Furthermore, I think you should explain your thinking with regards to the length of the piece in the project product review. That way, your thinking with regards to the word count is clear and your "voice" can be in the room during the standardisation process.

Reply 2

agxf

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(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 3

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by agxf

Thank you so much!

Also, do you know about anything to do with supplementary material? If I were to submit additional material other than my essay and source list, would this be beneficial for my mark or would it be a waste of time as this sort of material is not assessed?

If the "supplementary material" is material that you have produced, then it should form part of the product (the essay) - perhaps as an appendix - and should be marked. (This would clearly bump-up your word count even more!)

If it's material which you have not produced (say, reference material which you've referenced) then there would be no point in submitting it.