The Student Room Group

OCR Physics PAG 12 research report help

Hi guys,

I'm currently in the process of writing my research report but I feel like my topic is not good enough. I'm writing about the Standard Model of particle physics and the Higgs Boson but I feel like I'm just kinda copying from a couple physics websites and not actually doing any research into journals as everything has already been found out.

My teacher said my topic was fine but it just feels like I'm writing an essay piece from year 9 rather than an actual research report. :frown:
Original post by Fhb2001
Hi guys,

I'm currently in the process of writing my research report but I feel like my topic is not good enough. I'm writing about the Standard Model of particle physics and the Higgs Boson but I feel like I'm just kinda copying from a couple physics websites and not actually doing any research into journals as everything has already been found out.

My teacher said my topic was fine but it just feels like I'm writing an essay piece from year 9 rather than an actual research report. :frown:


PAG 12's whole point is just to demonstrate you can find information, correctly present it (coherently and with diagrams) and cite sources if I'm correct?

IMO the topic you chose is inherently qualitative at a very high level and as such, you can't produce a full presentation without, say, more understanding behind how spin works mathematically etc. etc. And what do you mean 'as everything has already been found out'? That's the point of secondary research and why citation is necessary - they're not asking you to knock down CERN's doors and repeat the Higgs Boson experiments and then write a paper for yourself.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295483-practical-skills-handbook.pdf
Take a look at the references section here, it might be helpful?
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 2
Original post by DeBrevitateVitae
PAG 12's whole point is just to demonstrate you can find information, correctly present it (coherently and with diagrams) and cite sources if I'm correct?

IMO the topic you chose is inherently qualitative at a very high level and as such, you can't produce a full presentation without, say, more understanding behind how spin works mathematically etc. etc. And what do you mean 'as everything has already been found out'? That's the point of secondary research and why citation is necessary - they're not asking you to knock down CERN's doors and repeat the Higgs Boson experiments and then write a paper for yourself.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295483-practical-skills-handbook.pdf
Take a look at the references section here, it might be helpful?


Thanks for the advice I appreciate it, its just that my teacher sort of rushed through the PAG sheet and didn't really explain it properly so I feel like i may of got slightly confused on what the research project was asking for.

Quick Reply