Ultimate EPQ thread

lololol OH!!!! this link!!! YESSSSS THIS WAS MY IDEA TOOOOO!!!! but i'm doing my EPQ next year so i have ages to wait but yes this was my idea and yes its amazing and yes I'm going to do it and yes i'll be good at it

oi stop saying my name so publicly.

Do you get to make up a topic or is there a topic list somewhere?

I need a project idea for the EPQ that has something to do with mathematics or computer science. Has anyone got any ideas???

Hey has anyone in this thread got an A* or A in their EPQ? my teacher is rubbish so i need as much help as possible. My title is 'Singers and rappers in politics and culture: are they improving the world or ruining it?' Let me know if you have any comments about my title as well!

Yeah I got A* . To be honest, my supervisor wasn't that good either. Hmmmm seems like a good title but I guess case studies are your most important point e.g. Britney Spears vs Shakira etc. Could be quite a complex issue so I would suggest gather evidence carefully and think about what points you will make.

hai everyone,
I am doing a EPQ project on Indian Classical Dance, focusing on Bharatanatyam. For those who don't knw wat an EPQ is, it is research project for which you will get an extra grade for.

Wat i need u guys to help me with is watch this youtube video, and tell me wat u thought it was all abt. Things like if it showed love, sadness etc. Also if u thought there was a storyline, then tell me wat the storyline was. Honestly there is no right or wrong answers.

I would be very grateful if you can all reply. Also b4 saying wat u thought it was abt, tell me if u have already seen these type of dance b4 or aware of it. Basically i want to knw the response of ppl who knw abt this type of dance and ppl who don't.

This is the link:-
http://www.youtube.com/user/TomyKurias#p/u/46/ybjbWVmvMbE

Thx

okay i went a bit over the top but here goes:-

1) Firstly, even though all the dancers are performing their movements, they're not completely in sync. I dunno if you know that there are different styles within bharatanatyam, such as the kalakshetra style, and the pandanallur style…well it seems each dancer is adopting slightly different styles. For example, the dancer on the front row on the right is much freer at the waist, and her movements are much more exaggerated. Therefore even though it is a group dance it seems to be blending melattur and pendanallur styles of bhartanatyam which is strange, however this is probably more due to the fact there is a lack of practice. As I said earlier there is zero synchronisation in this performance. Its quite unfortunate because individually, they would all be extremely good dancers, but doing a group dance in bhartanatyam is a completely different thing. It requires much more control and coordination with the other dancers.
2) Abhinaya (facial expressions) In Bharatanatyam facial expressions are shown mainly by the movement of the eyes and also the hastas (hands) which may compliment the facial expressions. In this performance, the front row of dancers all have clearly emphasized expressions, which is great because they can actually convey the story that is being told, after all this dance seems to be more of abhinaya and story telling rather than anything else. However, the two at the back seem less experienced and are unable to convey the same expressions or story through their dance.
3) Aramandi- aramandi is the word given to the half sitting position in Bharatanatyam which is generally maintained throughout the dance. Very rarely do dancers dance in a full standing position. In this performance, most dancers are maintaining their aramandi, however it is not a clear cut position. The position, when maintained properly, should be a perfect diamond shape. This allows the pleats of the sari to form properly and make the dance look much more elegant. The dancers need to bend their knees much more in order to gain that shape. Aramandi is unique to the south Indian styles of dancing and is essential in Bharatanatyam to make the adavus look much more crisp and controlled.
4) Hastas (hand gestures) As this dance is mainly abhinaya the hand gestures show a lot of the story. For example the very distinct area if abhinaya at 2.05, shows the gopika searching for Krishna, and then the section on the floor showing how they adorn themselves and beautify themselves for Krishna. I cant quite pick up the lyrics of the song but I think the meaning of the song denotes a similar message. The choreography uses hand movements very well in order to depict the story and the situation in several places. This combined with the expressions and body language of the dancers helps the audience pick up on what story is being told.
5) Footwork is generally quite good, however again it looks quite odd because of the lack of synchronisation. The girls at the back need to put more weight into their footwork and make it much clearer by lifting their legs more when performing the adavus, at the moment they look quite lazy (no offence intended.)
6) Costume- they are wearing the traditional bharatanatyam costume, which is actually supposed to resemble the old traditional way of tying a sari. All the dancers are wearing the dancing anklets (they can be called many things depending on where your from, but are mainly known as ghunghroo) These are used to emphasise the beats and rhythm of the dancers. Usually the sound of the ghunghroo is heard much more.
7) Story- the dance is quite obviously a story e=being told through abhinaya and jathis (footwork) Its is most probably a story depicting the relationship between the gopikas and lord Krishna, shown by the flute hasta at the very beginning of the dance. The story is also based around Krishna’s childhood days as the song repeatedly mentions the name ‘Vrindavanam’ which is the name of the forest, near the town of Mathura in present day India, where Krishna is said to have spent much of his childhood. Today, this is a holy, sacred place and the forest and its surrounding regions are scattered with many temples dedicated to Krishna, as this was his abode.
8) General dance technique is quite good for the majority of the dancers, however there is much to improve on. They all need to extend their limbs much more. Hand movements and footwork need to be much more pronounced, as Bharatanatyam is about short, crisp movements, blended with grace and flow.

yup just what i was going to say..... thats quite interesting, how do you know like what the handwork and footwork means?, i wouldnt have got any of that but then again my speakers aint working

errm well i guess you can just figure out what they're saying through hand movements...footwork doesnt really help tell the story as much, but hand movements definitely show actions, or just everyday movements or objects, or even god and goddesses, like the whole flutes thing is obviously krishna, and then the bit when the dancers look like they're carrying something on their heads if depicting the gopikas carrying the milk vessel thingys...you just get to know these things when you've been dancing for 11 years.

Im so lost on where to start on my EPQ

Does anyone know any websites that have good EPQ 5000 word essay examples. I just need to have a feel for the format of how it should be written/ referenced.

Thanks.

Hey,

our school had all the old ones left over so if you ask them they might be able to show you - it's pretty helpful because you can see what makes you get different grades
As for referencing we were told to follow the Havard referencing style which is pretty universal and not too difficult to do once you get into a routine

So would that be:

'bit of information (Author, Date, Page number)'

I was also told to include a full reference somewhere. Does it go at the bottom of the page or at the end of the 5000 word essay?

This is how I did mine:

In my actual essay I put "quote" with a reference number.
Then I put a footnote at the bottom of the page with the actual reference linked to the number. And then did a collective bibliography of all the references which I stuck at the end all with their numbers from the essay

As for set out mine was like so >

# Toole, G / Toole, S (2008) AQA A2 Biology Nelson Thornes; Cheltenham. Pages 112 -113
for a book

# Ramskill, R (02/04/1998) Article summary Based on Nature Journal, [online] Accessed 06/12/2010 Available from the World Wide Web: http://whozoo.org/students//ricram/article%202.html
for a website

Where the title of book/article on website are to be italic - if you don't know author or it doesn't have a title just put unknown

They're examples from my actual essay Hope that helps - I got an A* using that referencing style. If you have any more questions I'm happy to try and help