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EPQ HELP! - my supervisors unhelpful, I know nothing!

Hi all

So basically I started my EPQ in January-ish and I’ve just completed my research and am completely stumped. I know the supervisors aren’t teachers so to speak and it’s a ‘figure it out yourself’ type qualification, but he’s told us nothing about what we’re supposed to be doing, when the hand-in date is, and how we’re actually supposed to go about doing it all.

I’ve been looking through the forums and it’s just confusing me even more if I’m honest. People talking about primary and secondary research, literature reviews, and ‘abstract’(?); I haven’t been told about any of this! I don’t even know what any of that stuff is!
All my supervisor has told us is to come up with a question which he then approves, and research it, and write it up at some point, and just make sure to add a bibliography. He never mentioned how to go about researching it (is there a specific way?) so I’ve just been trawling through websites that I think are reliable and copy and pasting the important bits into a word document with the link to the website. Obviously for me that’s useful; it saves having to go back and search each website and I have the exact wordings used, but that wont be acceptable if I have to do anything with it.


I also have no clue how to go about writing the essay. Is there a specific structure to follow? I was under the impression that it is just the same way you’d write a pro/con essay.


Also, any tips for filling the logbook, as I know it is a big chunk of marks? I’ve been told that my initial sources are too vague (nhs.uk, gov.uk) but I don’t know in what way to be more specific.


- How opinion-based are the essays allowed to be? Or is it all fact?
(My essay is on whether assisted suicide should be legalised, so should I include my opinion in the conclusion as well as public opinion, or just public?)

- Do we have to hand our research in with the essays?

- Is there a specific way of researching it/presenting the research?

- What do you actually hand in at the end? Is it just the essay?

- How do you write the essay? Is there a specific structure/things to include?

- Tips for filling in the logbook?


I’m really panicking about it now, as I will have no time next year due to a change in my timetable and classes, so it needs to be done over the summer and we break up next friday. I’m going to chase up my supervisor in our lesson on Monday about it.




Tldr; I know nothing about the EPQ, tell me everything!
Have you looked on the exam board website for your EPQ. The specification and resources there should help you understand what is expected (there's usually some example projects too)
PMed you!

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