EPQ for Ancient and Modern History reading list

(I tried to post this already but it didn't work)
Hello!
Im going into year 12 in September and am supposed to choose my EPQ idea over the summer. I am studying maths English latin and history a level and know that I want to study Ancient and Modern History at uni (my preferred uni is Oxford). Based on this, does anyone have any EPQ questions/ ideas that they think would go well with this course? :smile:

Reply 1

flora87

9

Hi! I did really similar a-levels to you and chose to focus my EPQ on the role of women in Ancient Maya. It was a very niche topic, but I was just about able to get enough sources to create a pretty good dissertation and project as a whole. I got an A* in my EPQ, so feel free to ask any questions :smile:

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by coldplay101

(I tried to post this already but it didn't work)
Hello!
Im going into year 12 in September and am supposed to choose my EPQ idea over the summer. I am studying maths English latin and history a level and know that I want to study Ancient and Modern History at uni (my preferred uni is Oxford). Based on this, does anyone have any EPQ questions/ ideas that they think would go well with this course? :smile:

What particular periods/regions of history are you interested in? Start with that and then focus in on a specific topic and tweak it to fit the EPQ format is probably the best idea.

Note you don't necessarily need to integrate both modern and ancient history in the EPQ even if that's what you want to study at uni - for the most part a degree in ancient and modern history is the study of the two in parallel, rather than necessarily trying to integrate them together. Of course you could do so if you are interested in e.g. reception of the classical world, heritage issues, etc.

Reply 3

coldplay101

OP

2

how did you go about planning yours? I did an HPQ on Belgian colonialism in Rwanda and really struggled to find sources and didn't really have any idea how to plan it so do you have any tips for planning or finding sources? :smile:

Original post by flora87

Hi! I did really similar a-levels to you and chose to focus my EPQ on the role of women in Ancient Maya. It was a very niche topic, but I was just about able to get enough sources to create a pretty good dissertation and project as a whole. I got an A* in my EPQ, so feel free to ask any questions :smile:

Reply 4

coldplay101

OP

2

im generally interested in the social side of history (the role of women, conflicts between different groups etc) but for ancient history Im into classical literature (my favourite authors are Ovid, Pliny, Tacitus, Herodotus and Virgil- I know that is kind of a weird mix). I was thinking of doing something about Tacitus or Herodotus and how their work is relevant today/ the long term impact of it but im not really sure how I would do that. :smile:

Original post by artful_lounger

What particular periods/regions of history are you interested in? Start with that and then focus in on a specific topic and tweak it to fit the EPQ format is probably the best idea.

Note you don't necessarily need to integrate both modern and ancient history in the EPQ even if that's what you want to study at uni - for the most part a degree in ancient and modern history is the study of the two in parallel, rather than necessarily trying to integrate them together. Of course you could do so if you are interested in e.g. reception of the classical world, heritage issues, etc.

Reply 5

flora87

9

Original post by coldplay101

how did you go about planning yours? I did an HPQ on Belgian colonialism in Rwanda and really struggled to find sources and didn't really have any idea how to plan it so do you have any tips for planning or finding sources? :smile:

honestly the best thing I used was JSTOR - your sixth form might have a subscription to it and it's amazing. you type in your subject or topic and you'll find loads and loads of academic articles. google scholar is always good as well for a similar thing. at the end of the day, to find good sources you will have to read lots of them and then pick and choose the ones you find most useful

Reply 6

haum3a

10

Original post by coldplay101

(I tried to post this already but it didn't work)
Hello!
Im going into year 12 in September and am supposed to choose my EPQ idea over the summer. I am studying maths English latin and history a level and know that I want to study Ancient and Modern History at uni (my preferred uni is Oxford). Based on this, does anyone have any EPQ questions/ ideas that they think would go well with this course? :smile:

i know i'm really late, but i've applied for amh at oxford this year (got my interview next week 🙂) and found that choosing a topic that manages to link ancient and modern history was quite useful for my personal statement. mine is on continuity in cultural traditions between roman hispania and islamic spain. HOWEVER i would say that my topic feels a bit clunky. it probs would have seemed more cohesive if i'd just explored one of the periods, but i just really wanted to explore both of them in depth because i love them both so much.

BASICALLY what i'm trying to say is don't try and force yourself to find a topic which links ancient and modern history but it CAN be useful if it does!
a good one which i think does is translations and adaptations of ancient literature (although this might be more on the literature/language side of classics rather than the history side). or perhaps if ancient literature has maintained relevance throughout history.

anyways - you've probs chosen your EPQ topic by now, hope you've chosen something which fits well 🙂 and you can always message if you need advice with amh applications!!

EPQ for Ancient and Modern History reading list

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