EPQ advice plz

im in year 12 and im taking EPQ my question is 'to what extent has the character and physical representation of disney princesses negatively affected muslim girls aged 6-10?'
if anyone has taken this in the past or is taking it im open to advice because i really wanna get an A and im interested in the process and what gets good/bad grades
ty x

Reply 1

diaeve

my only advice with this is it might be TOO specific, a large part of EPQ is research and your question needs to have some pre-done similar/accessible literature which you analyse and draw conclusions in your report, any questions feel free to ask

Reply 2

Tulipbloom

Original post by Mari_07

Hey got an A* last year for EPQ and I think you should definitely stick to the to what extent template (allows you to argue both sides + form your own conclusion). However, I've got to agree with diaeve. Your question is specific which is good when it comes to your project proposal but it is soo niche to the point where you might not get to showcase a range of sources (secondary that is) and I'm really concerned how you will pen a 5000+ word essay surrounding such a topic. Will you have to rely on primary research? Has your supervisor approved this topic? Do you have enough material to help educate yourself on this topic and present a well thought out conclusion? A lot of people at my school did EPQs on representation (more so on the impact of social media) and have gotten As.

My advice for the EPQ itself:

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Write everything down.

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Keep a well tabled research diary (link, access date, CRAAP test)

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Show organization skills (GANTT chart)

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Show effort (reflect on any change, skills you learn, challenges, strengths and weaknesses = of your project throughout and write this down in your production log).

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Arguably your production log is more important than the essay/presentation itself = keep this in mind.

Reply 3

Mari_07

basically my epq suoervisor sed to make it rlly specific and they rlly liked my question and sed itd be good but i do see where you're coming from too
what was your epq question, if thats okay to ask plz?

Reply 4

Mari_07

Original post by diaeve

there has been quite a lot of lit and studies done on this though
what part dyu think is too specific?
tyx

Reply 5

diaeve

Original post by Mari_07

there has been quite a lot of lit and studies done on this though
what part dyu think is too specific?
tyx

i can imagine theres literature on disney princess negatively affecting girls. but im not sure if there will be a lot specifically on muslim girls aged 6-10. if there is enough secondary literature, go for it. but if youre applying literature thats say disney princesses affecting white atheist girls 10-12, it makes your conclusions and analysis less valid as it doesnt directly link to your question hope this helps.

Reply 6

Mari_07

Original post by diaeve

yep ive changed it to just 'girls'

Reply 7

McGinger

Useful short free online courses about How to Complete an EPQ from Bath Uni - How to do an EPQ - Online Course (futurelearn.com) and from Southampton - Developing Your Research Project - Online Course - FutureLearn

Reply 8

Mari_07

ty xx i will try that

Reply 9

username6395780

Hey I've just got my EPQ back from the internal moderation and managed to get an A* with full marks (50/50). I did my topic on robots and cancer, orginally going to do modern medicien but too broad, then wanted to do lymphoma but too specific so just went with cancer. My main advice would be to focus on your planning and research. For AQA, 20 of the 50 marks are for your production log and journal. Aim for at least one good journal entry per week and in weeks where you are writing more, perhaps 2 or 3 entries. Ensure your mid project review, planning review and production review are all in depth and analysed fully - denoting any changes you have made to your structure AND WHY. For your actual writing, you could make it a bit more broad with soemthing like 'To waht extent has media representation of disney princesses affected the development of girls in muslim communities' for example, as this does not restrict you too much. For your main body of writing I'd say make sure you ANALYSE what your writing, its very easy to slip into the habbit or just reeling off data from the internet with very little personal input, i would write about a small part of an extrct I have written and then go through it and explain why it is significant to the enquiry question.

I really like your question title idea ! you could always look at 'to what extent has western media representation affected beauty standards of girls growing up in muslim communities' or something along those lines as it may be a bot difficult to sepcifclally look at disney for lots of data. Some points you could discuss are varying societal normalities between western representations and your own experiences, the theme of modesty and how this has affected your view on it, or perhaps lack of representation. I did 2x interviews with doctoes about cancer and that really helped my report, perhaps look on linked in for a child psychologist and try and arrange a teams meeting (or just email a few questions over), about this. If you complete an interview ensure you include it all in your journal and repeat in your production log as much as possible. The only other comments I'd make about interviews is anonymity, ensure you find out if they are okay with their name being used etc and offer for it to be remained anoymous (just reffering to them as child psychologist 1 for example)

Any other questions I'd be happy to help !

Reply 10

Mari_07

omg i actually love you thank you so much😊💕
i have an EPQ meeting tomorrow so i'll definitely ask you any questions i have
well done for getting full marks that's so good👏👏👏 xx