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EPQ

Hello! I have a question about my epq. I do not have very Long to write mine. I was wondering if I could write my epq essay alongside researching, because researching alone stresses me out and makes me feel like im wasting time. has anyone else wrote and researched in the past? any words of wisdom appreciated thanks

Reply 1

arjunshivpatel

Hi!

I just finished the qualification this February. Writing and researching at the same time is exactly what I did so don’t worry! It’s absolutely doable. I actually think that it might be easier, especially if you use a lot of sources.

If you need any other specifics or clarifications let me know! Happy to help.

-Arjun

Reply 2

helloooo123636

hi, would you mind telling me what you got (if you know yet), and talk about it a bit more detail, like how did you do it, how long did it take you etc, Thank you x

Reply 3

arjunshivpatel

Original post by helloooo123636

hi, would you mind telling me what you got (if you know yet), and talk about it a bit more detail, like how did you do it, how long did it take you etc, Thank you x

Hi, yeah sure!

So I don’t know my actual grade yet but my predicted is an A*. My dissertation was on a topic I initially knew nothing about, yet I wanted to begin writing ASAP.

So I did a small amount of preliminary research to figure out my 3 chapters, and from then on, I would research as I wrote. For example, during my writing I would consider “Does this factor impact predicting chaos theory…?”, research it, then embed my findings into my dissertation.

I wrote my dissertation on and off for about a year, but if you don’t take large gaps like I did then it’s definitely doable in less time!

Also, there were many days where I’d write huge sections of my dissertation at a time - while this worked for me I’m not sure how sustainable that would be in a limited time frame.

Hope this helped! And of course, if there’s anything I missed, let me know. :smile:

-Arjun

Reply 4

helloooo123636

thank you so so so much, so helpful. did you do lots of sub-questions within your chapter? and how long would you research for at a time before writing? and also, did you use MS word?
thank you, and sorry!

Reply 5

arjunshivpatel

Original post by helloooo123636

No need to apologise!

So every chapter would have 1 main question/topic - for example, has the development of methods for predicting chaos theory increased its overall predictability?

Within a single chapter, I’d debate and discuss many relevant topics (eg the first methods to be developed, the most successful methods etc) but they never had their own defined “subchapter” per se. However please don’t limit yourself to that if you feel subchapters suit your writing style more!

For the times I purely did research without writing, I’d say roughly the two 1-hour lessons before starting a new chapter. So about 2 hours per new section of just research before feeling comfortable enough to begin writing supplemented with simultaneous research. Again, this could be less depending on your familiarity with your topic!

And yep, I used Word.

Hope this helps!