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Urgent help with epq title

I’ve got to the point I’ve written up my first draft with the title “distinguishing between cults and religions organisations”. However I was told by my supervisor this wasn’t good as the essay needs to:
- have a title of an actual question
- Needs to have a clear (somewhat) answerable two sided debate
Additionally, I’d like to take a more psychological approach as opposed to the sociological subject of my initial question as I currently plan on doing psychology in university. Could anyone help with coming up with a new questions. I have about a month until my schools final deadline for the essay so the new question has to have some vague similarity to my initial title.

Reply 1

Original post
by JimMorrison27
I’ve got to the point I’ve written up my first draft with the title “distinguishing between cults and religions organisations”. However I was told by my supervisor this wasn’t good as the essay needs to:
- have a title of an actual question
- Needs to have a clear (somewhat) answerable two sided debate
Additionally, I’d like to take a more psychological approach as opposed to the sociological subject of my initial question as I currently plan on doing psychology in university. Could anyone help with coming up with a new questions. I have about a month until my schools final deadline for the essay so the new question has to have some vague similarity to my initial title.

Maybe something along the lines of one of these:
At what point does a religious organisation become a cult?
Where do we draw the line between cult and religion?
Is there a psychological difference between cult members and devout religious people?
To what extent do religious groups resemble cults?
I don't know much about this topic but I think the important thing for an epq question is to make sure it will create a debate rather than an explanation, so I'd try not to use a "how" or "what" question as those tend encourage more straightforward answers (at least that's what my supervisor said) . I think it's a great choice of topic and you'll definitely be able to write a good argumentative essay on it. Good luck!

Reply 2

Original post
by nikiiiiiii
Maybe something along the lines of one of these:
At what point does a religious organisation become a cult?
Where do we draw the line between cult and religion?
Is there a psychological difference between cult members and devout religious people?
To what extent do religious groups resemble cults?
I don't know much about this topic but I think the important thing for an epq question is to make sure it will create a debate rather than an explanation, so I'd try not to use a "how" or "what" question as those tend encourage more straightforward answers (at least that's what my supervisor said) . I think it's a great choice of topic and you'll definitely be able to write a good argumentative essay on it. Good luck!

Thank you for your response, you’ve definitely pointed me in the right direction. I’ve done some thinking and I have “do cults attract psychologically distinct people, or can anyone be recruited under the right conditions” or something like “are people who join cults psychologically distinct from those who join mainstream religions”

Reply 3

Original post
by JimMorrison27
Thank you for your response, you’ve definitely pointed me in the right direction. I’ve done some thinking and I have “do cults attract psychologically distinct people, or can anyone be recruited under the right conditions” or something like “are people who join cults psychologically distinct from those who join mainstream religions”

both of those seem good, although you'll probably need to define what "psychologically distinct" means in this context as it is a bit vague.

Reply 4

Original post
by nikiiiiiii
both of those seem good, although you'll probably need to define what "psychologically distinct" means in this context as it is a bit vague.

That’s a good point to be fair, what would you recommend?

Reply 5

Original post
by JimMorrison27
I’ve got to the point I’ve written up my first draft with the title “distinguishing between cults and religions organisations”. However I was told by my supervisor this wasn’t good as the essay needs to:
- have a title of an actual question
- Needs to have a clear (somewhat) answerable two sided debate
Additionally, I’d like to take a more psychological approach as opposed to the sociological subject of my initial question as I currently plan on doing psychology in university. Could anyone help with coming up with a new questions. I have about a month until my schools final deadline for the essay so the new question has to have some vague similarity to my initial title.

Full disclosure I didn't do an epq but how about:
"Are cults and religious organisations fundamentally different in their psychological influence on followers?"
or "Is the distinction between cults and religions based more on perception than psychological reality?"

Reply 6

Original post
by JimMorrison27
That’s a good point to be fair, what would you recommend?

I don't study psychology so I don't really know but I think to be able to categorise something as distinct you need to set a baseline or "normal" psychology to have, which I think may be difficult?

Reply 7

Original post
by nikiiiiiii
I don't study psychology so I don't really know but I think to be able to categorise something as distinct you need to set a baseline or "normal" psychology to have, which I think may be difficult?

I don’t actually study psychology either, it’s just something I’ve recently realised I’d like to do an uni. The question I’m most likely gonna go with at the moment is “do cults and established religions use fundamentally different psychological methods to influence followers?”

Reply 8

Original post
by JimMorrison27
I don’t actually study psychology either, it’s just something I’ve recently realised I’d like to do an uni. The question I’m most likely gonna go with at the moment is “do cults and established religions use fundamentally different psychological methods to influence followers?”

I feel like that's a good idea

Reply 9

Original post
by nikiiiiiii
I feel like that's a good idea

That’s great, thank you for you help

Reply 10

Original post
by JimMorrison27
I’ve got to the point I’ve written up my first draft with the title “distinguishing between cults and religions organisations”. However I was told by my supervisor this wasn’t good as the essay needs to:
- have a title of an actual question
- Needs to have a clear (somewhat) answerable two sided debate
Additionally, I’d like to take a more psychological approach as opposed to the sociological subject of my initial question as I currently plan on doing psychology in university. Could anyone help with coming up with a new questions. I have about a month until my schools final deadline for the essay so the new question has to have some vague similarity to my initial title.
Doesn't matter if you take a sociology approach because (arguably) it's basically the same as psychology. So writing about sociology could still help out if you're doing psychology in the future (as a psychology student).
A really simple way to come up with title ideas is starting them with "To what extent" so like for example "to what extent do cults differ from religious organisations". Now that, that has a LOT of controversial debate lol.

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