Dear Year 12s,
Taking part in the EPQ may seem like a challenging task, especially given the need to balance your other A-Levels and sticking to tight deadlines. Whilst it does come with certain challenges, having completed the EPQ myself I would like to share advice on how to succeed in your research make this project for you an enjoyable and fascinating research experience.
Distribution of workload is a big factor and it’s crucial that you evenly spread out your workload. For my EPQ, I would set out weekly targets using my Gantt Chart and diary, which I would base my work off. Most of these targets would center around internal deadlines (for example, Project Proposal), but I would also prioritise tasks that I knew were going to take me the longest.
Whilst you should definitely refer to the targets, you should also be aware that sometimes you have to be flexible and adjust where necessary. For example, if you have an exam week, you might have to reduce your workload, but then increase it in another week. Think of it like a cruise ship where you are the head captain.
One of the things that I think helped with my efficiency was my note-taking strategy, and I recommend sticking to one that you think works best for you (may it be Cornell Notes or in my case, colour coding the quotes and the analysis in different colours).
First of all, before even starting to take notes and reading in detail an article, read the abstract (or the introduction because not all papers have abstracts). There is nothing worse than starting an article and realising mid-way that it's not linked in any way to your project. Once you are convinced it fits your title, I would use split-screen to make notes and colour code the quotes, and I would also take notes corresponding to a quote, that would be coloured separately. Upon finishing, what is really useful is making a short summary of the article and reflecting on its credibility in terms of content and provenance. This will allow you to instantly find notes to a particular article during your writing-process.
Don’t forget to commit to your title, and your research methodologies should reflect that. You could consider doing some background research as well, but remember you have finite time so most of your reading should center around resources that will help you directly answer your question. For example, my research question was centered-around Singapore, but 20% of my articles were linked to general economic and demographic theory.
As you are entering what I remember as the most intense moments of the EPQ, make sure to consistently arrange meetings with your supervisor. It really helps not arranging all the meetings at once and spreading the meetings out, allowing you to reflect and make changes based on your discussions about the progress you made.
Most importantly, don’t worry if one week you feel like you made slightly less progress than another. Research is a progressive and continuous commitment, and I am sure in the end you will end-up with an amazing project.
Good luck!
Mika. S
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