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EPQ Introduction lesson
The EPQ project was introduced to our form for the first time. -
Thinking of my topic
We were told to think of a topic to write our project on. It was not rushed so I took my time and it wasn't until next week that I started doing some basic research. -
First official EPQ lesson
From now on, we had optional EPQ sessions every Wednesday with Miss Zeqaj who provided group and individual help with our projects and guided us in the right direction. I was still unsure what I wanted to base my dissertation on. -
Decided my topic
The topic was meant to be something related to what I want to do in the future or something I enjoy. Since I want to become a civil engineer I decided to write about natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis and how buildings are designed to withstand those disasters which is what civil engineering is mainly about. -
Starting early research
Once I've decided on what I want to write about, I began some basic research which involved me looking up the topic online and reading through some articles and pages to get a better idea of what I am going to be writing about. -
Second EPQ session
I attended the second EPQ session and noted down a lot of techniques that I would need to use to write a successful dissertation. I went away and looked through more online articles about my topic. -
Starting to think about my plan
I would use form time (about 20 minutes) when possible to work on my project. I started to think how I should structure my project so that it flows in the best way possible. -
Starting to structure my plan
I started working on my full plan and I set it out roughly at first and worked on it for the next 3 weeks in my free time. I submitted it way before the deadline. -
EPQ Plan Deadline
The deadline for the full plan of our projects was the October half term and it should have been emailed to Miss Zeqaj before we broke up for half term. -
Starting research
After submitting my plan I started to research my topic heavily to begin writing it up as soon as possible. -
Starting to write
I began writing my project in the beginning of November and I did about 500 words in the first week as my introduction. I used a variety of sources to define some terms which will be used later in the essay. -
Finishing the introduction
I wrote about 1000 words for my introduction. Although I don't consider all of those words to be a part of the actual introduction because towards the end of that section I am no longer introducing the reader to key terms but I am discussing natural disasters and the vulnerablity to them. -
EPQ First Draft Deadline
The deadline for the first draft to be submitted was the Christmas break. I received some feedback and changed my layout a little bit. -
Pausing EPQ
After submitting my first draft I put EPQ on hold for a while to revise for the upcoming mock exams. I revised for them during the Christmas break, however I still did a little bit of EPQ to make some sort of progress with it as I didn't want to forget about it. -
Resuming EPQ
After finishing my mock exams I got back to writing my project. I wrote roughly 100 words a week which isn't a lot but I took it slow and carefulyl analysed every piece of information that I found. -
Writing more
I was at about 1500 words at this point and I sat down that weekend and wrote about 700 more words to get my word count up to about 2200 words. I started talking about the physics side of the effects of earthquakes on buildings and the engineering techniques used to reduce those effects. -
Adding more information
I spent most of the day going through what I have already written and adding and removing a few bits as well as setting it out better. I have added a lot of new information analysed a few sources. My word count at this point was around 3500 words. -
Stopping EPQ to revise for AS exams
At this point I sent all my documents, including the research document, the source analysis and the actual project to my teacher to get some feedback on it and put EPQ on hold until after the AS exams. -
Resuming EPQ
My last exam has finished and I got back to working on my EPQ again. I am on about 3500 words and for now I will work on meeting my Assessment Objectives before finishing up the actual dissertation.
