JotCast | RfE Webchat 3 - Research Skills and the EPQ! | 7/2/2024

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RfE Webchat 3 - Research Skills and the EPQ!

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James Leslie

3:49

Hello everyone! Welcome to our third Reach for Excellence Webchat! Research Skills and the EPQ! This is your chance to ask us any questions you have or ease any concerns as well as learning from the answers to other people’s questions too. If the chat is busy then we’ll be typing at breakneck speed to respond to you all, so please be patient if we take a while to get on to your question.

Our chat begins at 4pm - 11 minutes to go!

3:51

Webchats do count towards your attendance on RfE so keep an eye throughout the hour for the registration code

3:52

We are very lucky to have our lovely colleague Emily Sharp joining us for this session, who specialises in research and study skills here at the University, so this is a perfect chance to ask Emily any burning questions you may have about the EPQ if you are currently undergoing this qualification, or if you are considering taking it in the future! Emily will also be sharing her top tips for mastering those all-important research skills!

K

4:00

Hi Guys!! Looking forward to speaking with Emily!

Emily Sharp

4:00

here to help!

Guest

4:00

im really struggling to set my question - i want to talk about covid and its effects on education but my teachers think its too broad! HELP

Emily Sharp

4:03

Hi! Try to think about what you can realistically answer within 5000 words. That sounds like a lot now but to cover that topic in detail it won't be enough. Try to think about restricting it. This might be in age ranges, or geographically. You might want to do some early research to see what information is out there so you can use this to guide you in restricting the question! This might help more: Writing A Research Question - Research and Study Skills (copy) | Biteable

Guest

4:02

HIYYAAA! how are you all and what you having for tea? :) xox

James Leslie

4:03

Hi! We are all well thanks - do you have an EPQ related question? I am having Spag Bol for my tea YUM

Guest

4:02

Ey Up - hope everyone is reet!

Cara Wheeldon

4:05

We're great thank you, hope you are too! Have you got any EPQ questions for Emily?

Guest

4:04

oh amazing - so perhaps effects of covid on sixth form students in Leeds?

Emily Sharp

4:05

There we go! Just make sure the information is out there to find so you can achieve an answer!

Guest

4:06

Hello, does it affect your university application if your EPQ topic isn't directly related to the course you are applying for? would they think you may not be as serious about your chosen course for example

Emily Sharp

4:08

Hi! Not at all - just make sure when you talk about your EPQ in personal statements or interviews you explain what it is and what you did. Then talk about what skills you learned and how these will help you be a great student. For example: managing the EPQ means you will be able to balance your coursework with attending all your classes.

Guest

4:08

Hi, I am currently doing an EPQ and ad I have conducted some primary research I wanted to how best to incorporate my results into my essay, should I leave a section to discuss my results on embedd it within my discussion

Emily Sharp

4:10

This is up to you and what you feel works best for your essay. Scientists tend to do it as separate sections with a methodology section, a results section, and then a discussion on the results. Humanities and arts subjects tend to incorporate it into one big discussion section. I would normally advise you do what you think makes sense for your essay and argument to flow and be easiest to follow for a reader.

James Leslie

4:08

@ALL thanks so much for joining us! Emily is typing as quickly as she can and we will get round to you all as soon as we can :)

4:09

EPQ - Just Started or Finishing Up?

Just Started (75% | 3 votes)

Finishing Up (25% | 1 vote)

Total Votes: 4

Zaina

4:12

Hi, for my EPQ I'm looking at primary sources regarding policy regarding the british colonialism of India. I found a large document where a person compiled a lot of separate charters into one book. Would I be able to cite the charters as separate primary sources as different charters have different values to my research or would I have to do it all as the one book?

Emily Sharp

4:15

Normally we would do a reference in a reference. Couple of questions so I can help more:

Which referencing style are you using?
Can you access the individual primary sources by themselves separate from the larger document?

Zaina

4:18

I don't know what reference style I'm using yet, so far our teachers gave us a table to add a load of sources onto one document before we start our reports. I can't find the charters as separate documents online, only as part of bigger books since they are around 400 years old

Emily Sharp

4:20

No worries! You would need to do something called "Secondary Referencing" then. This means that we have to write a reference for the primary source and then put "in" and then write the reference for the secondary source. The University of St Andrews has a really good web resource for this: Referencing something mentioned in another source (Secondary Referencing) - Referencing Styles - at University of St. Andrews (st-andrews.ac.uk)

Zaina

4:20

thankyou!

Emily Sharp

4:20

Happy to help!

Emily Sharp

4:21

For anyone who is struggling with referencing, the University of Leeds Library has a great online tutorial: Taking and making notes - Referencing Made Simple (leeds.ac.uk)

Zaina

4:22

How is the report generally assessed? in terms of how marks are awarded and such

Emily Sharp

4:22

which exam board are you with?

Zaina

4:23

AQA

Emily Sharp

4:26

20% of the marks go to how you manage your EPQ (AO1)
20% of the marks go to how you use resources in your project (AO2)
40% of the marks are available for how you develop your EPQ and realise the answer to your question (AO3)
20% of the marks are available for how you review your own EPQ (AO4)

Zaina

4:27

what do you mean by realise the answer?

Emily Sharp

4:28

This means how you problem solve and take decisions critically to develop your answer to your EPQ question.

Zaina

4:30

thankyou!

Emily Sharp

4:32

You're welcome!

Zaina

4:34

do you have any general tips for research skills?

Emily Sharp

4:38

Keep your searches specific and tailored to the keywords of your question. The library has a great help sheet for this: skills_keywordsearch.pdf

Also make sure to critically evaluate your sources so that you know they are reliable and relevant to you. Our CRAAP table can help you do this: Source-Evaluation-Table.pdf (leeds.ac.uk)

Finally here is the University of Leeds library playlist on how to search which can help with everything from planning your search to using academic articles: Information Literacy - YouTube

Guest

4:38

Do Leeds drop your grades for an EPQ?

Emily Sharp

4:40

This depends on the course you are applying for. You can find out for your specific course by going to Course Search | University of Leeds and searching for your course. Click on "Entry Requirements" and it will tell you there.

Even if we don't reduce our grade requirement, the EPQ is still great to talk about in your personal statement. We love to read about the skills you have gained from it and how this will help you whilst being a student!

Emily Sharp

4:41

Want to know more about doing an EPQ and then progressing onto university? Read our Student blogs | Education Outreach (leeds.ac.uk)

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