1. Why starting the night before is a bad idea
Why starting the night before is a bad idea Writing the written component of your EPQ
considerably adapted by MRC

4. The written component
The EPQ covers many different formats of projects, eg a dissertation (long essay), a performance, an event or creation of an artefact. This is reflected in the length of the written component.
This session will be useful for all types of project, as the same principles will apply to writing long or short reports.
Either way, the report may be the longest assignment you have written to date and it can be overwhelming to think about writing up your work
Early planning can help you break down the writing into manageable sections, give your work structure and help you get your message across more effectively.
It can be daunting to write such a long document – but this session should help you to plan your writing and make it easier to manage

5. Aims of this presentation
To get you thinking early about the structure (and writing) of your written component
It is helpful to plan your report (and even write early drafts of it) as you are doing/completing your research at this stage
it can help direct your research by focusing on what is really important
To help you plan your remaining EPQ work
It is important to think early about what you will write and the structure of your report.

6. Writing is a process
It is important to see the writing stage as part of the process, not something that happens at the very end
It is often not until you start explaining something in writing that you find where your argument/discussion is weak or incomplete
It is hard to get started, but it is best to have a go at writing - you can always revise it later on
You don’t have to start at the beginning, pick a section you feel confident with and get into a routine of writing
Keep reading and amending your work – each section will probably need at least two drafts
A good structure will help with this

7. The main elements of the written component
You will be doing projects on varied subjects
The structure for your written component may vary slightly depending on your topic and type of project (eg writing up a science experiment versus exploring a social phenomenon)
Look at MRC’s sheet: “The EPQ: so what am I handing in?” to be clear what length of written component you need
There are elements of the written component common to all projects
Follow up after
the
session
There is a broad structure into which most projects will fit. This will give the basis of your plan for writing.
Different disciplines may however require that you emphasise different aspects of the report or a slightly different structure. Why don’t you check this out with you supervisor after the session?
Discuss with your supervisor the best structure for your individual project

8. Elements common to all EPQ written components
Tell them what you are going to say
Say it
Tell them what you said
Introduction
Main Body
Conclusions
All of these elements are important and it is important to include them all somewhere in the report although you may choose – in discussion with your supervisor – to give them different names or combine them into bigger sections.

9. Tell them what you are going to say
The Introduction
Tell them what you are going to say
We are now going to look at individual sections of a report.

10. The Introduction
This is where you will introduce the project to the reader.
Think about:
Describing your topic. What is your aim?
do you have a specific question to answer?
are you exploring a topic in detail?
are you creating something?
Defining the topic eg a geographical area, a period of time, a measurement, a material or a social phenomenon
There may be a number of interpretations of your topic, so make it clear to the reader what you are studying
Why have you chosen this topic ?
is it important?
subject of particular interest?
relates to a hobby?
or perhaps you future career plan
Most dissertations will aim to answer a question that you have formulated yourself – you have a particular interest and knowledge in the subject and it is important to introduce the subject to the reader and impart you enthusiasm to your audience
The introduction is very important it sets the scene for the reader.
EG – studying social deprivation in Manchester
How would you define Manchester – postcode or inside the M60
what do you mean by deprivation these are a number of ways of defining and measuring this
Are you interested in a particular period time – changes over time

11. The Main Body of the written component
Say it!
We are now going to look at individual sections of a report.

12. Develop a clear line of argument
On its own, evidence cannot contribute to academic debate or explain what you have done for your EPQ. The interpretation and presentation of that evidence within an argument allows the evidence to make a contribution.
Make sure that:
There is always a clear link between your own arguments and the evidence uncovered in your research.
You include a short summary at the end of each section.
You acknowledge opinions which do not agree with your argument. If you ignore opposing viewpoints, your argument will in fact be weaker.
A good literature review needs a clear line of argument. You therefore need to use the notes you made whilst doing your reading to express an academic opinion.
When you are writing your literature review, you may not quite yet be sure of your own argument. Writing the review may be part of the process of trying to work this out. However, as you are writing it you must make sure that there is a clear link to your question and any sub questions you want to ask.

13. Go beyond description
You not only need to show you can extract, interpret and summarise information, but that you can go beyond this and show connections between ideas, information, sources etc.
Compare and contrast different authors' views on an issue: • group authors who draw similar conclusions • note areas in which authors are in disagreement • highlight exemplary studies • highlight gaps in research
Show how your work:
relates to previous studies/developments
relates to the literature in general
Critique/synthesis where are the similarities and differences
e.g.
information needs of cancer patients have been studied in a number of countries /health care contexts and with many tumour groups
similar findings were found in X papers
the main findings are……
however there are some contradictory findings in papers X, Y
Some reasons for this may be the health care context etc.

14. When to stop
It is important to keep control of the reading process, and to keep your research focus in mind.
Always bear in mind your research question:
Why am I including this?
It might be interesting, but is it relevant?
Planning your written component in advance is the best way of keeping the focus.
Decisions need to be made about where to focus your reading (and where you can refer briefly to an area, but explain why you will not be going into it in more detail.)
The literature review is important but it is only one aspect of a report

15. Referencing, NOT Plagiarising!

16. A quick guide to referencing
In the body text you need to clearly detail the name of the author and the year their work was published – citation
The reader should then be able to cross-reference this to a more detailed list at the end Reference List or ‘Bibliography’
Both should be systematic, uniform and thorough, and really easy to understand
Throughout your written component, make sure you use the same system consistently
Ideally, use footnotes for referencing
So, how do we actually go about referencing.
When you are writing your report/essay/dissertation, if you want to cite someone's work, you should place the name of the Author and the year that the work was published in the main text of your work. This is known as a CITATION.
At the end of your essay, you will have a detailed list of all the sources. This is called the REFERENCE LIST, or BIBLIOGRAPHY.
It is really important that both the citations and the bibliography are consistent, uniform and really easy to understand!
Depending on the type of referencing you decide to use, you may find that instead of the authors name a symbol, or number placed in brackets will be used. Similarly, the bibliography may be set out in several different formats which we are now going to discuss.

17. One good style to use - Harvard
Referencing a book.
Harvard System in body text Author (Date)
Darwin (1972) famously outlined his theory of evolution, based on his close observations of variations between species around the world.
Bibliography at the end Who, When, What, Where & By Whom
Darwin, C. (1972) The Origin of Species. London: Dent.
There are lots of different ways to reference – choose one style and stick to it throughout your project.
One good easy to follow style that is commonly used is the “Harvard system”
This is an example of how you would reference something you have used from a book.
This uses the AUTHOR, DATE method as shown in the example above for the CITATION in the body text.
In the bibliography at the end of the essay/report, the following information is given
Who wrote it (Author name)
When was it written (Year)
What was written (Title of the book)
Where and by whom was it published (Publishers name and city)
Lots of information about different referencing styles is available on the internet, so if you are unsure, then it’s easy to look it up. As I mentioned before, there are lots of different styles, it’s easiest to pick one method and then stick with it!

18. Referencing Websites & Journals (Harvard)
General format for journal articles:
Surname[s] of author[s], Initial[s]. (Year) Title of article, Journal Title, Volume (Part), Pages
Wong, S. T. and Goodin, S. (2009) Overcoming drug resistance in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Pharmacotherapy, 29 (2),
Websites: include the date accessed
(Accessed 16/03/2016)
When referencing a website or a journal article, the principles are the same as for a book, you just have to put in some other information..
For a journal article, in the body text, you would cite the author and the date.
In the bibliography, you also need to give the following information.
Who wrote it- Surname[s] of author[s], Initial[s].
When was it written - Year
What was written - Title of article,
Where was it published –Journal title
Where can I find it in the journal – Volume of the journal, part number, page number
An example is given above.
For a website, you should list the web address as your citation and then again in your bibliography, list the web address and the date that you accessed the website. If the website has a title, for example – Cancer Research UK website, you can also write this down next to the web address.

19. Findings and critical discussion
How will you present your findings, results or ideas?
Charts and diagrams
Photographs
Maps
Data
Quotes from an interview
What do they mean ?
How have you interpreted your findings?
This part of the written component is the really fundamental bit where you must spell out clearly and systematically an argument that will lead to a conclusion.
This section will usually form the bulk of an EP project if you are producing a written report.
Make sure you have an argument and that you are clearly laying out reasons or evidence for what you say which will lead to a conclusion. The reader must be led through the thought process that underpins and justifies any conclusions drawn.
In the findings you will present your results. This data/information may be resented in a number of ways.
You will then need to interpret the data/information.
In many projects the data and results will be presented in different sections but in some projects findings and analysis can be presented together – check out what is most usual in your discipline.

20. Tell them what you have said (& bring everything together)
The Conclusion
Tell them what you have said (& bring everything together)
We are now going to look at individual sections of a report.

21. Conclusions
Real conclusions, not just a summary/repetition of the findings
The extent to which you achieved what you set out to achieve
Possible weaknesses/limitations of the methodology and interpretations
Recommendations for the future
You may wish (with the shorter type of written component) to have reflections on doing the project
how well you performed at different stages of the project
what you would do differently next time and why
what you have learned about conducting research and writing a dissertation
You draw your report to a close in the conclusion section. No new data or information should go here, you should be summarising what you’ve said whilst explaining really clearly what this shows, and what it leads you to think.
Try to draw some real conclusions based on your findings and discussion and comparison with the existing literature.
The conclusions section is a good point at which to reflect on the experience.

23. Finishing touches
The way you present the written component is very important.
It does make a difference if your headings are consistent, everything is labelled properly and all the pages are there!
Try not to print it out at the last minute Give yourself time to get everything checked.
Leave time to read through you work. Check for typos, formatting and make sure all of your references are correct in the text and in the reference list.
Ask someone reliable to proof-read your dissertation. You cannot proof your own work well. . .
It is important that your work is well presented and you should always try to leave a few days at the end to make sure you can add all the finishing touches.
It is always worth having someone else read through you work maybe a family member or a friend. Most academics will have at least one person read their work before they submit it to a journal. The person proofreading doesn’t have to understand everything.