City of London Freemen's School EPQ Information 2019-20

GUIDE TO EPQ Everything you need to know about EPQ

2019-2020

Introduction Spec: AQA Title and Code: Extended Project Level 3 (7993) Qualification: AS level (Grades A*- E) Link: www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/projects

What does the EPQ consist of?

An independent study, which you will have largely completed by the end of your Lower Sixth year. Your project will be entered in May of your A2 year, and you will receive your result along with your other A level subjects.

It comprises three sections, all of which you must complete: • A production log book – this is where you record the actual process which you carry out in order to complete your EPQ. Here you will record as you go along everything you undertake from your initial ideas, through deciding and confirming your title, planning and writing your essay, delivering your presentation concluding with an overall evaluation of your whole project. This production log book will be written using Project Q software for which you will be given a log in code.

• A 5000 word report OR an artefact with an accompanying 1500 word report.

• Delivery of a 10 minute presentation of your research to a small group of students and teachers, including your form tutor.

What skills does the EPQ help to develop?

The purpose of carrying out an EPQ is to develop skills, which are more commonly found at university level in order to help you to prepare for your future university environment.

Skills which are covered during your EPQ research include: • Working independently, seeking support where necessary.

• Learning, through the use of the school library services how to research a wide range of resources including academic papers/journals, media based sources, books.

• Understanding how to use referencing systems correctly, and how to carry out citations.

• Being aware of plagiarism, the consequences it carries and how to avoid it.

• How to sift through lots of information efficiently, and to take relevant notes.

• How to plan time efficiently, and how to use online tools to help to achieve this.

• How to plan and structure essays.

• How to think critically, and to evaluate information you find.

• How to write an effective conclusion.

• How to evaluate source materials to eliminate bias.

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How can your EPQ be used when completing your UCAS application?

• The EPQ qualification is an AS level and is, therefore worth 28 UCAS tariff points.

• You will be able to write about your EPQ in your personal statement, to demonstrate you have gone beyond the confines of the A level courses in a subject of your choosing.

• An increasing number of universities are now giving offers, which lower the grade in one of your A level subjects if you achieve an A/A* in your EPQ. (For example: offer – AAB or ABB with an A/A* in EPQ).

What are the key differences between the EPQ and standard A level subjects in terms of independent learning Many of you will have achieved very high grades at GCSE level, and will go on to achieve very well at A level. However, there is a huge amount of support which is given to you to achieve this in terms of specialist teachers, extra revision clinics, revision books, catch up lessons, revision notes, past paper practice. For the EPQ there is none of the above, as it really is an independent study. This is because it is mirroring what it might well be like when you embark on your university studies.

This is your project, which you will need to take control of. This can seem very daunting at first, as most of you will be used to your teachers driving your learning processes and outcomes. However, with weekly support in the form of a supervised EPQ lesson, you will begin to get the hang of it, and find that you actually gain marks for taking the initiative with your project.

You will be allocated a one hour lesson each week throughout your L6 year, and it is very important that you quickly become disciplined in terms of using that hour to make steady progress with your project – at times, there will be minimal supervision from your supervisor.

What help can I expect?

You will have an allocated EPQ supervisor with whom you will have one lesson each week. During these lessons there will be short sessions where you will be shown over the course of the first term how to develop the new skills outlined above such as research, time management, critical evaluation and avoiding plagiarism (copying from sources without acknowledging it).

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What will I be encouraged to do?

• You will be encouraged to organise meetings with subject specialist teachers for advice on whether your proposed project title is viable – this is particularly important as your topic must be either something you are not studying at A level, or the topic takes you “significantly” beyond the themes studied in your relevant A level subject.

• As most of the EPQ lessons are based in the Upper School library, you will be encouraged to ask for help from the librarians as well.

• There is a dedicated page on Freelearning which gives many links to useful documents such as online tutorials, how to access academic resources etc. You will be encouraged to refer frequently to Freelearning.

• You will be encouraged to look at completed EPQ projects (under supervision) to understand what your overall goals and standards should be.

• Familiarise yourself with the EPQ assessment criteria (see end of document).

What will my tutors not be able to help me with?

In contrast to what you may be used to, supervisors will not be able to: • read through rough essay drafts, and offer advice once the essay is completed; • correct spellings, punctuation and grammar; • take decisions for you about your chosen topic or your learning process; • hint at whether your project looks as though it might gain an A/A*; • give frequent deadlines to adhere to.

Timeline and important dates The following dates must be adhered to if you are to make the expected progress. It is your responsibility to adhere to these deadlines – we will not be chasing you (again this is part of developing your independent learning skills). We give a lot of thought to these deadlines, looking at the wider picture of all the many other commitments you will have over the course of your two years in sixth form. If you do not keep to them, then you are likely to become overloaded very quickly, and miss important deadlines (see end of leaflet for specific timeline and deadline dates).

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What should I include when I submit my EPQ project: • A copy of your signed production log book – this can very easily be down loaded from Project Q. • Either: 5000 word essay complete with a referencing and bibliography page.

• Or: An artefact (thing) plus a 1500 word report. The board generally does not accept artefacts (as they are too bulky/fragile), and so it is important that you have an electronic record of it to send on a memory stick.

• A photocopy of your presentation slides (NOT your accompanying notes).

How will the EPQ be assessed?

The EPQ will be marked by the school’s EPQ team of supervisors; it will then be moderated by the EPQ co-ordinator (Mrs Harriet Pennington); a sample of 15 – 20 projects will be sent to an external examiner for assessment.

The projects will be marked according to the AQA mark scheme, as shown below.

In most years the board’s grade boundaries have been as follows (please note these can change from year to year): Total: 50 marks: A* 45 A 40 B 35 C 30 D 25 E 20 It is important to note that there are only 5 marks difference between each grade boundary, which means that it is easy to gain/drop grades quite rapidly.

How can I aim for the highest grades (A/A*)?

It is important not to underestimate the amount of work, which needs to done on your EPQ, as it is the equivalent of half an A level. It is, therefore a substantial piece of work which should represent a total of 120 hours, 90 of which are independent work. Your theme should have the potential to be developed into a piece of work of A level standard and depth.

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General advice on how to gain a high grade Remember to make brief notes of all your meetings with your supervisor, and write them up afterwards; as a minimum you must fill in all the pages of the Log book, but you can add extra pages if you wish, for example to give information about extra meetings. On some pages of the log book, where there is a section for “Your supervisor’s main comments and advice” – this is for YOU to complete, summarising what your supervisor has said. A time plan showing what you intend to do when, and whether you did it or not, goes down well.

Keep careful records of when you completed each stage – note that you have to give dates along the way in your log book to show the timeline of your project. These need to largely match up with any other time plans you have used.

Your meetings with your Supervisor are good opportunities to show your initiative and to prove that you are in control of the project; don’t expect your supervisor to do all the work. Go to your meetings with an idea of what you would like to discuss. This might feel slightly odd – you are used to teachers doing the organising – but you could write about how this felt in the Reflection at the end.

Specific advice on how to gain a high grade It is important to understand that when supervisors mark your work, they will look at your essay, your log book and your presentation collectively – no one section carries more/less marks than the other. In order to get a high grade you will need to:

Essay

• Have chosen an evaluative title (usually in the form of a question) so that you can have an evaluative conclusion. You should not simply find out about a topic, collect your information together and represent the information in a different way.

• Access academic (university) research as well as web based and media based information. You will need to have accessed at least 15 sources, some of which must be academic.

• Plan and organise your essay in a meaningful way.

• Be prepared to critically evaluate the material you research, and write about this in your essay.

• Use a recognised referencing system.

• Write a meaningful conclusion.

• Demonstrate that you have evaluated some of your sources to eliminate bias.

Log Book

• Write down in detail all the thoughts about the EPQ you have had, decisions you have made, plans you have implemented, research you have carried out, advice you have been given from your supervisor, changes you have made. All the above points must be evidenced in your log book, and explained in detail if necessary. Your points must also be related to your subject matter rather than just general generic comments. REMEMBER: you cannot gain marks for something you have done if you have not provided the evidence for it (even if you might have done it).

• If you want to include attachments to your log book eg Gannt charts, essay plans etc these MUST be clearly referenced and signposted in your log book.

• Keep up-to-date with your log book – it will be much more effective if it has been completed and updated each week.

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Presentation

• The presentation should be no longer than 10 minutes long (excluding questions and answers at the end).

• Do try to think of ways with which to engage with your audience – eg give them a very brief initial task or ask them what they think is the answer to your project title before they have heard your presentation.

• Ensure your slides are interesting – the less writing the better!

• By all means have prompt notes but do not just read your notes out – it quickly becomes very boring for your audience.

• Practise at home with your family, particularly practise maintaining eye contact with your audience.

What skills will I learn?

Throughout the year you will be introduced to a variety of new skills, which should be very useful preparation for university style learning. These include the following: • A library / learning resource induction for sixth form students. This mainly focuses on guiding students to online resources available through the school.

• Internet Research skills: this involves various online tutorial tasks, leading on to how to evaluate resources critically.

• Referencing – students are introduced to the main systems of referencing via an online tutorial (Newcastle University), looking at the purpose of referencing, and how to be consistent throughout a piece of writing. It also looks at how to record resources as research is progressing. Implicit within this section is the issue of plagiarism, which is explored.

• Time management – this is done by suggesting how to break down large tasks and to manage time generally. You will be encouraged to devise your own time plan for your EPQ, using different templates such as Gantt charts, in order to allow maximum engagement with and evaluation of the whole planning process.

• Critical thinking skills - this involves exploring various ways in which to analyse data and information in a more objective way; this can be achieved by not accepting everything you read as true. It will encourage you to question information by cross-referencing it with several sources, identifying what information might be missing from a graph/map etc, which could significantly change its meaning.

• Note taking and report writing - how to skim read long articles, how to take notes, and how to break down essays into more manageable sections.

• ICT is included in many of the above sections, helping students to understand accessing references, using referencing systems, how to include large amounts of data into written reports etc.

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Issuing of preliminary grades Before Easter of your final year, you will be given your school moderated results for your EPQ project. This mark will be subject to moderation by an external body so may, on occasion go up or down. Your EPQ project will have been marked and moderated by several teachers who have all received training in marking EPQ projects for AQA so they should be a true reflection of your work. However, if you are still unsatisfied with the mark then you are entitled to ask for a type of re-assessment (please note that this is NOT simply a re-mark). You will be given no feedback from the markers, but will be given time at school under supervised conditions to write a short report proving that the mark scheme has not been applied correctly. Your report will be examined, and if it is deemed sensible, your project will be re-marked by someone who is not part of the school EPQ marking team. Please note that your mark may go down as well as up.

Timeline for 2019/20 Date for completion week beginning

Age

14/10/19 (just before half term)

Student

Part A: Candidate proposal completed with working title Part B: Supervisor Proposal

18/11/19

Student

02/12/19

EPQ Teacher

Planning Review Part C: Coordinator Approval

15/01/20 03/12/19 - 15/01/20 Ongoing 24/02/20 01/06/20 22/06/20

Student HEP/EPQ Teacher

Log Book Section/Page Area of focus decided on: Record of Initial Ideas completed.

Mid-project review Project Product Review Complete draft of essay (including draft essay with aims and conclusion, a reference method and bibliography, and the full evaluation of at least 8 of your sources) Complete production log book up to and including Project Product Review page).

Presentation delivered Final submission deadline (completed essay, log book and a copy of your presentation)

Student Student/EPQ Teacher Student emails draft to supervisor

29/06/20

Log books checked for completion by supervisors on Project Q

15/06/20 onwards 30/09/20

Student (teacher write-up) Teacher

EPQ Assessment Criteria

(NB for the official AQA assessment criteria and marking scheme, please follow the link at the start of this document.)

AO1 Manage (20%)

Assessment Objectives • Identify the topic • Identify project aims and objectives • Produce a project plan • Complete the work, applying organisational skills and strategies to meet stated objectives

Mark Bands

Assessment Criteria

7 – 10 marks

Clear identification of the topic to be investigated or researched, and clear aims and objectives for the proposed project title.

Detailed project plan with clear evidence of monitoring progress of project work against the agreed objectives

4 – 6 marks

Some identification of the topic to be investigated or researched, and some aims and objectives for the proposed project title.

Project plan with some evidence of monitoring progress of project work against the agreed objectives.

1 – 3 marks

Limited identification of the topic to be investigated or researched, and limited aims and objectives for the proposed project title.

Brief project plan with limited evidence of monitoring progress of project work against the agreed objectives.

0 marks

No relevant response

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AO2 Use Resources (20%)

Assessment Objectives • Obtain and select from a variety of sources • Analyse data • Apply information relevantly • Demonstrate understanding of appropriate links

Mark Bands

Assessment Criteria

7 – 10 marks

Evidence of detailed research, involving the selection and evaluation of a wide range of relevant resources.

Critical analysis and application of the resources, with clear links made to appropriate theories and concepts.

4 – 6 marks

Evidence of some research, involving the selection and evaluation of a range of relevant resources.

Some analysis and application of the research, with links made to appropriate theories and concepts.

1 – 3 marks

Evidence of limited research, involving limited selection and evaluation of resources.

Little or no analysis and application of the resources, with few links made to appropriate theories and concepts.

0 marks

No relevant response

AO3 Develop and Realise (40%)

Assessment Objectives • Problem-solving • Decision-making • Creative thinking • To achieve planned outcomes

Mark Bands 7 – 10 marks

Assessment Criteria Candidates take appropriate decisions and appropriate data is collected and thoroughly analysed. The project plan is fully implemented and the outcome is fully realised to a high standard and consistent with a candidate’s finally agreed plan.

There is clear evidence of appropriate changes to or development of the initial project plan or title or aims and objectives, with clear and appropriate reasons for any changes.

Candidates communicate their findings fluently in a appropriate format, synthesising information from a variety of sources and present them within a logical and coherent structure which addresses closely the nature of the task.

4 – 6 marks

Candidates take decisions and some appropriate data is collected and adequately analysed. The project plan is implemented and the outcome is sufficiently realised in an acceptable standard and consistent with a candidate’s finally agreed plan.There is some evidence of appropriate changes to or development of the initial project plan or title or aims and objectives, with reasons for any changes. Candidates communicate clearly their findings showing some ability to synthesise information from different sources and present them in a structured manner appropriate for the task.

1 – 3 marks

Candidates take few decisions and a little data is insufficiently analysed. The project plan is implemented in a limited way and the outcome is realised in a limited manner and not always consistent with a candidate’s finally agreed plan.

There is little or no evidence of appropriate changes to or development of the initial project plan or title or aims and objectives, with only limited reasons for any changes. Candidates communicate their findings by drawing on a limited number of sources and present them in a manner not always appropriate for the task.

0 marks

No relevant response

AO4 Review (20%)

Assessment Objectives • Communication skills • Convey and present evidenced outcomes and conclusions • Evaluate own learning and performance

Mark Bands

Assessment Criteria

7 – 10 marks

Detailed and careful evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the completed project in relation to the planning, implementation and outcomes, and the candidate’s own learning during the project. Material is consistently relevant, well-structured and appropriately presented. Candidates clearly communicate their findings and conclusions which are based on sound evidence and judgement.

4 – 6 marks

Some evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the completed project in relation to the planning, implementation and outcomes, and the candidate’s own learning during the project. Material is sometimes relevant, well-structured and appropriately presented. Candidates communicate their findings and conclusions which are based on some evidence and judgement.

1 – 3 marks

Limited evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the completed project in relation to the planning, implementation and outcomes, and the candidate’s own learning during the project. Material is not always relevant, well-structured or appropriately presented. Candidates communicate some of their findings and conclusions which are based on little or no evidence and judgement.

0 marks

No relevant response

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