Extended Project Qualification: Crafting A Research Question For The EPQ With Dr Victoria Yuskaitis From University of Southampton

Register here

The second session in our EPQ series will be delivered by Dr Victoria Yuskaitis, an Academic Skills Officer in the Learn with US Transition programme at the University of Southampton.

The aim of this session is to provide targeted support to students as they develop their research questions/project titles to ensure they are well-defined, clearly focussed and offer extensive scope for in-depth research. Although the session is directed to students studying the EPQ, teachers are very welcome, either individually or with their groups.

This session will:

• Demonstrate the importance of and how to narrow or target a research question/project title.
• Explore what kind of research is available, how to access high-quality academic research, and how to use targeted keywords to improve searching.
• Consider how to critically analyse or evaluate sources, including strategies for taking notes effectively, encouraging students to develop their own argument.
• Highlight the importance of recording student reflection in the production / activity log as the research question/project title is developed.

Preparatory Work

Though it is not essential to complete the preparatory work before the session, you might find the session even more useful if you have carried out the following task/s:

2. Consider your working title/question. What do you know already know about this issue? And what do you want to find out more about through research? You can use a mind map, a list, or notes to reflect on these questions.
3. Use Google Scholar or Core to search for academic scholarship relevant to what you want to find out about your working title/question. Find 2-3 relevant sources on your topic. Consider these critical evaluation questions:

• Why is this source relevant to your working title/question?
• What is the source saying about this topic—what is the argument?
• How does this source impact your thinking about this topic?

Extension Task:

3. Review The Open University’s guidance about notetaking, focusing on the sections that are relevant to how you work. Also watch this 1-minute video introducing the Cornell Notetaking System. Reflect on the following questions:

• What types of notetaking interest you? Why?
• Are different types of notetaking more suitable for specific parts of your EPQ project?
• What changes to your notetaking process could you implement to improve your current approach?

Summarise your answers in your EPQ production / activity log.

Please note that, although the session is scheduled to end at 14:45, Victoria will stay on until 15:00 to answer further questions about the session and about the EPQ, more generally.   

Speaker Profile: Dr Victoria Yuskaitis

For forthcoming sessions in this great EPQ series with Learn with US at University of Southampton, please see below and click for details:

University of Southampton – EPQ Series

Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. This means that sessions will continue irrespective of possible school closures.

As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.

Suitable for: Year 12 & 13 students (and equivalent) studying for an Extended Project Qualification. Individual students and teachers as well as groups taking part from a classroom are very welcome indeed.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: See above.

The IT Setup: The event will be run o Zoom and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the university via a microphone and/or typed comments and questions. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below:

Register here