EPQ

I undertook the project to develop a more independent way of study in order to   prepare for university. Brush up on my essay writing skills as well as strengthen my ability to analyse and select sources effectively. Allowed me to strengthen my self-motivation skills.

Social media is a very relevant topic to talk about and it affects pretty much everyone on a very regular basis. Has such a diverse group of people using it, it is interesting to see how it affects people and how they live.

I set myself a couple of aims when I set out to complete the project, the first being to actually conduct some research.        I had to extract the useful bits of information and then compress them to form my essay. I needed to fully understand more about the studies and statistics that are published in papers and online, and see what impact they have to be able to use them effectively.

I feel that I have worked through the project well. I have to admit, I could have been more pushed with setting a date for my presentation, but of course my project was not going to be perfect. Due to a combination of my management and planning, I was able to complete my project successfully. 

So here are a couple of examples of my planning. Firstly I made an initial plan, outlining what I was going to do, and when I wanted to do it by. 

Next up I broke my question down into sub questions. I collected all of the sources that looked interesting and relevant to my mini questions. I did a brief analysis of a few, to practice my source analysis skills (left those behind with GCSE history).

Then was my research diary, which I was filling in as I completed my research. For me this was one of the most tedious parts of the project, the research was really interesting but having to write down what I had found out, whether or not I found the source useful etc, was really challenging. That’s where a lot of the self-motivation came in.

As I was going along, I made an activity log, logging everything new that I was adding to my project as I progressed.

Here are the questions that I broke my essay down into.  I found it much easier to do it this way and research the sub questions, as the project was in more manageable chunks.

The sub questions were good because they helped me to set more focus for my research, and saved me a lot of time. Simple questions like “what is social media” and “history of social media”, even though I didn’t include it like this in my presentation, provided me with a started point and good base knowledge to put things into context.

Social media usage has exploded over recent years. Just before the turn of the millennium, 100 million people had access to the internet, when sites such as SixDegrees were emerging. Many people have changed for the better with social media, with social media stars such as Tess Holliday, a plus sixed model. It gave her the opportunity to completely change herself. In contrast, people in very excluded countries such as North Korea do not have access to social media platforms such as Twitter, but seldom mind not having access to such sites. Clusters of interpersonal influence are the effects that people have on each other without really realising it. Examples of this are the radicalisation techniques that people use. 

Due to moving house mid-way through the summer holidays, I had no access to the internet until late August. To make sure this did not hinder my progress, I found the nearest library and went there for Wifi. In the early stages of research, I came across a lot of sources that were not very relevant to my topic. To counter this, I had to make my questions more specific and ensure that I was analysing to the best of my ability so that I did not include irrelevant information.

My product has equipped me with more knowledge in how social media affects individuals as well as businesses. I have also learnt how to use the Harvard referencing system effectively.

If I were to do the project again, I would spread my workload more evenly. I would take more time to consider my question, as I feel I rushed here a little bit which is why I decided to change it so many times. I gathered sources from books and newspapers to websites, podcasts and videos. However, I could broaden this and use magazine articles, periodicals or interview people for their opinions.

It is a very versatile project that can be done on whatever the person would like.It is vital that the candidate stays on top of the work because it can potentially become very overwhelming.

Thanks for listening!