Slide 1Extended_Project@kes

Recap from last weekEP – Cost Benefit Analysis

Benefits Costs• Development of: - research skills - independent study skills - planning skills - critical thinking skills

• Opportunity to research an area of interest in depth

• Strengthen your university applications

• Can supplement your core subject knowledge

• Gain an A* by Christmas

• Loss of breadth in the FS programme

• Time commitment: - 30 hrs over summer - 2 hrs per week FS time - + 2hrs pw self-study - a day or two at half

term?

• Could be tough for those on four subjects or for those who need every precious hour for three

Slide 2Extended_Project@kes

A bit more detail1. You get marks for being independent

“what is being assessed is the learner’s ability to plan, manage, carry out and review a project” – Edexcel Specification Issue 2, pg 8

e.g. – “The research question is ..developed with limited guidance”vs “some guidance”vs “a lot of guidance”

2. So, within reason you can manage your own time

• “can I do more over the holidays and therefore less in term time?”

• “can I do less / nothing over the hols and work more next term?”

Slide 3Extended_Project@kes

A bit more detail3. You need access to subject experts, but your supervisor may

not be one“it is not essential for the tutor/assessor to be a specialist in the

chosen subject area” – Edexcel Specification Issue 2, pg 8

4. You must be organised

If you are not naturally well organised then the EP could encourage you to develop a life-changing skill!

Marks:17% - Applying organisation and planning skills to meet objectives22% - Research – obtaining and selecting from a range of sources44% - Achieving the planned outcome – e.g. the dissertation17% - Presenting and reviewing

Slide 4Extended_Project@kes

What you MUST do:1. Start Project Activity Log – record last weeks introduction, any

discussions with your tutors and this weeks session. You must record all meaningful activity on this.

2. Download the Project Proposal Form and start to fill it out (draft needed by July 4th)

3. Start drawing up a plan for when you will be doing what

4. Decide on file storage and management system

5. If you know you are going to be away on 13th July, find someone in the group who will be there who is prepared to escort you to Southampton University library over the hols. Also block out 6/7 4 – 5pm if possible

Slide 5Extended_Project@kes

File Storage and Version control

vs

You should be able to access your school mydocuments folder from any PC (maybe problems with Macs) back

Slide 6Extended_Project@kes

Choosing your topic• Your title probably will evolve

• Your title should take the form of a question

• Your topic should:• Interest you• Relate to subject areas you have some confidence in• Have some element of disagreement• Have an ethical / philosophical dimension

• If you are doing an artefact or a performance, bravo. Encore. Please see Dr Leaman or myself. Note there is still the requirement for research and a literature review

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Choosing your topicYour topic should avoid being

• Too ambitious

• Too vague

• Too esoteric

• Completely uncontroversial

• Too similar to any work done in your core subjects

Slide 8Extended_Project@kes

Previous titles have included…What are the historical, philosophical and socio-economic implications of the UK government attempting to reduce its debt? The Human Rights Act: Should

it stay or should it go?What are the ethical issues related to pre-symptomatic testing for variant CJD? Is the governments decision to

abolish primary care trusts correct?

To what extent were the British to Blame for the problems concerning the uprisings in Ireland in 1916-24?Was “the Great Moderation”

more down to luck than economic policies?

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On what grounds should the government prohibit the availability of a drug on the NHS?

Are self-help schemes the best approach to adopt for slum settlements in the future?

How does the UK government implement climate change policy?

Why did the international body fail to prevent the Rwandan Genocide?

Did the recent recession share character with previous recessions, and if so could it have been predicted?

How true is the statement that the Roman republic’s destruction was made inevitable by its political system?

How have scientific advances influenced modern day attitudes towards death?

Slide 10Extended_Project@kes

Potential SupervisorsMr Culver ndc@kes.hants.sch.ukDr Leaman ojl@kes.hants.sch.ukDr Purves gtp…Mr Herklots ljh…Mr Schofield ajs…Miss Parkyn rhkp….Mr Giles ceg…Mr Piggott glp…Mr Tofts tht….Dr Gamblin sdg…Mr Jones pdj….

Potential subject experts: Anyone

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Dissertations• 6,000 words minimum

• Fully referenced

• Structure: Abstract – 200 Introduction - 800 Literature Review – 1,850 Discussion – 2,750 Conclusion / Evaluation -

400 Bibliography Appendices

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Literature review

• Your final bibliography is likely to reference between 20 – 50 sources

• Your sources should in all instances include academic papers and published books

• Your sources may also include web documents, newspaper articles, television interviews, and radio programmes (R4 an excellent source) but these should probably be in the minority

• You should be aware of bias and reliability of sources and comment on these

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Referencing

• You MUST keep a note of the author’s name and date of publication of all your sources as you come across them (you’ll never find them again!)

• Where you quote directly you must also note the page number

• For newspaper articles keep a note of author, title, newspaper name, date

• You will be issued with referencing guides in the Autumn term

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Planning

Aug 9th – 6 hrs

research

Aug 10th – 4 hrs

research

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Record keeping

• Keep a note of everything you do on your Project Activity Log. It is easier to delete things than attempt to retrospectively record your progress.

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Next Steps

• Remember the 5 actions needed

• We will next meet 4/7 – possibly in 2-3 groups

• By this time you should have a draft project proposal

• You can then (if not before then) be assigned a supervisor

• Those on Dale Fort please diarise 6/7 4pm – 5pm

• Remember you are in control. Get started but do ask questions