epq model essay

How To Write An EPQ Essay (Step-by-Step Guide)

In A-Level by Think Student Editor March 29, 2019 8 Comments

Whatever the reasons were for you choosing to write an EPQ, the grade you get is most definitely important to you. That is why I have written this (hopefully) detailed guide on how to write an EPQ.

1. Think Of An EPQ Topic That Genuinely Interests You 

It’s important to choose an EPQ you’re interested in, or you may run into some problems . Many students take EPQs each year, and many students fail because they make this mistake.

If you don’t take an EPQ you’re interested in, you’ll have no motivation to work on it . This will be because you start to want to do other things, anything instead of your EPQ.

Think about revision, for example. Is it interesting? Nope. Would you rather be playing videogames, watching Netflix, or literally anything else? Yeah, me too.

If you’re not motivated to write your EPQ essay, then you’ll either not do it or do it badly. If you don’t work hard for it, you won’t get good marks – and therefore there’s less point in even taking it in the first place .

If you find an EPQ topic to write your essay on that genuinely peaks your interest, you’ll find it much easier to get better grades in it.

A more interesting EPQ essay topic will mean that your focus is better . This will result in a better EPQ, meaning more marks when you hand it in.

You’ll also enjoy the EPQ a lot more if you find it interesting . You’ll find the whole experience a lot more fun, and therefore a lot easier too.

To find an EPQ topic that genuinely interests you, you just have to think about what you like. There are lots of different things you can do, but you only get to choose once – so choose carefully.

And if you’re really stuck on ideas, take a look at this list of 600+ EPQ ideas that guarantee an A* . Any of these ideas will be great for your EPQ, so just choose one that interests you and that you’ll actually enjoy.

2. Create A Mind Map Surrounding Your EPQ Topic

A mind map is where you write down everything you know about a topic . In this case, you’d be writing down all the ideas and concepts surrounding your EPQ topic.

That way you can see everything you need to write about in your EPQ essay. You’re essentially making a mood board for whatever EPQ idea you’ve chosen, and it will help you get in the right mindset for the task ahead.

Mind maps are most commonly used to identify gaps in your knowledge . Students tend to use them when revising to work out what they don’t know, whilst also helping them consolidate what they do know.

In terms of your EPQ essay, a mind map will provide a loose structure for you to follow . You’ll come up with lots of different things you can write about, and that will make the essay a lot easier.

In addition to this, whilst creating your mind map you may even decide to change your topic entirely. You might find that the topic you’ve chosen isn’t giving you any idea inspiration, and so you move on to a different topic. 

To make sure you get your mind maps right, you might want to follow this helpful guideline . It’s mainly about studying, but the same things can be said for planning your EPQ essay.

Don’t try rushing in to your EPQ essay without first creating a mind map . Mind maps are more useful than most students think…

Mind maps will help you avoid getting lost in what you’ve written, what you’ve missed, and what you’re planning on doing. You can use your EPQ topic mind maps as a sort of checklist as you write your EPQ essay.

3. Use Your Mind Map To Think Of A Question Related To Your Main EPQ Topic

Many students forget to think about this, but it’s probably the most important part of your EPQ . If you get this bit wrong, you can say goodbye to a good grade in your EPQ.

The question relating to your EPQ topic of choice is what you’ll spend your time working on . The 5000 words you write will be about this question, and so it really needs to be a good one.

If you don’t make it a question that interests you, then you’ll find it harder to write as much about it. Find a question that genuinely peaks your interest (relating to your EPQ of course) and the rest will come naturally.

It’s also important, however, that you choose a question where there’s a lot to write about . If you choose a question with lots to write about, you can use that to your advantage when trying to reach those 5000 words.

However, if you don’t choose a question where there’s a lot to write about, you’ll find that your EPQ is slow and drains you. Not only that, but it’ll probably be worse in terms of grade too.

I’d suggest doing a little background research into your question before you start writing your EPQ essay . Just check that there’s lots to write about and then you can avoid starting something you can’t finish.

As a general rule, you’ll want questions that don’t have definitive answers. If you can find a question that is inconclusive, you’re onto a winner.

If you can’t be bothered to look up EPQ questions, then there’s an alternative . Take a look at this list of 600+ EPQ ideas that guarantee an A* .

4. Write Down Subtitles That Relate To Your Main EPQ Question

Writing down subtitles for your EPQ question means that you’ll have a better idea of what’s actually going into your EPQ essay .

When you create your subtitles for your EPQ essay, you’re essentially writing down all the mini-topics you’ll write about. You split up the massive 5000 word count into smaller, more manageable parts.

I’d suggest making as many subtitles as you can that relate to your main EPQ question. Just go for a massive brainstorm ( potentially using your mind map ) to try and come up with lots of subtitles.

That way you maximize the chances of you making some actually good subtitles. You’ll have lots of options to choose from, and your EPQ will benefit from having such a varied range of points.

You also put yourself in the right mindset for your EPQ essay . You’ll be much more open to different ideas and approaches whilst actually writing the EPQ, and examiners will see this and give you extra credit.

However, you need to make sure that the subtitles you’re writing actually relate to your EPQ question . If they don’t, you could run into some serious problems.

If you choose to work on a subtitle that doesn’t wholly relate to your EPQ question, you risk filling up your word count with irrelevant information. That means less room for the important stuff, and less marks for you.

Make sure you check all your subtitles before you start writing . Work out what the plan is before you start writing, so that you don’t have to rewrite a large portion of your EPQ essay.

So grab a pen and paper, sit down, put on some nice music, and get to writing those subtitles.

5. Triple Check That Every Subtitle Question Actually Relates To The Main EPQ Topic

By this point, you should have around 16 subtitles that you want to include in your EPQ essay . 16 subtitles will give you a nice 300 word per subtitle guide, give or take a few.

Any more subtitles, and you run the risk of overcomplicating your EPQ. Any fewer, and you’ll struggle to reach that gargantuan 5000 word count.

It’s essential that you break down your EPQ essay into smaller modules like this, to make it easier for you in the long term. 16 subtitles will mean the best productivity for you when you actually come to write your EPQ essay .

The next step is to order your subtitles, for easier reading. You’ll want to make the layout of your subtitles as sensible and as easy to follow as possible for your examiner .

If you please your examiner like this, they’ll be more inclined to give you more marks. They mark you on your written communication, and therefore you’ll want to make sure you’re communicating the most effective way.

Try ordering your subtitles by the order of most important to least important . Laying out your subtitles this way will show your examiner that you’ve really thought about your EPQ and understand what they want to see.

Alternatively, you could lay out your subtitles chronologically . What I mean by this is that you start with your question, move onto research, then explanations, and finally a conclusion.

This is probably the best way to lay out your EPQ essay subtitles . It’s the easiest way to follow the process you went through, and examiners like to see EPQ essays that are laid out like this.

It’s how I laid my EPQ essay subtitles out, and I got an A* – so I’d suggest doing the same.

6. Allocate A Word Count To Each Element Of Your EPQ Structure

You’ll want an introductory paragraph to start with, and that should only take about 200-300 words . Don’t go overboard with your introduction, as you should aim to make the bulk of your essay about your EPQ question.

I’ve already mentioned it, but you want to write about 300 words per subtitle . This is the perfect amount of words to write if you want the EPQ essay to go as smoothly as possible.

16 subtitles at 300 words each will put you at just under 5000 words – 4800, to be exact. That will leave you just enough room to add a short introduction too.

You can go for less subtitles, but that means a higher word count for each individual subtitle . If you make your word count per subtitle too high, then you’ll struggle when it comes to actually writing your EPQ essay.

You could also try more subtitles if you want, but that then means you’d write less per subtitle . That means there’s less room for all your explanation, and less marks when you hand it in.

I’d recommend keeping your subtitle count between 14 and 18 . That way you give yourself the best chances of your EPQ being easier to write.

You also make it easier for you to enjoy, too. Making your EPQ essay subtitles this long means you’ll find it easier and less monotonous, and therefore you’ll enjoy it more.

The word count of each element in your EPQ essay has an impact on your productivity and focus, too . Generally, the shorter the piece of writing you have to do, the more productive you’ll be.

Setting yourself short-term goals like this will help you stay focused and make your EPQ that little bit better. It’s worth setting effective word counts for your EPQ essay elements for those extra marks .

7. Research, Research ( And A Little Bit More Research )

Research should make up about 40%-50% of your total EPQ essay . That’s a lot of research, and you can see from this figure that quality research is crucial to your success.

The reason research takes up so much space is because you need to explore all opportunities within your question. Research will help you develop ideas and improve your knowledge of the subject, helping you to better answer your EPQ essay question.

And besides, who doesn’t want help reaching the massive 5000 word count?

There are many ways to research, with the most common being the internet, and books . Both ways of researching are valid and useful, but you still need to be careful.

Especially with the internet, you may come across facts and information that isn’t entirely accurate. This is because anybody can access anything, and usually the information you see online is edited by people who aren’t professionals.

Try to stay away from websites like Wikipedia, where anybody can change the information you see . There are much better alternatives out there, like Google Scholar for example.

Whereas with books, they have to go through a long-winded process to ensure they’re accurate . Books tend to be slightly more reliable than the internet, especially if they have an ‘exam-board approved’ label on them.

I’d also recommend keeping track of all the sources of your information, as you’ll have to write a bibliography at the end of your EPQ .

What that basically means is that you have to reference each individual source of information after you’ve written your EPQ essay. That’s just so examiners can check to see if you’re plagiarising any content, in case you were wondering.

8. Check That Your EPQ Structure Still Makes Sense

You should have around 16 subtitles ready to go, in chronological order or order of importance . I’d suggest chronological order, but that’s up to you.

You should also have space to add an introduction and conclusion paragraphs . They shouldn’t take up too much space, but still leave some room for you to add them in.

You’ll actually want to wait until the end of your EPQ essay to write either of these paragraphs, so it might help to add placeholders until you get to writing them.

Around 7 of your subtitles should be based on research . You’ll want to leave yourself a nice amount of in-depth research, whilst also allowing room for all that explanation.

If you don’t give the right proportions for your research and explanation subtitles, your EPQ can become lopsided. Examiners will easily spot this and take away precious marks.

You’ll want your conclusion to be longer than your introduction, as you’re essentially summing up all that you’ve written . Your conclusion should be about the same size as your subtitles, but maybe just a little bit bigger.

If all else fails, just read through your structure and think about it from an examiners’ point of view. Does it all make sense? Are the subtitles in a sensible order? Have you left space for your introduction and conclusion paragraphs?

If you reckon you’ve got all these elements in the right order and the right sizes, you should be good to go. Just keep a clear focus on your EPQ essay question, and you can’t go wrong.

9 . Write Down The Answers To Each Of Your Subtitles

Start with your subtitles to get the main bulk of your EPQ essay underway . The quicker you get your subtitles done, the sooner you can finish your EPQ.

Starting your subtitles first is a good idea, as they make up most of your EPQ. You’ll want to get them done first, and then you have time after that to work on the finer details.

As I’ve said, your subtitles should be around 300 words long . This will allow you just enough space to answer the subtitle, without repeating yourself or going overboard.

If you go too far over 300 words, you risk either repeating yourself or just extending your points so much that your words become empty. Empty words = no marks, which is what you definitely don’t want.

If you don’t write 300 words, the points you make are likely to be underdeveloped. This means you can’t get into the top band of marks no matter how good what you’re saying is – there’s just simply not enough of it.

Of course, if you think you can express yourself in more or less than 300 words, go for it . Everybody’s different, and some people have better writing skills than others.

The amount of words you write per subtitle can also depend on how many subtitles you have . If you have less subtitles, you write more words per subtitle, and vice versa – simple maths.

Try to explore every possibility within your subtitle. The more routes you go down and the further the detail you go into, the more marks you’ll get from the examiner.

10 . Write The Introduction And Conclusion Paragraphs

Your introduction paragraph needs to be slightly shorter than your average subtitle paragraph . Usually about 200-300 words, the introduction will basically talk about what’s to come in your EPQ essay.

If you make your introduction too long, you waste space that you might need for your research/explanations. You also take up space that could be used for your conclusion, which is very important.

It’s a good idea to write your introduction paragraph after you’ve written all of your subtitles . It may sound odd, but there’s method to the madness.

If you write your introductory paragraph last, it’ll be a lot more accurate than if you’d have done it at the start. You’ll know exactly what’s in your EPQ, and therefore your introduction can accurately ‘introduce’ your essay .

Your conclusion paragraph should be slightly longer than your average subtitle, and definitely longer than your introduction . I’d say about 400 words, your conclusion should sum up everything you’ve talked about in your EPQ essay.

Your conclusion should essentially answer the question you asked at the start of your EPQ essay. You should aim to include everything you talked about in your other subtitles (that’s why it’s a little bit longer).

You’ll obviously want to write your conclusion paragraph after everything else, or you’ll have nothing to conclude. Once you get on to your conclusion, you’re on the home stretch.

11. Get Someone To Proof Read It To Make Sure There Are No Errors

Proof reading your EPQ essay is so, so, SO important to your success . If you don’t proof read your EPQ essay, you may miss some pretty crucial mistakes…

I’m not just talking about the spelling mistakes you may have made (although you might want to fix those too). I mean the mistakes where you contradict yourself, go off topic, or even just get your facts wrong.

I’m sure I don’t need to explain it, but these mistakes will cost you dearly when your EPQ gets examined . Sometimes just a few marks can be the difference between an A and an A*, so you need to maximize your chances of success.

A good way to ensure your EPQ essay is perfect is to get someone else to look through it. Having a second opinion ensures that everything you’ve written is accurate and concise, and it’s better than just checking through it yourself.

If you rely on your own methods of checking through your work, you’re more likely to miss mistakes . Having a fresh perspective on your work broadens the chances of catching every mistake you make.

It doesn’t matter who you get to check your work . You can ask friends, family, or even your teachers/tutor – just get it proof read before you send it off to be marked .

If you need to check through it for spelling mistakes or wording issues, there’s a handy little trick I used for my EPQ essay. Paste your entire essay into google translate, and have it read out to you .

That way you can listen and check for anything that’s not quite right, and sort it out in time for your EPQ essay to be examined.

Thanks so much for the help !

This is so, so helpful, thanks so much!

How many resources should I have for my EPQ?

20-25 should be the right number

Hi, thanks for the cool tips! I will definitely keep it for myself

Hello, thanks for the cool advice, but the most difficult thing for me is 1 point – to think through the topic itself. Therefore, already at the first stage, I give up and turn to the college essay writing service. This service helped me more than once or twice. My friends also use it. Also, it is difficult for me to create a mental map, which is in point 2. Therefore, I would rather spend my writing time on purposes that are useful to me.

This is so useful! I have been working on my EPQ over the past few weeks and have had a few big quandries about how I should go about forming an answer to my question and this has made it much clearer. Thank you!

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How To Propose Effective Essay Questions? Practical Examples

EPQ essay stands for Extended Project Qualification essay. It is an independent research project undertaken by students, allowing them to explore a topic of their choice in-depth and produce an extended essay enhancing critical thinking and research skills.

As students begin their college assignments, they have to complete an independent research project that is long, intensive, and takes more time to complete.

So by completing EPQ essays, students uncover the ability to develop creative thinking and analytical problem-solving skills that will help them to get into their desired colleges.

Review Our Quality Student Assignment Help Guide  

This comprehensive guide aims to provide valuable insights into EPQ essay examples, guiding toward crafting outstanding EPQ essay papers that demonstrate their academic prowess.

Free Premier Essay Writing Topics

Essay Writing is an essential part of academics which presents the ideas, arguments, opinions, or positions of the writer regarding the topic. The writer supports his claims using facts, evidence, or survey studies.

• Clear presentation or understanding of the type of essay
• An appealing introduction with an unambiguous thesis statement
• A well-defined structure of body paragraphs supporting the thesis

A prospective conclusion with an optimistic tone

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What is EPQ Essay?

EPQ essays serve as a source of inspiration and guidance for individuals working on their EPQ projects. This write-up showcases the structure, content, and quality of essays that have achieved excellence. 

By examining successful EPQ essays, you gain a deeper understanding of effective research methodologies , critical analysis , and compelling presentation techniques.

How to Crafting an Outstanding EPQ Essay?

To create an EPQ essay that stands out, you should consider the following key elements to writing your own EPQ essay:

1. Choosing an Engaging Topic

Select a topic that aligns with your interests, which will keep you motivated throughout the research process . Additionally, ensure that your chosen subject has sufficient academic resources to support your analysis and arguments.

2. Effective Research Methodology

Devise a well-structured research plan encompassing primary and secondary research methods . This will enable you to gather a diverse range of information and perspectives, enhancing the credibility and depth of your essay.

3. Structuring the Essay

Organize your essay into logical sections, including an introduction, methodology, analysis, findings , and conclusion. This coherent structure allows readers to navigate through your work seamlessly, following your arguments and insights effortlessly.

4. Compelling Introduction

Begin your essay with a captivating introduction that clearly states your research question or objective. Engage your readers by providing context, significance, and a glimpse of what they can expect from your essay.

5. Thorough Analysis and Critical Thinking

Demonstrate your analytical skills by critically evaluating your research findings and existing literature. Incorporate different perspectives and theories to enrich your arguments and provide a well-rounded analysis of your topic.

6. Well-Supported Arguments

Back up your claims with credible evidence, such as academic research , case studies , or expert opinions. Ensure that your sources are reliable and properly cited, adhering to academic integrity standards.

7. Coherent Writing Style

Maintain a clear and concise writing style throughout your essay. Use appropriate academic language and terminology to convey your ideas effectively. Avoid excessive jargon and strive for clarity without sacrificing depth.

8. Effective Conclusion

Summarize your key findings and arguments in a concise and impactful conclusion. Emphasize the significance of your research and its potential implications. Leave your readers with a thought-provoking ending that encourages further exploration of the topic.

By incorporating these essential elements, you can create an outstanding EPQ essay that showcases your research skills and academic excellence.

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Example EPQ Essay: An Insightful Guide

When it comes to EPQ example essays, one aspect that captures attention is the word count. Many students wonder how to effectively manage an EPQ 5000-word essay example. Fear not, for we have carefully curated a diverse selection of EPQ essay examples to shed light on this matter.

• Abstract: This essay examines the various consequences of climate change on coastal ecosystems, focusing on the ecological disruptions caused by rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and extreme weather events.
• Methodology: The author employs a multidisciplinary approach, combining scientific research, statistical analysis, and case studies to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the subject matter.
• Findings: The essay highlights the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems, emphasizing the urgent need for sustainable practices and environmental conservation measures.
• Conclusion: The author concludes by emphasizing the importance of collective action in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change on coastal ecosystems.

Final Thought  

In the pursuit of academic excellence, EPQ essay examples offer a guiding light, enabling individuals to navigate the complexities of research, analysis, and presentation. By harnessing the power of these examples, you can unlock their full potential and produce outstanding work that contributes to the scholarly discourse.

So, let the rich and diverse world of EPQ essay examples inspire and guide you on your academic journey. Harness the power of these examples to unlock your own academic excellence and make a meaningful impact in your chosen field of study.

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Home › University › 600 EPQ Ideas and Examples – The Ultimate List

600 EPQ Ideas and Examples – The Ultimate List

• Published May 1, 2024

The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) presents a unique opportunity for students studying in sixth form or college. Not only can you earn extra UCAS points to get into university, but you can also develop strong research and writing skills.

The first step is to come up with a great project idea, which is easier said than done. Fortunately, the choice is yours–you can complete your project on whatever topic you want. On the other hand, with so many possibilities, it can be tricky to narrow it down.

Want to better understand EPQ? Read our guide: What is an EPQ.

This article will give you 600 EPQ topic ideas on a range of subjects to help you choose a good question and, more importantly, get an A*.

How to Choose a Good EPQ Idea

Getting a good grade in the EPQ relies on several factors, including meticulous planning, solid time management, and strong essay writing skills . 

Your idea is important, too. Here are some tips for choosing an idea:

• Pick your passion: Choose a topic you’re genuinely passionate about to maintain motivation.
• Be specific: You only have 5000-6000 words for your dissertation. This might sound like a lot, but it can be difficult to cram all your ideas into this space. Being specific will help.
• Push boundaries: Markers like to see topics they haven’t encountered before. If your topic is more popular, try to look at it from a unique angle.

Below are 600 EPQ ideas (including artefact EPQ ideas) organised by subject (in alphabetical order). Some of these ideas are much more vague than you should be for your EPQ; it’s important to put your own spin on these ideas and find an interesting angle. If you’re struggling, your supervisor can help you narrow down a topic.

25 EPQ Ideas for Anthropology

• How does cultural relativism shape anthropological perspectives on human behaviour?
• To what extent does language influence cultural identity?
• In what ways do rituals and ceremonies reflect cultural beliefs and values?
• How has globalisation impacted indigenous cultures and traditional practices?
• To what extent can anthropology shed light on the evolution of human social structures?
• What role does gender play in shaping cultural norms?
• How do human migration patterns impact cultural exchange and identity?
• What can the food consumption of a society tell us about its cultural values and social structures?
• Can anthropology contribute to our understanding of human prehistory?
• How has technology altered the dynamics of anthropological fieldwork?
• Can anthropology address issues of cultural appropriation and stereotyping?
• What impact does climate change have on indigenous knowledge, and vice versa?
• To what extent can anthropology contribute to conflict resolution?
• How does the class system in the UK differ from those of other countries?
• In a post-pandemic world, what role can anthropology play in medicine?
• Is it important to preserve endangered cultures?
• What impact does tourism have on local communities?
• Is it important to respect cultural practices that may harm people?
• How do kinship systems influence social organisation?
• How has urbanisation affected the social structure of large human groups?
• Is it possible to define a singular, homogenous British culture?
• What can consumption patterns tell us about a particular society?
• What’s the difference between society and culture?
• Can language shape the way we view the world?
• Can online spaces like the Metaverse be considered their own society?

25 EPQ Ideas for Architecture

• How can architecture foster community engagement?
• What role does cultural identity play in shaping architectural design?
• How does sustainable architecture contribute to environmental conversation?
• In what ways can architectural design mitigate the impact of natural disasters?
• How does urban planning influence the mental well-being of city dwellers?
• Can changing architecture serve as a catalyst for economic development in urban areas?
• How do historic preservation strategies balance tradition and innovation?
• What factors should architects consider when designing for aging populations?
• How can architecture promote a healthier lifestyle?
• What challenges and opportunities does inclusive design present for architects?
• How does the style of council housing feed into stereotypes about class?
• How can architects revitalise abandoned urban spaces?
• How does architecture influence human behaviour in public spaces?
• What impact does architectural iconography have on the identity of a place?
• What lessons can architects learn from pandemic responses in designing for health?
• Was the Grenfell Tower a complete architectural failure?
• What can architecture tell us about politics?
• In what ways does minimalist architecture correspond with contemporary societal values?
• What is the effect of feminism on architecture?
• How can architects incorporate biophilic design principles into modern urban environments?
• To what extent is architectural design a form of art?
• How can technologies such as VR and AR benefit the architectural industry?
• Were the houses of the past of higher quality?
• How does architectural lighting impact the perception of spaces?
• How can architects design for climate resilience in vulnerable regions?

25 EPQ Ideas for Art

• How does art reflect and influence cultural identity?
• To what extent does street art challenge traditional notions of public space?
• How can art be utilised as a form of social and political commentary?
• In what ways does the digital age impact contemporary art creation and consumption?
• To what extent can images created by artificial intelligence (AI) be considered art?
• Can art serve as a therapeutic outlet for mental health expression and recovery?
• How did impressionism reflect the sociopolitical environment of the late 1800s?
• What role does public art play in enhancing urban environments?
• How does art education impact development in children and adolescents?
• How can art contribute to environmental awareness and sustainability?
• What impact does public funding have on the accessibility of art institutions?
• How does art respond to and reflect changing gender norms?
• How can art museums adapt to the digital age to enhance visitor engagement?
• In what ways does art challenge or reinforce stereotypes?
• What role does art play in shaping public memory and commemoration?
• How has globalisation influenced contemporary artistic trends?
• Can art bridge the generation gap?
• Who decides what is defined as ‘art’?
• Should street artists be allowed to graffiti on walls?
• What can the vandalism of Barnett Newman’s Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue tell us about the way people view art?
• Who determines the value of art?
• Why do humans create art, and why have they done so for thousands of years?
• Can art be considered a form of language?
• Who determines the meaning of artwork, the creator or the viewer?
• Is it worth creating art if nobody sees it?

25 EPQ Ideas for Biology

• How do genetics influence self-esteem?
• How can gene editing technologies revolutionise medicine?
• How do neurotransmitters contribute to mental health disorders?
• Can synthetic biology offer solutions to environmental challenges?
• In what ways does the gut-brain axis influence mental well-being?
• What is the biology of laughter?
• To what extent can CRISPR technology be applied ethically and safely in humans?
• What genes have an influence on human behaviour?
• What factors contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria?
• Why do some people use parasites for weight loss, and what are the implications of this?
• How do circadian rhythms affect human health and performance?
• Could genetic engineering address environmental pollution?
• Is addiction a genetic or social issue?
• Will brain transplants ever be viable?
• How does the UK’s changing climate affect biodiversity?
• How can hormones influence behaviour?
• Can biotechnology address the global food insecurity crisis?
• Can gut microbiota affect the host’s appetite?
• To what extent can animal evolutionary traits inspire innovations in technology and engineering?
• What impact has the grey squirrel had on the distribution of native red squirrels in the UK?
• Are animals as “smart” as humans?
• What are the ethical implications of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food supply?
• How does air pollution affect the respiratory health of a given population?
• What is the role of the immune system in auto-immune diseases?
• Why do humans living in “Blue Zones” have lower incidences of chronic disease than elsewhere?

25 EPQ Ideas for Business

• How does corporate social responsibility impact consumer perceptions and purchasing behaviour?
• To what extent can employee motivation impact organisational performance?
• Can environmentally sustainable business practices lead to long-term financial success?
• How do social media marketing strategies influence consumer decision-making?
• How does leadership style impact employee productivity?
• In what ways does corporate governance affect organisational success?
• Can entrepreneurship drive economic development in local communities?
• What role does emotional intelligence play in effective business leadership?
• In what ways can businesses effectively manage and leverage diversity?
• Can AI enhance business operations and efficiency?
• Should businesses outsourcing to developing countries pay workers the same they would at home?
• Should businesses pay apprentices more?
• What has changed for women in the workplace since 1900?
• To what extent can the government be considered a business?
• Should there be a salary cap for CEOs?
• How has e-commerce affected physical retail locations?
• Will Amazon Go change supermarket shopping forever?
• Should the government lower the corporate income tax?
• How has social media changed the landscape of marketing?
• To what extent can football clubs be considered businesses?
• How can AI contribute to informed decision-making for business owners?
• What makes a successful start-up?
• How ethical are Amazon’s business practices?
• What responsibility do businesses have to their consumers?
• To what extent do small businesses rely on digital marketing strategies?

25 EPQ Ideas for Chemistry

• How can green chemistry principles contribute to sustainable industrial practices?
• To what extent can nanotechnology revolutionise drug delivery systems?
• In what ways do catalysts impact reaction rates in chemical processes?
• Can chemistry provide solutions for efficient energy storage?
• How did chemistry help us understand the COVID-19 pandemic?
• Can an understanding of chemistry help in the development of anti-aging products?
• What impact does polymer chemistry have on materials science and engineering?
• How does fluoride impact the water supply?
• How does analytical chemistry contribute to forensic science and criminal investigations?
• How can green solvents impact the environmental sustainability of chemical processes?
• At what point does a chemical become a hallucinogen?
• How did optical isomerism impact the drug Thalidomide, which caused fetal abnormalities?
• To what extent can chemotherapy drugs be targeted using medicinal chemistry techniques?
• How do organometallic compounds contribute to catalysis in industrial processes?
• How do metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) contribute to gas storage and separation?
• Can cheminformatics improve the prediction of chemical properties and toxicity?
• How can click chemistry be used to improve drug synthesis?
• How do photovoltaic cells work?
• Did the discovery of pharmaceutical chemicals change the course of history?
• Can cannabis use in adolescence cause mental health issues like schizophrenia?
• What are the benefits of computer-based, fragment-aided drug design?
• Why doesn’t plastic decompose?
• What are the chemicals involved in the human conception of love?
• Project: Make a collection of pleasant-smelling esters.
• Project: Extract limonene from a range of citrus fruits.

25 EPQ Ideas for Computer Science

• How can machine learning algorithms improve fraud detection in financial transactions?
• In what ways does natural language processing contribute to the development of intelligent chatbots?
• To what extent can blockchain technology enhance data security and integrity?
• To what extent can explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) improve trust in AI systems?
• Should we teach children to code in school?
• Are AI-assessed job applications inevitably biased?
• Will AI create or diminish the number of jobs available?
• What impact does cybersecurity have on the reliability of Internet of Things (IoT) devices?
• To what extent can machine learning predict and prevent cyber attacks?
• What role does augmented reality (AR) play in enhancing the user experience of mobile apps?
• How accurately can AI writing assistants (like Grammarly) express human language?
• Are AI-powered robots responsible for their own actions?
• The impact of technology on the future of law enforcement and criminal justice?
• Has technology made our daily lives more or less secure?
• Has widespread technology led to an increase in crime?
• How will 5G change our lives?
• How does parallel computing improve the performance of computational models?
• In what ways can deep learning algorithms contribute to medical image analysis?
• What role does computer vision play in image recognition and object detection?
• How does edge computing address challenges in real-time data processing?
• Can artificial general intelligence (AGI) be achieved?
• Can AI models be applied ethically to facilitate sensitive decision-making?
• How can we improve human-computer interaction to increase accessibility?
• Is internet access a human right?
• Project: Create a website and code it yourself.

25 EPQ Ideas for Economics

• Should the government implement a universal basic income?
• How does automation impact employment rates and income distribution in developed economies?
• Is capitalism ethical?
• Can economic incentives effectively address environmental issues?
• How has the Russo-Ukrainian war impacted the global trade economy?
• What would be the economic implications of a country adopting cryptocurrency as its official currency?
• Should countries prioritise economic growth or environmental sustainability?
• How does income inequality affect social cohesion?
• Can the circular economy model contribute to long-term economic sustainability?
• What economic factors contribute to the success or failure of international development aid programs?
• To what extent does government intervention influence economic stability during times of crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic?
• How does an ageing population impact a country’s economic prospects?
• Is the concept of a ‘sharing economy’ a viable solution to address times of financial hardship?
• To what extent does access to education influence economic mobility?
• What impact did Brexit have on the UK economy?
• What factors contribute to the success or failure of economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool?
• How do interest rate changes impact consumer spending?
• Should governments prioritise economic growth or economic stability during times of crisis?
• How does income inequality impact access to healthcare and health outcomes?
• Why is paying taxes important?
• To what extent does the gig economy contribute to financial insecurity?
• How often should the minimum wage be reviewed?
• How does the rise of e-commerce impact brick-and-mortar retail and local economies?
• Does hosting a global event, such as the FIFA World Cup, benefit a country’s economy?
• How can the government address the housing crisis?

25 EPQ Ideas for Education

• How does technology impact student learning outcomes in primary education?
• To what extent does the quality of early childhood education influence later academic success?
• How can inclusive education practices benefit students?
• How does the school environment contribute to student engagement and academic performance?
• Is project-based learning an effective approach to enhancing critical thinking skills in secondary school students?
• What role does teacher training play in addressing the challenges of multicultural classrooms?
• To what extent does standardised testing accurately reflect student abilities?
• How does the flipped classroom model impact student achievement?
• Is the education system indoctrinating students?
• Should school uniforms be enforced?
• How can the education system better cater to students with high-functioning autism?
• Does banning mobile phones in school do more harm than good?
• Should parents have a say in what children are taught at school?
• Can schools effectively teach mental health and well-being?
• Do exams unfairly advantage boys, and why?
• How can schools address the digital divide?
• To what extent do extracurricular activities impact the development of secondary school students?
• Can outdoor education programs enhance creativity and problem-solving skills in primary students?
• Can alternative education models, such as homeschooling or unschooling, provide effective learning environments?
• What impact does the student-teacher relationship have on learning outcomes?
• What role does parental involvement play in student success?
• To what extent does parental socio-economic status influence educational opportunities?
• How important are creative subjects, like art and music, in secondary school?
• Should sports be compulsory at secondary school?
• How can teachers account for different learning preferences?

25 EPQ Ideas for Engineering

• How can sustainable engineering practices be implemented in urban development?
• To what extent can artificial intelligence enhance predictive maintenance in industrial engineering?
• How does 3D printing impact traditional manufacturing processes in the aerospace industry?
• Can engineering solutions effectively address the challenges of renewable energy storage?
• How can smart materials revolutionise civil engineering?
• In what ways can engineering design optimise water treatment and purification systems?
• Should the focus of transportation engineering shift toward autonomous modes of transport like self-driving cars?
• Why is there a gender imbalance in engineering?
• What’s the relation between architecture and engineering?
• Did the Titanic sink due to engineering faults?
• Can engineering innovation improve accessibility for people with disabilities?
• Would it be possible to run the UK entirely on energy from wind farms?
• How can engineering solutions address climate change challenges in coastal areas?
• In what ways can engineering principles be applied to enhance disaster resilience in infrastructure?
• What does it mean to be ethical as an engineer?
• How can a better understanding of robotics enhance efficiency and safety in manufacturing?
• How does bioengineering contribute to advancements in prosthetics and medical devices?
• What role does materials engineering play in developing sustainable packaging?
• What does the future of transport look like?
• How can advancements in aerodynamics and materials engineering help to create a more energy-efficient Formula 1 race car?
• What role does geotechnical engineering play in addressing challenges related to soil stability and landslides?
• Is genetic engineering the future of medicine?
• Should children be taught engineering in primary school?
• Project: Build a model plane or boat.
• Project: Design a modern solution for plastic recycling.

25 EPQ Ideas for English Literature 

• How does the portrayal of female characters in classic literature reflect changing societal attitudes toward women?
• To what extent does the use of symbolism contribute to the depth and meaning of Shakespearean tragedies?
• How does post-colonial literature challenge established perspectives on identity and power?
• How has the representation of mental health evolved in literature?
• Is it important to teach media literacy?
• What role does the unreliable narrator play in shaping the reader’s interpretation of a story?
• How does magical realism contribute to the themes and messages of contemporary literature?
• In what ways do graphic novels challenge the traditional notions of literature and storytelling?
• How has the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters evolved in literature, and how does this impact societal perceptions?
• To what extent does the setting contribute to the atmosphere and mood in Gothic literature?
• How does the use of dialect and language contribute to the authenticity of regional literature?
• Can a study of literary adaptions for film and television provide insights into changing audience expectations?
• How does the concept of the ‘Byronic hero’ persist in modern literature and popular culture?
• To what extent does F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of narrative perspective impact the portrayal of the American Dream in ‘The Great Gatsby’?
• How does the narrative structure in Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs Dalloway’ enhance the exploration of time and consciousness?
• Can the analysis of allegory and satire in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ offer insights into political and societal commentary?
• What does the popularity of TikTok’s ‘BookTok’ hashtag tell us about changing literary preferences?
• To what extent does the use of magical realism in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ contribute to the portrayal of Latin American culture?
• The author John Green frequently says that “books belong to their readers”. Is this true?
• How do platforms like Wattpad change what it means to be an author?
• Can fan fiction be considered a form of literature?
• Can works of literature oppress their female characters?
• What books should be taught in schools, and why?
• What makes a novel ‘great’?
• How does the portrayal of gender roles in Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Jane Eyre’ challenge or conform to Victorian societal norms?

25 EPQ Ideas for Ethics

• How can we address the ethical implications of artificial intelligence in policing?
• To what extent does the use of biometric data in surveillance impact individual privacy?
• How does the ethical framework of medical consent adapt to the challenges posed by telemedicine and remote healthcare?
• What are the ethical challenges posed by social media algorithms and their impact on information dissemination?
• Is it ethical to use autonomous drones in warfare and surveillance?
• Are designer babies ethical?
• How can we address the implications of deepfake technology?
• Do businesses have a responsibility to act sustainably?
• Do humans have a right to explore space?
• Should embryos have protected rights?
• Should students be taught ethics in school?
• Who decides what is ethical?
• Is it ethical to test for disabilities like Down’s Syndrome in unborn babies?
• Is cloning ethical?
• Should people undergo an assessment to vote?
• Do consumers have an ethical obligation to consider where material goods come from?
• Can ethical principles guide international cooperation in addressing public health crises?
• What are the ethical implications of using AI during the hiring process?
• Should people be able to sue their parents for bringing them into the world?
• Are morals innate or socially conditioned?
• Do celebrities have a right to privacy?
• Do countries have an obligation to take on refugees?
• Is it ethical to experiment on animals?
• Can the ends ever justify the means?
• Can ethics improve the world?

25 EPQ Ideas for Geography

• How does climate change influence migration patterns?
• How can GIS technology address urban sprawl and land-use planning?
• Can sustainable agriculture mitigate the impact of food insecurity?
• How did the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami affect tourism in Thailand?
• How does the study of cultural landscapes inform heritage conservation?
• To what extent can sustainable tourism protect biodiversity in fragile ecosystems?
• How does water scarcity contribute to geopolitical tensions?
• Can better urban planning prevent the development of slums?
• Does the earth belong more to humans or animals?
• Does the placement of global supply routes inherently cause economic inequality?
• Is tourism good or bad?
• Should international borders exist?
• Can the study of coastal geography inform effective strategies for managing and adapting to sea-level rise?
• How does climate change influence patterns of disease migration?
• What are the environmental and social impacts of fracking?
• How do historical factors shape migration patterns and refugee flows?
• Can the study of plate tectonics help us predict earthquakes?
• What role does geopolitics play in shaping global resource distribution?
• What impact does infrastructure development have on regional economic disparities?
• What are the challenges presented by aging populations?
• Does the concept of sustainable development apply to resource extraction industries?
• Will Antarctica ever be habitable?
• Can a developing country ever become a developed nation?
• How does agriculture affect soil health?
• Should active volcanoes be tourist spots?

25 EPQ Ideas for History

• How did the Industrial Revolution transform social structures in 19th-century Britain?
• How did colonialism shape the cultural, economic, and political development of Tanzania during and after independence?
• Can the study of historical pandemics offer insights for future action?
• What role did propaganda play in influencing German public opinion during World War II?
• To what extent did the women’s suffrage movement contribute to advancements in gender equality?
• How did the Age of Enlightenment influence the development of political thought and institutions in Europe?
• How did the Reformation impact religious practices in 16th-century England?
• How did the Silk Road facilitate cultural exchange and economic development between the East and West?
• Who was Jack the Ripper?
• Are school history textbooks biased?
• How has fashion changed in the UK since the Middle Ages?
• Are works of fiction and art valid historical sources?
• How did the Scientific Revolution challenge traditional beliefs?
• Can the study of historical urbanisation patterns inform contemporary urban planning?
• What singular invention changed the course of history?
• Is history important for the future?
• How did the Cold War impact political ideologies and power dynamics?
• What can mainstream media tell us about historical political conflicts?
• To what extent did the Spanish Inquisition contribute to religious intolerance in Europe?
• How did the intellectual movements of the 1920s shape the character of the Roaring Twenties?
• How did the Opium Wars influence the socio-economic and political trajectory of 19th-century China?
• Did historical maritime exploration directly contribute to the establishment of modern global trade networks?
• Can the study of historical diplomacy offer insights into contemporary geopolitical challenges?
• How did the Green Revolution impact global agriculture and food production in the mid-20th century?

25 EPQ Ideas for Languages

• How did modern English come to be?
• What can cultural differences in ‘baby talk’ tell us about language acquisition?
• Can languages be considered alive?
• Is it important to preserve endangered languages?
• Can language influence our perceptions of time and space?
• How does bilingualism impact cognitive function?
• What role does translation play in understanding foreign literature?
• Is Scots a language or a dialect?
• How does technology aid in language learning?
• Should English have a language academy like The French Academy?
• Why did the Esperanto language policy fail?
• Is the Latin alphabet a good writing system?
• Can studying linguistic variation contribute to more effective education approaches?
• Is body language universal?
• Should learning sign language be mandatory?
• Is brail a language?
• Should we develop a universal lingua franca?
• How does the evolution of slang reflect societal changes and trends?
• How do language ideologies shape language policies?
• Are multilingual people more successful?
• Can language use reflect your identity?
• Is there a ‘correct’ way to speak a language?
• Will AI change the way we translate languages?
• How far back can we trace languages?
• Why is English so widespread?

25 EPQ Ideas for Law

• To what extent do privacy laws adequately protect individuals in the digital age?
• Who is responsible for implementing and upholding laws in the Metaverse?
• How has international law addressed the challenges of cyber warfare?
• How does the concept of corporate personhood impact legal liability in business?
• Can legal frameworks effectively address challenges in AI, such as algorithmic bias?
• How effective is international humanitarian law in mitigating humanitarian crises?
• Is there a legal responsibility to regulate emerging technologies?
• How do intellectual property laws balance the rights of creators in the digital era?
• How does the legal concept of self-defense apply to cyber-attacks?
• What impact do extradition laws have on transnational crime and terrorism?
• Does the legal system protect individuals’ rights in the context of surveillance technologies and mass data collection?
• How has the legal definition of marriage evolved and how does this impact society?
• How can environmental laws address the challenges of biodiversity loss?
• Should gene editing be legal?
• How do antitrust laws contribute to maintaining competition and preventing monopolies in the digital age?
• In what ways do laws regarding data protection and privacy impact the development of smart cities?
• Do animals deserve legal rights?
• How can legal frameworks address the challenges of regulating self-driving vehicles?
• How can the law address racial and ethnic discrimination in the criminal justice system?
• Are juries inevitably flawed?
• How does the law help society?
• How can freedom of speech laws adapt to the challenges presented by social media?
• What needs to be considered when creating a new law?
• Who should the law protect?
• How do laws that address gender-based violence contribute to social attitudes about gender inequality?

25 EPQ Ideas for Maths

• How can mathematical models predict climate change?
• To what extent can mathematical models enhance cybersecurity measures?
• How does the application of mathematical techniques improve supply chain efficiency? 
• Can mathematical modeling provide insights into the spread and containment of infectious diseases like COVID-19?
• Should students be forced to take maths at A-Level?
• How do mathematical concepts influence the development of AI?
• How can mathematical modelling inform traffic management?
• How can game theory shape strategic decision-making in business?
• Can number theory principles be applied to enhance the security of cryptographic systems?
• What has been the most impactful mathematical discovery to date?
• How does the study of chaos theory inform our understanding of complex systems in nature?
• How useful is generative AI for solving mathematical problems?
• Should maths education focus more on applied mathematics?
• Has maths always existed?
• Can mathematical analysis contribute to the optimisation of renewable energy systems?
• How does graph theory contribute to the optimisation of network design and communications systems?
• Can mathematical principles guide fair voting systems in democratic processes?
• What impact does mathematical symmetry have on artistic disciplines?
• What role does probability theory play in risk management?
• Is the concept of infinity useful?
• What was the role of maths in the code-breaking at Bletchley Park?
• How does maths inform the systems behind cryptocurrencies?
• To what extent can mathematical analysis contribute to predicting and managing financial market fluctuations?
• Can mathematical algorithms enhance personalised learning experiences?
• Should maths be optional in secondary school?

25 EPQ Ideas for Medicine

• Is personalised medicine the way forward?
• To what extent can telemedicine improve healthcare accessibility?
• Can machine learning and AI be effectively used in medical diagnostics?
• What role do social factors play in health disparities?
• How can robotics benefit minimally invasive surgical procedures?
• How can medical professionals balance patient autonomy with ethical considerations in end-of-life care?
• Is there a place for alternative medicine in Western healthcare?
• What impact do lifestyle factors have on longevity?
• Is gene therapy a viable option for managing genetic diseases?
• Were the public health interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic sufficient?
• Is nanomedicine the future of targeted drug delivery?
• Can medical interventions address the rising global prevalence of non-communicable diseases like diabetes?
• How does medical anthropology contribute to the understanding of healthcare?
• Could 3D printing technology provide the solution for personalised medical implants and prosthetics?
• Why are girls underdiagnosed when it comes to autism?
• Do government health incentives like putting calories on menus affect public health outcomes?
• Is plastic surgery a solution to body dysmorphic disorder?
• What is the effect of race and ethnicity on health outcomes during hospital treatment>
• What are the arguments for legalising medical cannabis?
• Did the Ancient Egyptians truly understand illness and medicine?
• Are we treating mental health disorders correctly?
• How can advancements in neurotechnology contribute to the treatment of brain injuries?
• Is preventative healthcare more important than treatment?
• Should healthcare be public?
• Should organ donation be mandatory?

25 EPQ Ideas for Physics

• How does quantum entanglement challenge our understanding of particle physics?
• Can string theory provide a unified explanation for the fundamental forces in the universe?
• Is the study of the universe important?
• Can advancements in quantum computing revolutionise information processing?
• Is time linear?
• Is nuclear power a viable future resource?
• Can the study of gravitational waves contribute to our understanding of black hole mergers?
• Can physics prove (or disprove) the existence of God?
• Could the moon be a tourist destination?
• How far can humans realistically travel in space?
• Is physics a male-dominated field and why?
• What role does physics play in daily life?
• Are any laws of physics breakable?
• Do parallel universes exist?
• What implications do the laws of physics have on free will?
• How can concepts in physics, like light and colour, influence art?
• How does physics inform our understanding of the origins of the universe?
• What was the role of Mileva Meric, Albert Einstein’s wife, in his findings?
• Should we eliminate nuclear weapons?
• What is the most important discovery in physics?
• How can physics be used to prevent climate change?
• What is the role of physics in medicine?
• What happens when the Sun dies?
• Will humans ever live on another planet?
• Project: Design and build a robot.

25 EPQ Ideas for Politics

• How does the voting system affect representation in democratic elections?
• To what extent do political debates influence public opinion?
• How do local policies impact the daily lives of citizens?
• Can political cartoons effectively convey complex political issues?
• What role does diplomacy play in resolving international conflict?
• How do modern political campaigns leverage social media?
• How can citizens actively participate in local government decision-making?
• What impact does the media’s portrayal of political leaders have on public perception?
• Should politics prioritise the needs of marginalised communities?
• How does the electoral college system influence presidential elections in the United States?
• How can governments increase youth participation in politics?
• Should politics be mandatory in schools?
• Should businesses be allowed to lobby governments?
• Should freedom of speech be protected at all costs?
• Do we need new political systems to govern international cyber-space (e.g. the Metaverse)?
• Should National Service be mandatory?
• Is the government’s responsibility to address climate change?
• Should there always be a separation of church and state?
• What were the main factors that led to Brexit?
• Does the government have a right to ban protests?
• How can the government reduce voter apathy?
• Is the national government more important than councils?
• Should Scotland be allowed a second referendum?
• Is there a fair representation of working-class people in the government?
• Should there be a global system of governance?

25 EPQ Ideas for Psychology

• How does the nature vs. nurture debate help us understand human behaviour?
• How do cultural factors influence mental health?
• Can cognitive psychology help us understand memory disorders?
• What makes humans happy?
• Can psychological research contribute to the prevention of substance abuse and addiction?
• What impact does sleep have on cognitive function?
• How does evolutionary psychology explain human mating behaviours and relationship dynamics?
• Can psychology explain the motivations for bullying and cyberbullying?
• What were the effects of isolation during COVID-19 lockdowns?
• Do gender-neutral toys give children less restrictive views of gender?
• Can education in psychology prevent bullying in schools?
• Does the media portrayal of mental health issues make it hard for teenagers to seek help?
• Do ethical constraints on research hinder our understanding of psychology?
• Can cannabis use cause schizophrenia?
• Is psychology a science?
• What effect does bipolar disorder have on the family of the patient?
• Do our genes or our experiences shape who we are?
• Do different cultures see mental health in different ways?
• Can psychology help us break bad habits?
• Why does the placebo effect happen?
• Is future criminal behaviour always evident in childhood?
• Why do people fall in love?
• How does online behaviour affect mental well-being?
• Can talking therapy help with anxiety?
• Is a full state of focus feasible for the human brain?

25 EPQ Ideas for Religious Studies

• Are science and religion the same?
• What role do religious rituals have in fostering a sense of community?
• Do Muslims and Christians share the same God?
• How do religious beliefs influence moral decision-making?
• Can religious texts explain cultural values?
• Is there an afterlife?
• What impact do religious teachings have on attitudes toward the environment?
• Is religious teaching the best way to create peace?
• In what ways do art and architecture reflect religious beliefs?
• How do religious practices contribute to individual well-being?
• How does the concept of forgiveness vary across different religions?
• How do religious leaders contribute to community development?
• Why is Christianity declining in the United Kingdom?
• What role does storytelling play in religious traditions?
• Why do some religions spread while others remain small?
• Why are certain animals considered sacred?
• How do holidays and festivals strengthen religious identity?
• Can the concept of karma influence ethical behaviour?
• What impact does religious pluralism have on society?
• How does Catholicism address the concept of suffering?
• What’s the difference between a cult and a religion?
• Does religion have a place in politics?
• How did the history of the church shape today’s society?
• Why are there different branches in major religions?
• Can studying religious history prevent future conflicts?

25 EPQ Ideas for Sociology

• Is the nuclear family structure important?
• How does education enforce or challenge social inequality?
• Does social media perpetuate negative perceptions of body image?
• Would studying sociology prevent bullying in schools?
• Why does racism exist?
• Is social media eroding our social skills?
• Does class really have an impact on access to opportunities?
• How do gender roles influence career choices?
• Can studying subcultures provide insights into youth identity?
• How does migration impact cultural diversity?
• Why do certain communities experience higher crime rates?
• How does socialisation contribute to individual identity?
• Can sociology help us understand voting patterns?
• Can sociology create positive social change?
• Does globalisation have a positive or negative impact on local cultures?
• How do religious beliefs influence social attitudes?
• Why are certain occupations gender-dominated?
• Can sociology inform effective public health campaigns?
• What is the next wave of feminism?
• Why do certain age groups experience social isolation?
• Who is to blame for poverty?
• What effect could polyamorous families have on children?
• How does technology impact social interactions among different generations?
• Has sociology neglected the study of emotions?
• How do social expectations influence individual choices about marriage and family?

25 EPQ Ideas for Sport

• What role does teamwork play in the success of a sports team?
• How important are grassroots sports for social inclusion and community engagement?
• How do sports influence cultural identity and national pride?
• Why are some sports more popular in specific countries?
• Why do people engage in recreational sports?
• Why has women’s football been so slow to develop in the UK compared to men’s football?
• Do popular sports enforce or challenge gender stereotypes?
• Should trans athletes be allowed to compete in standard leagues?
• What can sports rivalries tell us about cultural tensions?
• Can football ultras be considered a subculture movement?
• What are the effects of an international event like the Olympics on the host country?
• How does the accessibility of sports facilities impact participation rates?
• Should sports be mandatory in secondary schools?
• Can sports promote cultural exchange between nations?
• Is Financial Fair Play (FFP) an effective tool for enforcing fairness among football clubs?
• Do sports contribute to the development of social skills in children?
• Why do people engage in sports fandom?
• Why do female footballers experience higher rates of ACL injury than their male counterparts?
• What can sports history tell us about society at the time?
• Should sports clubs make more effort to be diverse and inclusive?
• Who decides what is a sport?
• Do high-level athletes have a responsibility to be role models?
• Should professional athletes be paid more than medical professionals?
• How can we fix the pay gap in sports?
• What is the impact of genetics on sporting success?

Which EPQ Topic Should You Choose?

The ideas above are just a taster for popular EPQ subjects to inspire you. Remember, you can choose any topic you like. Since you’ll be spending six months researching and writing an essay about your chosen topic, it needs to be something you’re interested in.

Hopefully, these EPQ ideas have helped you figure out how to form an interesting question. By putting your own personal spin on an interesting idea, you can start down your pathway to getting a great EPQ grade.

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Navigating through A-Levels, students often find themselves at crossroads where curiosity nudges them beyond the conventional curriculum. The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) stands out as a beacon for those inquisitive minds, offering a structured yet flexible platform to explore, inquire, and articulate their findings on a subject they are genuinely passionate about. Situated typically in the final year of A-Levels, the EPQ is not merely an additional qualification but a window into the rigour and specialization of university-level research. A notable hallmark of the EPQ is the autonomy it bestows upon students in determining their project’s trajectory. The ability to cherry-pick a topic, sculpt a focused research question, and orchestrate an in-depth exploration into that chosen subject, makes the EPQ an unparalleled academic venture during the school years. It signifies an initial foray into independent research, providing students with the reins to direct their inquiries and analyses in a direction that resonates with their interests and aspirations. However, with such unparalleled freedom comes a slew of decisions and potential dilemmas. Crafting an appropriate and engaging title, ensuring the chosen topic is neither too vast nor too narrow, and guaranteeing relevance and depth are just the tip of the EPQ iceberg. The journey from conceptualization to completion is one that demands meticulous planning, consistent effort, and periodic reflection – ensuring the final project is not just comprehensive but also a coherent representation of one’s academic journey. This article aims to demystify the myriad aspects of crafting a successful EPQ, providing insights into generating ideas, strategizing research, managing timelines, and culminating your findings into a compelling project. Whether you're grappling with the inception of an idea or seeking to refine your research strategy, let’s unfold the map that navigates through the intricate pathways of the EPQ and explore how to cement your project with distinction in 2023!

How to Choose A Good EPQ Idea

Navigating through the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) with a goal to achieve an A* necessitates a keen understanding and strategic approach towards the four assessment objectives - AO1 (Manage), AO2 (Use Resources), AO3 (Develop and Realise), and AO4 (Review). Let's delve into each of these objectives and explore strategies to excel in them:

AO1: Manage

A01 pivots around a student’s competence to precisely delineate, plan, and steer a project towards achieving a clearly defined objective.

Tips on requirement A01

Detailed planning.

Constructing a robust project plan involves delineating all aspects including time management, setting achievable milestones, and clearly defining objectives. Additionally, consider preparing a Gantt chart to visually track your progress and adherence to timelines. This visual tool can help identify any lags or accelerations in the project timeline, enabling better control and management.

Regular Reviews

Beyond scheduling them, use reviews as a tool to scrupulously assess the project’s alignment with your plan. It's pivotal to not just check progress but also the quality and relevance of your output at each stage. Use these review points to validate the direction of your research and development, ensuring you remain aligned with your original objectives while allowing room for necessary pivots.

Risk Management

Develop a risk matrix to identify, assess, and manage potential risks. This involves anticipating possible challenges, ranging from timeline delays to resource unavailability, and designing preemptive strategies and alternative paths to ensure your project doesn’t derail when faced with obstacles.

AO2: Use Resources

AO2 evaluates the student’s proficiency in identifying, selecting, and adeptly utilizing varied resources to underpin and guide the project.

Tips on requirement A02

Diverse research.

Embrace a multifaceted approach to your research, ensuring it spans various types of resources including academic articles, books, online platforms, and potentially, primary research through surveys or interviews. This depth and breadth in resources provide a comprehensive view of your chosen topic, offering varied perspectives and rich data.

Critical Evaluation

Look beyond the apparent by assessing the credibility and reliability of your sources. Adopt the CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) Test in evaluating your resources, ensuring they stand up to academic scrutiny and offer value to your project.

Effective Utilization

Merely gathering resources is not enough; demonstrating how each piece of information has been employed to inform, validate, or challenge your project's development is crucial. Ensure clear citation and a demonstrable link between the sourced information and its application within your project.

AO3: Develop and Realise

AO3 examines the student’s ability to coherently develop and realise their project, illustrating a tangible application of the amassed knowledge and resources.

Tips on requirement A03

Clear developmental path.

Ensure that each step in your project’s development is clearly articulated and justified. The path from research to realization should be logical and clearly evidenced in your documentation, showing a clear trajectory from initial concept through to final realization.

Practical Application

Be mindful to showcase the tangible application of your research findings within your project. This may involve creating models, developing programs, or other practical applications that clearly correlate with your theoretical findings.

Problem Solving

Highlight and reflect on any challenges encountered during the development phase, offering insight into your problem-solving process and illustrating adaptability and resilience in navigating through issues.

AO4: Review

AO4 focuses on the student’s ability to critically review and evaluate the entire project, from inception through to completion.

Tips on requirement A04

Reflective practice.

Engage in reflective practice throughout your project, not just at its conclusion. Documenting ongoing reflections allows for a richer and more nuanced evaluation, demonstrating growth and learning throughout the project's lifespan.

Constructive Criticism

Employ a balanced approach in critiquing your project. Acknowledge areas of strength while also addressing areas of improvement, and more importantly, discussing how these learnings may inform future projects or studies.

Relate to Objectives

Ensure your review consistently links back to your initial objectives. Discuss whether these were met and if not, explore why, providing a critical analysis of any divergences and their impact on the project.

Securing A* in your EPQ

Attaining an A* in your EPQ is about melding academic robustness with a reflective and insightful journey, ensuring each assessment objective is met with excellence and a demonstrable depth of understanding and application.

Depth and Complexity

Choose a topic that allows for deep exploration and has sufficient dimensions to explore various perspectives and theories. Ensure your project delves beyond surface-level understanding, demonstrating a keen intellectual curiosity and a thorough comprehension of the topic's intricacies. This involves not just presenting information, but interpreting, analysing, and synthesizing knowledge to present a well-rounded, nuanced perspective.

Exceptional Management

Efficient management goes beyond setting and adhering to a timeline. It's about proactively identifying potential hurdles and establishing strategies to navigate through them. Use project management tools, such as Gantt charts or task management software, to track progress, and don’t be afraid to adjust your plan in response to unexpected challenges. Showing adaptability while maintaining control and direction of the project reflects exceptional management.

Robust Research

A solid research foundation not only constitutes a wide array of sources but also an ability to discern and critique the reliability and relevance of each. Dive into various forms of resources including academic journals, books, and possibly primary research, ensuring each piece is critically evaluated for its merit and relevance. Moreover, establish clear links between your research and the ensuing analysis, ensuring it forms a cohesive and logical base for your project’s conclusions and findings.

Effective Realization

Your project's development and realization should illustrate a clear trajectory from research to application. Employ your findings in a practical context, ensuring that your final output, whether it be a dissertation, artefact, or other, directly correlates with and is supported by your research. Be mindful to clearly document this process, offering transparency in how theoretical knowledge was applied within the practical elements of your project.

Comprehensive Review

A thorough review isn’t merely a reflection but an evaluation, examining both your process and the final output. Critically assess your methodologies, decision-making processes, and the final outcome in relation to your initial objectives. Be honest in discussing what went well and what didn’t, and importantly, delve into the 'why', offering insights into your learning journey and demonstrating personal and academic growth.

Quality of Presentation

Whether your final presentation takes the form of a written report, a physical artefact, or a performance, ensuring it is polished and professional is paramount. This involves meticulous proofreading, ensuring clarity and coherence in communication, and potentially, engaging visuals or supplementary materials to enhance the delivery of your findings. Ensure that your presentation not only communicates your findings but also encapsulates the depth and breadth of your journey, demonstrating the knowledge and skills accrued throughout your EPQ.

Your journey to an A* in your EPQ is holistic, encompassing every stage from initial ideation to final presentation. Through ensuring each phase is approached with critical thought, reflective practice, and a commitment to academic rigour, you sculpt a project that is not just an academic task but a rich, insightful journey into independent research and project management.

EPQ Ideas Physics

• Exploring the implications of quantum mechanics on computing and information technology.
• Investigating the role of dark matter in the expansion of the universe.
• How do principles of fluid dynamics apply to weather pattern predictions?
• Exploring the impacts of nuclear physics discoveries on medical technologies.
• Analyzing the physical principles behind renewable energy technologies.
• Understanding the role of physics in developing sustainable transportation technologies.
• Exploring cosmic rays and their impact on technology and the Earth's atmosphere.
• Investigating the applications and challenges of nuclear fusion as an energy source.
• Analyzing the principles and challenges of photonics in modern-day communication.
• Understanding gravitational waves and their significance in exploring the universe.
• Exploring the physical principles behind autonomous vehicles and their future development.
• Investigating the role of electromagnetism in developing electronic technologies.
• Exploring the applications of thermodynamics in developing efficient engines.
• Understanding the physics behind superconductivity and its applications in technology.
• Analyzing the role of optics and light in developing modern microscopy.
• Investigating the effects of black holes on surrounding celestial bodies.
• Exploring the physics behind magnetic levitation and its applications.
• Understanding the physical principles that enable satellite communication.
• Exploring the implications of string theory on our understanding of the universe.
• Analyzing the role of particle physics in understanding cosmic events.
• Understanding the physical principles behind noise-cancelling technology.
• Exploring the potential of harnessing solar wind as a power source.
• Investigating the principles of acoustic physics behind architectural designs.
• Examining the significance and physics of the aurora borealis.
• Investigating the impact of space debris on satellites and space exploration.
• Exploring the feasibility and physics behind colonizing Mars.
• Understanding the quantum physics behind electron tunneling in semiconductors.
• Investigating the implications of Maxwell's equations on electrical engineering.
• Understanding the physics behind GPS technology and potential improvements.
• Exploring the role of physics in sports science to enhance performance.
• Investigating the principles of nanotechnology in medical applications.
• Exploring the applications and challenges of optical fibers in communication.
• Investigating the application of plasma physics in various industries.
• Exploring the physics behind different types of propulsion systems in space travel.
• Investigating the feasibility of creating a space elevator using existing technology.
• Understanding the implications of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle on quantum computing.
• Exploring the potential applications of metamaterials in technology and medicine.
• Investigating the impact and management of radiation in space travel.
• Analyzing the effects of electric fields on biological systems.
• Understanding and exploring the principles behind holographic technologies.
• Investigating the physics and challenges of interstellar travel.
• Exploring the role of entropy in the perceived arrow of time.
• Investigating the potential and limitations of wind energy generation.
• Exploring the implications of special relativity on time travel.
• Understanding the physics behind bioluminescence in deep-sea organisms.
• Investigating the application of physics principles in developing artificial intelligence.
• Exploring the potential of piezoelectric materials in energy harvesting.
• Understanding the physics behind seismic activities and predicting natural disasters.
• Investigating the role of physics in forensic science and criminal investigations.
• Is switching to clean energy feasible for developing countries?

EPQ Ideas Biology

• Investigating the role of CRISPR technology in eliminating genetic disorders.
• Exploring the impacts of climate change on marine biodiversity.
• Analyzing the biochemical pathways involved in autoimmune disease development.
• Understanding the molecular basis of Alzheimer's disease progression.
• Investigating synthetic biology’s potential in creating artificial life.
• Exploring the ecological impacts of invasive species on native ecosystems.
• Studying the genetics behind resistance to antibacterial treatments.
• Understanding the biochemistry of venom from different snake species.
• Examining the impacts of microplastics on aquatic life forms.
• Investigating the potential of stem cell therapy in regenerative medicine.
• Studying the biotechnological applications of genetically modified organisms.
• Exploring the biology of ageing and its genetic and environmental influences.
• Investigating the effects of different diets on metabolic health.
• Analyzing the role of epigenetics in gene expression and disease.
• Exploring the impacts of urbanization on wildlife habitats and behaviors.
• Understanding the cellular processes involved in cancer metastasis.
• Examining the ecological and health impacts of pesticide use.
• Investigating the role of gut microbiome in human health.
• Exploring conservation strategies for endangered species and their effectiveness.
• Studying the role of molecular biology in vaccine development.
• Investigating the biological implications of polyploidy in plants.
• Analyzing the role of circadian rhythms in metabolic processes.
• Understanding the biological basis of addiction and withdrawal symptoms.
• Exploring the mechanisms of plant defense against pest infestations.
• Investigating the potential medical applications of venom and toxins.
• Examining the impacts of pollutants on human reproductive health.
• Investigating the biology and impact of coral bleaching events.
• Studying the evolutionary adaptations of organisms in extreme environments.
• Exploring the biological mechanisms of memory formation and retention.
• Investigating potential treatments and understanding of neurodegenerative diseases.
• Analyzing the impact of genetic mutations on organismal development.
• Studying the biology and containment of viral outbreaks.
• Exploring the biological and ethical implications of cloning technologies.
• Investigating the role of hormones in behavioral changes.
• Examining the ecological impacts of climate change on forest ecosystems.
• Understanding the process of metamorphosis at a molecular level.
• Investigating the biology behind different types of allergies.
• Exploring the impact of lifestyle factors on cardiovascular health.
• Studying the genetic and biological aspects of mood disorders.
• Examining the role of immunology in transplantation science.
• Investigating the biological principles of biodegradable materials.
• Exploring the evolutionary biology of symbiotic relationships.
• Investigating the impact of emerging diseases on ecosystems.
• Exploring the role of biology in the development of biometrics.
• Investigating factors affecting antimicrobial resistance development and spread.
• Studying the mechanisms of action of different toxins on cells.
• Understanding the biology of sleep and its impact on health.
• Investigating the biological pathways involved in pain perception.
• Investigating the effects of environmental toxins on reproductive health.
• Examining the relationship between gut microbiota and mental health disorders.

EPQ Ideas Maths

• Exploring the application of calculus in real-world problems.
• Investigating the role of statistics in medical research.
• How does the Fibonacci Sequence appear in nature?
• Examining the application of probability theory in gambling and betting.
• Exploring the historical development and impacts of algebra.
• Investigating the role of mathematics in finance and investment.
• Why is number theory important in modern-day cryptography?
• Understanding and exploring the concept and applications of matrices.
• How can mathematical models predict and explain traffic flow?
• Investigating the relationship between geometry and art.
• What are the applications of graph theory in social networks?
• Exploring mathematical concepts behind machine learning algorithms.
• How is differential geometry used in general relativity?
• Examining the application of mathematics in computer graphics and animations.
• Exploring the applications of partial differential equations in physics.
• Investigating the mathematics behind various voting systems.
• Exploring the concept and applications of game theory.
• How can fractal geometry be used to model natural phenomena?
• Examining the role of symmetry in mathematical problem solving.
• Understanding the real-world applications of mathematical optimization.
• Exploring the mathematical principles behind network security.
• Investigating the impact of mathematical discoveries on technological advancements.
• How do prime numbers influence data security and encryption?
• Examining the practical applications of mathematical logic.
• Exploring the contributions of ancient mathematicians to modern mathematics.
• Understanding mathematical principles behind error correction in data transmission.
• How can mathematical models contribute to understanding and predicting epidemics?
• Exploring the mathematics behind the structure of crystals.
• Investigating the mathematics involved in string theory.
• How do mathematical models assist in weather forecasting?
• Exploring the mathematics of chaos theory and its applications.
• Understanding the mathematical principles underlying various sports strategies.
• How can mathematics explain patterns in the distribution of prime numbers?
• Exploring the role of mathematics in predicting economic trends.
• Investigating the application of group theory in solving Rubik’s cube.
• How does linear algebra apply to computer algorithms?
• Exploring the development and applications of mathematical symbols.
• Investigating the importance of zero in mathematical calculations and theories.
• How is mathematics applied in space exploration and astrophysics?
• Exploring the concepts and applications of non-Euclidean geometry.
• Understanding the role of mathematics in signal processing.
• How are mathematical algorithms used in image recognition?
• Exploring the application of complex numbers in electrical engineering.
• Investigating mathematical models used in population genetics.
• How are mathematical models used in earthquake prediction?
• Exploring the application of set theory in databases.
• Investigating the role of mathematical modeling in epidemiology.
• How is mathematical analysis applied in economic theories?
• Investigating the mathematical principles behind the design and operation of electric circuits
• The use of mathematical modelling in analysing climate change and its impact on the environment.

EPQ Ideas Chemistry

• Exploring the chemistry behind different types of batteries and their efficiencies.
• Investigating the role of catalysts in industrial chemical processes.
• How do chemical reactions fuel cellular processes in living organisms?
• Examining the impact of chemical pollutants on freshwater ecosystems.
• Exploring the development and impact of antibiotics in medicine.
• Understanding the chemistry behind various substance addiction mechanisms.
• What role does chemistry play in developing sustainable fuels?
• Investigating the chemical mechanisms behind various cleaning agents.
• Exploring the synthetic pathways for creating biodegradable plastics.
• How does chemistry contribute to modern forensic science?
• Understanding the role of chemical reactions in baking and cooking.
• Examining the chemistry behind different types of corrosion and prevention methods.
• How do enzymes catalyse biochemical reactions in living organisms?
• Exploring the chemistry of different dyes and pigments in textiles.
• Investigating the chemical principles of different fermentation processes.
• What is the chemistry behind various anti-aging skincare products?
• Understanding the chemical compositions of different types of gemstones.
• Exploring the impact of different chemicals on plant growth and development.
• How does chemical equilibrium relate to real-world applications?
• Investigating the role of chemistry in producing sustainable building materials.
• Understanding the chemistry behind different flavors and fragrances.
• How can chemistry contribute to developing alternative energy sources?
• Exploring the utilization of chemistry in crime scene analysis.
• Investigating the chemical properties and uses of various oils.
• Understanding the role of chemistry in developing photographic materials.
• How are chemical reactions utilized in creating special effects in movies?
• Investigating the chemical mechanisms behind different rust removal methods.
• Exploring chemical solutions to neutralizing and managing industrial waste.
• How does chemistry help in developing artificial flavors and colors?
• Investigating the chemistry behind non-stick surfaces in cookware.
• How does chemistry contribute to the development of sports equipment?
• Investigating the chemistry behind various pain relief medications.
• Exploring the use of chemistry in developing preservation methods.
• How does the chemistry of chocolate affect its flavor and texture?
• Investigating the chemical basis of different cleaning and laundry products.
• How does chemistry enhance the durability and stability of materials?
• Exploring the role of chemistry in producing synthetic fibers.
• Investigating the chemical aspects of water treatment processes.
• How does chemistry play a role in solving environmental issues?
• Understanding the chemistry behind different forms of anesthesia.
• How does chemistry help in the conservation of art and artifacts?
• Exploring the chemical components involved in allergic reactions.
• Investigating the role of chemistry in developing sunscreens and UV blockers.
• How does chemistry contribute to advancements in agricultural practices?
• Exploring the chemistry behind various sweeteners and their health impacts.
• How does chemistry help in developing adhesives and glues?
• Understanding the chemical structure and utility of different polymers.
• Investigating chemical methods of enhancing food shelf life.
• How is chemistry utilized in developing fire-retardant materials?
• Exploring the chemistry behind the sensation of spicy foods.

EPQ Ideas History

• Exploring the impact of the industrial revolution on urbanization.
• Investigating the influence of the Roman Empire on modern government structures.
• How did the Cold War shape international relations in the 20th century?
• Examining the role of women during the Second World War.
• Understanding the socio-economic impacts of the transatlantic slave trade.
• How did the Black Death influence socio-economic structures in Europe?
• Exploring the causes and consequences of the French Revolution.
• The impact of the Great Depression on global economies and policies.
• Investigating the influence of the Viking Age on European history.
• How did the invention of the printing press alter societal structures?
• Examining the development and impact of the ancient Silk Road.
• Exploring the impact of the Spanish Inquisition on religious freedom.
• How did the fall of the Berlin Wall impact Germany?
• Investigating the impacts of British colonialism in India.
• The role of the United Nations in conflict resolution.
• How did the Hundred Years' War influence European power structures?
• Exploring the historical significance of the Ottoman Empire.
• How did the suffragette movement impact women’s rights globally?
• Investigating the impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis on US-Cuban relations.
• The rise and fall of ancient Egyptian civilization.
• How did the apartheid system shape South African society?
• Exploring the history and global impacts of the Olympic Games.
• Investigating the role of espionage during the Cold War.
• How did the American Civil War shape the United States?
• Exploring the historical development and impact of the European Union.
• Investigating the origins and outcomes of the Crusades.
• How did the Meiji Restoration impact Japanese society and industry?
• Examining the role of Christianity in medieval Europe.
• How did the Renaissance influence artistic and scientific advancements?
• Investigating the causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution.
• How did imperialism shape African nations and their post-colonial futures?
• Exploring the history and development of maritime explorations.
• How did the Mongol Empire facilitate cultural and economic exchanges?
• Investigating the history and impacts of the global spice trade.
• How did the Treaty of Versailles impact post-WWI Europe?
• Examining the impact of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
• Exploring the development and historical significance of the Great Wall of China.
• How did the Bubonic Plague alter medieval European societies?
• Exploring the roots and global influence of the Islamic Golden Age.
• How did the Manhattan Project influence the outcome of WWII?
• Investigating the impacts of the Reformation on European societies.
• How did the Korean War shape the geopolitics of East Asia?
• Exploring the history and social significance of the Samurai in Japan.
• How did European colonialism shape the Americas?
• Investigating the historical development and impact of the English language.
• How did the Holocaust shape post-WWII international relations?
• Examining the role and significance of the League of Nations.
• How did the ancient Silk Road facilitate global trade and culture?
• Investigating the origins, development, and impact of the Internet.
• How did the Pax Romana influence development within the Roman Empire?

EPQ Ideas Geography

• Exploring the impact of climate change on polar bear populations.
• How do urban areas influence local weather and climate conditions?
• Investigating the geographical impact of rising sea levels on island nations.
• Analyzing the socio-economic impacts of desertification in sub-Saharan Africa.
• How does migration influence cultural diversity in urban centers?
• Exploring the geographical disparities in access to clean water globally.
• Investigating the impact of deforestation on biodiversity in the Amazon.
• How do volcanic eruptions impact local and global climates?
• Assessing the geographical implications of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.
• Exploring the impact of air pollution on urban populations.
• How does geology influence the distribution of natural resources worldwide?
• Assessing the geographical implications of national borders in conflict zones.
• Investigating the impact of tourism on local economies and environments.
• How do mountain ranges influence regional weather patterns?
• Examining the impact of natural disasters on vulnerable populations.
• Exploring the relationship between poverty and geographical location in urban settings.
• How does geographical location influence agricultural practices and food security?
• Investigating urbanization trends and their impact on biodiversity.
• How do geopolitical factors influence resource exploitation in the Arctic?
• Assessing the geographical impact of the melting Greenland ice sheet.
• How has the geography of the Silk Road shaped global trade?
• Exploring geographical factors influencing the spread of infectious diseases.
• How does geography influence the development of cultural identities?
• Investigating the geographical implications of the construction of HS2 in the UK.
• How does urban sprawl influence local ecosystems?
• Assessing the geographical impact of plastic pollution in ocean currents.
• How does the El Niño phenomenon impact global weather patterns?
• Exploring the geographical and cultural impacts of colonialism in Africa.
• How does geography influence the location and impact of earthquakes?
• Assessing the implications of melting glaciers on global sea levels.
• How does the physical geography of a region influence its economy?
• Investigating the impact of coral reef bleaching on marine biodiversity.
• Exploring geographical factors influencing the location of renewable energy projects.
• How has the geography of ancient trade routes shaped modern civilizations?
• Investigating the impact of climate change on traditional nomadic lifestyles.
• How does geography influence political relationships between neighboring countries?
• Investigating the geographical and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing.
• How does geography influence disaster preparedness and response strategies?
• Assessing the geographical factors influencing the location of biomes.
• Investigating the impact of geography on accessibility to education.
• How does geography influence the distribution and effectiveness of foreign aid?
• Assessing the geographical challenges and benefits of hosting the Olympic Games.
• Investigating the geographical challenges of waste management in urban areas.
• How does geography influence the availability and cost of healthcare?
• Assessing the geographical and ecological impact of overfishing.
• How does the physical geography of a region influence tourism?
• Investigating the impact of geography on international trade relations.
• How does geography influence population distribution and density?
• Exploring geographical strategies for mitigating urban heat island effects.
• How does geography shape linguistic diversity within a nation?

EPQ Ideas English

• Exploring the portrayal of gender and power in Shakespearean plays.
• Assessing the impact of dystopian literature on social and political perspectives.
• Investigating the evolution of the English language and its global impacts.
• How does Jane Austen portray women, society, and social mobility in her novels?
• Analysing symbolism and allegory used in William Blake’s poetry.
• How does the Beat Generation literature reflect post-war American society?
• Exploring representations of race and identity in postcolonial literature.
• Analysing the influence of Arthurian legends on modern literature and media.
• Exploring the relationship between modernism, existentialism, and literature.
• How does George Orwell explore themes of oppression and surveillance in 1984?
• Analysing the impact of the Harlem Renaissance on American literature and culture.
• Exploring the representations of mental health in Victorian Gothic literature.
• Investigating the role of nature and the sublime in Romantic poetry.
• How are gender and sexuality portrayed in Virginia Woolf’s novels?
• Examining the notion of 'the other' in Dracula by Bram Stoker.
• How does dystopian young adult literature reflect contemporary societal fears?
• Exploring childhood and the loss of innocence in J.D. Salinger’s works.
• Analysing the role of supernatural elements in the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
• Investigating the influence of the first world war on English poetry.
• How does Charles Dickens critique social inequality in his novels?
• Exploring feminist approaches to analysing classic fairy tales.
• Investigating the symbolic meaning of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby.
• Exploring the role of unreliable narrators in modernist literature.
• How is disability represented in Victorian literature?
• Investigating the depiction of rebellion and non-conformity in dystopian literature.
• Analysing portrayals of motherhood and fatherhood in contemporary English literature.
• How does Emily Brontë explore themes of love and revenge in Wuthering Heights?
• Analysing the impact of the civil rights movement on African American literature.
• Investigating representations of colonialism and imperialism in 19th-century English literature.
• How is the theme of isolation explored in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?
• Exploring the impact of the industrial revolution on English novelists.
• Analysing religious and spiritual symbols in the works of T.S. Eliot.
• Investigating the representation of the urban and the rural in English literature.
• How does F. Scott Fitzgerald critique the American upper class in his works?
• Exploring the concept of heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth novels.
• How does John Steinbeck explore themes of poverty and despair in his works?
• Analysing the theme of identity and belonging in postcolonial literature.
• How does Mark Twain address social and racial issues in his novels?
• Exploring the notion of tragedy in the works of William Faulkner.
• Investigating the impact of the Enlightenment on 18th-century English literature.
• How does Agatha Christie utilize and subvert the conventions of detective fiction?
• Exploring themes of loss and longing in the poetry of W.B. Yeats.
• How do modern graphic novels contribute to the discourse on gender and identity?
• Analysing the role of fantasy and the supernatural in Philip Pullman’s works.
• How are societal norms and values challenged in the works of Oscar Wilde?
• Exploring the use and subversion of myths in Angela Carter’s short stories.
• How does Sylvia Plath explore themes of mental illness in her poetry and prose?
• Analysing the role of moral and ethical dilemmas in dystopian literature.
• Exploring themes of power and corruption in works set during the Tudor period.
• Investigating the exploration of trauma and healing in autobiographical works.

EPQ Ideas Economics

• Exploring the economic implications of universal basic income implementations in developed countries.
• How does economic globalization affect income inequality within developing nations?
• Analysing the economic impacts of the gig economy on traditional employment models.
• Investigating the role of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in modern economies.
• Examining the economic consequences of climate change on agricultural sectors.
• How did the 2008 financial crisis impact global economic policies and practices?
• Exploring the relationship between education expenditures and economic growth.
• Analyzing the role of gender equality in enhancing economic development.
• Investigating the relationship between government debt and economic growth.
• How does automation and artificial intelligence impact employment and economy?
• Exploring economic policies for managing population aging in developed countries.
• Analysing the impact of Brexit on the UK and European economies.
• How can developing countries harness the benefits of financial inclusion?
• Exploring the role of microfinance in alleviating poverty in developing nations.
• Examining the economic impacts of pandemics on global trade.
• How does political stability influence economic development and growth?
• Exploring the impact of infrastructure development on economic growth.
• Analysing the implications of protectionist trade policies on global economies.
• How do immigration patterns influence economic development in host countries?
• Investigating the economic effects of technology transfer in developing countries.
• Assessing the role of taxation policies in income and wealth distribution.
• Exploring the economic impacts of tourism in small island developing states.
• How does fiscal policy impact economic cycles and fluctuations?
• Analysing the relationship between income inequality and economic growth.
• How do corporate social responsibility initiatives impact economic performance?
• Investigating the effects of economic sanctions on targeted nations.
• Examining the role of entrepreneurship in economic development and innovation.
• How does the informal economy impact economic development in developing countries?
• Exploring the impacts of healthcare expenditure on economic development.
• Analysing the effects of urbanisation on economic development.
• Investigating the impact of social media on consumer spending and behaviours.
• How do environmental regulations impact economic performance in industrial sectors?
• Assessing the role of government interventions in crisis-stricken economies.
• Exploring economic diversification and its impact on national economic stability.
• Investigating the impacts of economic inequality on societal well-being and stability.
• Analysing the role of renewable energy investments in economic development.
• How do international trade agreements impact local industries and economies?
• Exploring the economic implications of gender disparities in labour markets.
• Analysing the economic impacts of natural disasters in developing countries.
• Investigating the relationship between law, order, and economic development.
• How do sovereign wealth funds impact global financial markets?
• Examining the economic implications of ageing populations in developed countries.
• Analysing the economic consequences of different types of tax structures.
• How do e-commerce trends impact traditional retail markets and economies?
• Exploring the impacts of corruption on economic development and stability.
• How do developments in the space industry impact global economies?
• Analysing the economic impacts of large-scale sporting events on host cities.
• Investigating the relationship between energy prices and economic performance.
• How do educational levels and systems impact economic productivity?
• Assessing the economic implications of adopting sustainable practices in businesses.

EPQ Ideas Engineering

• Investigating the impact of 3D printing technologies on traditional manufacturing processes.
• Analysing the role of bioengineering in the development of artificial organs.
• How can robotics and automation be effectively integrated into small-scale manufacturing?
• Exploring the use of nanotechnology in enhancing material properties for construction.
• Assessing the potential of renewable energy systems in urban environments.
• How can engineers mitigate the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing processes?
• Investigating the applications and challenges of adopting Internet of Things (IoT) devices in smart homes.
• Analysing the implementation of biomimicry in architectural and structural design.
• Exploring sustainable materials for reducing the carbon footprint of transportation vehicles.
• How does machine learning and artificial intelligence enhance engineering design processes?
• Investigating the role of genetic engineering in agriculture and food production.
• Assessing the challenges and opportunities in offshore wind energy production.
• How can virtual reality technologies be implemented in engineering design workflows?
• Analysing the impact of electric vehicles on transportation infrastructure development.
• Investigating the applications of drone technology in civil and environmental engineering.
• Exploring the role of materials engineering in developing sustainable packaging solutions.
• How do aerodynamics principles influence the design of energy-efficient vehicles?
• Assessing the implications of using recycled materials in construction projects.
• Developing assistive technologies for enhancing mobility in individuals with disabilities.
• How can engineers optimize the use of spatial data in urban planning?
• Analysing the challenges of implementing smart grid technologies in developing countries.
• Investigating methods for improving energy efficiency in residential buildings.
• Exploring the impacts of autonomous vehicles on urban transport systems.
• How can engineers mitigate the environmental impacts of large-scale mining activities?
• Analysing structural engineering innovations for earthquake-resistant buildings.
• Exploring methods for reducing noise pollution in urban environments.
• How do engineers design wastewater treatment processes to conserve resources?
• Investigating the role of computer-aided design (CAD) in modern engineering.
• Exploring the applications of biodegradable materials in consumer products.
• How do engineers approach the design of sustainable urban drainage systems?
• Analysing the use of thermal energy storage systems in industrial processes.
• Investigating engineering solutions for mitigating coastal erosion in vulnerable areas.
• How can engineers develop technologies for harnessing energy from the oceans?
• Assessing the applications and limitations of wearable technology in healthcare.
• Exploring innovations in thermal insulation materials for building applications.
• How can civil engineers adapt urban infrastructure for climate change resilience?
• Investigating the challenges of integrating renewable energy systems into national grids.
• Analysing engineering solutions for managing electronic waste (e-waste).
• Exploring the application of AI in predictive maintenance for industrial machinery.
• How can engineers design adaptable infrastructure for rapidly growing urban populations?
• Investigating the role of engineering in developing sustainable agricultural practices.
• Assessing the potential of piezoelectric materials in energy harvesting applications.
• How can engineers develop scalable and efficient water desalination processes?
• Investigating the development of lightweight and durable materials for aerospace applications.
• Analysing the engineering challenges in developing a viable hyperloop transportation system.
• How can engineers design systems to harness energy from human activities?
• Investigating the use of geothermal energy in residential heating systems.
• Exploring the role of systems engineering in developing integrated technologies.
• How can engineers optimize logistics and supply chain management using IoT?
• Investigating the impacts of technological advancements on telecommunications infrastructure.

EPQ Ideas Politics

• The impact of social media on political elections and campaigns.
• Exploring the evolution and impact of feminist movements globally.
• How does immigration policy influence national economic performance?
• An analysis of the role of propaganda in political movements.
• The influence of religion on political policies and decision-making.
• How have political ideologies shaped international relations since 1945?
• Exploring the relationship between socio-economic status and political affiliation.
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global political structures.
• Assessing the effectiveness of international law in resolving conflicts.
• How does political stability influence economic development in developing countries?
• The role of youth in shaping contemporary political movements.
• Analysis of the implications of Brexit on European unity.
• Investigating the causes and consequences of political scandals.
• How significant is the role of lobbyists in shaping policy?
• Why do political parties change their policy platforms over time?
• Investigating the impact of political satire on public opinion.
• Exploring the effect of populist leaders on international relations.
• What is the impact of colonialism on contemporary global politics?
• Analysis of the relationship between militarism and democracy.
• The efficacy of the United Nations in resolving international crises.
• How effective are economic sanctions as a political tool?
• Impact of political revolutions on regional stability and cooperation.
• Exploring the political consequences of climate change in island nations.
• How do authoritarian regimes utilize media to control narratives?
• Comparative analysis of healthcare policies across different political systems.
• Investigating the influence of ethnic diversity on political systems.
• How does nationalism influence foreign policy and international relations?
• Examining the role of ethics in modern political leadership.
• Understanding the impact of political assassinations on world politics.
• Exploring the intersections between technology development and politics.
• Investigating the role of patriotism in shaping foreign policy.
• Can democracy and socialism coexist in a balanced political system?
• What are the political implications of universal basic income implementation?
• Investigating the historical impact of propaganda on war efforts.
• How do geopolitical considerations shape energy policy decisions?
• The role of international organizations in global peacekeeping efforts.
• How does a nation’s political ideology influence its educational policies?
• Investigating the politics behind global arms trade and military expenditure.
• How significant is the role of charisma in political leadership?
• Investigating the role of political ideology in defining human rights.
• Does the structure of electoral systems influence political polarization?
• Exploring the political impacts of artificial intelligence and automation.
• How does political culture influence policy-making in democracies?
• What are the political consequences of income inequality in nations?
• Examining the role of intelligence agencies in shaping foreign policy.
• Exploring the role of diplomacy in averting international crises.
• How can political systems adapt to manage increasing urbanization effectively?
• Comparative analysis of right-wing political movements across countries.
• Investigating the implications of political decentralization on national unity.
• Examining the role of political ideology in shaping social policies.

EPQ Ideas Sociology

• Exploring the impact of social media on contemporary political movements.
• Analyzing the sociological implications of increasing income inequality globally.
• How does gentrification impact local communities and their social dynamics?
• Examining the role of education in perpetuating social inequality.
• Investigating the impact of culture on gender roles and expectations.
• How does racial and ethnic identity influence social mobility prospects?
• Exploring the sociological implications of mass surveillance on privacy and freedom.
• Examining the relationship between mental health and social isolation in urban settings.
• How does religion shape societal norms and individual behaviors in different cultures?
• Investigating the role of language in shaping social and cultural identity.
• Exploring the sociological perspectives on global migration and diaspora communities.
• How does social stigma towards mental health issues impact societal wellbeing?
• Analyzing the influence of celebrity culture on youth identity and aspirations.
• Investigating the sociological dimensions of sports and national identity.
• How do family structures and roles evolve in multicultural societies?
• Examining the social implications of automation and job displacement.
• Investigating the impacts of fast fashion on societal consumption patterns.
• How do educational policies reproduce and challenge existing social inequalities?
• Exploring the role of art and music in social protest movements.
• How does the normalization of extreme diet culture impact societal health perceptions?
• Examining social and cultural perspectives on sexual orientation and identity.
• Investigating the role of the media in shaping public perceptions of crime.
• How does socioeconomic status impact access to healthcare services?
• Analyzing the sociological impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities.
• How do social movements influence political policy and societal change?
• Exploring the role of social networks in facilitating social and economic mobility.
• How does the aging population impact societal structures and economic policies?
• Investigating the sociology of fear and its impact on public behavior.
• How do social constructs of beauty impact individual and societal wellbeing?
• Examining the relationship between urbanization and social change.
• How does social class impact youth aspirations and career trajectories?
• Investigating the sociological aspects of digital divide in global contexts.
• How do social and cultural factors impact dietary habits and preferences?
• Exploring the social dynamics and implications of online dating.
• Investigating the impacts of neoliberal policies on social inequality.
• How does social status impact mental and physical health?
• Exploring the sociological perspectives on homelessness in urban environments.
• How do experiences of discrimination impact identity and social cohesion?
• Analyzing the societal impacts of the gig economy and precarious employment.
• How do traditional gender roles impact professional development and opportunities?
• Exploring the sociology of leisure and its evolution in digital societies.
• How do institutions reinforce stereotypes and perpetuate social inequalities?
• Examining the sociological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global societies.
• How does social activism impact individual identity and societal values?
• Investigating the sociological theories explaining youth subcultures and resistance.
• How does consumerism impact societal values and individual wellbeing?
• Exploring the impact of social media on body image perceptions among teenagers.
• How does bilingualism impact social and cognitive development?
• Examining the sociological dimensions of drug use and addiction.
• How do societal structures impact the development and adoption of innovations?

EPQ Ideas Psychology

• Exploring the psychological impacts of childhood trauma on adult life.
• How do different colors influence our mood and behavior?
• Investigating the impact of sleep on cognitive function and mood.
• The role of psychology in developing effective marketing strategies.
• Understanding the psychological impact of chronic pain on mental health.
• Analysis of psychological techniques used in criminal interrogations.
• How does social media usage correlate with self-esteem levels?
• Examining the psychological impact of bullying on children’s development.
• Investigating cognitive biases and their impact on decision-making.
• What is the psychological impact of living through a pandemic?
• Exploring the link between creativity and mental health issues.
• The impact of parenting styles on a child's emotional development.
• How does workplace environment influence employee motivation and productivity?
• Exploring the relationship between physical activity and mental health.
• The role of positive affirmations in enhancing self-esteem and confidence.
• Understanding the psychological processes behind human memory and recall.
• Examining the role of empathy in conflict resolution scenarios.
• Investigating the efficacy of various forms of psychotherapy.
• What is the impact of music on mental health and mood?
• Exploring the relationship between diet, gut health, and mental well-being.
• Understanding the development and maintenance of phobias.
• How does unemployment impact psychological well-being and self-perception?
• Investigating the correlation between educational stress and mental health.
• Understanding the psychology behind conformity and obedience in groups.
• How does language development correlate with cognitive abilities in children?
• Exploring the psychological implications of virtual reality technology.
• Understanding the psychological impact of cosmetic surgery on individuals.
• How do dreams and their interpretation relate to our subconscious?
• Exploring the role of psychological resilience in overcoming adversity.
• Understanding the impact of mindfulness meditation on mental health.
• Exploring the psychological aspects of addictive behaviors.
• Investigating the relationship between personality traits and career success.
• How does birth order influence personality and behavioral traits?
• Understanding the psychological impact of long-term remote work.
• How do romantic relationships impact mental and emotional well-being?
• Exploring the psychological perspective of spiritual and religious beliefs.
• What are the psychological impacts of societal beauty standards?
• Investigating the psychology behind consumer behavior and purchasing decisions.
• Exploring the psychological effects of gender stereotypes on individual development.
• Investigating the role of psychology in enhancing athletic performance.
• Understanding the psychological tactics utilized in political campaigns.
• How do learning environments influence students’ psychological well-being?
• Exploring the implications of attachment styles on adult relationships.
• Investigating the psychology of altruism and prosocial behaviors.
• How does exposure to nature impact psychological well-being?
• Exploring the impact of screen time on adolescent mental health.
• How does socioeconomic status influence psychological health and perspectives?
• Exploring the psychological dimensions of humor and laughter.
• Understanding the psychology behind fear and its impact on behavior.
• Investigating psychological strategies to combat procrastination.

EPQ Ideas Law

• Exploring the legal aspects and impacts of cyberbullying across different jurisdictions.
• Investigating the legal and ethical aspects of using artificial intelligence in law enforcement.
• How does international law address the issue of climate change and global warming?
• Assessing the efficacy of international law in dealing with global human rights violations.
• Investigating the implications of Internet censorship and freedom of speech laws.
• How do copyright laws affect content creation and sharing in the digital age?
• Analyzing the role of law in addressing gender inequality in the workplace.
• Assessing the impact and legality of surveillance technology on privacy rights.
• How have laws regarding LGBTQ+ rights evolved across different countries?
• Exploring the role of law in the mitigation of environmental degradation.
• Examining the impact of international trade laws on developing economies.
• Investigating legal strategies to address domestic violence in various countries.
• How can law be used to mitigate the effects of online hate speech?
• Exploring the influence of political bias in legal systems across different nations.
• Analyzing the legal challenges and implications of autonomous vehicles.
• How does the law differentiate between freedom of expression and hate speech?
• Exploring the legalities involved in international adoption and child trafficking.
• Analyzing the legal perspective of euthanasia and assisted suicide in various countries.
• How are labor laws adapting to the gig economy and freelancing trend?
• Examining legal perspectives on managing refugees and asylum seekers internationally.
• Exploring the interplay between religious beliefs and legal judgments.
• Investigating the effect of legal frameworks on addressing cyber warfare.
• How can laws better protect wildlife from poaching and illegal trade?
• Exploring the role of law in regulating space exploration and utilization.
• Investigating the legal frameworks for protecting consumers in e-commerce.
• How does the legal system handle digital inheritance and digital assets?
• Analyzing the impact of international laws on national sovereignty.
• Exploring the challenges of implementing and enforcing international health law.
• How does intellectual property law protect innovations in technology?
• Investigating legal ethics in the context of criminal defense.
• Exploring the challenges in legal frameworks addressing child labor internationally.
• Analyzing the role and effectiveness of anti-monopoly laws in various countries.
• How are laws addressing the ethical concerns in genetic engineering practices?
• Exploring the implications of post-conviction exoneration on legal systems.
• Investigating the evolution and effectiveness of international maritime laws.
• How do international laws address state-sponsored terrorism?
• Analyzing the legal challenges related to refugee status determination.
• How does international law regulate the global arms trade?
• Investigating the relationship between socioeconomic status and legal justice outcomes.
• How can legal systems effectively address issues related to cybercrimes?
• Examining the legal frameworks in place to address human trafficking.
• How do legal systems address juvenile delinquency and rehabilitation?
• Investigating the disparities in legal strategies for dealing with drug abuse.
• How can legal structures enhance or impede social justice?
• Exploring the challenges of enforcing international laws on digital privacy.
• Investigating the law concerning data protection and breaches in various countries.
• How can the law ensure ethical practices in biomedical research?
• Exploring the legal implications of using facial recognition technology in public spaces.
• Examining how international law addresses genocide and crimes against humanity.
• How does the law address issues of child custody in contentious divorces?

EPQ Ideas Computer Science

• Exploring the ethical implications of artificial intelligence in decision-making.
• Investigating the security vulnerabilities in Internet of Things devices.
• How does machine learning contribute to personalized marketing strategies?
• Analyzing the impact of quantum computing on data encryption.
• Exploring the potential of blockchain technology beyond cryptocurrency.
• Developing an efficient algorithm for solving a specific computational problem.
• How can augmented reality enhance user experience in e-commerce?
• Examining the role of computer science in combating climate change.
• Investigating the challenges and solutions of data storage scalability.
• What role does computer science play in precision medicine?
• Exploring the application of artificial intelligence in autonomous vehicles.
• Understanding the impact of cybersecurity breaches on businesses.
• Developing a software solution to address a specific societal issue.
• Investigating methods to optimize database query performance.
• How do ethical hackers enhance the security of online platforms?
• Exploring computational methods for solving complex mathematical problems.
• Developing a predictive model using machine learning algorithms.
• How can cloud computing be made more energy-efficient?
• Investigating the implementation of cybersecurity practices in small businesses.
• Examining the role of data analytics in sports performance.
• Exploring the integration of AI technologies into everyday household appliances.
• How can computer vision be utilized in industrial automation?
• Investigating the evolution of programming languages and their applicabilities.
• Exploring the application of computer science in forensic science.
• Developing a secure and efficient wireless communication protocol.
• Examining the feasibility and benefits of smart cities.
• How can virtual reality be applied in educational settings?
• Exploring the impact of high-frequency trading algorithms on stock markets.
• Investigating the development and use of chatbots in customer service.
• What is the role of computer science in biotechnology research?
• Exploring the challenges of implementing digital currencies on a large scale.
• Developing a privacy-focused approach to data management in applications.
• How can technology improve accessibility for people with disabilities?
• Investigating the development of gaming engines and their impact on the industry.
• Developing an algorithm for optimized resource allocation in network systems.
• How does big data analytics influence the finance industry?
• Exploring the psychological implications of user interface design.
• Investigating the impact of social media algorithms on user behavior.
• How to ensure ethical considerations in the development of AI technologies?
• Exploring the evolution and future of wearable technology.
• Investigating challenges and approaches to multi-language information retrieval.
• How can computational models improve our understanding of human cognition?
• Examining the implementation of cybersecurity in healthcare technology.
• Exploring the application and impact of deep learning in image recognition.
• Investigating the societal impact of widespread facial recognition technology.
• Developing an efficient load balancing technique for distributed computing.
• How can computer science methods aid in pandemic modeling and management?
• Exploring adaptive learning technologies and their impact on education.
• Developing and implementing an effective intrusion detection system.
• How can AI technologies assist in disaster prediction and management?

EPQ Ideas Medicine

• Exploring advancements and ethical considerations in the field of gene editing.
• Investigating the role of immunotherapy in treating different forms of cancer.
• How can machine learning and AI revolutionize diagnostic medicine in the future?
• Analyzing the impacts of telemedicine on healthcare accessibility in rural areas.
• What are the ethical implications of organ transplantation and organ donation policies?
• Exploring the role of personalized medicine in treating chronic conditions.
• Examining the effectiveness and consequences of various weight loss surgeries.
• How do socio-economic factors influence access to healthcare services globally?
• Investigating the use and effects of CRISPR technology in preventing genetic disorders.
• Exploring the impacts and management of antibiotic resistance in global health.
• Examining the role of mental health in overall healthcare systems.
• How can advancements in prosthetics enhance the quality of life for amputees?
• Investigating the psychological and physical impacts of chronic pain on patients.
• Assessing the effects of the placebo effect in various medical treatments.
• How do ethical considerations impact decision-making in palliative care?
• Examining the effects and management of opioid addiction in different demographics.
• Exploring alternative medicine: Efficacy and challenges in integrating with conventional medicine.
• Investigating the role of nutrition in managing and preventing chronic diseases.
• How does the global pharmaceutical industry impact healthcare accessibility and affordability?
• Exploring the health impacts of air pollution in urban areas.
• Examining the role and limitations of robotic surgery in healthcare.
• Investigating the psychological impacts of long-term hospitalization on patients.
• Exploring potential treatments and vaccines for emerging global health threats.
• Assessing the impact of healthcare policies on patient outcomes in various countries.
• How can stem cell therapy change the future of regenerative medicine?
• Exploring the efficacy and ethical considerations of animal testing in medical research.
• Examining the role of social support systems in cancer patient outcomes.
• Investigating advancements in neonatal care and its impacts on infant mortality.
• Exploring strategies for managing global pandemics and ensuring healthcare preparedness.
• How does health insurance impact access to quality healthcare services?
• Examining the role of gut microbiota in overall human health.
• Exploring the challenges and solutions in global mental health treatment accessibility.
• How do genetic factors influence the development and treatment of various diseases?
• Investigating the effects of sleep and sleep disorders on overall health.
• Examining the role of vaccinations in global health and disease eradication.
• Investigating the application and implications of 3D printing in medical practice.
• Assessing the role of physical therapy in managing chronic conditions.
• How can technology enhance healthcare delivery in low-resource settings?
• Exploring the role and challenges of pediatric care in various contexts.
• How do socio-cultural factors influence perceptions and decisions related to healthcare?
• Examining approaches and challenges in pain management for various conditions.
• Exploring the impacts of medical breakthroughs on societal health and wellbeing.
• How do legal frameworks impact medical practices and patient rights?
• Examining ethical dilemmas in reproductive medicine and women’s healthcare.
• Investigating the role of healthcare workers in managing and preventing disease outbreaks.
• Assessing the role and limitations of wearable technology in healthcare.
• How does climate change impact the emergence and spread of diseases?
• Exploring the implications and management of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections.
• Examining approaches to managing healthcare in conflict and post-conflict regions.
• Investigating strategies to enhance medical education and training in various contexts.

These are some of our best EPQ ideas for a range of popular subjects. Each of these titles is meant to give you inspiration, helping you to find a topic that you’re interested in.

How to Write an EPQ essay (including lessons I’ve learned from writing my book)

Having just finished re-writing my book,  The Ten Step Guide to Acing Every Exam You Ever Take (due to be published in February 2017)   I thought now was the perfect time to share the lessons I've learned from doing an extended piece of writing like this so you can apply them to writing your EPQ essay.

How to write an EPQ essay – 9 Steps

1. your idea.

I did exactly this with my book. I want to become known as an expert in study skills and exam skills. The perfect way to do this is to write a book about it. Hopefully lots of new people will find me as a result of reading my book and want to work with me . My book is furthering my long-term aims (as well as being something I've always wanted to do – yippee for being a published author!).

2. Brain dump

Once you've come up with an idea brain dump everything you already know about it. This is important because your current knowledge is the foundation of where you're going to go next. It will also enable you to identify the gaps in your knowledge and therefore what further research you need to do.

Believe it or not, over the last eighteen months or so my brain dump has been my blog ! As I've listened more and more to my readers to hear what they need help with and what problems they have I have learned more and understood more about the field of study skills. I've researched, thought and read to improve my knowledge and understanding and put all that knowledge into my blog.

3. Identify your title or question

The next step is having some idea of what your title might be or what question you want to answer with your work. Throughout your research you need to ensure that you're finding information that will help you to answer this question.

With my book, the title dictated the structure that the book would take. It helped me to stay focused on what I needed to include as well as exclude.

4. Create a structure for your finished piece

From what you know already and the title you have identified you can create a draft structure or plan for your finished piece of work. Again, this structure will help to keep you focused on what research you need to do to properly answer your question. However, remember that you can always change your structure if what you find in your research deems it necessary.

When I was writing my book I had the overall structure which started with four parts and the ten chapters were divided up between those four parts. When I sat down to write each chapter I wrote a list of what I wanted to include in each of those chapters and decided in what order it was logical and sensible to write about each of those things. Doing this made the actual writing part easy – the book almost wrote itself!

5. Do your research

Now is the time to fill in the gaps in your knowledge by doing your research. Make sure you stay focused on your title and structure all the time that you're doing your research. It's also really important to keep a clear record of where you've gained your information for your references and bibliography. I remember in my early days at university writing endless notes that then got in a muddle and I could never identify the source text which meant I couldn't use that information in an essay because I couldn't reference it. I learned my lesson and soon put a system in place so that I could always identify where my notes, ideas and quotes came from!

With my book my research was listening to my readers and clients and reading books that helped me to solve the problems that they were dealing with. For example, I read a book called ‘Mini Habits' by Stephen Guise – and used that book as the basis for a blog post. I have now incorporated those ideas into the book.

6. Review your structure

As you're doing your research, and particularly once you've finished it, you'll need to review your structure. Your structure is essentially a summary of the argument you want to make in your essay. If the information you've found has lead you to an opinion that you can't express through your original structure then the structure needs to be altered or changed. This is the time when you need to be 100% sure that your structure provides with the framework to say exactly what you want to say in answer to the question or title you have set yourself.

I have found this to be particularly important with my book. The original version of my book was written before I even started my blog. The ten steps I included were all the clearest things I'd learned from my own experience as a student and from teaching geography in schools. However, through my blog, reading and coaching I gained more insights about my own experience and what really helped others. This meant that when I came to re-write the book I had more to say so that I had to change the structure to accomodate all this new understanding and knowledge.

7. Allocate a word count to each section of your structure

You know your essay has to be 5,000 words long and you know which sections you want to put into it because you've planned your structure. To make life easy for yourself you should now allocate a word count to each section. This means that you won't fall into the dreadful trap of writing way too much and having to cull all your hard work to be within the word limit.

I did this for my book. My publisher said that he'd like a 30,000 word book. The original book was about 14,000 words so I had to more than double it. I knew that I had ten basic chapters plus an introduction, foreword and other bits and pieces. So, I set myself the target that each chapter should be approximately 3,000 words. In the end some of the chapters are slightly shorter and others are slightly longer than this but I easily hit the 30,000 word marker by making sure I was reaching the word count for each chapter as I went along.

Can you believe we got to number eight before you actually started writing? Well, this is because all the planning and research you've done up until now will make the writing process really, really easy. The essay should almost write itself!

This is what I found with my book. My plan was so detailed and I'd done so much research over the preceeding eighteen month period that the writing bit was just easy. I sat down for between one and two hours a day for just eighteen days and the first draft of the book was written. It was utterly painless. I then spent two weeks reviewing and editing as well as writing the introduction.

9. Get feedback

The final step is to get feedback on your work. Give it to a friend, parent or mentor to read it through and give you some feedback. The more they know about your subject and academic writing the better. Listen carefully to the advice that they give you and incorporate it as best you can into your work.

The first person to read my book after I'd finished it was my editor. She was thrilled with it and said that ‘it reads wonderfully' and that there was very little she had to change. I credit my thorough planning process for this praise. I hope that your thorough planning leads to the same type of praise.

Some useful EPQ resources from the web

This information from The Student Room gives some really useful background information about the EPQ:  http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Extended_Project_Qualification

This post from the UCAS student blog helps you with where to start with your EPQ:  https://www.ucas.com/connect/blogs/epq-where-start

You can download this essay guide from the TES website:  https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/epq-guide-essay-structure-6359383

If you know of any other really useful EPQ resources then leave a link in the comments below.

Over to you

I hope these tips really help you to write a brilliant EPQ as easily as possible. I've learned how to structure and organise my work in this way through years and years of experience researching, writing, reading and marking essays. Hopefully you won't have so much trial and error!

Leave me a comment below to tell me what you're studying in your EPQ and what challenges you're facing with it at the moment. I'll be sure to reply to every comment.

Get on the wait list!

My book,  The Ten Step Guide to Acing Every Exam You Ever Take , will be published by John Catt in February 2017. If you'd like to know when you can pre-order make sure you're on my mailing list – you'll also get a free exert from the book when you sign-up.

Get on the waitlist here

THE TEN STEP GUIDE  TO ACING EVERY EXAM YOU EVERY TAKE

Download your free chapter of my book. In this chapter you will learn:

• How to personalise your revision techniques to make them more effective for you
• How to enjoy your revision (yes, I did said enjoy...)

Your personal data will be treated with respect. View my privacy policy here .

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Lucy Parsons

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EPQ Guide: Expressing your ideas

• The Inquiry Process
• Developing a line of inquiry
• Finding and selecting sources
• Working with ideas

Expressing your ideas

This is the stage you have been building towards - writing your report. Although that is largely the focus of this page , it is not all there is to the EPQ.

Your EPQ will be assessed on:

• Your completed Production Log
• if your project is a research based written report of any kind (e.g. a science investigation or an essay) it should be approximately 5,000 words long
• If your project is an artefact, it must be accomapanied by a research based written report of a minimum of 1,000 words. For artefacts, you may include photos showing various stages of the production process as well as the final product. You do not need to submit a large artefact as evidence - photographs or other media are fine.
• If your product was itself a presentation then you still need to produce a presentation about the process of producing it!
• Your presentation must be delivered live to a non-specialist audience and might use flipcharts or posters, presentation tools such as PowerPoint or Prezi or short video clips. The evidence for your presentation will  include a record in your Production Log of questions your supervisor asked and how you responded.

Am I ready?

Am I ready to start writing my essay?

Before you start writing, think:

• Is my investigation largely complete? As you write you may find that you need a few additional resources or information to support your argument, but you should not sta rt to write until you are largely sure where your argument is going.
• Have I filled in a Research Organiser (which you will find on the Working with Ideas tab)? This will help you to organise your thoughts and make sure you understand the argument you intend to make and have the evidence to support it. While not compulsory, it makes writing your final essay significantly easier.
• Do I understand how to write in an appropriate academic style? Guidance is given in the Academic Writing box below.
• Do I know how to import my sources from my Investigative Journal? Don't waste time putting all your citation data in again! Import all your sources as you set up your document. There are helpsheets in the Resources for PC / Mac users boxes to the right.

You should use the Oakham APAv3 Academic Writing Template (below) rather than a generic Word template to set up your essay.

(The image below is taken from the EE LibGuide, but the template is just as useful for EPQs)

Citing and referencing

There are many different ways to acknowledge the sources you use. These are called referencing styles . You are free to use any recognised referencing style you wish for your EPQ, but Oakham's 'house style' is APA. We suggest you use this because we already have a lot of support in place for it. APA is an 'Author-date' system, meaning that you show which source you have used by putting the author and date in brackets after it in your text, and then put the full reference in an alphabetical list at the end of the essay. The Library does not support 'footnote referencing', where you put all the information in a footnote at the bottom of the page. If you want help with this then please talk to the member of staff who suggested that you use it.

For detailed information and guidance on how to use sources in your writing and how to cite and reference them accurately using the tools in Microsoft Word, consult the Citing and Referencing LibGuide . This site includes information about how to reference all sorts of different kinds of sources, including videos and works of art, and what to do if you are using a source written in a language that is not the language of your essay. It also gives some examples of how to use in-text citations , whether quoting, paraphrasing or just referring to a source more generally, and how to use the automatic citing and referencing tools in Word .

Academic writing

Stages in an academic essay

Your thesis is the point you want to make. It emerges from your research and your task is to use the evidence you have found to establish it as the most reasonable response to that research.

In both approaches, you must state the research question in your introduction, and make sure you return to it in your conclusion .

Sections required in your essay

Have a look at the Formal Presentation guide in the sidebar for a guide to laying out your essay.

Paragraph Structure

Paragraphs themselves have a structure - the most common you will have come across is likely to be PEEL. The letters often stand for slightly different things in different subjects, but the idea is largely the same - introduce your main idea for the paragraph ( Point ), justify it with Evidence and/or Examples , and Evaluate this evidence. Finally, Link back to the Research Question and/or Link forward to the next paragraph.

This is not the only way to write a paragraph and, with experience, you will soon find that your argument develops a flow of its own that does not require a formula - indeed, your essay would be very dull if every paragraph followed exactly the same structure. However, this structure can be a useful scaffold to get you started and make sure you don't miss anything important.

The structure of academic writing

Note that the following graphic was originally produced for the IB Extended Essay, but is equally applicable to the EPQ.

Planning your essay

It is vital to plan your essay before you start writing. An essay plan provides an outline of your argument and how it develops.

What sections and subsections do you need?

Although this might change as you write your essay, you should not start writing until you have your overall structure. Then think about roughly how you are going to divide your 5000 words between the different sections. 5000 words seems like a lot before you start writing, but it is much easier to write to the limit, section by section, than to try to cut your essay down once it is written.

What will the reader will expect to see and where?

Look back at your checklist and think about where in your essay you are planning to include the required information. Make sure the flow of your essay makes sense to a reader who may be a subject expert but knows little about your topic. Have you included background information? Details of experimental methods? Arguments and counter arguments?

Now get writing!

You've read all the guidance. You've made your plan. Now you have a blank screen in front of you and you just need to get started! Start with the section you think you will find easiest to write and work outwards from there, or follow the steps below to get started. Don't forget to write with the word limit in mind though.

What if you are writing lots of paragraphs but your essay just doesn't seem to be coming together?

1. Condense each paragraph into a short statement or bullet point. This is the skeleton structure of your essay.

2. Look at the order of the statements.

• Is the order logical?
• Does each point follow another in a sensible order?
• Do you need to change the order?
• Do you need to add paragraphs?
• Do you need to remove paragraphs?

3. Add, subtract and rearrange the paragraphs until your structure makes sense.

4. Redraft using your new paragraph order.  

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Willard, D. (2003) My journey to and b eyond tenure in a secular university . Retrieved from: www.dwillard.org/articles/individual/my-journey-to-and-beyond-tenure-in-a-secular-university . Accessed: 9th May 2020

Oh no! It's too long!!

If you haven't managed to write to the word limit and are suddenly faced with cutting down an essay that is over the word limit, try these tips on concise writing from Purdue Online Writing Lab.

Use the menu on the left of this page from Purdue OWL to browse the four very practical pages on writing concisely and one on the Paramedic Method for reducing your word count.

AQA Guide to completing the Production Log: Expressing your ideas

AQA copyright notice

The presentation above contains slides from the AQA presentation  Teaching slides: how to complete the production log  (available from the AQA EPQ Teaching and Learning Resources website ).  These slides are Copyright © 2020 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.

A downloadable copy of the Production Log can be found here , on the Home tab of this guide.

Submission checklists

• First Draft Checklist A guide to make sure you stay on track and complete everything required for your first draft.
• Final Draft Checklist A guide detailing everything that needs to be completed before submitting your EPQ.

Guides for PC users

• Citing and Referencing in Word 2016 for Windows
• Managing Sources in Word 2016 for Windows
• Creating a Table of Contents in Word 2016 for Windows

Guides for Mac users

• Managing Sources in Word 2016 for Mac
• Citing and Referencing in Word 2016 for Mac
• << Previous: Working with ideas
• Next: Reflecting >>
• Last Updated: Jun 6, 2024 10:05 AM
• URL: https://oakham-rutland.libguides.com/EPQ

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The Dos and Don’ts of Writing an Academic Essay (EPQ Advice #4)

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How to Write an A+ Extended Project Qualification Essay

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450 EPQ Ideas and Everything You Need to Know

• The EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) is a great way to earn extra UCAS points
• It can be an essay, or it can be an entirely different project
• It has many benefits, especially for students looking at top universities
• You can choose from an endless selection of EPQ topic ideas and EPQ examples with little restrictions

What Could Your EPQ Be?

An EPQ, or Extended Project Qualification, is a project that can be taken on by A-level students, and it’s worth 50% of an A-level.

Your EPQ could be a:

• Dissertation of around 5,000 words
• Project , report or artefact backed up by paper work.

There are little restrictions on what topics could be chosen for your EPQ, as long as it’s approved by your institution. You could target a topic you’re studying, or a topic not taught in an A-level course to demonstrate your interest and intellectual versatility.

Benefits of an EPQ

Some of the best teachers in the world tutor at Crimson! Our expert teachers identified 5 huge benefits that you get out of doing an EPQ:

1. Showcasing Super-Curricular Excellence

Top UK universities look for students who go above and beyond the standard curriculum.

The EPQ allows you to showcase your super-curricular engagement with a favorite academic subject, demonstrating not just knowledge but a genuine passion for learning.

2. Exploring New Subjects

The EPQ gives you an opportunity to study subjects that are not taught at A-level. It gives you a chance to showcase your intellectual versatility, something that top universities love to see .

By exploring a subject not offered at A Level, you exhibit a broad academic curiosity and a hunger for knowledge.

3. Mastering Skills for Academic Success

The EPQ is a golden opportunity to develop independent research, critical thinking, and project management skills – all crucial for thriving in higher education.

When working on your EPQ, you’ll confidently navigate complex research, make informed decisions, and manage a project from inception to completion – skills that set you apart in the competitive admissions landscape.

4. Gaining Additional UCAS Points

In the fierce competition for university spots, every point counts. Completing an EPQ not only enriches your academic profile but also adds those coveted extra UCAS points .

The EPQ could grant you up to an extra 28 UCAS points!

5. Equipping Yourself with Invaluable Transferable Skills

The EPQ is a gateway to acquiring invaluable transferable skills – from effective presentation to confident decision-making.

These skills transcend the classroom, positioning you as a well-rounded candidate prepared to excel both in university and future professional endeavors.

EPQ Examples

As mentioned above, a dissertation or essay is only one way to approach your EPQ. The EPQ opens doors to so many project possibilities, allowing you to explore your interests and showcase your skills in various creative ways.

20 EPQ Examples:

• Documentary Film: Create a visually engaging documentary exploring a historical event, social issue, or scientific phenomenon.
• Podcast Series: Dive into podcasting by producing a series that delves into topics such as literature, culture, or current affairs.
• Art Exhibition: Showcase your artistic talents by curating an exhibition that explores a theme or conveys a message.
• Scientific Experiment: Conduct an in-depth scientific experiment and present your findings, methodology, and conclusions.
• Business Plan: Develop a comprehensive business plan for a startup, considering market analysis, financial projections, and marketing strategies.
• Creative Writing Portfolio: Craft a collection of short stories, poems, or a novel, displaying your creative writing prowess.
• Historical Reenactment: Bring history to life by organizing and participating in a historical reenactment event.
• Mathematical Model: Create a complex mathematical model to solve a real-world problem, demonstrating the practical applications of mathematics.
• Computer Program or App: Develop a functional computer program or mobile app that addresses a specific need or problem.
• Educational Board Game: Design and produce an educational board game aimed at teaching a particular subject or skill.
• Campaign and Advocacy Project: Take on a social or environmental cause, developing and implementing a campaign to raise awareness and provoke change.
• Musical Composition: Compose an original piece of music or a full musical score for a play, film, or even a video game.
• Fashion Collection: Design and create a fashion collection, exploring themes such as sustainability or cultural influences.
• Psychological Experiment: Devise and conduct a psychological experiment, analyzing human behavior or cognitive processes.
• Architectural Model: Create a detailed architectural model for a theoretical building or urban planning project.
• Language Learning App: Develop an app focused on language learning, incorporating innovative features to enhance the learning experience.
• Robotics Project: Build a functional robot, detailing the design process, programming, and potential applications.
• Photography Exhibition: Showcase your photography skills by curating an exhibition with a theme or message.
• Health and Fitness Program: Design a personalized health and fitness program, incorporating nutritional plans and exercise routines.
• Political Analysis Report: Conduct an in-depth analysis of a political issue, policy, or historical event, presenting your findings in a detailed report.

EPQ Ideas  

Epq ideas for biology.

• The Impact of Genetic Engineering on Agriculture: A Critical Analysis
• Exploring CRISPR-Cas9 Technology: Revolutionizing Genetic Editing
• The Role of Microbiome in Human Health and Disease
• Comparative Analysis of Plant Adaptations in Different Biomes
• Investigating the Relationship Between Diet and Gut Microbiota
• The Ethics of Cloning: Examining the Bioethical Implications
• The Evolutionary Significance of Biodiversity in Rainforests
• Stem Cell Research: A Breakthrough in Regenerative Medicine
• The Interplay Between Genetics and Environmental Factors in Disease Susceptibility
• Climate Change's Impact on Marine Ecosystems: A Case Study
• The Use of CRISPR in Treating Genetic Disorders
• Understanding the Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
• The Role of Epigenetics in Inheritance and Gene Expression
• Analyzing the Impact of Pesticides on Bee Populations
• The Biochemical Basis of Neurodegenerative Diseases
• Human Evolution: A Comparative Study of Hominid Species
• The CRISPR Revolution: Opportunities and Ethical Dilemmas
• The Application of Synthetic Biology in Medicine
• The Role of Genetics in Cancer: Identifying Biomarkers for Early Detection
• Exploring the Potential of Gene Therapy in Treating Genetic Disorders
• The Impact of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs
• Biological Control of Invasive Species: Balancing Ecosystems
• The Connection Between Sleep Patterns and Biological Rhythms
• The Role of Hormones in Human Behavior and Mental Health
• Analyzing the Genetics of Rare Diseases: Implications for Treatment
• Evolutionary Ecology of Predator-Prey Relationships
• The Use of Biotechnology in Crop Improvement and Food Security
• Investigating the Impact of Endocrine Disruptors on Wildlife
• The Microbiome and Immune System: Partners in Health
• Neurobiology of Addiction: Understanding the Biological Basis

EPQ Ideas For Chemistry

• Green Chemistry: Strategies for Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Practices
• Nanotechnology in Medicine: Advancements and Potential Applications
• Analyzing the Chemistry of Taste: Molecular Basis of Flavor Perception
• The Role of Catalysts in Chemical Reactions: A Comprehensive Study
• Synthetic Polymers vs. Biodegradable Polymers: Environmental Impacts
• Investigating the Chemistry of Superfoods and Their Health Benefits
• Applications of Electrochemistry in Energy Storage Devices
• Quantum Dots: Nanoscale Wonders in Electronic and Photonic Devices
• The Chemistry Behind Drug Design and Development
• Chemical Analysis of Air Pollutants: Sources and Solutions
• The Chemistry of Photosynthesis: Unlocking Nature's Energy Secrets
• Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs): Applications in Gas Storage and Separation
• Exploring the Chemistry of Perfumes: Molecular Components and Fragrance Design
• The Impact of pH on Enzyme Activity: Understanding Biological Catalysis
• Chemical Kinetics: Investigating Reaction Rates and Mechanisms
• The Chemistry of Art Conservation: Preserving Cultural Heritage
• Catalytic Converters: Mitigating Environmental Impact in Automobiles
• Analytical Chemistry Techniques in Forensic Science: Solving Crimes
• The Chemistry of Food Preservation: From Canning to Refrigeration
• Understanding the Chemistry of Water Treatment Processes
• Molecular Gastronomy: The Science Behind Culinary Innovations
• Supramolecular Chemistry: Designing Complex Molecular Structures
• The Chemistry of Battery Technologies: Advancements and Challenges
• Chemical Warfare Agents: A Historical and Contemporary Perspective
• Exploring the Chemistry of Antioxidants in Health and Wellness
• The Role of Transition Metals in Biological Systems: Bioinorganic Chemistry
• Environmental Impact of Pharmaceuticals: Analyzing Residue in Water Systems
• The Chemistry of Bioluminescence: Illuminating the Natural World
• Chirality in Drug Development: Importance and Challenges
• Chemical Aspects of Brewing: From Hops to Fermentation Processes

EPQ Ideas For Physics

• Quantum Computing: The Future of Information Processing
• Astrophysics and Dark Matter: Unraveling the Cosmic Mystery
• The Physics of Renewable Energy: Exploring Sustainable Power Sources
• String Theory: Investigating the Fundamental Building Blocks of the Universe
• Applications of Quantum Mechanics in Modern Technology
• The Physics of Time Travel: Theoretical Possibilities and Paradoxes
• Nuclear Fusion: Harnessing the Power of the Sun on Earth
• The Role of Physics in Medical Imaging Technologies
• The Physics of Music: Acoustics and Instrument Design
• Quantum Entanglement: Spooky Action at a Distance
• The Search for Extraterrestrial Life: Astrophysical Approaches
• Superconductivity: Applications and Challenges in Technology
• The Physics of Sports: Analyzing the Mechanics Behind Athletic Performance
• Gravitational Waves: Detecting Ripples in Spacetime
• The Physics of Climate Change: Understanding the Science Behind Global Warming
• Particle Physics: Exploring Subatomic Particles and Their Interactions
• The Physics of Fluid Dynamics: Applications in Engineering and Nature
• Theoretical Physics and the Nature of Reality: Einstein's Legacy
• Quantum Teleportation: The Possibilities and Limitations
• The Physics of Traffic Flow: Modeling and Optimization
• Black Holes: Nature's Most Mysterious Cosmic Phenomena
• The Physics of Quantum Computing: Challenges and Breakthroughs
• The Physics of Roller Coasters: Designing Thrilling Rides
• The Role of Physics in Medical Diagnostics: Imaging Techniques
• The Physics of Materials: Properties and Applications
• Chaos Theory: Understanding Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
• The Physics of Nuclear Weapons: Science and Global Security
• The Higgs Boson: Unraveling the Mysteries of Particle Mass
• The Physics of Artificial Intelligence: Quantum Computing Perspectives
• Optical Illusions: Exploring the Physics Behind Visual Deceptions

EPQ Ideas for Computer Science

• Quantum Computing: Promises, Challenges, and Potential Applications
• Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence: Bias, Accountability, and Transparency
• Blockchain Technology: Beyond Cryptocurrencies
• Cybersecurity Threats and Countermeasures in the Digital Age
• The Impact of Machine Learning on Healthcare: Diagnostics and Treatment
• Human-Computer Interaction: Designing User-Friendly Interfaces
• The Evolution of Programming Languages: From Assembly to High-Level Languages
• Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR): Applications and Future Trends
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Autonomous Vehicles
• Natural Language Processing: Challenges and Advances in Language Understanding
• Quantum Cryptography: Securing Communication with Quantum Mechanics
• The Ethics of Data Collection and Privacy in the Internet Age
• The Rise of Edge Computing: Redefining Cloud Computing Architectures
• Algorithmic Trading: The Impact of Automated Systems on Financial Markets
• Computer Vision: Applications in Image Recognition and Analysis
• The Intersection of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence: Creating Intelligent Machines
• Big Data Analytics in Business: Extracting Insights from Large Datasets
• The Role of Machine Learning in Predictive Policing: Benefits and Concerns
• The Future of Quantum Internet: Secure Communication with Quantum Entanglement
• Deep Learning: Neural Networks and Their Applications
• The Dark Web: Unveiling the Hidden Layers of the Internet
• The Impact of 5G Technology on Communication and Connectivity
• Programming Quantum Computers: Challenges and Opportunities
• The Role of Computer Science in Climate Modeling and Environmental Studies
• Voice Recognition Technology: Advancements and Challenges
• E-Learning Platforms: The Integration of Technology in Education
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery and Development
• Digital Forensics: Investigating Cyber Crimes and Security Breaches
• Internet of Things (IoT): Connecting Devices for a Smart Future
• Computer-Aided Design (CAD): Revolutionizing Engineering and Architecture

EPQ Ideas For Law

• The Impact of Cybercrime Laws on Digital Privacy
• Analyzing the Efficacy of International Human Rights Treaties
• The Legal Implications of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
• The Role of Constitutional Law in Shaping National Policies
• The Evolution of Criminal Law: From Traditional to Cyber Crimes
• Exploring the Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Euthanasia
• The Intersection of Law and Medicine: Medical Malpractice Cases
• Copyright Law in the Digital Age: Challenges and Solutions
• The Legal Status of Environmental Rights and Responsibilities
• Comparative Analysis of Legal Systems: Civil Law vs. Common Law
• The Impact of Social Media on Defamation Laws
• Legal Issues Surrounding Genetic Engineering and Human Cloning
• The Role of International Law in Addressing Climate Change
• The Legal Implications of Biometric Data Collection and Use
• Examining the Role of Legal Precedent in Judicial Decision-Making
• The Legalization of Marijuana: Impacts on Society and Legislation
• The Relationship Between Law and Economics: A Critical Analysis
• The Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Legal Protections and Challenges
• The Legal Dimensions of Cybersecurity: Policies and Practices
• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Intellectual Property Law
• The Legal Implications of Mass Surveillance Programs
• The Role of International Criminal Law in Addressing War Crimes
• Laws Governing Digital Currency and Cryptocurrencies
• The Legal and Ethical Issues of DNA Profiling in Criminal Investigations
• The Legal Status of Privacy in the Workplace
• The Intersection of Law and Technology: Challenges in the Digital Age
• LGBTQ+ Rights: Legal Progress and Ongoing Challenges
• The Legal Implications of Autonomous Vehicles on Traffic Laws
• Legal Issues Surrounding Data Privacy and Social Media Platforms
• The Role of Legal Ethics in the Practice of Law

EPQ Ideas for Psychology

• The Influence of Social Media on Mental Health: A Psychological Perspective
• Exploring the Relationship Between Sleep Patterns and Cognitive Functioning
• The Impact of Childhood Trauma on Adult Mental Health
• The Psychology of Addiction: Understanding Behavioral and Substance Dependencies
• The Role of Positive Psychology in Promoting Well-being and Happiness
• Analyzing the Effects of Video Games on Aggression and Behavior
• The Psychological Effects of Social Isolation and Loneliness
• The Intersection of Psychology and Artificial Intelligence: Ethical Considerations
• The Psychology of Decision-Making: Factors Influencing Choices
• Understanding the Psychological Impact of Chronic Illness on Patients
• The Relationship Between Personality and Career Choice: A Longitudinal Study
• The Influence of Parenting Styles on Child Development
• The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination: Exploring Implicit Bias
• The Effects of Mindfulness and Meditation on Mental Health
• The Psychology of Procrastination: Causes and Interventions
• Exploring the Connection Between Music and Mood: The Emotional Power of Music
• The Impact of Technology on Cognitive Development in Children
• The Psychology of Body Image: Media Influence and Societal Standards
• The Role of Attachment Theory in Understanding Interpersonal Relationships
• The Psychology of Leadership: Traits and Behaviors of Effective Leaders
• Analyzing the Psychological Factors Contributing to Eating Disorders
• The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Career Choices: A Psychological Perspective
• The Psychology of Resilience: Coping Mechanisms in the Face of Adversity
• The Effects of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Anxiety and Depression
• The Psychological Impact of Environmental Factors on Human Behavior
• The Relationship Between Personality Traits and Academic Achievement
• The Role of Psychology in Criminal Profiling and Investigative Techniques
• The Psychological Effects of Virtual Reality: Immersion and Presence
• Understanding the Psychology of Humor: The Cognitive and Emotional Aspects
• The Impact of Social Support on Mental Health Outcomes: A Comprehensive Study

EPQ Ideas for History

• The Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Society and Economy
• The Role of Women in Ancient Civilizations: A Comparative Study
• The Causes and Consequences of World War I: A Comprehensive Analysis
• The Significance of the Renaissance in European Cultural and Intellectual History
• The Legacy of Colonialism in Modern Africa: Social and Economic Impacts
• The Cultural and Political Effects of the Black Death in Medieval Europe
• The Rise and Fall of Ancient Empires: A Comparative Study of Rome and Persia
• The Harlem Renaissance: Cultural Flourishing in 1920s America
• The Impact of the Silk Road on Global Trade and Cultural Exchange
• The Cuban Missile Crisis: Cold War Tensions and Nuclear Diplomacy
• The Enlightenment and Its Influence on Modern Political Thought
• The Reconstruction Era in the United States: Successes, Failures, and Legacies
• The Role of Propaganda in Shaping Public Opinion During World War II
• The Cultural Revolution in China: Socio-Political Changes and Consequences
• The Mayan Civilization: Achievements, Decline, and Cultural Legacy
• The Causes and Effects of the French Revolution: A Historical Analysis
• The Role of Religion in Shaping Medieval European Society
• The Vietnam War: Causes, Course, and Legacy
• The Impact of the Bubonic Plague on Medieval European Society
• The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Historical Roots and Lasting Effects
• The Suffragette Movement: Women's Struggle for Voting Rights
• The Partition of India: Historical Roots and Socio-Political Consequences
• The Cold War Space Race: Scientific Achievements and Political Rivalry
• The Cultural Exchange Along the Silk Road: Art, Religion, and Ideas
• The Opium Wars in China: Imperialism and Its Consequences
• The Golden Age of Islamic Civilization: Contributions to Science, Art, and Philosophy
• The Crusades: Causes, Course, and Long-Term Effects
• The Impact of the Great Depression on Global Economies
• The Roman Empire and Its Legacy: Contributions to Law, Engineering, and Governance
• The Zulu Kingdom: Rise, Expansion, and Resistance to Colonial Rule

EPQ Ideas for Mathematics

• The P versus NP Problem: Unraveling the Complexity of Algorithms
• Fermat's Last Theorem: From Conjecture to Proof
• Fractals in Nature and Art: Exploring Mathematical Patterns
• Game Theory and Its Applications in Economics and Decision-Making
• The Riemann Hypothesis: A Deep Dive into Number Theory
• Graph Theory: Applications in Network Analysis and Optimization
• The Beauty of Mathematical Symmetry: Aesthetic and Structural Significance
• The Four Color Theorem: Coloring Maps with the Fewest Colors
• The Mathematics of Cryptography: Ensuring Information Security
• Knot Theory: Unraveling the Mathematics of Tangles and Knots
• The History and Impact of Calculus on Science and Engineering
• Prime Numbers and Cryptography: The RSA Algorithm
• The Applications of Probability Theory in Real-world Scenarios
• The Mathematics of Music: Harmonic Analysis and Composition
• Coding Theory: Error Detection and Correction in Data Transmission
• The Golden Ratio: Its Presence in Art, Architecture, and Nature
• The Traveling Salesman Problem: Optimization in Route Planning
• Hyperbolic Geometry: A Non-Euclidean Approach to Geometry
• The Application of Fourier Analysis in Signal Processing
• The Navier-Stokes Equations: Challenges in Fluid Dynamics
• The Mathematics of Climate Modeling: Understanding Global Patterns
• Zero Knowledge Proofs: Enhancing Security in Cryptography
• Combinatorial Game Theory: Strategies and Winning Strategies
• The Application of Fibonacci Numbers in Nature and Mathematics
• The Mathematics of Artificial Intelligence: Algorithms and Learning Models
• The Collatz Conjecture: An Unresolved Problem in Number Theory
• Mathematics in Ancient Civilizations: Contributions and Discoveries
• The Role of Topology in Understanding Shapes and Spaces
• The Mathematics of Quantum Mechanics: Probability and Wave Functions

EPQ Ideas for Film Studies

• The Evolution of Film Genres: A Comparative Analysis of Classic and Contemporary Approaches
• The Impact of Streaming Services on the Film Industry: Challenges and Opportunities
• The Representation of Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Cinema
• Cinematic Adaptations of Literature: Analyzing the Translation from Page to Screen
• The Influence of Film Scores on Audience Perception and Emotional Engagement
• The Role of Film Festivals in Shaping Global Cinema and Cultural Exchange
• The Art of Cinematography: Exploring the Work of Influential Cinematographers
• The Rise of Independent Cinema: A Critical Examination of Indie Filmmaking
• The Use of Color in Film: Symbolism and Visual Storytelling
• The Impact of Digital Technology on Film Production and Special Effects
• The Representation of Mental Health Issues in Cinema: A Critical Analysis
• Film Censorship: Examining the Ethics and Implications of Content Regulation
• The Auteur Theory: Analyzing the Creative Vision of Film Directors
• The Portrayal of Historical Events in Film: Accuracy and Interpretation
• The Influence of Cultural Diversity on Film Narratives and Storytelling
• The Golden Age of Hollywood: Examining the Studio System and its Legacy
• The Impact of Social Media on Film Promotion and Audience Reception
• The Role of Sound Design in Film: Enhancing Narrative and Atmosphere
• Cinematic Representations of Identity: Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality
• The Use of Symbolism in Surrealist Cinema: A Study of Visual Metaphors
• The Influence of French New Wave Cinema on Filmmaking Techniques
• The Role of Costume Design in Period Films: Creating Authenticity
• Cinematic Depictions of War: Propaganda, Realism, and Anti-War Messages
• The Impact of Film on Cultural Memory: Examining Cinematic Histories
• The Intersection of Animation and Technology: Innovations and Trends
• The Representation of LGBTQ+ Characters in Mainstream Cinema
• The Legacy of Silent Cinema: Influence on Contemporary Filmmaking
• Cinematic Depictions of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: Ethical Considerations
• The Use of Film as a Form of Political Activism: Case Studies and Analysis
• The Influence of Film Noir on Modern Crime and Mystery Genres

EPQ Ideas for Business

• The Impact of E-commerce on Traditional Retail: A Comparative Analysis
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Assessing its Role in Business Ethics
• The Rise of Gig Economy: Implications for Workers and Businesses
• Digital Marketing Strategies: A Comparative Study of Successful Campaigns
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Business Decision-Making
• The Influence of Globalization on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
• The Future of Work: Examining Trends in Remote Work and Flexibility
• Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities
• The Impact of COVID-19 on Business Models and Economic Resilience
• Strategic Management: Analyzing the Approaches of Successful Companies
• The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organizational Success
• Supply Chain Resilience: Lessons Learned from Global Disruptions
• Corporate Governance: Evaluating the Relationship Between Boards and Performance
• The Role of Innovation in Sustainable Business Practices
• The Effects of Consumer Behavior on Marketing Strategies and Branding
• Business Analytics: Leveraging Data for Informed Decision-Making
• The Impact of Diversity and Inclusion on Organizational Performance
• The Circular Economy: Shifting Towards Sustainable Business Practices
• Financial Technology (Fintech): Revolutionizing the Banking and Finance Industry
• Strategies for Managing Organizational Change: Case Studies and Best Practices
• The Role of Leadership Styles in Organizational Culture and Productivity
• The Influence of Corporate Culture on Employee Engagement and Performance
• Economic Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions: A Comparative Analysis
• The Role of Branding in Consumer Loyalty and Market Positioning
• The Integration of Blockchain Technology in Business Operations
• Corporate Innovation: Strategies for Fostering Creativity and Adaptability
• The Impact of Trade Policies on Global Business Operations
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Employee Training and Development Programs
• Business Resilience in Times of Crisis: Strategies for Sustainability
• The Role of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems in Enhancing Business Success

EPQ Ideas for Medicine

• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Diagnosing Medical Conditions
• The Impact of Telemedicine on Healthcare Accessibility
• Precision Medicine: Tailoring Treatments Based on Genetic Factors
• Exploring the Ethics of Human Gene Editing in Medicine
• The Relationship Between Gut Microbiota and Mental Health
• Analyzing the Effectiveness of Vaccination Programs in Preventing Diseases
• The Role of Stem Cell Therapy in Regenerative Medicine
• The Implications of CRISPR Technology in Genetic Medicine
• The Use of Nanomedicine in Cancer Treatment
• The Psychological Impact of Chronic Illness on Patients
• Global Health Disparities: Challenges and Solutions
• The Role of Artificial Organs in Transplantation Medicine
• The Intersection of Medicine and Artificial Intelligence in Imaging Diagnosis
• The Impact of Lifestyle Factors on Cardiovascular Health
• The Rise of Antibiotic Resistance: Causes and Strategies for Mitigation
• The Role of Epigenetics in Disease Development and Prevention
• The Ethics of Organ Transplantation: Allocation and Donor Criteria
• The Influence of Socioeconomic Factors on Healthcare Disparities
• The Use of Virtual Reality in Medical Training and Patient Care
• The Relationship Between Mental Health and Inflammatory Disorders
• Exploring the Potential of CRISPR in Treating Genetic Disorders
• The Impact of Climate Change on the Spread of Infectious Diseases
• The Application of 3D Printing in Medicine: Customized Implants and Prosthetics
• The Role of Medical Imaging in Early Disease Detection
• The Ethical Considerations of Human Cloning in Medicine
• The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive Function and Mental Health
• The Use of Robotics in Surgery: Advancements and Challenges
• The Psychological Factors in Patient Adherence to Treatment Plans
• The Impact of Social Determinants on Maternal and Child Health

EPQ Ideas for Engineering

• The Future of Sustainable Transportation: Electric Vehicles and Beyond
• Smart Cities: Integrating Technology for Urban Development
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Design and Automation
• Renewable Energy Integration into the Power Grid: Challenges and Solutions
• Biomimicry in Engineering: Learning from Nature for Innovative Design
• 3D Printing in Aerospace: Advancements and Applications
• The Impact of Internet of Things (IoT) on Industrial Automation
• The Use of Drones in Civil Engineering: Monitoring and Surveying
• Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking): Engineering Challenges and Environmental Impacts
• The Advancements in Materials Science for Aerospace Applications
• Designing Resilient Infrastructure: Strategies for Mitigating Natural Disasters
• The Role of Engineers in Space Exploration: Challenges and Contributions
• The Integration of Blockchain Technology in Engineering Systems
• The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Autonomous Vehicles
• The Future of High-Speed Rail: Technological Developments and Challenges
• Biomedical Engineering: Innovations in Medical Devices and Prosthetics
• The Use of Virtual Reality in Engineering Design and Simulation
• The Impact of Climate Change on Civil Engineering Infrastructure
• The Potential of Quantum Computing in Solving Complex Engineering Problems
• Carbon Capture and Storage: Engineering Solutions for Climate Change
• The Application of Machine Learning in Structural Health Monitoring
• The Role of Engineers in Disaster Response and Emergency Management
• Human-Centric Design in Robotics: Enhancing Human-Machine Interaction
• The Challenges and Opportunities in Developing Smart Grids
• The Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Engineering
• The Impact of 5G Technology on Communication Networks and Infrastructure
• The Engineering Behind Sustainable Architecture and Building Design
• The Future of Transportation: Hyperloop Technology and Maglev Trains
• The Role of Engineering in Water Treatment and Environmental Conservation
• The Challenges of Cybersecurity in Critical Infrastructure Systems

EPQ Ideas for Teaching

• The Impact of Technology on Classroom Learning: Opportunities and Challenges
• Inclusive Education: Strategies for Catering to Diverse Learning Needs
• The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Effective Teaching Practices
• Examining the Efficacy of Flipped Classroom Models in Education
• The Influence of Teacher Expectations on Student Performance
• Integrating Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into the Curriculum
• The Use of Gamification in Education: Engaging Students through Games
• Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of Remote Teaching and Learning
• Culturally Responsive Teaching: Creating Inclusive and Equitable Classrooms
• The Impact of Early Childhood Education on Cognitive Development
• Teacher Burnout: Causes, Prevention, and Strategies for Well-being
• Assessment Methods in Education: A Comparative Analysis
• The Role of Mindfulness in Teacher Professional Development
• Parental Involvement in Education: Its Influence on Student Success
• The Integration of Project-Based Learning in the Classroom
• The Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning Strategies in Primary Education
• Teacher-Student Relationships: Their Impact on Academic Achievement
• The Influence of Educational Leadership on School Culture
• The Impact of Standardized Testing on Curriculum and Instruction
• The Role of Educational Technology in Special Education
• The Importance of Teacher Training in Addressing Learning Disabilities
• The Psychology of Motivation in Education: Strategies for Student Engagement
• Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom: Strategies and Approaches
• Teacher Professional Development: Models for Continuous Learning
• The Benefits of Outdoor Education: Enhancing Learning through Nature
• The Role of Educational Psychology in Teaching and Learning
• Innovative Teaching Methods: Exploring Unconventional Approaches
• The Impact of Socioeconomic Factors on Educational Attainment
• The Influence of Teacher Feedback on Student Performance
• Educational Policies: Examining Their Effects on Classroom Practices

EPQ Ideas for Art

• The Evolution of Street Art: From Vandalism to Recognized Art Form
• Art and Activism: The Role of Visual Arts in Social Change
• Analyzing the Impact of Technology on Contemporary Art Practices
• The Influence of Cultural Diversity on Artistic Expression
• The Relationship Between Art and Mental Health: Exploring Therapeutic Benefits
• Art Conservation and Restoration: Balancing Preservation and Intervention
• The Intersection of Art and Artificial Intelligence: Creative Collaborations
• Feminist Art Movements: Examining Gender Representation in Art
• Surrealism in Contemporary Art: Resurgence and Modern Interpretations
• The Influence of Japanese Woodblock Prints on Western Art
• The Role of Public Art Installations in Urban Spaces
• The Representation of Identity in Contemporary Portraiture
• Exploring the Aesthetics of Environmental Art: Eco-conscious Creations
• The Impact of Photography on Traditional Painting: A Comparative Study
• Digital Art: Challenges and Opportunities in the Age of Technology
• The Psychological Impact of Color in Visual Arts: A Cross-Cultural Analysis
• Street Photography: Documenting Urban Life Through the Lens
• The Legacy of Abstract Expressionism: Influences on Contemporary Art
• The Role of Art in Holocaust Memorials and Commemoration
• Art as a Form of Protest: Examining Political Artistic Movements
• Cubism and Beyond: The Influence of Geometric Abstraction in Art
• The Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Art Practices
• The Intersection of Art and Science: Bioart and Technological Innovations
• Artistic Responses to Global Crises: War, Pandemics, and Climate Change
• The Representation of Women in Renaissance Art: Challenging Stereotypes
• Graffiti as an Artistic Expression: Breaking Down Stereotypes
• The Art Market: Commercialization and its Effects on Artistic Integrity
• The Influence of Indigenous Art on Modern and Contemporary Art Movements
• The Role of Museums in Shaping Artistic Discourse and Public Perception
• Art and Philosophy: Exploring the Relationship Between Visual and Conceptual Expression

EPQ Ideas for Politics

• The Impact of Social Media on Political Campaigns and Public Opinion
• Globalization and Its Effects on National Sovereignty
• The Rise of Populism: Causes, Consequences, and Challenges
• The Role of Women in Politics: Breaking Barriers and Redefining Leadership
• Climate Change Policy: Assessing International Cooperation and Challenges
• The Impact of Political Polarization on Democracy
• The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in International Relations
• Examining the Effectiveness of Electoral Systems: Proportional Representation vs. First-Past-The-Post
• The Ethics of Political Lobbying: Balancing Influence and Transparency
• The Relationship Between Economic Inequality and Political Instability
• Human Rights in the Digital Age: Challenges and Protections
• The Impact of Political Advertising on Voter Behavior
• The Influence of Political Cartoons on Public Perception
• Nationalism vs. Globalism: Debates and Implications in Contemporary Politics
• The Role of Political Satire in Shaping Public Discourse
• The Evolution of International Institutions: United Nations and Beyond
• The Impact of Cyber Warfare on International Relations
• The Rise of Authoritarianism: Global Trends and Regional Variances
• The Relationship Between Religion and Politics: Secularism vs. Theocracy
• Political Corruption: Causes, Consequences, and Strategies for Prevention
• The Politics of Immigration: National Security, Humanitarian Concerns, and Economic Impact
• The Impact of Disinformation on Elections and Democratic Processes
• The Role of Supranational Organizations in Shaping Global Governance
• The Politics of Climate Change: International Agreements and Domestic Policies
• The Influence of Political Ideologies on Policy Decision-Making
• The Role of Political Satire in Challenging Authoritarian Regimes
• The Impact of Political Activism and Protest Movements on Policy Change
• The Politics of Identity: Ethnicity, Race, and Nationalism
• The Role of Youth in Shaping Political Movements and Change
• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Political Decision-Making

How Many UCAS Points are in an EPQ?

The EPQ carries up to 28 UCAS points, depending on what grade you achieve.

Essentially, the EPQ is worth half the UCAS points of an A-level. Here are the different UCAS points you’ll get for different grades on your EPQ:

How Many UCAS Points in an EPQ?

Is the EPQ the Right Step for You?

An EPQ is time consuming, but the UCAS points and its other benefits could very well be worth the effort.

The question you’ll need to ask yourself is can you comfortably dedicate the time needed for it? Are the extra UCAS points needed for your dream university?

Speak with one of our expert advisors to find out if an EPQ is the right step for the perfect application. Students working with Crimson are 7x more likely to gain admission to their dream university!

What Makes Crimson Different

More Articles

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Bridging Systems and Continents: Converting Your A Levels to GPA

EPQ Tips from an A* Student

Featuring log book, essay & art artefact examples

Jennifer Leigh | 26th July 2020

EPQs and HPQs are, despite not nearly as well-known as GCSEs or A levels, a pretty significant qualification for a student to undertake during Senior School or Sixth Form. These project-based qualifications require a large amount of independent study and dedication outside the classroom, and this is why many students struggle to make the grades they aim for or sometimes never complete them.

I submitted my AQA Extended Project Qualification in 2019 and received an A*, with a mark of 48 out of 50. My EPQ was art-based with my sketchbook submitted as my artefact. You can view my submitted artefact and read my final essay here , which analysed different 19th century artists and considered what techniques and methods made an artist typically “Impressionist”. My sketchbook showed my entire EPQ journey, from initial mind maps to a set of paintings that offered a visual representation of what Impressionism looked like.

This article outlines 5 important tips I think all EPQ/HPQ students should know, whether they are writing an essay or creating an artefact. I've also included multiple excerpts from my log book, a key component of an EPQ which is often rushed or left to the last minute. I hope this can make the EPQ process less daunting to those who are unsure where to start or lacking support in their project.

1. A clear, research-based title

Your EPQ is all about research. It's so important to have this at the forefront of your mind throughout your project, otherwise it's easy to drop marks. For an artefact in particular, you could create the most ground-breaking invention ever, or draw something worthy that Picasso would marvel at, but if you haven't got some sort of research or development to back it up, then you will struggle to pick up top marks.

So, in order to stay on track, a research-based title can really help focus your project. For my EPQ, my title focus shifted a lot, becoming more and more focused with each revision. This allowed me to find a niche which set up a clear area to research.

Students must choose a topic, plan, research and develop their idea and decide on their finished product. The AQA Extended Project Qualification

Consider the following two working-titles for my EPQ project:

• What makes a true Impressionist artist?
• Is use of light and colour the sole feature that defines the Impressionist art era, or are there more significant motives behind the movement?

Which of these sounds clearer to you? Which would be easier to research? Granted, they seem like pretty different topics but, upon closer inspection, the latter title became a much more focused version of the former. While the former is very subjective, and could be written largely as an opinion piece, the second requires some level of research and professional sources which are necessary in an EPQ.

Generally, I have stuck to my initial concept to focus on three key Impressionist artists, looking at the extent they can be considered “true Impressionists”, based on the artistic techniques used. I have continued to display my research process through my sketchbook, including studies, gallery research and initial ideas for my final piece. I continue to plan to complete my project with a painting (or multiple) which reflects what I have learnt about Impressionist art during my EPQ.

However, I have found, through researching further into these artists, that there are features besides the use of colour in art which make artists Impressionists, deviating away from my initial plan to focus on how all artists use light/colour. Hence I have changed the title of my EPQ to reflect to what extent can light/colour be considered the main feature of Impressionist art, which I believe more accurately demonstrates what I have learnt from studying Monet, Degas and Cézanne.

2. Depict a journey

Since you aren't exactly being taught lessons on your EPQ subject, it is important to show some sort of progression during your project. Did you initially plan to give one argument, but changed paths based on new research you uncovered? Did you feel your EPQ taught you time management skills through having to create your own time plan? Have your research abilities improved by undertaking an EPQ? While the latter two are great points to talk about in your 'Summary and reflection', the former should be something you constantly consider throughout completing both your log book, and maybe even your essay.

Originally, I planned to have a large series of paintings that demonstrate the key ideas of the Impressionists; however, after discussion with the school’s art department, I decided to reduce this to a series of two paintings, in order to develop these as fully as possible in the time I have, while still showing the contrast evident in so many Impressionist works.

[...] Another way in which I have changed my EPQ is making my sketchbook my artefact, rather than my final painting; I feel that my sketchbook is a better demonstration of the amount of research that has gone into my EPQ and has become a visual representation of my project. I plan to include photos and documentation of my final piece so that my sketchbook will show the full journey of my EPQ.

3. Understand the Assessment Objectives

This ties in pretty well with the first two points, but in order to score highly, you should try to regularly check the assessment objectives for your EPQ and make sure you've got plenty of high-level evidence for each AO. Here's a breakdown of the AQA EPQ Assessment Objectives (as of 2020), along with how you can pick up marks on each one.

• Manage : Make sure you show evidence of planning your time and your project. Your 'Planning review' is perfect for this - you can try a detailed timeline or even a Gantt chart, but make sure every stage of your EPQ is spelt out in advance.
• Use Resources : This is your research AO. You should use multiple sources, critically assess them and consider their strengths and weaknesses.
• Develop and Realise : This makes up a whooping 40% of your grade and is the bulk of your work - essentially, you need to take your planning and research stages, and make them into something that tackles your specific EPQ area. This is the difference between simply stating your sources, and drawing thoughtful conclusions from them.
• Review : Lastly, this AO assesses your evaluation of the EPQ. It includes primarily your presentation and your log book 'Summary and reflection'. Consider what has gone well during your project and whether or not you've achieved the aims set out at the beginning of your EPQ.

4. Find a range of reliable sources...

...even if it means scouring some hidden nocks in your school's art department for every last book on Impressionist art methods! I spent more hours in the art room than the A Level artists some weeks, just so I could skim art history books with the hopes of finding something that could be relevant to techniques rather than the life history of specific artists.

I was able to collect research from the National Art Gallery, including photos, first-hand observational studies and the gallery’s book for the exhibition. Degas is one of the more famous Impressionists, who frequently experimented with colour as well as composition, which could make him a useful artist to research further. Generally, it is important to look at art first-hand in order to analyse and appreciate it best, hence why I plan to go to local art galleries, which are easily accessible, in order to gain further research about the Impressionists.

[...] I hope to look at a wide array of sources and books in order to find the most reliable information; these books all focus on Impressionism (or an Impressionist) which would imply they are well researched. By looking at more than one book on Monet and other Impressionists, I hope to obtain a better idea of what techniques they used in their artworks. [...] I plan to research and focus on a number of key paintings which I find are distinct to the Impressionist era. As someone who has concentrated on still life in the past, I thought looking in more detail at one of Monet’s few still life paintings could be a good starting point for researching his technique.

Remember that despite how easy it is to just go online to research on Wikipedia, it's also important to check who has written the source, and why. There might be some bias that could lead you to false conclusions. Try to look at books or research papers where you know that the authors are well-known in their field. You should still analyse bias in their work, but at least you can trust that its well-written and contains a reasonable argument.

5. Trust your supervisor

They do mark your projects, after all.

With any coursework-based assessment, it is always important to listen to your supervisor or teacher, even if you don't necessarily agree with them. Since they are ultimately the ones giving you your grades, any advice that they give you which you don't follow will only cost you marks. Since EPQs are 100% coursework-based, this is absolutely one of the best pieces of advice I can give.

Similarly, if you have the opportunity to meet with your supervisor frequently, take it! Continue to ask them the question "what can I do to make this better?" or "what grade am I currently working at?" - having that kind of clarity during your EPQ is really helpful and avoids any particularly unexpected surprises come results day.

At the end of the day, completing an EPQ can be a hugely rewarding project, but it's helpful to know what you're getting into. Hopefully these tips are useful to those starting out or struggling with their project.

Below you can read my full 'Summary and reflection' from my log book, the final section which analyses your EPQ process from start to finish. Again, my essay and artefact are also online and available to view here. I hope this article has been somewhat helpful and I wish you the best with your HPQ/EPQ.

If you're new to my blog, welcome! My name is Jenny and I'm an artist, studyblogger and maths student currently at University. Please consider subscribing to my blog for new articles (just scroll down) or checking out my Instagram @pastel.inspire for regular content. Have a great day!

Summary and reflection

The purpose of my EPQ was to analyse Impressionist artists’ work and conclude whether or not use of light and colour is the sole feature that defines the Impressionist art era, or whether there more significant motives behind the movement. My artefact was a sketchbook that documented the entire process of my EPQ, from initial research and art studies to planning for a final painting. Part of my project included a series of two paintings, based upon the techniques and aims I’d learnt as part of my research, to get a first-hand insight into the thought process of the Impressionists and develop my understanding of the artists.

Originally, the focus of my project had been to discuss to what extent various artists of that time period could be considered “true Impressionists”, however I soon found that this topic was too vague as I struggled to analyse all areas of an artist’s style and technique. I then decided to focus on the use of light and colour by artists, as I initially assumed that capturing light using colour was the main motive of the Impressionists. Hence, I began by focusing on Claude Monet, as I knew he was a key Impressionist of the time. However, as I developed my research, I found that Monet’s focus on capturing light was due to another, much broader motive: capturing a moment in a scene. Following this discovery, I found that Monet associated creating an impression not only with atmospheric colours, but in other areas of his paintings, such as with liberal, broad strokes leaving undefined features in his works.

Following this discovery, I adjusted my area of research to a more critical analysis of how use of light and colour could not be considered Impressionist on its own– it had to be part of the greater aim to capture a spontaneous moment in time. I decided to research in depth two artists from the Impressionist era with very different styles, to support my idea that Impressionist art was defined by creating an impression rather than unique use of colour. I analysed Edgar Degas, who had a very different style to Monet, preferring to focus on the human form rather than colourful landscapes; despite this, I learnt that Degas shared that same aim with Monet to capture a moment, yet achieved this in a very different way, using cropped compositions and loose soft pastel sketches. In contrast, I also researched Paul Cézanne to support my statement that colour was not enough to define an artist as Impressionist. While Cézanne is widely considered an Impressionist by the public today, due to his bright colour palette, various art historians actually believe that Cézanne led the Post-Impressionist movement, since he focused on creating a crystalline composition with a carefully planned composition; this approach is very different to that of Monet and Degas, with Cézanne aiming to capture a period of time rather than a moment. This supported my revised argument that creating an impression was the main feature and aim of Impressionist artists, with Cézanne giving evidence as to why the Impressionist era was unique to any neighbouring art era.

As a result of my project, I’ve learnt a huge amount about the history of the Impressionists. I began my EPQ assuming that art eras were defined by the techniques an artist used, while in reality they are based upon the aims and thought processes of the artists. As the mindset and approach the artist takes changes, so do the techniques and stylisation, which results in a new era of art. Over my project, I have developed a much more critical eye towards art and further appreciation as to how no two artists of the same art era have the same technique. I have really enjoyed learning more about why various Impressionist artists developed certain styles, such as how Degas’ use of cropped compositions was due to his fascination with how the newly-invented camera captured moments of unsuspecting dancers or members of the public. Despite starting my EPQ late in the year, I am glad to have completed my project, although I wish I had started it earlier, since it has been difficult to work on my project during the UCAS process and the added stress of A Levels. Having a plan which forced me to complete most of my research before the start of Year 13 really helped, despite having been both ahead and behind of my plan at various points in my project.

Initially, my project lacked a definitive purpose or clear idea of what area of Impressionism to focus on, so I struggled to collet research and was overwhelmed with the amount of information at my disposal. However, once I decided I would only focus on three key artists and decided on a specific title and aim of my project, the research became significantly more manageable. I began my research by looking for books on general Impressionism, however I found that many of my resources focused on the history of the movement, rather than on the artists’ techniques. In order to learn more about the Impressionists’ techniques themselves, I visited multiple exhibitions on Impressionism, including exhibitions specifically on Degas and Monet. This proved to be just as useful as all the written resources, as it offered evidence as to how the artworks made me feel as a viewer. If I could undertake a similar project in the future, I would focus on exhibitions as my primary source of research, as it gave me a chance to analyse and understand the paintings from up close. I also found that art exhibitions offered useful art commentary, including written analysis of the art that I struggled to find in many books. Despite this, I did find that using multiple art exhibitions and art history books meant that my findings were generally supported with evidence from other sources.

I also began my artefact sketchbook with initial research pages of Impressionism, art studies of paintings by various Impressionists and artist research, yet felt that this did not sufficiently depict the amount of research I’d done, leading me to add short essays of analysis on my three key artists, to show how my research progressed throughout my project. I found that recreating artworks by artists really helped me gain an understanding as to why and how the artists worked; painting in the style of Cézanne felt significantly more rigid and structured than painting in the styles of Monet or Degas, supporting my argument with first-hand evidence as to how these artists differed.

Overall, I really enjoyed my project and feel that it was a valuable learning opportunity to understand what defines Impressionist art. Despite changing my focus of my EPQ specifically to an argument on light and colour, I still believe that this project has given me a better understand of what makes a “true Impressionist”. I also feel that my project has developed my artistic ability, forcing me to notice and understand subtle variations in art style between artists of the same period of art. Changing the focus of my project to a specific analysis of light and colour really helped develop my project and I would recommend to anyone undertaking an art EPQ to find a clear area to focus on. I also would encourage a full documentation of an art-based EPQ with a sketchbook, instead of simply a final artwork, as it offers a much better insight into the amount of research you’ve done. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Impressionist art through my EPQ project and feel I have developed as a researcher and artist from this experience.

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EPQs: writing up your dissertation

The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is an opportunity for you to work independently on a topic that really interests you or that you think is important. It is equivalent to an A-level qualification. These articles are designed to help you if you are enrolled on an EPQ.

See previous article in series: Finding and using evidence

Writing up your dissertation.

Being able to communicate well is an essential skill for both university and working life. One of the aims of the EPQ is to help you develop your skills in using different communication tools, so you can communicate what you have found clearly and appropriately for different audiences.

Communication is also a vital part of the research cycle. The progress of research thrives on the exchange, review and discussion of ideas. Writing is one of the ways in which we communicate what we have found out and share it with others. 

Sharing the results of your research by writing well and effectively gives your readers the opportunity to learn from the work you have done.

This article offers suggestions and support for developing your skills in writing in the academic style that is needed for your EPQ dissertation.

Getting organised .

It’s worth considering a few practical points first. The start of writing is a good time to gather your material together and get yourself organised. 

• Don’t lose your work
• Timings & deadlines
• Organise your records
• Laying out the document
• Tables, graphs and charts

You don’t want to find yourself a few days – or hours – from the submission deadline when a computer breakdown or accident means you lose everything you’ve done.

It has happened before, and you don’t want it to happen to you!

Build a routine for backups into your work pattern. For example, when you sit down to write, save a copy (named, for example, Version 1, Version 2 ... Version 25 ...) of the existing document before you make any changes.

And back up your backup. Once a week, make a backup copy of your files (your dissertation, your notes and the resources you have collected) to an external hard drive, memory stick or cloud storage.

Work out how much time you have to write your dissertation, and how much time you want to allocate to each section. (There’ll be more on this shortly under ‘Structuring the dissertation – Start with the structure’.)

Make sure you know – and have written down! – the deadlines for submitting your dissertation, including deadlines for any draft versions your teacher might want to see. Use these to help plan your writing time.

There are many tools to choose from to keep yourself on track.  For example, you could create a table with a list of tasks.

Or you could make a simple Gantt chart, using a spreadsheet. If you use Microsoft Excel, it has some Gantt chart templates. The advantage of a Gantt chart is that it makes it easier to see how you can overlap some tasks, and you can mark important milestones such as submission deadlines .

As you have gone through the process of collecting and analysing the evidence you need to answer your research question, you will have gathered records of:

• what you looked for (the search terms you used in your searches)
• where you looked (search engines, websites, etc.)
• what you read / watched / listened to (academic papers, articles, videos, podcasts, etc.)
• the notes you made on your reading, listening and watching
• the data you have gathered.

All these sources contribute to the content of your written dissertation. Hopefully you have good records, but if you got a bit behind, now is the time to sort them out and remind yourself what you did and what you found out.

If you need a reminder of what information you need to keep, look back at  Article 2 – Finding and using evidence .

Organising your records and keeping a note of the sources you mention in the text as you write helps you build a comprehensive reference list.

There is more information on how to set out your reference list later in this article (see ‘Structuring the dissertation – Referencing styles’ ).

Laying out your document in a clear and neat style helps make your readers’ life easier.

For the  text , use a classic font such as Arial, Helvetica or Times New Roman. It’s best to avoid quirky fonts such as Comic Sans, or difficult to read fonts such as Lucida handwriting.

For easy reading, the  font  shouldn’t be too small. 11 or 12 point is a popular choice for the main (or body) text, which is usually black in colour. You can use larger fonts for headings and sub-headings, and perhaps make them bold or a different colour.

Generous margins also make the document easier to read. As a guide, around half the area of the page should be white space; on an A4 page, that means margins of about 2cm all round.

Use the paragraph styling tool . It’s well worth investing some time learning to use paragraph styling in  Microsoft Word  and  Mac Pages ; it can really speed up the creation of long documents and help you produce good-looking work.

This tool gives you control over the appearance of the text in your document. For example, you can use it to include automatic numbering for your headings ( Word  or  Pages ). This means you don’t have to manually change all the numbering if you insert a new heading or delete one that is no longer useful. You can also use automatic numbering for figure and table captions. Or, if you decide you don’t like the font you have used, you can change it in the paragraph style and it will be changed throughout the document.

Some kinds of evidence – such as numeric data – work well when displayed as graphs, charts and tables.

Readers should be able to make sense of the graph, chart or table without explanation.

Look at Table 2. Is it clear what information the creator wanted to share?

A better example can be seen below in Table 3:

Graphs and charts need titles too. They should also have axis titles (naming what is plotted on each axis, with the relevant units) and axis labels (the values plotted).

When it comes to plotting graphs, using different shapes or line styles can help readers distinguish different data points or collections of data on a single graph. You can use contrasting colours, but keep in mind that too many colours can be distracting for the reader. And some readers – for example, people who are colour-blind or have vision problems – might not be able to distinguish between certain colours, so choose carefully.

Look at Figure 3. Does it have all the elements of a good graph? Could anything be improved?

This has many of the requirements of a good graph. The title explains what the graph is about, the axes are labelled and the four search terms are each given their own colour, with a key to show which is which.

It could be made better by:

• making the graph larger, so that the four lines are more separate
• choosing different colours – the orange for ‘Perseverance’ and the yellow for ‘astrobiology’ are difficult to distinguish from each other.

Evidently, something interesting must have happened in mid-February to cause this spike in searches – you might remember that on 18 February 2021, the NASA Mars Perseverance Rover mission landed on Mars!

Structuring the dissertation .

Facing a blank page and the prospect of writing 5000 or so words can feel daunting. But you can structure the way you write to help make the task easier.

• Start with the structure
• Facing the blank page
• The narrative arc
• Finishing things off
• Referencing styles

Starting with the structure will help you consider how you want the dissertation to flow, and how to allocate your time and effort.

This example, taken from the Edexcel documentation, gives a suggested word count for the different sections of a ‘research review’ dissertation. All the exam boards publish their requirements, so you should  check the requirements for your board and the type of EPQ you are doing .

A ‘research review’ dissertation would probably follow something like the structure above. For other kinds of project, check with your teacher or look at the exam board’s requirements.  Knowing what structure the exam board is expecting helps you to know where to focus your effort.

In Table 4, you can see that the biggest section of the dissertation is the discussion/development/analysis of the argument, so it would make sense to spend the largest part of your writing time on this section. Look back at the Gantt chart under ‘Getting organised – Tables, graphs and charts’ for an example of time allocated in this way.

You’ve opened a new document.  You know the sections you need to include.

How do you get started on the sentences that will fill the gaps in between?  Two researchers offered suggestions from their experience.

Robert, a space scientist, says he usually works out the first paragraph in his head before sitting down to write.

• Ann’s summary

This is how Charlotte described her approach. First step, open a Word document!

Second step, write titles and sub-headings on the page. These can be working titles that you can come back to and polish once you have developed the document. But getting that structure down on the page is a key step for Charlotte in building the document and working out how the manuscript is going to flow. Once she’s broken the document up into sections, it feels much less daunting for her. Instead of starting at word one of six thousand, she’s working on smaller, more manageable chunks – word one of a hundred, or two hundred.

Step three is to write down the aims, objectives and scope of the document. And then she goes on to write the conclusions. And she says yes, that’s not a typo – if you’ve done a good job of researching the topic, developing the aims and objectives and making your notes, then writing the conclusion first should be relatively easy. The benefit of writing the end of your manuscript before the beginning is that you’re less likely to go off on tangents when you’re writing the rest of the manuscript, because you know where you’re heading.

If you feel you’ve thoroughly researched your topic and you’re still finding it hard to work out what your conclusions are, then it may be a good idea to turn your research notes into a presentation, during which you can ask yourself ‘what key message do I want the audience to walk away with?’, and that will be your conclusion.

Step five: write the remaining sections of the dissertation, justifying and building your arguments for each conclusion.

Charlotte’s main points

Charlotte’s steps are:

• Open a Word document!
• Write titles and sub-headings on the page.
• Write down the aims, objectives and scope of the document.
• Write the conclusion – ask yourself ‘what key message do I want the audience to walk away with?’
• Write the remaining sections, justifying and building your arguments for each conclusion.

Headings and sub-headings

Charlotte described how she likes to set up the headings and sub-headings that structure her writing, even though she knows they might change as the document develops.

Using descriptive headings, such as ‘The history of ...’ tells the reader what to expect in that section or chapter. This is sometimes called ‘signposting’, because the headings and sub-headings guide the reader around your work. 

As well as descriptive headings, you can number your headings and sub-headings: 

• Section 1: An introduction to… 
• Section 1.1 : The history of ... 

This means you can refer the reader back and forth (e.g. ‘see Section 1.2’), which cuts down repetition and wasted words.

Both approaches have the merit of getting something on to the blank page, which makes it look much less scary.

Whether you start with an opening paragraph, a set of headings, or another method that works for you, getting those first few words on the page is one of the biggest hurdles to clear.

Narrative – the story thread that runs through any piece of work we create – is important in any piece of writing.  Stories keep people’s attention, as storytellers have known for hundreds of years. Writers, broadcasters and podcasters continue to make use of this fact today.

One way to think about how you shape your story is to consider its narrative arc. Yes, even the most ‘science-y’ of dissertations has a story.

Click on the crosses on Figure 6 to find out more about the components of the narrative arc.

Figure 6   The narrative arc

Points on the narrative arc

Description : A parabolic curve representing the narrative arc of a story. The first half of the curve rises to a peak, showing the points that   build interest  in the story. The second half falls back to the baseline, showing how we  reflect   on the details of the story and bring it to a close.

– In the Introduction , attract the reader’s attention at the start, perhaps by telling them what got you interested in the question; a personal interest, an ambition or a desire to know more about a topic.

– In the Introduction , describe the journey to your research question. Make sure you do actually tell your reader what your question is (you’d be surprised how often people forget that!)

Information

– In the Research Review section, you show the reader how you found your evidence; tell them about the keywords you used, the mindmaps, flowcharts, tables you made; what information was important and what was not; what stayed in and what didn’t.

– This is your analysis of the material you found, showing how you pulled together the information you uncovered in your review and what it meant for your question. However, this isn’t an absolute rule; where you put the analysis depends on the kind of dissertation you are writing.

– Tell the reader what you found out and how it relates to what is already known.

– Use the Conclusion to round off your story. What’s the answer to your research question? What did you discover? What’s still not known?

There are a couple of sections of the dissertation that are best dealt with towards the end of the writing process: abstract and bibliography.

The abstract

At the beginning of the dissertation, you should provide a short summary or abstract.

An abstract is like a trailer for a film or television programme. It gives the reader a sense of what’s in the dissertation. However, unlike a trailer, it’s OK to give away the ending! Someone who only reads the abstract, and never looks at the dissertation, should still understand the scope of your work.

For this reason, it’s easier to write the abstract towards the end of your writing time, when you have a complete picture of your work in your mind.

The abstract is usually quite short (perhaps only 200 words) and is written in one paragraph. That’s not much space, so what should you include?

A typical abstract would tell the reader:

• why  you did this research –  the question you set out to answer
• how  you did the research –  the methods you used to collect the data and where you looked for it
• what  you found out –  a summary of your main findings
• the  key message  –  the answer to your question; if your readers could remember just one thing from your dissertation, this would be it.

One way to approach writing the abstract is to read through your dissertation section by section. For each section, write one or two sentences that summarise the main point. Click on ‘example’ to see what we mean.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is growing rapidly among young people, but the usefulness and safety of some therapies is controversial. Therefore, I investigated the question: what are the best places to reach young people with information about CAM?

Using Google Scholar, I searched for articles using different combinations of these search terms: ‘alternative medicine’, ‘complementary medicine’, understanding, knowledge, motivation, CAM. I filtered the results to keep only articles that related to the use of CAM by young people. I defined ‘young’ as people under the age of 25. I downloaded twenty complete papers, articles and other resources from open access sources and the Open University research repository.

Use of CAM by young people has increased since 2000. Young women use CAM more than young men. The most common sources for getting information about CAM are friends and family and social media.

Key message

The best way to provide information for young people about CAM is through social media.

Take away the headings and polish the sentences and you have an abstract:

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is growing rapidly among young people, but the usefulness and safety of some therapies is controversial. Therefore, I investigated the question: what are the best places to reach young people with information about CAM? Using Google Scholar, I searched for articles using different combinations of these search terms: ‘alternative medicine’, ‘complementary medicine’, understanding, knowledge, motivation, CAM. I filtered the results to keep only articles that related to the use of CAM by young people. I defined ‘young’ as people under the age of 25. My search found twenty relevant papers, articles and other resources, which I downloaded from open access sources and the Open University research repository. My results show that young people’s most common sources for information about CAM are friends and family and social media. Therefore, I believe that using social media is the best way to provide information about CAM for young people.

The bibliography or reference list

The last thing to include in your dissertation is the bibliography or reference list * .

Your reference list shows the people who read (and mark!) your dissertation how well you have researched your subject and how your arguments are supported by evidence from other people’s research. 

It is also evidence of how you have been open and honest in your work. Readers can use it to find the sources that you used and check that you have read and used them correctly. 

Using your reference list, a reader should be able to find that source for themselves if they want to follow up an idea or check something you have written. Including a reference list helps you avoid plagiarism (passing off someone else’s work as your own), because readers can check the original source if they have any doubts.

If you need a reminder of what information you should keep, look back at  ‘Finding and using evidence – Keeping track’ .

* A reference list is a list of all references to other people’s work that you have mentioned in your dissertation. A bibliography is a list of references, plus the background readings or other material that you have read but not actually mentioned.

The Open University Library Services’  Referencing and plagiarism   page has lots of help and pointers to further information about references and referencing styles.

If you go on to study at university, and have to write essays, assignments and reports, you will be asked to set out – or ‘style’ – reference lists in a specific way. There are many different referencing styles; which one you are asked to use will depend on the subject you are studying and the university’s requirements.

For the EPQ, check the requirements of your exam board or ask your teacher what these are.

Even if you aren’t asked to use a specific style, you should aim to include as much information about the sources as possible. The minimum information would be:

• the authors’ (or creators’) names
• the year the source was published
• the title of the article or book chapter, or the name of the artwork, film or video
• the title of the journal or the book in which the article/chapter appeared
• for books – the name of the publisher
• for online sources – the name of the website and the page on which the article appeared, the URL of the website, and the date on which you read the article*.

*The date you found the article is important for online sources, as websites sometimes disappear or are changed. If the reader can’t find the same article but knows when you found it, that suggests they can trust the source.

These examples are laid out in the Harvard referencing style, which is a style used in many university subjects.

Books and ebooks

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title . Edition if later than first. Place of publication: publisher. Series and volume number if relevant.

Mukherjee, S. (2011)  The Emperor of all Maladies .  London: Fourth Estate.

Article from an academic journal

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) ‘Title of article’, Title of Journal , volume number (issue number), page reference. Doi: doi number if available OR Available at: URL (Accessed date)

Ungar, S. (2008) ‘Global bird flu communication: hot crisis and media reassurance’,  Science Communication ,  29(4), 472-497. DOI: 10.1177/1075547008316219

Article from a newspaper or magazine

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) ‘Title of article’, Title of Newspaper , Day and month, Page reference if available. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Rice-Oxley, M. (2021) ‘Do good things come to those who wait?’,  The Guardian ,  26 February. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/26/do-good-things-come-to-those-who-wait (Accessed 26 February 2021).

Organisation (Year that the page was last updated) Title of web page . Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

BBC Online (2020) How New Zealand relied on science and empathy . Available at: bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52344299 (Accessed 17 September 2020).

Writing clearly .

Good writing takes time, effort and energy. Being able to produce clear, readable, logical and well-argued pieces of writing is important in both university and in your working life.

• Precise & concise
• Keep it simple
• A word about style
• Quoting others

Blaise Pascal was a seventeenth-century mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher and writer.  He once wrote:

‘ Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte ’ .

–Blaise Pascal, Provincial Letters, Letter XVI, December 1656.

Translation:  ‘I wrote this very long [letter] because I didn’t have the time to make it shorter’.

What do you think Pascal meant by this?

Claire, whose research looks for evidence of how we might ‘ sniff’ for life , produced a mind map of what she thinks Pascal meant (Figure 9). The audio below describes her process.

Claire’s mind map takes us on quite a journey. Starting from Pascal’s premise that it’s better to write short than long, slower than quicker, makes her think about the need for concision, to look for concise words, words that are specific and measured, not being confusing, the need to choose the right word. Not always easy in English, where one word can have a variety of meanings. 

She suggest perhaps using a thesaurus, but that could lead down the pathway of having too many words to choose from and not being able to decide which one to pick. Thinking about the dissertation, she introduces a word we all dread – waffling! No one wants to be a waffler, and giving too much information might make your readers’ heads explode. 

And yet we must explain our concepts, because we want our writing to be understood by everyone but that means a balance with explaining too much. We need to give enough detail to make our point understood, and scientific, if it’s that kind of research question, without being too complicated. All in all, it comes down to the need to simplify.

More tips from Ann

As Pascal – and Claire – suggest, taking out what isn’t needed is as important as putting in what is.

Writing clearly and to the point takes time, effort and energy. Allow yourself plenty of time to draft, review, get feedback, edit ... draft again, review again, get more feedback, edit again … … check, proof-read, finish.

As we established earlier, your dissertation will have a word allowance. EdExcel, for example, suggests a research review dissertation should be around 6000 words. That sounds like a lot, but then, you’ve done a lot of work that needs to be included.

The exact figure will depend on the exam board’s requirements and the kind of EPQ you have carried out, so check before you start writing, or ask your teacher.

The best writers keep things as simple as possible. It’s a way of being kind to your readers and making the task of reading easier.

However, keeping things simple isn’t simple. As Steve Jobs, the designer and co-founder of Apple said: ‘Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple’. The same applies to writing.

When you’ve done a complex piece of work, it’s tempting to think you can only describe it in complex language. But you should try to avoid the pitfall of using over-complicated language. You don’t want to run the risk of sounding pompous or making your text too difficult to understand.

You’ve almost certainly come across simple questions with unnecessarily complicated answers before. Here’s an example. Which is the best answer to this question?

The Up Goer Five challenge

To practise writing in simple language, you can take the Up Goer Five challenge. This is a project by the artist Randall Monroe, creator of  XKCD . 

The challenge is to explain a  hard idea using only the ‘ten hundred’ most common words  in the English language.  As an example, how might we explain ‘astrobiology’?:

We think about where we might find living things. We take stuff from places – dry places, cold places, hot places – and we put it in stuff that we think has what living things need to grow. We wait, then we use a seeing-small-things tool to look for the living things. At the moment, we look at stuff from here but one day, we want to look at stuff from other stars.

Have a go at using the  Up Goer Five text editor  (which has a  link to the ten hundred most common words ) to explain an idea related to your research topic. If you find it tricky to think of an idea, here are a few to get you started:

• global warming and its consequences
• what causes earthquakes
• the problems caused by the misuse of antibiotics.

You wouldn’t write your dissertation in this style, but experimenting with writing like this helps develop skills in keeping things simple, avoiding jargon and complicated language and writing in short sentences and paragraphs.

We all write in different ways every day, depending on who we’re writing for. The style of a textbook is different from the style of a WhatsApp message; we write an email to a family member in a different style from the way we would write a personal statement for a university application.

When we write anything, we start by thinking about our readers and the kind of writing they are expecting to see.

For the EPQ dissertation, start by checking the requirements of the exam board you are studying with. It is very likely that the exam board will want the dissertation to be written in a formal style; the kind of style you will have seen in the academic articles and books you drew on in your research.

Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work as your own. It is, essentially, theft of someone else’s work. 

Learning alongside a friend, discussing ideas or sharing your thoughts can be helpful and valuable. We have also encouraged you to take notes on everything that you find. So, it is likely that you have ideas you want to present in your report that are not entirely your own.

Plagiarism can occur in a variety of ways. It can mean copying someone else’s text and passing it off as your own, or copying and pasting text/images from a web page and pretending they are your own work. It can also overlap with what is called ‘collusion’, which means collaborating with someone to share work on a task that you are expected to complete by yourself.

Try this interactive resource from OpenLearn to understand some of the challenges and ways to avoid plagiarism. This is aimed at university students, but it will be relevant for the EPQ.

All my own work

Plagiarism comes in all shapes and forms. Step into the shoes of a university student to learn the challenges and temptations facing her during her assignment, and help make it all her own work.

Level: 1 Introductory

There will be points in your dissertation when you want to present ideas that have come from someone else’s work. How can you do this while avoiding plagiarism?

Identify your sources

If you have used an image, graph or chart created by someone else, identify where the image has come from and who made it.

You might remember this image from  Article 1 , in the section on dealing with feedback.

This image comes from an online picture library, creazilla.com. They have placed it in the ‘public domain’, which means it can be re-used freely. Show this information in the image caption within your work.

If you create a graph, chart or table yourself, identify the source of the data, as you saw earlier in ‘ Getting organised – Tables, graphs and charts ’.

If you find a phrase or a sentence in a source that helpfully illustrates a point you are trying to make, you can quote that in your work. You must quote it exactly as the authors wrote it. After the quote, you give the name of the author, the date of publication and the page where the quote is from. Then give the full reference in your reference list (see ‘ Structuring the dissertation – Referencing styles ’). For example:

This shows that the format of an infographic can influence people’s responses to the evidence. For example, ‘ graphs commonly used to show descriptive statistics, such as line or area graphs, may also appear “scientific” and create a pseudo sense of trustworthiness ’ (Li et al., 2018, p. 4).

The quote marks (‘…’) show which words are the quote.  

We use the Latin phrase ‘et al.’ (meaning ‘and others’) when an article has more than three authors, so that the reader doesn’t have to read through a long list of names. In the reference list, you would see the full list of authors along with the other source details:

Li, N., Brossard, D., Scheufele, D., Wilson, P. and Rose, K. (2018) ‘Communicating data: interactive infographics, scientific data and credibility’,  Journal of Science Communication, 17(2), A06. DOI: 10.22323/2.17020206

When you paraphrase, you express an idea that has come from someone else in your own words. You might do this to re-state the idea in simpler language, or to bring together the ideas of several writers on the same topic. Paraphrasing can also help you show that any new ideas you’ve put together from your research are supported by earlier research.

You should show where the ideas you have paraphrased came from, but because you are not directly quoting, you need only give the authors’ names and the date of publication. For example:

My survey of fifty young people aged 16 to 18 showed that their social media posts were most often connected with current events. This is supported by earlier research, which shows that the most common topics for young people’s posts are current events, health and fitness, and celebrity and entertainment news, closely followed by science and technology (Hargittai, Füchslin & Schäfer, 2018) .

In the reference list, you would see:

Hargittai, E., Füchslin, T. and Schäfer, M. (2018) ‘How do young adults engage with science and research on social media?’,  Social Media + Society, July-September 2018, 1-10, DOI: 10.1177/205630511879772

Although your dissertation must be all your own work, you can ask for help to review what you have written.

How do you ask for help, then, while keeping the dissertation all your own work and avoiding plagiarism?

Reviews – who and when?

Before you ask someone to review your work, you can check some things for yourself. 

Check the  spelling  and  grammar . Microsoft Word has built-in tools, or you can use online ones such as  Grammarly . The more technically correct your writing is, the more your reviewers will be able to focus their energy on the content.

Then  read it all through yourself . Some people like to read through silently, line by line, others prefer to read the text out loud. You can record yourself and listen back later, or use the Read Aloud function in Word, if you’re using that software. This has the advantage of using a different part of your brain – when you listen, you hear mistakes that you just don’t see in writing.

After you have reviewed it yourself, ask others to do the same. Getting someone else’s feedback on your work is immensely valuable. This is where you can collaborate with friends or classmates – if you ask them to review your work, you can offer to review theirs. And families can help too; even if they don’t know anything about your topic, the questions they ask will help you review your work.

• Michael asks for help
• Who could you ask for help?

Listen to the audio in the next tab about how Michael, who is a microbiologist, asks for help. When does he do this, and who does he ask?

Michael turns to his colleagues, his family and his senior colleagues at work. He asks for help at different stages: perhaps when he’s struggling a little, when he’s written the first draft and later on at the final stages, when he’s finished editing.

For Michael, feedback is incredibly important, not only for the actual content of the work, but for assessing how easy it is to understand. And he felt it’s always important to consider reviews of our writing from the viewpoint that the reviewer wants to help us improve our work, not criticise it. In terms of who he asks, first he calls on his peers; when he was at school, friends in his class and year, and now his colleagues, who can comment on the content of the work and how easy it is for them to follow. When he was at school, he also turned to his parents. During high school, his parents helped with input on grammar, spelling and how easy it was to understand. Now, his wife performs that role. As he says, by having someone from outside the field review your work, you can gain valuable insights. He also thinks about his seniors – in his current job, his senior colleagues will read multiple drafts of a manuscript before it’s complete. This is always an advantage – it allows him to get input from someone more experienced and means the work is improved.

In terms of when, he asks for help when he’s struggling, perhaps to find the right direction for a piece of work. Discussing the work with a friend or a teacher can start him developing insights on where it should start. Certainly after completing and spell-checking a first draft, he’ll ask for help.

And of course it’s always important to go back and review after editing, because when you change a piece of work, it’s easy to introduce errors, as well as fix them.

Conclusion.

Other articles in this series...

EPQs: designing your research question

You’ve already decided to do an EPQ, so it might seem a little odd to start this resource by asking you to consider why you want to do a research project. People do an EPQ for all sorts of reasons. Why do you want to do an EPQ?

EPQs: finding and using evidence

Finding the evidence that will help you understand a topic or answer a question is an important stage in the research process. And once you have found it, you will need to examine it closely and carefully, to judge how reliable it is and whether it is useful to help you answer your question.

EPQs: why give a presentation?

What are the guidelines for the presentation?

Become an OU student

Ratings & comments, share this free course, copyright information, publication details.

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• A Complete Guide to the EPQ | Oxford Royale Summer Schools

The time for you to apply to university is fast approaching, and you may be starting to think about how you’re going to make your university application that little bit more eye-catching. If you have the prospect of a long summer stretching before you and you have no other plans, why not use the summer months to give yourself the best chance of a successful university application? In this article, we introduce you to one way of doing this: the Extended Project Qualification, or EPQ. You may not have heard of it, but we’re going to show you that there are lots of reasons why it’s worth considering.

What is the EPQ?

The Extended Project Qualification, or EPQ, is offered by many schools, and it’s a standalone qualification that’s a bit like a mini-thesis. You’re allowed to choose whatever topic you like – it doesn’t even have to be related to your A-levels – so it’s about as flexible as you can get. It’s unlikely to be included in your university offer, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a respected qualification; it’s certainly no General Studies. Most people start their EPQ over the summer between AS and A2 levels.

What do you have to do to get an EPQ?

You’ll need to register for the EPQ through your school, assuming they offer it. Once you’ve chosen your topic (more on that later), your task is to conduct detailed academic research into that topic. You then have two options: 1. You write a 5,000 word report. 2. You create a ‘production’ or ‘artefact’ and write a 1,000 word report.

Why bother with the EPQ?

So why bother with it, when you already have A-levels to worry about? Well, at a time when it’s increasingly difficult to make your university application stand out, what’s needed is a qualification that highlights the academic skills that admissions tutors are looking for. The EPQ is just such a means of proving that you have talent in the very same areas needed to succeed at university. It’s an academic exercise that has direct relevance to the way in which you’re likely to study once you get to university, as it involves conducting research, just as you would for a university thesis. It’s also a great talking point on your personal statement and in university interviews, demonstrating your enthusiasm for the subject and giving you the chance to show off your knowledge of a particular area of the discipline. As well as the obvious research skills the EPQ helps you develop and demonstrate, it has many additional benefits, as it confers on you a range of other useful skills and demonstrates your suitability for undergraduate study in numerous ways. These advantages include:

• It helps you develop the ability to conduct your own, self-directed programme of study. You’ll be planning your own work, and nobody is going to be there to tell you what to do (though you’ll have a supervisor who’ll be able to give you rough pointers).
• It shows you to be self-motivated, as you’ll need to have the discipline to see your project to fruition – even though it’s the summer and you’ll have plenty of distractions.
• It demonstrates that you have the initiative to pursue your own academic interests. Admissions tutors will love this, because that’s exactly the initiative you’ll need at university.
• It develops your knowledge of your subject beyond the A-level syllabus. This gives you a deeper understanding of the subject and places you at an advantage over those who’ve merely done the A-level.
• It teaches you how to make use of different research materials, not just A-level textbooks. You’ll learn how to use a library for research, and get used to the idea of writing footnotes and bibliographies, which you’ll have to do at university.

What’s more, it doesn’t just help you with applying to university; it’s a satisfying thing to do for your own sake, simply because it allows you to explore a subject you find interesting, in depth. Leaving aside the fact that you’ll come out with an extra qualification, it’s learning for learning’s sake, and you can revel in the fact that you can devote your time to studying something you genuinely find interesting. This will probably make a refreshing change from the classroom, in which there will inevitably be subjects forced upon you that you’d rather not bother with.

What kind of things can I study for my EPQ?

The beauty of the EPQ is that you decide what you study. Of course, in view of the fact that you’re applying to university, it would make sense to select a topic that ties in with the subject you’re planning to study at university (hopefully you’ve decided this by now!). Below you’ll find some guidance on how to choose what to study and whether to choose the longer thesis or the ‘production’ option.

Choosing your topic for a 5,000 word report

When you can choose pretty much any topic you want, it can be difficult to figure out what to do. It makes sense to choose a subject that’s related to what you’re aiming to study at university, as this is an extra way of demonstrating your enthusiasm for the subject, and the fact that you possess the research skills needed to excel in it. It’s also a good way of keeping your mind active and thinking about your future university subject over the summer, ready to write a brilliant personal statement come the start of the new school year. The topic can’t be too broad, or else you don’t stand a chance of doing the topic justice; for example, there would be far too much to cover if you chose the First World War (as a whole) as your topic. A much narrower research focus is needed, to allow you to explore one aspect of a bigger topic in plenty of depth. For example, in the First World War example, you’d stand a better chance with a very specific aspect of the war, such as the Christmas truce, or the Zeppelin attacks on England, or the role of a specific type of aircraft, such as the Sopwith Camel. To give you another example, let’s say you were aiming to study music at university. Trying to address an entire period of classical music, such as the Baroque period, might be a bit of a tall order in a 5,000 word thesis. Even picking the life and works of a famous Baroque composer, such as Bach, might be quite an undertaking. But you could find a lesser-known Baroque composer to research and write about, about whom less is generally known. Or you could research a particular (unusual/antique) instrument and the works written for it during the Baroque period. You could even look into the different kinds of venues used for musical performances during the Baroque period. Ultimately, you’ll need to come up with a specific research question to give direction to your research. For example, taking the Sopwith Camel example above, your question might be “To what extent did the Sopwith Camel shape the outcome of the First World War?” Your question will need to be approved before you can start work.

Choosing your production or artefact

If the thought of writing a 5,000 word report fills you with dread, your alternative is to choose a production or artefact instead. You’ll still need to produce a written report to accompany it, but it’s much shorter, at 1,000 words. What you can do for this is just as flexible as the longer report option. Here are a few examples:

• A musical performance or recording
• A mobile phone app
• A piece of software
• A short film
• A short story
• A model of something
• A piece of art
• An invention
• A charity event
• A fashion show

Ideally, if you’re applying to university, you would choose something that’s in some way related to your future university course. For instance, if you were going to be studying art, then a piece of art would make sense as your chosen EPQ project. A short story would tie in nicely with English Literature, while a musical performance would demonstrate your capabilities in music if that’s what you’re aiming to study at university. Your future career aims may also lead you more towards this option rather than the 5,000 word report, as you can use your project to build up relevant experience for your CV. For example, if you want to go into the fashion industry, then organising a fashion show is an obvious fit. If your ambition is to work for a charity, organising a charity event will be invaluable experience as well as giving you an extra qualification. The benefits of the EPQ, then, go far beyond simply having an extra piece of paper to add to your collection of certificates.

Conducting the research

This may be your first big piece of academic research, so you may be wondering where on earth to start with such an undertaking. You will have a supervisor who’ll be able to teach you the skills you need and point you in the right direction. Some general tips for conducting effective academic research may come in useful. For example, try to make use of as many different resources as you can when you’re conducting your research, including primary and secondary sources, books in the library, the internet, and so on. As you go along, keep a bibliography and record everything you’ve read, including specific page numbers. Be critical of your own methodologies in collecting data, if that’s what you’re doing, and consider the strengths and weaknesses of your methods. These are things you’ll need to get used to thinking about when you go to university, so the EPQ is an excellent warm-up.

How is the EPQ marked?

You’ll need to get a grade between A* and E in order to be awarded the EPQ – anything lower than an E means you don’t get the qualification, so it’s slightly different from A-levels in that respect. Looking at the AQA Specification, there are a number of ‘assessment objectives’ used to decide your final grade, the weighting of which is divided up as follows:

• Manage – 20%. This covers your ability to come up with a project idea and plan how you’re going to achieve it, using “a range of skills, strategies and methods to achieve objectives.”
• Use Resources – 20%. This covers the research phase and how well you’re able to select, organise and deploy relevant information. It also looks at your ability to analyse data, including your ability to see the connections between things you’ve observed, and your appreciation of the “complexities of the topic”.
• Develop and Realise – 40%. This aspect means how well you’re able to carry out your project and see it to fruition, using a range of appropriate skills and technologies.
• Review – 20%. This means how well you evaluate every aspect of your project, such as whether you’ve achieved your objectives, and how well you’ve performed throughout the project. It also reflects your ability to “Select and use a range of communication skills and media to present evidenced project outcomes and conclusions in an appropriate format.”

The mark scheme makes it sound scarier than it is, as mark schemes always do. But if you’re looking for an interesting project to get your teeth into, you can’t do much better than the EPQ thanks to the excellent preparation it gives you for thinking like an undergraduate. It’s a fair bit of work, but the rewards – both in terms of university preparation and personal enjoyment – make it more than worth the effort.