EPQ@WKC Plan and Diary
Task
Look at mark
schemes and
past EPQ
projects on the
OCR website and
on YouTube.
Talk with my
allocated
supervisor - Mike
Proposed
completion date
18th September
22nd September
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
Look at mark schemes and
past EPQ projects grades C to
A* to see the difference and
understand what OCR is
looking for and what I need to
do to achieve a top grade.
Also, to search on YouTube for
past EPQ short films to decide
whether or not I would like to
make one.
Mike encouraged me to go to
his office for help at any time
so I felt it was imperative to
inform him of an idea for my
project and to also get his
opinion.
It didn’t take me long to realise the amount of
work I had to put into this project.
I didn’t find YouTube very useful as it only had
a few videos; in addition I did not find making a
film very appealing as I noticed the amount of
time they took to make: time I do not have.
Taking into account that I prefer writing, I
decided I was better off writing a dissertation.
This research I did at home
really helped me further learn
what the EPQ was about,
beyond the classroom.
I am extremely glad I did this as
reading past projects really
motivated me to start my own
project.
I informed him that I really wanted to base my
project around the exciting field of medicine.
I explained how during the summer I watched
an interesting documentary on the bubonic
plague, its cause, and what a great
catastrophe to the world it was. This has
fascinated me ever since primary school.
He told me it was a great idea and he would
organise a trip for me to go to the science
museum to see bones from people who died
from the plague, and where I would have the
opportunity to talk to some scientists in a
laboratory there.
I really benefited from his advice
and help and felt even more
motivated and confident that this
was an excellent topic idea.
Task
Proposed
completion date
23rd September
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
I intend to begin with some
simple research of the disease
itself; firstly by looking on the
internet and to also reassure
myself that I am 100% certain
this is what I want my EPQ to
be about.
I was not happy and slightly
concerned because I needed to
think of a new project fast as I
was already starting late and
was running out of time.
Discuss this
change of plan
with Mike at the
group meeting.
28th September
I will present to my class and
Mike where I stand, with no
title and still only knowing I
want to base my EPQ around
medicine.
I also want to hear my
classmates’ opinion and to see
how they were progressing.
Researching about the black death was, in
fact, more bleak than I imagined. Upon
reflexion I came to the conclusion that I wanted
to deal with something a little more current
rather than on the history. There is no doubt
that the bubonic plague was a highly
interesting topic, but due to the simple fact that
I no longer felt like continuing reading, made
me realise that I did not want to do my EPQ
about it. I preferred basing my project on the
ethical and social issues relating to ongoing
debates such as euthanasia, which I was
learning about in Spanish A-level.
As I explained my difficulties for researching
the black death everyone agreed it was not a
good topic for me.
Mike suggested I do my project on traditional
medicine as he explained how surprisingly
useful, if not better in some respects, it can be
compared to modern western medicine.
Furthermore, I discovered that no one in my
class had thought of a title either, this was a
relief as I knew I wasn’t the only one in this
situation.
Complete my
verification of
topic title meeting
document.
Re-do verification
of topic title
1st October
I have to complete my
verification of topic title and
send it to Mike.
I completed this document with no difficulties
and sent it off to Mike swiftly.
3rd October
Mike said my verification of
topic title lacked detail and
needed a specific title.
This took me some time as I thought through
everything carefully whilst answering all
different types of questions on a photocopy
Mike gave us in class. I sent it off to Mike.
Search the
internet for the
history of the
bubonic plague.
I thought Traditional medicine
was a brilliant idea as my uncle
is a hepatic doctor in Colombia
and I knew I could definitely ask
him for first-hand information. I
was surprised I did not think of
this earlier and decided to do my
project on this interesting
ongoing debate between
traditional medicine and
established current medical
practice. This was just the type
of debate I was looking to do.
Task
Begin research
on the internet
and phone uncle.
Think about
alternative ideas
and come up with
a new title.
Ask friends and
family for advice.
Proposed
completion date
5th October
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
Begin research again but this
time on traditional medicine
and to also call uncle.
Having lost 3 hours and feeling
greatly concerned and confused,
I decided to leave it for the day
and do some A-level revision
instead.
12th October
Talk to my friends at school
and outside of school to get
their opinion about what they
think I should do next, or if I
should just stick to traditional
medicine.
Whilst researching I found out that many
prospective medical students had also done
their EPQ on traditional medicine compared to
modern medicine.
I really wanted to stand out and therefore I felt
like changing my topic again.
I also found the topic slightly boring partly
because I did not come up with it myself.
In A-level Spanish we had discussed
euthanasia because we were studying a film
called “Mar adentro” by director Alejandro
Amenábar for our exam essay.
During my class debates and after watching
the film, I realised I was very much intrigued by
this topic and wanted to look into it further as it
clashed with my religious beliefs as a
Christian.
I was already up to date with the
ethical debates on quality of life
versus length of life from
previous university lectures. That
same day I had bible study with
a Jehovah’s Witness couple.
I briefly got their opinion on
euthanasia. I found this very
useful as I clearly distinguished
the controversy between
respecting sanctity of life and
patient autonomy. I had a lot of
information on the religious point
of view which has at times
shaped my thoughts about this
topic.
Task
Talk to Mike
Change my
Verification of
topic title.
Proposed
completion date
15th October
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
Tell Mike I was thinking about
changing my topic again.
He was surprisingly pleased about this as he
said the project must be something I enjoy and
find truly interesting so that I don’t find it a
burden but an enjoyable project I am doing out
of free will, which is what it is meant to be.
However he informed me that euthanasia was
also quite a common project addressed by
medical candidates already.
I am glad he told me this as it
sprang to my mind to make my
project more specific to
something around the field of
euthanasia. I had been having
discussions with atheists and
people of other religions about
blood transfusions throughout
the week and I realised how this
was a big debate. I only knew
what the Jehovah’s Witnesses
had told me with texts from the
Bible but I lacked
scientific/medical knowledge. I
realised I wanted to base my
project on this. It was something
I wanted to know more about,
not only to help me to one day
become a first class doctor, but
to help me decide whether or not
I would receive a blood
transfusion. I promised myself to
not change my mind again and
to keep this idea for my project.
20th October
Complete my final verification
of topic title document and
send it off to Mike and
apologise for my lateness.
Start planning and create a
timetable so that I am clear as
to when I am going to finish
thus organizing myself by
sticking to it and having my
own deadlines.
Also to create a spider
diagram.
This took me a while because I wanted it to be
perfect in as much detail as possible.
I also noted the skills I needed to work on.
24th October
Start planning
and do spider
diagram
This did not take me long and I am planning on
finishing my project by the 10th of February.
I had difficulties doing my spider diagram
because I did not know in how much detail this
had to be.
I should have made my plan
earlier and then gotten on with
the work more quickly,
nonetheless, I did it and it gave
me a rough idea on how much
time I would have and would
take researching.
Task
Proposed
completion date
10th November
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
As I had difficulties with
making my spider diagram, I
want to inform Mike and ask
him how detailed it has to be.
I did not struggle as much as
before to get my ideas together.
Talk to Jehovah’s
Witnesses about
my final topic
idea.
15th November
I want to inform them to see if
they can lend me a hand by
providing me with some
information about blood
transfusions they might have
and see their point of view,
other than looking on their
website.
Research ideas
for my topic title
16th November
I know what I want it to be
about, now all I need is an
adequate title for my EPQ.
He helped by doing a rough sketch of a spider
diagram which was very useful as it gave me
an idea.
I got home and did my own detailed mind map
of what and how I will research.
This was excellent because one informed me
she had a DVD on the alternatives to blood
transfusions that she said she would bring next
week and some articles of cases where
Jehovah Witness patients have refused blood
transfusions. She also said she would put me
into contact with other Jehovah witnesses who
work in the medical field in Bethel, which is a
place where some of them work and live.
I realised I wanted it to be purely on the debate
of the surgical/ethical challenge.
The debate and controversy between whether
they are good or bad and if they should be
used or not.
To debate that they are bad I wanted to back
up evidence with some alternatives to blood
transfusions.
To debate that they are good I wanted to
include facts and stats on how they’ve saved
lives.
Talk to Mike
about my spider
diagram.
At first I kept changing my mind
and could not come to a
conclusion as to what to put as
my topic title. I wanted it to be
scientific, concentrating on the
alternatives but I also wanted
some sort of debate so I could
make a decision. I decided to
include both but to mainly
concentrate on the debate.
Task
Proposed
completion date
23rd November
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
I wanted to hear and learn
what doctors and medical
students think of patient
autonomy and blood
transfusions.
I enjoyed forming a part of this
debate because I shared my
views and appreciated others
opinions. I realised the debate is
still going on as to whether or
not a doctor should give a blood
transfusion without respecting
the patient’s wishes.
Whilst there I thought of a title:
Blood transfusions: the
surgical/ethical challenge and a
possible subheading title: is it
ethically right for doctors to
respect a patient’s decision to
refuse a blood transfusion?
Research what
blood
transfusions are.
The history of
blood
transfusions.
12th December
Search the internet for
information on how and why a
blood transfusion is given and
what are the procedures
before and after receiving one.
Also to research when and
how they first came about.
Surgical
problems and
identify the health
risks.
15th December
I want to research on the
disadvantages and the
hazards of blood transfusions
Unsurprisingly the controversy on euthanasia
and the moral issues regarding blood
transfusions came up.
The lecturer was giving us examples of cases
where Jehovah’s Witnesses have refused
blood transfusions and died. She wanted us to
raise our hands if we thought it was right or
wrong for the doctor to respect the patient’s
decision. Most of us in the lecture theatre
thought it was wrong because a doctor’s job is
to save someone’s life not let them die. I put
my hand up and said it is not letting them die
but asking the doctors to use a different
method.
She asked another question: What is the
difference between euthanasia and blood
transfusions?
I did not know the answer.
I discovered that most of the websites describe
blood transfusions as a safe, common
procedure.
Firstly, your blood type is tested and matched
with a donor’s blood by cross-matching,
however, although fatal risks are rare, for
every 1 million units of blood transfused,
getting the wrong blood type happens four
times.
I also read how mistakes do happen resulting
in a severe haemolytic reaction.
During an emergency you will not be tested
and given Rh negative. The history of blood
transfusions was straight forward with the
timeline dating from 1800 up until 2002.
I found basic information on the NHS website
but I felt I needed more information from other
sources as well as this was not enough.
Attend a lecture
at Kings college
on the ethical
issues in
medicine.
I Found the internet very useful
with fascinating, grabbing and up
to date information. I couldn’t
stop reading as one website took
me to another.
I ended up taking longer than I
thought; in total this research
took me four hours.
Task
Proposed
completion date
16th December
Watch the DVD
on the
alternatives to
blood transfusion
Visit the British
library and
borrow books on
blood
transfusions such
as the history or
the alternatives.
Use the internet,
books and
articles on the
difference
between
Euthanasia and
not accepting a
blood transfusion.
20th December
12th January
Proposed actions
Outcomes
It is important I watch and
make notes on the DVD so I
gain a better understanding on
the alternatives to blood
transfusions and their
advantages compared to the
advantages of using blood. I
intend to watch all three videos
on the DVD which includes
real life Jehovah witness
patient’s cases and the wide
range of methods used to treat
them without the use of blood.
I believe it would be a great
idea for me to use other
resources such as books and
articles. I intend to get a
readers pass at the British
Library and see what they
have.
I need to ask start researching
the “ethical challenge” section
for my dissertation and make
notes on the differences
between euthanasia and
refusing blood transfusions.
I watched the first video on the alternatives
and it was quite complex learning about the
range of blood transfusion alternatives. At first
it was quite difficult to understand because of
the scientific jargon used but taking notes
really benefited me and I could relate much of
what I learnt to A-level Biology.
It was extremely intriguing and I especially
enjoyed watching videos of the operations and
expanding my knowledge.
Comments
It took me a while to get my readers card but
when I did, I ordered some books swiftly and
looked around in the science department. I
found a book on the history of blood
transfusions and read the first few chapters.
I found a large number of real life case studies
on the internet and realized that most doctors
see euthanasia and the rejection of blood as
the same thing. But I mostly found a lot of
criticism online concerning Jehovah Witnesses
and could not help but read through, because
of my curiosity, but did not find this very useful
information for my project. Therefore I checked
www.jw.org website to see the JW’s point of
view. Their website gave me a better
understanding as to why they do not accept
blood and how they do not wish to die, as
opposed to euthanasia.
I did my own comparison since
the internet could not answer my
question on the differences
between the two. I used the
definition of euthanasia and
used my opinion to expand my
notes from there.
Task
Proposed
completion date
15th January
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
I want to ask if they could put
me into contact with someone
from Bethel in charge of
providing information on blood
transfusion alternatives.
I was very lucky as one of them, Jonathan,
knew a Jehovah witness who was a member
of the Hospital Liaison Committee and so I
made a questionnaire for him to hand over to
them.
Send an email to
Jonathan so he
can hand in the
questionnaire to
the hospital
liaison
committee.
16th January
I wanted to thank him once
again for helping me and send
him the questionnaire.
Start reading over
the documents
Jonathan sent me
through the mail.
20th January
After waiting anxiously for the
documents to arrive through
the post for days, compared to
finally having them in front of
me motivated me to begin
reading them.
Unfortunately the HCL could not fill out the
questionnaire. Jonathan explained how he
might have overstepped himself by saying the
HLC could give an interview (or fill out the
questionnaire) as they don't offer interviews.
However, he explained how they'd love to do
all they can to help me gain the information I
need and have sent him me a pack of helpful
documents written by professionals in the
medical field regarding ethical procedures, etc.
of bloodless surgery, and leaflets written by
Jehovah's Witnesses’, but everything else had
been produced by other sources/professionals.
I was eager to get started and enjoyed reading
through, highlighting and trying to understand
the extremely complex medical jargon. I did
have to research many words such as
autologous, phlebotomy and erythropoiesis
every few minutes in order to understand what
I was reading.
The questionnaire was very
good as it asked questions I
genuinely wanted to know about.
I figured it would be interesting
to ask things like: how long
you’ve worked in the HLC and
how many patients have
successfully undergone surgery
without the use of blood.
I was a little disappointed they
could not fill out my
questionnaire as I needed it for
qualitative primary research.
However, I know I will be able to
use all the documents they’ve
sent me for secondary research,
as it is filled with information
from a non-biased point of view,
as well as religious, which is just
what I am looking for.
Talk to Jehovah
witness couple
again for advice
on my project and
for any more
information they
could provide.
I knew I couldn’t understand
many sentences as it was quite
complex written by doctors for
surgeons, therefore I decided to
contact my medical school friend
who agreed to try and go over
some of it with me sometime
next week. I want to see if two
people can understand better
than one.
Task
Continue reading
through the pile
of documents I
had to see if
some were easier
than others.
Proposed
completion date
22nd January
Invite my medical
school friend to
my house.
25th January
Think of primary
research I can do
to add more
depth to my
project.
Send survey to all
my contacts and
post on
Facebook.
2nd February
10nd February
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
I didn’t want to waste time
waiting till next week so I took
the initiative to continue
reading and researching words
I did not understand and
looking for images to help me
comprehend.
We need to meet up to see if
we could work together to try
and understand everything.
I still struggled although the images did help
and I realised that once I understood key
words the sentences were starting to make
sense but I thought I could still be interpreting
or understanding it wrong so I felt it would be
best to get a second or third opinion.
I came to the conclusion that I
also needed to ask my biology
teacher at school to see if he
could maybe explain some
things I didn’t understand.
I was right. It was much better working
together as we tried to explain things to each
other. We really analysed information and did
extra research on google to see if one of us
had understood it wrong or right. We did not
move on until we understood everything and
the teamwork was really helpful and fun. As
my friend was much older they taught me tips
and tricks on skim-reading and learnt to take
shorter notes selecting key words instead of
copying most sentences down again in my
notes because that just proved that I didn’t
understand anything.
I decided to create a survey of 11 questions. It
did not take me long and it was free. This is
the link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M2F5TXW
When we finished my friend told
me she quite enjoyed my project
as it was interesting and learnt
new terms and words and she
became more aware of blood
transfusions. This reassured me
that I had indeed picked an
exciting topic and that once my
project is done, could perhaps
help people learn a little more
about the alternatives to
allogeneic blood transfusions.
I need to think about how I am
to going to gather primary
information now since the
hospital liaison comity
interview did not work.
I have to send the questions
out and wait for responses to
come in.
It was hard to get people to fill out the survey I
posted it on my wall on Facebook and had to
at times contact my friends by text individually
and ask them to pass on the link to their other
friends and family. In the end I got 22
responses, although it was small it was better
than nothing and it was enough data for me to
interpret. It was extremely exciting reading
people’s answers and helped me to write my
dissertation and include people’s thoughts and
opinions in mind.
Task
Proposed
completion date
14th February
Proposed actions
Outcomes
I have to meet with Mike to
schedule a mid-term review
before half term.
Look for
information on
how to write a
dissertation.
19th February
I need to know how to
structure a dissertation and
how it differs from a normal
essay.
I could not find Mike at college and so decided
to send him an email instead. I explained to
him all I had done up till now and it was very
helpful as he told me I was doing well with my
research and gave me clear answers.
Although he told me I needed to start with the
dissertation and start the introduction and
possibly parts of the main body depending on
what I was researching on.
I searched the internet and found good
websites designed for university students
explaining clearly the different sections of a
dissertation that I didn’t know about like for
example what the methodology was. I also
read examples of other university students’
dissertations and began to get a feel of how to
I need to write one myself. I managed to finish
writing my introduction.
Re-draft EPQ and
start presentation
23rd March
.
Up until now I had been
working hard on my
dissertation and I had finally
finished the 5,000 words. Now
all I need to do is edit it and
make sure it reads nicely and
begin working on my
PowerPoint slides.
Meet with
supervisor Mike
I read through my dissertation numerous times
and looked for any errors. I also ended up
changing my sentences as some did not make
sense, however, doing this ended up cutting
my words down. After I re-drafted it I decided
to print it off and read through it again out loud
this time. I could not however start my
presentation. I decided to do it tomorrow and
complete it during the next couple of days.
Comments
I quickly realised I needed to add
references as I noticed I couldn’t
help but add quotes from all the
articles I had read that the
hospital liaison comity had given
me. I called a friend who was
quite good with computers and
handling Microsoft Word and
asked her how to insert
footnotes for my references.
Task
Continue working
on my
presentation
slides.
Put all my work
into one
document and
send it off to Mike
to check for me +
practice
presentation.
Proposed
completion date
28th March
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
My aim is to complete my
presentation today so that I
can start putting all my work
into one document.
Thankfully I have managed to finish my first
draft of my presentation and meet my
deadline. It is 13 slides long and I want it to
last around no longer than 15 minutes as I
tend to talk a lot during presentations and I
don’t want it to get tedious for the audience.
26th April
I would like for Mike to have a
look at my EPQ so far and see
what he thinks.
I sent it to him by email and he said he said he
would get back to me by tomorrow. Meanwhile
today, I practiced my presentation out loud
numerous in front of my friends and family to
see what they thought and get feedback from
them. They all looked as though they were
enjoying my presentation and said I did a good
job. Some of my friends even said they
wouldn’t want to accept someone else’s blood
anymore and would prefer their own stored
blood.
This did not take me long as I
am quite familiar with
PowerPoint and I have always
used it for all my presentations. I
have added effects with the
letters and colours to make it
livelier and not become boring
and because I personally enjoy
adding effects to my slides and it
has always caught the
audience’s attention.
I am so pleased I have managed
to achieve my goal which was to
get them thinking. However I feel
that I had too much text on some
of my slides so I decided to cut
down and add more pictures. I
was told to also maybe add more
examples and to speak louder
tomorrow.
Task
Give presentation
in front of class
Write up
audience reaction
sheet and re-draft
dissertation
Proposed
completion date
28th April
Proposed actions
Outcomes
Comments
The time has come to present
all that I have researched
throughout these past 8
months. Mike told me I have
to present my EPQ at 3:30pm
today after college.
One thing I could have perhaps
done better was add videos to
help the audience understand
complex bloodless procedures in
a much more visual way.
29th April
Last thing I need to do before I
am ready to submit my EPQ is
write up my audience reaction
sheet. Then I need to re-read
my dissertation one last time to
make sure there are no silly
mistakes.
I need to print off all my work
for Mike and submit my EPQ.
Overall, I am pleased to say that my
presentation went better than I expected.
Although I was nervous (and as a result got
very thirsty at the beginning), I kept my bottle
of water by my side and spoke loudly and
confidently the more I got into the presentation,
on a topic I had passion for and knew so much
about.
My classmates said it definitely got them
thinking about blood and that it was a great
topic I had picked in the end. I believe this
EPQ was a success because of the effort I put
in and the skills I have learnt. This project has
made me change my whole view of blood and
whether or not I would accept a transfusion, if I
were ever in that situation.
I absolutely enjoyed this chance to get a feel of
what I will be doing in university and it has
greatly prepared me for this, when comparing
to other students who will be new to the idea of
dissertations. Therefore I am very grateful and
glad I made the right decision to do one.
I read over Mike’s suggestions and considered
them whilst re-drafting. I made sure everything
was in place and that I felt confident and happy
with my EPQ. In the end there was not much
to be changed, just some of my graphs on
Excel and other typos I hadn’t noticed.
30th April
Submit project
I printed off all my work and handed it over to
Mike for submission. My EPQ is finished.