Modifications I have made as a result of my discussion with my supervisor

My summary of the comments and advice from my supervisor

Whilst developing my initial project idea, my supervisor inquired about what academic literature I would be using to support my essay and to use for research, and he advised me that I should not just use informal sources. He suggested using sources such as google scholar. Furthermore, he encouraged me to consider the reliability of a source before I use it for research, in particular for some of the literature I was using. Also, he mentioned that it would be difficult to find sufficient primary sources for the essay for the topic I have chosen. Although part of it would be covering modern times, that is only a small fraction of my essay and for the rest there is little to no opportunity to find primary sources like a survey or questionnaire.

However, as a result of a conversation with my supervisor, I concluded that it would be too difficult to cover the entire of history for the essay tittle ‘The history of sexism and how it affects the prevalence of rape in modern society.’ He also mentioned that it would be difficult for me to write about history and politics together in sufficient detail. As a result, I decided to change the title of my essay to ‘To what extent have gender roles affected female royals throughout history?’ and purely focus on history, not the modern politics. Also, this meant I had a much greater interest and excitement for my project, as although I am passionate and interested in politics, I find the research and study rather tedious, whereas I have never grown bored of researching and learning history.

I hoped that by doing this I would achieve a much more in depth and through analysis of the history of sexism and therefore be able to cover more of the time periods I initially planned to. However, my supervisor and I both expressed concern over the length of the time period. Therefore, I made the decision to not initially include the Queens from Ancient Egypt (Hatshepsut and Cleopatra) and instead research monarchs from 1519 to present day. The queens I picked out were each chosen because after brief research, I felt they each dealt with the challenge of gender roles in an extraordinary and unique way, therefore I believed they would be perfect representations of their time period and lay the foundations for balanced and just analysis. Also, each queen is very famous and has been researched already by an abundance of historians, which means I will have plenty of sources and evidence to work with.

However, my supervisor mentioned that the issue of primary sources still remained. He advised that I should try and either structure my essay title in a way that allows the opportunity for primary research or approach the history based essay at a different angle.

Modifications I have made as a result of my discussion with my supervisor
As a result of my discussions with my supervisor, I decided I was not content with the topic of my essay. Although I enjoy researching and reading new information about female monarchs, I was struggling to find motivation to analyse and write about this topic in an intellectual way. Also, I have already studied Elizabeth I in detail for my GCSE History course, and it also touched on Mary Queen of Scots. Furthermore, one of my A-Level History topics is ‘The Making of Modern Britain 1951-2007’, which closely relates to Elizabeth II as it follows the majority of her reign. Therefore, I decided that the topic of female monarchs is not the right EPQ topic for me. After considering the limitations of my previous ideas, I decided to change my essay to one on the war crimes of Vietnam War. There were many factors that affected my decision;

One of the points my supervisor made about the importance of primary research and sources motivated me to find a new topic that focuses on not only more recent history, but history that has the potential for primary research. For example, for the topic of Vietnam I plan to interview some of my family members and friends who were alive during the war and also create a survey on people’s opinion on this topic. The benefits of choosing a topic that’s not only very recent but is as infamous as the Vietnam War is that many people have a certain degree of knowledge about it. This is an advantage over choosing a topic that included historical figures such as Catherine de Medici, as I would most likely be limited to a historian’s opinion. Therefore, for my essay on Vietnam, I plan to use a range of contemporary sources from modern authors to expand my research and broaden my sources.

Another key, and arguably the most influential, factor was a video that I watched in my history class whilst we were discussing the atrocities that the Americans committed in the Vietnamese War. Typically, I am more of an ancient historian and I focus most of my research and reading on history up to the 1900’s, as I struggle to find interest on more modern history, and therefore previous to the lesson the only knowledge I had of the Vietnam War was the context for a poem I studied in GCSE English Literature called ‘War Photographer’ by Carol Ann Duffy which describes the photo of Phan Thi Kim Phuc known as the ‘Napalm Girl’. At the time of studying this poem I did not take much interest in the context however I have enjoyed Carol Ann Duffy’s work and read several other poems by her since. Furthermore, a piece of literature I am studying for my English Literature A-level is ‘Feminine Gospels’ by Carol Ann Duffy so I believe studying the poem ‘War Photographer’ will help deepen my understanding of both the Vietnam War and the poet herself.

Although my history course does mention the impact of the Vietnam War on Britain, this is a minute part of the content and therefore I felt that I would still have the ability to stretch my abilities and knowledge past my current subjects.

However, although I did not take much interest in the topic of the Vietnam War at the time, the video that I watched awakened me to the horrors of the Vietnam War and left me incredibly shocked. It was the video taken of the napalm girl as a village was bombed, but also included a mother carrying a child that was burned in the attack. The graphic nature of the video was incredibly upsetting, and therefore the combination of my reaction to the video and the decision I had already made to change my EPQ topic lead to my decision to write about the war crimes of the Vietnam War.

My current proposed title is ‘Who is to blame for the war crimes of the Vietnam War?’ I hope that this title will be versatile enough for me to explore multiple aspects of the war, for example the weapons used and the lasting impact, whilst also being focused enough that my essay will have a clear structure and justified conclusion. I will start my research broadly, and then narrow down onto the specific subjects of the war crimes that will have the most content and relevance to analyse.
I plan to structure my essay and research around 3 main points;

• Napalm. As this was arguably the most notorious weapon and war crime of the Vietnam War, I plan to start my research on how Napalm was created in America, looking at the aims they had for it and at the effect it had on villages and people. 

• Agent Orange. I plan to include part of the science behind the effect of the war crimes, particularly focusing on the lasting consequences of Agent Orange. This will be good as it allows me to look at a multitude of personnel that all can be argued to hold guilt, for example, the scientists who created Agent Orange.

• My Lai Massacre. I came across this massacre whilst doing my preliminary research and plan to use it to analyse how guilty the soldiers are. Furthermore, it can be compared to other atrocities committed in similar times, and for similar reasons, for example, Mau Mau Rebellion and the Holocaust. By doing this it will broaden my understanding of not only the context of the War Crimes, but also be a valuable piece of evidence.

It is very important, especially for my chosen essay title, that my essay is balanced and unbiased throughout. To ensure this, I will weigh up the reliability and possible bias of every source I come across before using it as evidence in my essay. Also, I will ensure there is equal weight to both the American’s point of view, as well as Vietnam’s point of view to ensure both sides are explored thoroughly. This will then allow me to reach a justified and unbiased conclusion. Finally, I must ensure that whilst researching I keep an open mind. It is important I do not allow my own bias to influence my essay. This will be difficult as I feel so strongly about the topic, however I will ensure I only use my own opinion when it is justified.