Planning Review

My next steps in planning, researching and deadlines that I will set myself. What I intend to do, by when, what resources I will use and how I will implement the recommendations of the centre co-ordinator (where appropriate). My project idea was initially to structure my essay around the 3 most infamous war crimes of the Vietnam War; Agent Orange, Napalm and the My Lai Massacre. However, after continuing my research I have decided to narrow my essay topic to Agent Orange. The Vietnam War is such a huge topic, and even by narrowing my research down to the 3 main war crimes I was still overwhelmed by the volume of sources and research. By focusing on just Agent Orange, it ensures that all my research is relevant and also, my essay will benefit as well as having a more specific essay topic allows me to write in more detail. To help organisation and time-keeping throughout my project I have created a Gantt Chart with all the major deadlines, milestones and tasks throughout the EPQ. An example of this can be seen below, and the full Gantt Chart can be found in my appendices. I have decided to aim to finish my project by the end of year 12 if possible. This is earlier than the rest of my peers who aim to finish in September. I’m aiming to finish earlier because throughout the summer, I will have to do a lot of work for BMAT, UKCAT and UCAS. Therefore, I am going to do lots of work from now until the summer to hopefully have the EPQ completed so I can focus on university during the summer. Furthermore, instead of completing the last stages of the EPQ in September after the summer holidays, I would already have it completed so I can focus on Year 13. Most of the aspects of my Gantt Chart are going to plan. I am on track for my secondary research which I aim have completed mostly by the Easter holidays, as this is when I plan to write my first essay draft. For my primary research, I encountered a few difficulties with my questionnaire that lead to the decision to not included this in my primary research, and instead just use the historian’s responses. The difficulties started with the writing of the questionnaire – I found it challenging to design questions diverse enough to work for the various levels of history education the public would have whilst also ensuring the questions were accurate and specific enough to be relevant to my project. Also, as my project is on a history-based subject, I found that most of the public had were aware of the Vietnam War, but did not have enough knowledge to answer any questions on it, and the questions relating to Agent Orange specifically. I came to this conclusion after trying out the questionnaire I wrote on family members and friends at sixth form, and out of the 13 people who did the trial questionnaire, only 1 person had any knowledge on the Vietnam War, and this person didn’t have enough knowledge to answer anything on Agent Orange. On the other hand, the results I got from my other source of primary data from the historians specialising in the Vietnam War went far better than I anticipated. I understood that the reply ratio would probably be very low, so emailed around 41 historians. The questions that I emailed can be seen in the appendences. Two historians responded to the questions that I emailed, and another historian organised a skype call with me where I had the opportunity to ask about multiple aspects of the Vietnam War and Agent Orange. Because of the obstacles of the questionnaire and the positive result of the other primary data I had (with Historians) I decided that pursuing the questionnaire data would have little value for my essay. Therefore, I have replaced the questionnaire with the historians quotes as my main source of primary data. To add to my secondary research, I have decided to read and analyse some court cases from America concerning Agent Orange. I found these using Google Scholar and the dates range from during the Vietnam War through to present day. They also involve a variety of victims, and the there is also variety in who is being prosecuted which will be incredibly useful to the aspect of my essay on who is to blame. My title at the moment is ‘Agent Orange – What was the effect and who is to blame?’. This still has the original elements of who is to blame for a war crime, and the first part will allow me to explore the effect of Agent Orange not only from a historical aspect, but also looking at why and how this was the effect using skills from biology and chemistry. This diversity will allow my essay to have a multi-faceted view of Agent Orange which makes answering the second, and arguably more difficult judgment of who is to blame easier and provides more thorough evidence to back my conclusion up. Going forward, I need to complete my research on the court cases of Agent Orange, and need to spend time on my research log, which have fallen slightly behind on. A lot of my sources I have read and made notes on but not analysed in my research log. Over the next week or two I will address this issue so that I can maximise my time for research before writing the first essay draft. As I am aiming to finish my project earlier than most of my peers, there are some aspects that could prevent me from meeting my deadlines. Firstly, if I can’t complete the majority of my research by the Easter holidays, I may not be able to complete my first essay draft by then. This would make my July final deadline very difficult as after the Easter holidays will be the half term when I am going to aim to alter and adjust my essay draft and have my final essay mostly complete, as the final half term of year 12 I have a set of mocks and eventually work experience. This therefore makes the initial writing of my first essay draft important to have ready for the May half term so that the rest of the deadlines go to plan as well.

My summary of the comments and advice from my supervisor My supervisor initially commented on how I plan to present and analyse my primary data for the historian responses, in particular the interview over skype I had with a historian. Because of the length and detail of the responses from the historians, he also mentioned how I should only present my evidence in the final essay as quotations. When referring to my primary data, I should simply quote my findings. Also, my supervisor mentioned that I should not spend too much time going over the court cases in detail. The cases are extremely long and not all of it is relevant, but it is taking me a lot of time to go through them to find the information that is useful to my project. However, my supervisor was concerned that because of my deadline, I should be mindful of the amount of time I am dedicating to one set of sources, and advised me to skim through the irrelevant parts of the source to reach the parts that are beneficial. Furthermore, my supervisor also mentioned that if my earlier deadlines are not met, not to worry. Although everything is going to plan at the moment for the finish in July, my supervisor discussed that if I go over on my research or drafts or encounter an issue with my mocks that delays my finish to September that I shouldn’t be concerned as there will be plenty of time to finish it in September. He also noted the importance of not rushing the project for the early finish. Finally, my supervisor recommended extending my secondary research to looking into the Geneva Convention, as this fits in with the theme of war crimes and evaluating whether Agent Orange was a War Crime, and to what extent. This will add another angle of analysis to my project, and will help the judgement of who is to blame.

Modifications I have made as a result of my discussion with my supervisor and/or the comments from my centre coordinator The biggest change I have made as a result of the conversation with my supervisor was the addition of the Geneva convention to my secondary data. I have started to research and analyse this as an important aspect of my overall judgement of who is to blame for Agent Orange. Also, the context of the Geneva Convention allows me to explore the question of to what extent was Agent Orange a war crime. This links to my original ideas on Vietnam War Crimes and I believe it is an important point to explore in my chosen essay topic. Further points I am going to explore to complete the secondary research for my project before writing the first essay draft is the chemical and biological knowledge behind Agent Orange. The chemical that I will explore is the chemical that made Agent Orange so damaging - 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. As I am studying A-Level Biology and A-Level Chemistry, I am hoping that I will be able to use sources to get an understanding of the chemical to a level that pushes my a-level knowledge but is also feasible for me to have a genuine understanding. This knowledge will then form a section of the first part of my essay – the effect of Agent Orange. After speaking with my supervisor, I have settled on the title of ‘Agent Orange – What was the effect and who is to blame’. By splitting my essay into 2 main sections, it will allow me to have a cohesive structure that organises information whilst linking together. The first part of my essay – ‘What was the effect’ – will explore the history of Agent Orange in Vietnam from the years it was first sprayed in the war to present day health issues caused by the dioxin. This will be in the style of an analytic narrative, which will then lead onto a section on the science behind Agent Orange with focus on the genetic deformities caused. This will allow me to explore the effects of caused by Agent Orange and explain why these have happened. The next part of my essay is the ‘Who is to blame’. For this I will evaluate my findings of the effects whilst also analysing sources on the possible culprits of Agent Orange ranging from the scientist who first created it to the soldiers who sprayed it in Vietnam. Whereas in the first section there was distinctive sections to the narrative, this part of my essay will use more analytical skills and have themes of questions throughout the essay. The most important one will be ‘To what extent was this a war crime?’ which is spoken about above. I will then come to a judgement in the conclusion of who is to blame. By structuring my essay in this way, it will be incredibly challenging because it involves such a diverse skill set and multiple aspects of essay writing. However, it all stems from the skills I use in the subjects I am currently studying; essay writing from English Literature, writing styles like narrative and analysis from history, and the scientific knowledge and understanding from biology and chemistry. However, in my project I am pushing myself to levels above the study I do at A-Level, which not only teaches me new skills but also benefits my subjects.