What I have gained from the EPQ: Another review of my project

   Having naturally come to the next stage of my EPQ project, planning my dissertation, I have ironically gained a real feeling of rosy retrospective for the early stages of my project. I had such vague ideas and have explored every branch of my sprawling path of learning about false memories within psychology. 

   One major personal development that has come out of doing the EPQ is my decision to study neuroscience along with psychology at university. The studies into false memories that I have researched focus mainly on cognitive and neuropsychological aspects of the subject. Reading research which harnesses aspects of neuroscience in a physical way with brain scans as well as by incorporating brain theories has opened my eyes to my preference towards this more biological and cognitive approach to psychology. 

   Alongside writing my dissertation, I plan to read two novels to get some wider reading and knowledge into psychology and neuroscience: The Human Mind and How to Make the Most of it by Robert Winston and Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehreh. Though not specifically about false memories, I thought these were worth a mention as it is the EPQ that has inspired me to look further into neuroscience in the first place!

   From advice and support offered by my tutor, I have noticed subtle improvements in the way I collect, evaluate, and explain data in my own words over the course of this project. For example, my table of evaluation (which will be posted in the coming months on my blog) has expanded from just 3 columns of repetitive content to 5 sections of more curated comments by listening to what my tutor has mentioned in terms of what makes good evaluation. By this, I mean doing more research into who wrote the articles, assessing their competence as a writer and any bias they may have, the purpose of the article, and it’s overall reliability. 

   I have learnt how different types of content provide different incite in different ways. I have found that academic journals and research papers are most useful for becoming knowledgeable into experiments, current research, and professional opinions on the subject matter. Alternatively, video-based sources with entertainment and educational purposes, such as documentaries and TedTalks, often provide anecdotes and alternative viewpoints to support or go against other arguments I have developed.

 

   I have also improved the way I plan my time- I am sticking to my detailed timeline! A few of my tips for time management are: 

• Plan a few tasks for each month- A month is a good time frame. Planning week by week is too much pressure and is hard when it comes to considering unplanned obstacles in the time plan. Any larger time frame is too vague and encourages procrastination. 
• Be realistic- It is far more encouraging to complete the few smaller tasks for the month and even have time to get ahead than to be put off by excessive goals and rush them. 
• Have specific tasks- To begin with I was rather lazy with my plans, having goals like “complete 2 blog posts“. This wasted time later down the line. 

My blog may become rather sparse for now due to my focus on the dissertation but I will post any of my planning and structuring process as well as any useful links that have helped me along the way. I also plan to review a miniature documentary I have recently seen which had fascinating examples of the production of false memories.