Today, for part of my research into Jane Austen's personal life, I decided to watch 'Becoming Jane', a biographical romantic drama film which depicts the early life of Jane Austen and her lasting love for Tom Lefroy. I especially chose to watch this film as the screenwriter, Kevin Hood, said that he had "attempted to weave together what we know about Austen's world from her books and letters," and believed Austen's personal life was the inspiration for her novel, Pride and Prejudice.

Since I am focusing my study on this particular novel, I thought that this film may provide me with a bigger insight into Austen's personal bubble by exploring her first, and probably only, true love and the struggle for making their love possible in a society where social expectations and customs dictate how you live and who you marry. It was interesting to see how they portrayed Jane herself, played by Anne Hathaway, and Tom Lefroy, played by James McAvoy. After watching it, I got the impression that the film version of Jane and Tom parallels heavily with Elizabeth and Darcy in the novel as both pairs face turbulence in their relationships and the possibility of being together. Although there are similarities between the two stories, as Jame McAvoy himself said, "the screenplay was nothing like Pride and Prejudice. The screenwriter probably speculated on some of the inspiration for Pride and Prejudice but it is a completely different story. "

I recorded transcripts of key scenes I found useful and informative during watching the film so I can refer back to them in my study.

Overall, the film was helpful with helping me to find factors that could have possibly influenced Pride and Prejudice, while simultaneously educating me on the social customs and expectations of 18th century British society. While I am aware that some fictional features may have been added as it is a film, I plan on dissecting the film with other information I have collected so I will be able to separate fact from fiction.

Rethinking my project title

As I progress forward with my literature reading and reviews, I am beginning to rethink my question as I have found that it is quite restrictive in terms of the areas I am researching. I have found that I want to explore more about the author, as well as the social and economic problems of her time. In particular, I want to look at her upbringing and how her experiences of the late 18th to early 19th century have contributed to shaping Pride and Prejudice, and the characters of the story. I feel as though my current working title of 'How representative is Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, in terms of the social and economic problems faced within the 19th century?' is too specific, thus restricting my desire to branch out into other contextual areas that surround the novel, including the author. This question focuses too much on the problems of 19th century British society, whereas I would like to focus on Jane Austen's personal experiences of the society around her, as well as its characteristics.

As a result of this realisation, I am currently thinking about a new title. Some ideas that came to mind were:

• How reflective is Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, of the 18th century British society in which she experienced?
• Is/How is Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, an illustration of the society of her time?
• Are Jane Austen's personal experiences of 18th century British society represented by her novel, Pride and Prejudice?
• How did the characteristics of 18th century British society influence Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice?

I believe that all these questions will present me with an opportunity to branch out in my project as I feel too confined when researching this question. Although I am looking at using a new title, I will not have to completely change my course of research as the information and resources I have already found remain incredibly useful due to the fact that I am merely extending my area of study, rather than scrapping it completely. I will have to divert my course of research slightly, but not too much that I will feel panicked or not on course. Also, despite not having chosen a title from these ideas, they all focus on the same area of research so choosing a title right this second will not prevent me from continuing with my research.

I will update when I have selected a title. 

NEW PLAN?

While in the midst of this research period, I have found that using a Gantt chart is proving to be quite difficult and not very suited to my project. It does not allow me to be specific enough when describing my tasks and stating when I plan to have them finished by, nor does it allow myself to justify when I didn't reach a certain deadline or the complications which accompanied. As a result of this revelation, and with the writing of my essay fast approaching, I have decided to create a new plan, using my old Gantt chart for guidance, to direct my course of direction and will allow me to be more detailed and specific, therefore I can feel more organised.

TASK

START TIME

DEAD LINE

COMPLETED WITHIN DEADLINE?

COMPLICATIONS?

Here is a copy of the headings of my plan. By creating my own plan, I can modify it to my own liking and I can add other features, such as any complications I face during the completion of a task, how I resolved them, and describing what I plan to do in each task, as well as explaining how it will benefit me and why I have decided to incorporate it within my EPQ study. I believe that, by using this plan, I can plan out my future tasks in a more understandable way while remaining detailed and specific, but also leaving some room for adjustments so I can document my adjustments and complications as I'm completing my tasks, meaning it will be easier to reflect, and to evaluate.

Christmas = Time to Progress!

I haven't updated at all this month which can be rooted down to one reason - mock exams. I've been extremely busy revising for mocks, and since I do 4 A-level there was a lot of them, so I haven't had much time to develop my research further. However, now it's christmas break, I have two weeks to catch up with my research and literary reviews. I still have a bunch of resources to go through that I obtained from Hull University library, as well as a list of websites, so I will be mainly concentrating on reading and writing about those, while searching for more. I am heading into town tomorrow, where Hull Central Library is located, so I will have a look in there for any viable material that can help me with my project. I am determined to use these next two weeks to make strong progress in the research field, therefore I will have extra time to do other tasks when the term begins again.

UPDATE ON PRIMARY RESEARCH: Still yet to have any responses back from the other three professors I emailed.