Arghh Feat. A nice reflection

 With the final deadline looming over me, I have spent my time gathering last minute material that I need, and printing out extra bits and pieces. I have finally printed my essay as I now feel confident it has reached a good standard that I am really proud of. This is probably going to be my last diary reflection as I will be solely concentrating on making sure I have not missed anything. I am going to take the time tonight to make a checklist of everything I need and go through what I have, and then sort out the appendices in my folder which contains anything relevant to my project. I am also going to look through my log book to ensure that I have documented everything to an adequate degree, and, if not, I can add in extra detail so it is as reflective and detailed as possible. I can use my diary reflections to assist me in doing this.

All in all, I have learnt a lot from this experience, including personal lessons, and more practical lessons like the different skills attached to the project. I definitely do not reject choosing to do this project, although it was incredibly overwhelming and frustrating at times, but now I have my final product to look back on and say that the rollercoaster process was worth it. I have also learnt so much about my favourite novel, Pride and Prejudice, although I will not be able to read it in the same way ever again considering what I have found out about the author and the novel. However, I would advise anyone to take this project under their wing!

How my presentation went

Yesterday, my college held a Gala evening where myself, along with many other students, presented our presentations on our projects to audience members. The evening itself was very relaxed calm, yet formal, and I very much enjoyed watching my peers talk about their project as I remained in the dark about what some of them were doing. As for my presentation, I feel as though it went really well. I had planned what I was going to say ahead of time so I felt confident with what I was talking about, but there were still some nerves about actually getting up in front of people and talking for a solid period of time. Nevertheless, I remained calm and actually enjoyed informing people about my study and what I had found out, as well as how I arrived at the point I am at now. Although it went well, I did talk for longer than I had expected, so if I were to present again, I would have condensed my information into even smaller amounts and stick to the major points and give an overview of these instead of going into depth, as this is what my essay is for. Even so, I managed to successfully inform my audience about my EPQ journey and I received appraisal from the audience, as well as my supervisor.

At the end of the presentation, I asked if anyone had any questions, and I received questions from two people.

1) Did you look more into the feminist side of the novel? If so, what did you find out?

For this question, I talked about Elizabeth in particular and how she contrasted with her female foils in the novel, such as Caroline, Jane, and Charlotte. I said that Elizabeth demonstrates this feminist ability to subvert the male-dominated society as when she first meets Darcy, he finds her inferior to him due to the fact she is a woman of lower status. However, by the end of the novel, he has come to realise that she has developed a more intrinsic kind of intelligence that differs from his previous conventional view that women should be 'accomplished', showcasing this ability and perhaps, with this, Austen was calling out for a bigger feminist movement by illustrating its potential.

2) I know you lost confidence in your own ability a few time during this project. Has your confidence improved in any way now you've come to the end? And would you feel more confident doing this again if given the chance?

I answered that I feel as though the majority of my setbacks revolved around losing confidence in myself, which resulted in losing enthusiasm and motivation. However, now that I'm nearly at the end of the project and I've seen what I am capable of, I would be able to approach the project again with a more confident and positive attitude.

As of now, I am finishing editing minor details in my essay, as well as printing out last minute material, and I also need to sort out my appendices.

More presentation prep and thinking about the deadline

With the deadline drawing close, I am now spending some time getting everything together so I don't have to do it last minute. I spent today going through my presentation, rehearsing it and making notes, therefore I know what I am going to say and any extra information I want to add in that is not in my PowerPoint. I also completed the first part of the presentation section of my Log Book. Yesterday, during an EPQ session, my supervisor read through a draft of my essay and he gave me some improvements revolving around my conclusion, saying that it needs to be more about answering my question rather than a wrap up of everything I've said in my essay. I will focus on improving my conclusion tomorrow and then ask him to read through it again to check if it succeeds in answering my question. After my presentation, it will be a case of making sure I have everything I need together.

Presentation completion

I have now completed my Powerpoint with enough time left to go through it and adjust anything, as well as rehearse it to make sure I say everything I need to say within the time frame.
I have made sure I have included important things such as...

• My thought process
• My initial ideas
• Planning
• Primary and secondary research
• The content of my essay
• Reflection (what went well, what didn't go well)
• What I would do differently 
• The skills I've learnt 

I now need to complete the presentation section in my Log Book.

Writing an abstract

Today I have decided to concentrate on writing the abstract of my project. I decided to leave this until I have written the majority of my essay as I was not sure of the direction my project would end in, but as I now have a clear view of where my project is going in terms of the conclusion I would end up with, I think it is now the right time. I have looked at other examples of abstracts as I wasn't too sure on what an abstract actually was, nor its purpose or what it consists of. However, I think I can now write one confidently which will present the clear direction of my project. I may also continue to work on my PowerPoint as I will be presenting this soon.

Getting closer to the deadline... And feeling good?

At this point, I feel fairly comfortable with where I am with my EPQ. I am close to finishing my write up, which I will then go back and edit to make sure it is coherent and insightful, and I am about to start creating my presentation which I will be presenting on the 27th at an organised Gala evening. I still need to collate some pieces of information to go into my folder, as well as update my log book. However, I feel confident that I am in a good position. I think I may create an extra plan for my presentation as I need to be strict with time due to the little I have so having a plan will guide me with my presentation creation.

Start of presentation

On Tuesday's lesson, Chris dedicated some time to talk through a powerpoint all about our EPQ presentations, informing us about what it needs to include, when it will take place, and what it needs to achieve. I find this lesson really useful as I had no idea about what to include in my presentation as I initially thought it was basically our essay converted into a powerpoint format. However, I learnt this was untrue as it needs to also document your thought process, your journey, content, and also a reflection section. I am still in the midst of doing my write up, which I am working through quite quickly so I should have it completed soon. I will then focus my time on constructing a powerpoint which consists of these things. I also need to sort out my folder appendices and other features of my essay, such as my bibliography.