First, the investigation’s title is clear, directed and localised. These are good qualities to see in a piece of coursework, because they greatly increase the chances of a student being able to arrive at a decisive and meaningful conclusion. The theoretical, spatial or practical dimensions of some NEA titles are simply too big to be easily manageable. Titles like ‘How successful is forest management in East Devon?’ can become hard to manage because it is unclear from the outset just exactly what the work will consist of.
Naomi’s key questions establish a crisp and focused enquiry framework. If you are in the early stages of planning your own NEA, you might think that her questions appear a little too narrow. You would be wrong to worry because even the narrowest of inquiry questions can generate ample data provided a robust and detailed data collection plan can be designed. Remember, your target for this report is around 4,000 words — not 40,000 words. Digging deeper along a narrow line of inquiry will almost certainly yield a better result than superficial analysis of a topic which is essentially too wide in scope.
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