A2 English HL - English language & its influences on our lives

[Akayuki + Lucifel]

So I am partway into my EE, had discussions, headaches and a lot of procrastinating up to now...

My subject is A2 English HL and basically I am combining my love for English with my hobby and research to create my EE.

So far I am on my first draft (900 / 2000 words so far) due tomorrow. No problem.

I would like some help defining my research question so it is understandable, since my idea is different to my teacher's impression.

What I got:

Language and its influence (on our lives)

How language depicts who we are, shapes our character and influences daily decisions.

Mostly I want to write about how the English language enhances but also inconvenience one's thoughts and decisions. Based upon the principles of lexical gaps and general use of languages.

Any suggestions on a more narrow RQ and if anyone knows some useful books (and websites), I'd appreciate sharing

Thanks in advance.

Also: To the haters, I don't need it til tomorrow, got another 8 months.

[deissi]

Wow, "to what extent does language define who we are?" Yeah, you could say the RQ needs narrowing down. I don't think you should approach it from the whole "define who we are" aspect at all. You'll just end up having a really broad essay that doesn't really focus on any argument. How about writing about "to what extent does language define attribute X in our personality" or "to what extent does language define how we experience Y", where X/Y is something very specific. Your problem will still be that the RQ might be too broad. For the RQ you posted, one can think about 10¹⁰⁰ arguments. That means you can pretty much write a lot of wishy-washy on 10 things and still not get anywhere close to covering your topic. You'll want your RQ to be pinpointed so that you can only think of 3-4 arguments about why language defines X and write (in depth) about those. This (should) mean you fulfill the requirement of the topic being worthy of investigation.

P.S. You're writing your EE in Group 2, i.e. Language B, not A2. There isn't an EE for Language A2.

[Akayuki + Lucifel]

Thanks for the reply, the tip with the RQ is good, I heard something similar from my supervisor.

And all of the students were told that they may choose whichever subject, and since I am doing English A2, I am doing my EE in said subject. Worked since the past 10 or so years...

Any tips as to where I find decent material, that is NEW material. Up to now I've only found articles and research papers from the 30's up to the 70's...

Edited June 5, 2011 by Basti Hertel