Miranda Roggia: Child soldiers in the Sierra Leonean Civil War
Miranda is a 12th grade student who chose to write her Extended Essay in History. As a History HL student, she is interested in the exploitation of children in armed conflict. For her essay, she compared the conscription of children in the two sides of the Sierra Leonean Civil War. Read about her experience in this interview, and read her essay!
"Children were taught to use weapons such as AK - 47 rifles through demonstrations on trees and models in order to see their potential and effect on the future victim."
Can you give us a glimpse of your research question?
My research question was about examining the roles of child soldier policies by the Revolutionary United Front and the Sierra Leonean forces during the Sierra Leonean civil war, as I wanted to investigate how children were being conscripted. My research question was narrowed down to “To what extent were child soldier’s policies similar for the revolutionary United Front and Sierra Leone forces in the Sierra Leone Civil war from 1991-2002”.
What was your path to reaching this question?
I was always interested in understanding how and why children were used during wars, and the fact that I study African history at school made me realize I wanted to know something more in depth about child soldiers and conscription.
What types of academic texts and documents did you come across that were most useful?
Numerous primary and secondary sources. One of my main sources was a master’s thesis on child soldiers in Sierra Leone. I was able to gather a lot of information about that, which contained a lot of perspective and valuable information.
How did you work with your advisor throughout the process?
I went pretty often as soon as I had questions, I was in touch with her, I often went to review my research question, I went to her to make sure that a source I was using was valuable and academically relevant.
How did you keep track of the assessment criteria?
Every time I worked on my EE, whether the outline or actually writing the essay, I always had the assessment criteria open in another tab and I made sure to refer to it every time in terms of analysis, evaluation, perspectives, etc.
What was the most important thing you learned writing an Extended Essay?
The most important thing I learned was to, first of all, not just randomly start writing an essay but actually having a strong outline. It was due to my outline - which my advisor said was pretty strong – that I was able to very straight-forwardly write my essay.
What is one thing you would improve about your essay?
Given that it was a History EE, I would definitely improve my analysis, and be careful with description… Most importantly, convey analysis.
What was the main discussion of the Viva Voce?
Initially, we talked about how I felt about the EE and the process of it, and if I had gained any new research knowledge, techniques, and information.