[en] For many years superconductivity was considered to be a low temperature phenomenon occurring below ∼ 25K. All this changed in April 1986 when J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Muller showed that the oxide La_2-xBa_xCuO₄ becomes a superconductor at ∼ 30K. Later in December 1986 the oxides La_2-x Sr_x CuO₄ and La_2-xBa_xCuO₄ synthesised under high pressure, were shown to superconduct at ∼ 40K and ∼ 50K, respectively. Finally in February 1987, Chu synthesised the classic superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O_6.8, the so-called 1:2:3 material, which has a critical temperature circa 92K. In this thesis, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and susceptibility measurements are reported on various superconductors. In 1987 Bowden et al., showed that pure phase 1:2:3 samples are characterised by an absence of Cu EPR signals. This contrasts sharply with the Green phase material, Y₂Ba₁Cu₁O₅, which shows a very large EPR signal with a g_eff of 2.08. In an attempt to induce EPR signals, Mn doped 1:2:3 samples have been synthesised and characterised with EPR , AC susceptibility, XRD and SEM measurements. It is shown that Mn EPR signals are not evident in the Mn doped samples with a g_eff of 2.09. Also, below T_c the EPR signals of the lightly doped Mn samples vanish. It is argued that this is due to fluxoids motion within the superconductor, which gives rise to very large non-reproducible signals. It is suggested that the signals originate from Cu, impurity contaminants and multiple phases produced when the 1:2:3 superconductor is doped with Manganese (author)