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International Baccalaureate (IB)

IB students around the globe fear writing the Extended Essay, but it doesn't have to be a source of stress! In this article, I'll get you excited about writing your Extended Essay and provide you with the resources you need to get an A on it.

If you're reading this article, I'm going to assume you're an IB student getting ready to write your Extended Essay. If you're looking at this as a potential future IB student, I recommend reading our introductory IB articles first, including our guide to what the IB program is and our full coverage of the IB curriculum .

IB Extended Essay: Why Should You Trust My Advice?

I myself am a recipient of an IB Diploma, and I happened to receive an A on my IB Extended Essay. Don't believe me? The proof is in the IBO pudding:

If you're confused by what this report means, EE is short for Extended Essay , and English A1 is the subject that my Extended Essay topic coordinated with. In layman's terms, my IB Diploma was graded in May 2010, I wrote my Extended Essay in the English A1 category, and I received an A grade on it.

What Is the Extended Essay in the IB Diploma Programme?

The IB Extended Essay, or EE , is a mini-thesis you write under the supervision of an IB advisor (an IB teacher at your school), which counts toward your IB Diploma (learn more about the major IB Diploma requirements in our guide) . I will explain exactly how the EE affects your Diploma later in this article.

For the Extended Essay, you will choose a research question as a topic, conduct the research independently, then write an essay on your findings . The essay itself is a long one—although there's a cap of 4,000 words, most successful essays get very close to this limit.

Keep in mind that the IB requires this essay to be a "formal piece of academic writing," meaning you'll have to do outside research and cite additional sources.

The IB Extended Essay must include the following:

A title page
Contents page
Introduction
Body of the essay
References and bibliography

Additionally, your research topic must fall into one of the six approved DP categories , or IB subject groups, which are as follows:

Group 1: Studies in Language and Literature
Group 2: Language Acquisition
Group 3: Individuals and Societies
Group 4: Sciences
Group 5: Mathematics
Group 6: The Arts

Once you figure out your category and have identified a potential research topic, it's time to pick your advisor, who is normally an IB teacher at your school (though you can also find one online ). This person will help direct your research, and they'll conduct the reflection sessions you'll have to do as part of your Extended Essay.

As of 2018, the IB requires a "reflection process" as part of your EE supervision process. To fulfill this requirement, you have to meet at least three times with your supervisor in what the IB calls "reflection sessions." These meetings are not only mandatory but are also part of the formal assessment of the EE and your research methods.

According to the IB, the purpose of these meetings is to "provide an opportunity for students to reflect on their engagement with the research process." Basically, these meetings give your supervisor the opportunity to offer feedback, push you to think differently, and encourage you to evaluate your research process.

The final reflection session is called the viva voce, and it's a short 10- to 15-minute interview between you and your advisor. This happens at the very end of the EE process, and it's designed to help your advisor write their report, which factors into your EE grade.

Here are the topics covered in your viva voce :

A check on plagiarism and malpractice
Your reflection on your project's successes and difficulties
Your reflection on what you've learned during the EE process

Your completed Extended Essay, along with your supervisor's report, will then be sent to the IB to be graded. We'll cover the assessment criteria in just a moment.

We'll help you learn how to have those "lightbulb" moments...even on test day!

What Should You Write About in Your IB Extended Essay?

You can technically write about anything, so long as it falls within one of the approved categories listed above.

It's best to choose a topic that matches one of the IB courses , (such as Theatre, Film, Spanish, French, Math, Biology, etc.), which shouldn't be difficult because there are so many class subjects.

Here is a range of sample topics with the attached extended essay:

Biology: The Effect of Age and Gender on the Photoreceptor Cells in the Human Retina
Chemistry: How Does Reflux Time Affect the Yield and Purity of Ethyl Aminobenzoate (Benzocaine), and How Effective is Recrystallisation as a Purification Technique for This Compound?
English: An Exploration of Jane Austen's Use of the Outdoors in Emma
Geography: The Effect of Location on the Educational Attainment of Indigenous Secondary Students in Queensland, Australia
Math: Alhazen's Billiard Problem
Visual Arts: Can Luc Tuymans Be Classified as a Political Painter?

You can see from how varied the topics are that you have a lot of freedom when it comes to picking a topic . So how do you pick when the options are limitless?

How to Write a Stellar IB Extended Essay: 6 Essential Tips

Below are six key tips to keep in mind as you work on your Extended Essay for the IB DP. Follow these and you're sure to get an A!

#1: Write About Something You Enjoy

You can't expect to write a compelling essay if you're not a fan of the topic on which you're writing. For example, I just love British theatre and ended up writing my Extended Essay on a revolution in post-WWII British theatre. (Yes, I'm definitely a #TheatreNerd.)

I really encourage anyone who pursues an IB Diploma to take the Extended Essay seriously. I was fortunate enough to receive a full-tuition merit scholarship to USC's School of Dramatic Arts program. In my interview for the scholarship, I spoke passionately about my Extended Essay; thus, I genuinely think my Extended Essay helped me get my scholarship.

But how do you find a topic you're passionate about? Start by thinking about which classes you enjoy the most and why . Do you like math classes because you like to solve problems? Or do you enjoy English because you like to analyze literary texts?

Keep in mind that there's no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing your Extended Essay topic. You're not more likely to get high marks because you're writing about science, just like you're not doomed to failure because you've chosen to tackle the social sciences. The quality of what you produce—not the field you choose to research within—will determine your grade.

Once you've figured out your category, you should brainstorm more specific topics by putting pen to paper . What was your favorite chapter you learned in that class? Was it astrophysics or mechanics? What did you like about that specific chapter? Is there something you want to learn more about? I recommend spending a few hours on this type of brainstorming.

One last note: if you're truly stumped on what to research, pick a topic that will help you in your future major or career . That way you can use your Extended Essay as a talking point in your college essays (and it will prepare you for your studies to come too!).

#2: Select a Topic That Is Neither Too Broad nor Too Narrow

There's a fine line between broad and narrow. You need to write about something specific, but not so specific that you can't write 4,000 words on it.

You can't write about WWII because that would be a book's worth of material. You also don't want to write about what type of soup prisoners of war received behind enemy lines, because you probably won’t be able to come up with 4,000 words of material about it. However, you could possibly write about how the conditions in German POW camps—and the rations provided—were directly affected by the Nazis' successes and failures on the front, including the use of captured factories and prison labor in Eastern Europe to increase production. WWII military history might be a little overdone, but you get my point.

If you're really stuck trying to pinpoint a not-too-broad-or-too-narrow topic, I suggest trying to brainstorm a topic that uses a comparison. Once you begin looking through the list of sample essays below, you'll notice that many use comparisons to formulate their main arguments.

I also used a comparison in my EE, contrasting Harold Pinter's Party Time with John Osborne's Look Back in Anger in order to show a transition in British theatre. Topics with comparisons of two to three plays, books, and so on tend to be the sweet spot. You can analyze each item and then compare them with one another after doing some in-depth analysis of each individually. The ways these items compare and contrast will end up forming the thesis of your essay!

When choosing a comparative topic, the key is that the comparison should be significant. I compared two plays to illustrate the transition in British theatre, but you could compare the ways different regional dialects affect people's job prospects or how different temperatures may or may not affect the mating patterns of lightning bugs. The point here is that comparisons not only help you limit your topic, but they also help you build your argument.

Comparisons are not the only way to get a grade-A EE, though. If after brainstorming, you pick a non-comparison-based topic and are still unsure whether your topic is too broad or narrow, spend about 30 minutes doing some basic research and see how much material is out there.

If there are more than 1,000 books, articles, or documentaries out there on that exact topic, it may be too broad. But if there are only two books that have any connection to your topic, it may be too narrow. If you're still unsure, ask your advisor—it's what they're there for! Speaking of advisors...

Don't get stuck with a narrow topic!

#3: Choose an Advisor Who Is Familiar With Your Topic

If you're not certain of who you would like to be your advisor, create a list of your top three choices. Next, write down the pros and cons of each possibility (I know this sounds tedious, but it really helps!).

For example, Mr. Green is my favorite teacher and we get along really well, but he teaches English. For my EE, I want to conduct an experiment that compares the efficiency of American electric cars with foreign electric cars.

I had Ms. White a year ago. She teaches physics and enjoyed having me in her class. Unlike Mr. Green, Ms. White could help me design my experiment.

Based on my topic and what I need from my advisor, Ms. White would be a better fit for me than would Mr. Green (even though I like him a lot).

The moral of my story is this: do not just ask your favorite teacher to be your advisor . They might be a hindrance to you if they teach another subject. For example, I would not recommend asking your biology teacher to guide you in writing an English literature-based EE.

There can, of course, be exceptions to this rule. If you have a teacher who's passionate and knowledgeable about your topic (as my English teacher was about my theatre topic), you could ask that instructor. Consider all your options before you do this. There was no theatre teacher at my high school, so I couldn't find a theatre-specific advisor, but I chose the next best thing.

Before you approach a teacher to serve as your advisor, check with your high school to see what requirements they have for this process. Some IB high schools require your IB Extended Essay advisor to sign an Agreement Form , for instance.

Make sure that you ask your IB coordinator whether there is any required paperwork to fill out. If your school needs a specific form signed, bring it with you when you ask your teacher to be your EE advisor.

#4: Pick an Advisor Who Will Push You to Be Your Best

Some teachers might just take on students because they have to and aren't very passionate about reading drafts, only giving you minimal feedback. Choose a teacher who will take the time to read several drafts of your essay and give you extensive notes. I would not have gotten my A without being pushed to make my Extended Essay draft better.

Ask a teacher that you have experience with through class or an extracurricular activity. Do not ask a teacher that you have absolutely no connection to. If a teacher already knows you, that means they already know your strengths and weaknesses, so they know what to look for, where you need to improve, and how to encourage your best work.

Also, don't forget that your supervisor's assessment is part of your overall EE score . If you're meeting with someone who pushes you to do better—and you actually take their advice—they'll have more impressive things to say about you than a supervisor who doesn't know you well and isn't heavily involved in your research process.

Be aware that the IB only allows advisors to make suggestions and give constructive criticism. Your teacher cannot actually help you write your EE. The IB recommends that the supervisor spends approximately two to three hours in total with the candidate discussing the EE.

#5: Make Sure Your Essay Has a Clear Structure and Flow

The IB likes structure. Your EE needs a clear introduction (which should be one to two double-spaced pages), research question/focus (i.e., what you're investigating), a body, and a conclusion (about one double-spaced page). An essay with unclear organization will be graded poorly.

The body of your EE should make up the bulk of the essay. It should be about eight to 18 pages long (again, depending on your topic). Your body can be split into multiple parts. For example, if you were doing a comparison, you might have one third of your body as Novel A Analysis, another third as Novel B Analysis, and the final third as your comparison of Novels A and B.

If you're conducting an experiment or analyzing data, such as in this EE , your EE body should have a clear structure that aligns with the scientific method ; you should state the research question, discuss your method, present the data, analyze the data, explain any uncertainties, and draw a conclusion and/or evaluate the success of the experiment.

#6: Start Writing Sooner Rather Than Later!

You will not be able to crank out a 4,000-word essay in just a week and get an A on it. You'll be reading many, many articles (and, depending on your topic, possibly books and plays as well!). As such, it's imperative that you start your research as soon as possible.

Each school has a slightly different deadline for the Extended Essay. Some schools want them as soon as November of your senior year; others will take them as late as February. Your school will tell you what your deadline is. If they haven't mentioned it by February of your junior year, ask your IB coordinator about it.

Some high schools will provide you with a timeline of when you need to come up with a topic, when you need to meet with your advisor, and when certain drafts are due. Not all schools do this. Ask your IB coordinator if you are unsure whether you are on a specific timeline.

Below is my recommended EE timeline. While it's earlier than most schools, it'll save you a ton of heartache (trust me, I remember how hard this process was!):

January/February of Junior Year: Come up with your final research topic (or at least your top three options).
February of Junior Year: Approach a teacher about being your EE advisor. If they decline, keep asking others until you find one. See my notes above on how to pick an EE advisor.
April/May of Junior Year: Submit an outline of your EE and a bibliography of potential research sources (I recommend at least seven to 10) to your EE advisor. Meet with your EE advisor to discuss your outline.
Summer Between Junior and Senior Year: Complete your first full draft over the summer between your junior and senior year. I know, I know—no one wants to work during the summer, but trust me—this will save you so much stress come fall when you are busy with college applications and other internal assessments for your IB classes. You will want to have this first full draft done because you will want to complete a couple of draft cycles as you likely won't be able to get everything you want to say into 4,000 articulate words on the first attempt. Try to get this first draft into the best possible shape so you don't have to work on too many revisions during the school year on top of your homework, college applications, and extracurriculars.
August/September of Senior Year: Turn in your first draft of your EE to your advisor and receive feedback. Work on incorporating their feedback into your essay. If they have a lot of suggestions for improvement, ask if they will read one more draft before the final draft.
September/October of Senior Year: Submit the second draft of your EE to your advisor (if necessary) and look at their feedback. Work on creating the best possible final draft.
November-February of Senior Year: Schedule your viva voce. Submit two copies of your final draft to your school to be sent off to the IB. You likely will not get your grade until after you graduate.

Remember that in the middle of these milestones, you'll need to schedule two other reflection sessions with your advisor . (Your teachers will actually take notes on these sessions on a form like this one , which then gets submitted to the IB.)

I recommend doing them when you get feedback on your drafts, but these meetings will ultimately be up to your supervisor. Just don't forget to do them!

The early bird DOES get the worm!

How Is the IB Extended Essay Graded?

Extended Essays are graded by examiners appointed by the IB on a scale of 0 to 34 . You'll be graded on five criteria, each with its own set of points. You can learn more about how EE scoring works by reading the IB guide to extended essays .

Criterion A: Focus and Method (6 points maximum)
Criterion B: Knowledge and Understanding (6 points maximum)
Criterion C: Critical Thinking (12 points maximum)
Criterion D: Presentation (4 points maximum)
Criterion E: Engagement (6 points maximum)

How well you do on each of these criteria will determine the final letter grade you get for your EE. You must earn at least a D to be eligible to receive your IB Diploma.

Although each criterion has a point value, the IB explicitly states that graders are not converting point totals into grades; instead, they're using qualitative grade descriptors to determine the final grade of your Extended Essay . Grade descriptors are on pages 102-103 of this document .

Here's a rough estimate of how these different point values translate to letter grades based on previous scoring methods for the EE. This is just an estimate —you should read and understand the grade descriptors so you know exactly what the scorers are looking for.

Here is the breakdown of EE scores (from the May 2021 bulletin):

How Does the Extended Essay Grade Affect Your IB Diploma?

The Extended Essay grade is combined with your TOK (Theory of Knowledge) grade to determine how many points you get toward your IB Diploma.

To learn about Theory of Knowledge or how many points you need to receive an IB Diploma, read our complete guide to the IB program and our guide to the IB Diploma requirements .

This diagram shows how the two scores are combined to determine how many points you receive for your IB diploma (3 being the most, 0 being the least). In order to get your IB Diploma, you have to earn 24 points across both categories (the TOK and EE). The highest score anyone can earn is 45 points.

Let's say you get an A on your EE and a B on TOK. You will get 3 points toward your Diploma. As of 2014, a student who scores an E on either the extended essay or TOK essay will not be eligible to receive an IB Diploma .

Prior to the class of 2010, a Diploma candidate could receive a failing grade in either the Extended Essay or Theory of Knowledge and still be awarded a Diploma, but this is no longer true.

Figuring out how you're assessed can be a little tricky. Luckily, the IB breaks everything down here in this document . (The assessment information begins on page 219.)

40+ Sample Extended Essays for the IB Diploma Programme

In case you want a little more guidance on how to get an A on your EE, here are over 40 excellent (grade A) sample extended essays for your reading pleasure. Essays are grouped by IB subject.

Business Management 1
Chemistry 1
Chemistry 2
Chemistry 3
Chemistry 4
Chemistry 5
Chemistry 6
Chemistry 7
Computer Science 1
Economics 1
Design Technology 1
Design Technology 2
Environmental Systems and Societies 1
Geography 1
Geography 2
Geography 3
Geography 4
Geography 5
Geography 6
Literature and Performance 1
Mathematics 1
Mathematics 2
Mathematics 3
Mathematics 4
Mathematics 5
Philosophy 1
Philosophy 2
Philosophy 3
Philosophy 4
Philosophy 5
Psychology 1
Psychology 2
Psychology 3
Psychology 4
Psychology 5
Social and Cultural Anthropology 1
Social and Cultural Anthropology 2
Social and Cultural Anthropology 3
Sports, Exercise and Health Science 1
Sports, Exercise and Health Science 2
Visual Arts 1
Visual Arts 2
Visual Arts 3
Visual Arts 4
Visual Arts 5
World Religion 1
World Religion 2
World Religion 3

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IB Extended Essay: 250+ Ideas and Guide

Charles Whitehouse

What is the IB Extended Essay?

The Extended Essay , along with the Creativity, Activity, Service component and Theory of Knowledge , forms an integral part of the IB Diploma Programme . It offers IB high school students an opportunity to explore a topic of personal interest in-depth, develop research and writing skills, and experience the rigours of academic investigation.

One of the distinguishing features of the IB Extended Essay is its length. It requires students to write a substantial essay of up to 4,000 words, which is equivalent to about 16-20 pages. This allows students to delve into their chosen subject matter and demonstrate their ability to engage with complex ideas.

Over 88,000 IBDP students across the globe undertook the Extended Essay in 2022 as part of their IB Diploma requirements. It has been lauded as an effective preparation for university-level research and writing, helping students develop critical thinking, analytical, and independent research skills.

The Extended Essay is an opportunity for students to apply the knowledge and skills gained from their chosen subjects in a multidisciplinary manner. It encourages interdisciplinary exploration, enabling students to connect different areas of knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

In order to successfully complete the Extended Essay, students must adhere to a structured process that includes selecting a research question, conducting thorough research, organising their findings, and presenting their analysis and conclusions in a coherent manner. By undertaking the IB Extended Essay, students not only enhance their academic skills but also develop essential skills such as time management, critical thinking, and independent inquiry.

How to Choose Your Extended Essay Research Question?

Choosing a research question for your IB Extended Essay is a crucial step that sets the direction and scope of your investigation. Here are some key considerations to keep in mind when selecting your research question:

1. Personal Interest: Choose a topic that genuinely interests you. Passion for the subject matter will fuel your motivation and dedication throughout the research process.

2. Feasibility: Ensure that your research question is manageable within the constraints of the Extended Essay. Consider the availability of resources, time required for research and analysis, and the scope of the topic.

3. Specificity: Formulate a research question that is focused and specific. A broad question may lead to a lack of depth in your analysis, while a narrow question may limit the availability of relevant sources and data.

4. Relevance: Select a research question that is relevant to the subject you are investigating. It should align with the objectives and content of the chosen subject area.

5. Novelty: Aim for a research question that offers a unique perspective or contributes to existing knowledge. Originality in your approach and analysis can make your Extended Essay stand out.

6. Consultation: Seek guidance from your teachers, mentors, or IB tutors . They can provide valuable insights and help you refine your research question.

Remember that your research question will shape the entire trajectory of your Extended Essay, so take the time to carefully consider and refine it before proceeding with your research.

Now, let's explore a variety of ideas for each subject, providing you with a diverse range of potential topics to consider for your IB Extended Essay.

Top 10 IB Extended Essay Subjects in 2022

Extended Essay Ideas for Each Subject

1. How Do Fibonacci Sequences Apply in Real World Scenarios?

2. Do Fractals Have a Role in Modelling Weather Patterns?

3. Is the Monty Hall Problem Really Counter-Intuitive? A Statistical Analysis.

4. To What Extent Does the Golden Ratio Appear in Architecture?

5. How Does Bayesian Probability Predict Election Outcomes?

6. The Role of Game Theory in the Cold War: A Mathematical Perspective.

7. Can Catastrophe Theory Model Stock Market Crashes?

8. How Effective are Neural Networks in Predicting Future Events?

9. A Study of the Mathematical Strategies Employed in Chess.

10. Comparing the Accuracy of Different Numerical Methods for Solving Differential Equations.

11. Is Bitcoin's Value Deterministic or Stochastic?

12. How Does Voronoi Diagram Optimize Emergency Service Locations?

13. Using the Markov Chain to Predict Weather Patterns.

14. To What Extent is RSA Encryption Secure?

15. How Does Linear Algebra Apply in Computer Graphics?

16. An Investigation into the Math Behind Google's PageRank Algorithm.

17. How Effective is the Math Behind Machine Learning Algorithms?

18. Exploring the Effect of Maths in Optimising Traffic Flow.

19. Are There Mathematical Patterns in Successful Lottery Numbers?

20. How Efficiently Can Prime Numbers Be Generated?

Have a look at our comprehensive set of IB Study Notes and IB Practice Questions , developed by expert IB teachers and examiners!

English Literature

1. The Role of Feminism in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

2. A Study of Racial Identity in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.

3. Is Hamlet Truly Mad or Just Pretending? An Analysis.

4. The Impact of Post-Colonialism in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

5. How Does Orwell Use Language to Depict Dystopia in 1984?

6. The Influence of Gothic Elements in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

7. The Depiction of Mental Illness in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.

8. The Role of Nature in William Wordsworth's Romantic Poetry.

9. The Effect of Social Hierarchy in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

10. How Does Harper Lee Convey Themes of Racial Injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird?

11. Exploring Gender Stereotypes in George Eliot's Middlemarch.

12. The Role of Supernatural in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

13. Exploring the Influence of Marxism in George Orwell's Animal Farm.

14. A Study of Homosexuality in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

15. How Does Virginia Woolf Explore Feminism in Mrs Dalloway?

16. The Depiction of War in Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front.

17. The Role of the American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

18. The Use of Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

19. A Study of Isolation in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

20. The Impact of Social Class in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

1. How Do Different pH Levels Affect the Activity of Enzymes in Yeast?

2. Investigating the Effects of Light Intensity on the Rate of Photosynthesis.

3. How Does Temperature Affect the Germination of Seeds?

4. Impact of Varying Salinity Levels on Brine Shrimp Survival Rates.

5. The Role of Epigenetics in Gene Expression: Case Study on Identical Twins.

6. To What Extent Do Different Antibiotics Inhibit Bacterial Growth?

7. How Does Caffeine Affect the Heart Rate of Daphnia?

8. An Investigation into the Impact of Pollution on Local Plant Diversity.

9. The Impact of Various Drugs on the Pulsation Rate of Lumbriculus variegatus.

10. Comparing the Efficacy of Natural Vs. Synthetic Pesticides on Plant Growth.

11. The Role of Gut Microbiota in Obesity: A Literature Review.

12. Does the Level of Vitamin C in Oranges Change Over Time?

13. How Do Different Types of Soil Affect Earthworm Activity?

14. Investigating the Correlation Between Altitude and Plant Biodiversity.

15. Analysis of Microplastic Concentration in Local Freshwater Bodies.

16. Impact of Noise Pollution on Birdsong: A Case Study.

17. A Comparison of Antibacterial Properties in Manuka Honey Vs. Regular Honey.

18. The Effect of Different Light Wavelengths on the Growth of Pea Plants.

19. How Does Exercise Intensity Impact Blood Glucose Levels?

20. Is There a Correlation Between Water pH and Aquatic Life Diversity?

1. How Does Temperature Affect the Rate of Reaction in the Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide?

2. Investigating the Effectiveness of Different Antacids on Stomach Acid.

3. A Comparative Study on the Vitamin C Concentration in Different Citrus Fruits.

4. How Does Cooking Time Affect the Vitamin C Levels in Vegetables?

5. To What Extent Does Enzyme Concentration Affect the Fermentation of Yeast?

6. Analysis of Caffeine Content in Different Types of Tea .

7. The Effect of Different Factors on the Corrosion of Iron.

8. How Does the Concentration of Sodium Chloride Affect the Electrolysis of Water?

9. Comparing the Energy Output of Different Biofuels.

10. The Effect of Temperature on the Crystal Size in the Recrystallisation Process.

11. Comparing the Acidities of Natural and Processed Foods.

12. Investigating the Effect of Various Catalysts on the Rate of Hydrogen Peroxide Decomposition.

13. Synthesis of Aspirin: A Study on the Purity of the Product.

14. Comparing the Efficiency of Different Types of Solar Panels.

15. Investigating the Impact of Carbonation on pH Levels in Various Soft Drinks.

16. The Effect of Chelating Agents on the Solubility of Metal Ions.

17. A Study on the Photodegradation of Dyes Using Titanium Dioxide.

18. How Do Different Sugar Types Affect Fermentation Rates in Yeast?

19. Analysis of Water Hardness in Various Local Water Supplies.

20. Investigating the Efficacy of Different Water Filtration Methods in Removing Heavy Metals.

1. Investigating the Relationship Between the Drop Height and Crater Size in a Simulated Impact.

2. How Does the Angle of Incidence Affect the Efficiency of a Solar Panel?

3. Analysing the Relationship Between the Length of a Pendulum and Its Period.

4. To What Extent Does the Mass of a Projectile Affect Its Range?

5. Investigating the Factors Affecting the Drag Force on a Falling Object.

6. A Study on the Efficiency of Different Insulating Materials in Reducing Heat Loss.

7. How Does the Depth of Water Affect Wave Speed?

8. The Relationship Between the Angle of Release and the Distance Traveled by a Trebuchet.

9. Investigating the Effect of Surface Area on Terminal Velocity.

10. How Does the Thickness of a Wire Affect Its Electrical Resistance?

11. The Impact of Varying Air Pressure on the Lift Force of an Airfoil.

12. Analysing the Relationship Between the Magnitude of an Earthquake and the Distance from the Epicentre.

13. Investigating the Factors Affecting the Speed of Sound in Different Media.

14. How Does the Concentration of a Solution Affect Its Refractive Index?

15. The Effect of Various Materials on the Absorption of Radiation.

16. A Study on the Efficiency of Wind Turbines at Different Wind Speeds.

17. Investigating the Effect of Temperature on the Viscosity of Liquids.

18. How Does the Type of Material Affect the Transmission of Sound Waves?

19. The Relationship Between the Angle of a Ramp and the Frictional Force Acting on an Object.

20. A Study on the Factors Affecting the Strength of Electromagnets.

1. The Impact of Social Media on Teenagers' Mental Health: A Cross-Cultural Study.

2. Investigating the Role of Parenting Styles in Child Development.

3. The Effect of Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive Performance.

4. How Does Classical Conditioning Apply in Advertising Strategies?

5. The Impact of Colour on Consumer Behaviour: A Study in Retail Settings.

6. The Role of Social Support in Coping with Stress.

7. To What Extent Does Personality Influence Career Success?

8. Investigating the Effect of Group Dynamics on Decision Making.

9. The Impact of Music on Cognitive Task Performance.

10. A Study on the Effectiveness of Different Techniques for Reducing Test Anxiety.

11. The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Academic Performance.

12. Analysing the Impact of Stereotype Threat on Test Performance.

13. Investigating the Factors Affecting the Formation of False Memories.

14. How Does the Bystander Effect Manifest in Online Settings?

15. The Role of Mindfulness in Reducing Stress and Anxiety.

16. Analysing the Impact of Gender Stereotypes on Occupational Choices.

17. Investigating the Influence of Cultural Background on Conflict Resolution Styles.

18. The Impact of Video Games on Aggression: A Meta-Analysis.

19. A Study on the Factors Affecting Altruistic Behaviour.

20. The Role of Attachment Styles in Romantic Relationships.

1. Investigating the Impact of Unemployment on Crime Rates in Urban Areas.

2. The Effect of Immigration on Wage Levels: A Case Study.

3. To What Extent Does Government Spending Influence Economic Growth?

4. A Comparative Analysis of the Economic Impact of Tourism in Coastal Vs. Inland Regions.

5. Assessing the Impact of Brexit on the UK's Trade Balance.

6. The Role of Microfinance in Alleviating Poverty in Rural India.

7. Investigating the Effects of Minimum Wage Policies on Small Businesses.

8. The Impact of Covid-19 on the Global Supply Chain: A Study on the Auto Industry.

9. How Do Oil Prices Affect Inflation Rates? A Historical Analysis.

10. A Study on the Relationship Between Income Inequality and Economic Growth.

11. The Effect of Trade Tariffs on Domestic Industries: The Case of US-China Trade War.

12. The Role of Foreign Direct Investment in Economic Development of Emerging Markets.

13. To What Extent Does Education Contribute to Economic Productivity?

14. The Impact of Climate Change Policies on the Energy Sector.

15. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy in Combating Recessions.

16. The Role of the Informal Economy in Urban Development: A Case Study.

17. Investigating the Correlation Between Real Estate Prices and Economic Growth.

18. The Impact of Population Aging on Healthcare Expenditure .

19. Assessing the Economic Consequences of Natural Disasters: A Case Study.

20. The Effect of Technological Advancements on Employment Rates in the Manufacturing Sector.

Business Management

1. The Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Motivation in Tech Start-ups.

2. How Does Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Brand Image?

3. The Role of Human Resource Management in Employee Retention.

4. Investigating the Impact of E-commerce on Traditional Retail Businesses.

5. How Do Changes in Interest Rates Affect Small Business Financing?

6. The Role of Innovation in the Competitive Advantage of Businesses.

7. Investigating the Effects of Workplace Diversity on Team Performance.

8. The Impact of Organisational Culture on Employee Job Satisfaction.

9. How Does Supply Chain Management Affect the Profitability of Manufacturing Firms?

10. The Role of Digital Marketing in Enhancing Customer Engagement.

11. Assessing the Impact of Brexit on the Business Strategy of UK-based Companies.

12. The Effect of Ethical Practices on Business Reputation.

13. Investigating the Role of Strategic Alliances in Enhancing Market Position.

14. The Impact of Covid-19 on Remote Work Policies: A Case Study.

15. How Does Customer Relationship Management Influence Customer Loyalty?

16. The Effect of Government Regulations on Startup Ecosystem.

17. Evaluating the Role of Corporate Governance in Financial Performance.

18. The Impact of Merger and Acquisition on Employee Morale.

19. The Effect of Green Initiatives on Business Sustainability.

20. The Role of Business Intelligence in Decision-making.

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1. Investigating the Impact of Urbanisation on Local Biodiversity: A Case Study.

2. The Role of Climate Change in the Spread of Vector-borne Diseases.

3. The Effect of River Diversions on Local Ecosystems.

4. Assessing the Impact of Deforestation on Local Climate: A Case Study.

5. The Role of Tourism in the Sustainable Development of Coastal Regions.

6. Investigating the Impact of Gentrification on Urban Neighbourhoods: A Case Study.

7. The Effect of Climate Change on the Availability of Freshwater Resources.

8. Assessing the Impact of Agricultural Practices on Soil Erosion in Rural Areas.

9. Analysing the Relationship Between Population Density and Transportation Infrastructure.

10. The Role of Renewable Energy in Reducing Carbon Emissions: A Case Study.

11. Investigating the Impact of Land Reclamation on Coastal Ecosystems.

12. The Effect of Urban Sprawl on Air Quality in Major Cities.

13. Assessing the Vulnerability of Coastal Communities to Sea Level Rise.

14. The Impact of Industrialisation on River Water Quality: A Case Study.

15. How Does Waste Management Affect the Sustainability of Urban Areas?

16. Investigating the Relationship Between Income Inequality and Spatial Segregation.

17. The Role of Urban Green Spaces in Enhancing Residents' Well-being.

18. The Impact of Natural Disasters on Economic Development in Small Island Nations.

19. Analysing the Factors Affecting the Distribution of Earthquakes and Volcanic Activity.

20. The Effect of Land Use Change on Flood Risk in Urban Areas.

Computer Science

1. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Different Machine Learning Algorithms in Predicting Stock Prices.

2. Investigating the Impact of Encryption Techniques on Data Security.

3. The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Automating Routine Tasks.

4. How Does the Implementation of Blockchain Technology Affect Supply Chain Management?

5. Assessing the Impact of Social Media Algorithms on User Behaviour.

6. The Effect of Augmented Reality on the User Experience in Mobile Applications.

7. Investigating the Feasibility of Quantum Computing in Solving Complex Problems.

8. The Role of Big Data Analytics in Enhancing Business Decision-making.

9. Analysing the Factors Affecting the Adoption of Cloud Computing by SMEs.

10. The Impact of Cybersecurity Measures on the Prevention of Data Breaches.

11. Investigating the Ethical Implications of Facial Recognition Technology.

12. The Effect of Internet of Things on Energy Efficiency in Smart Homes.

13. Assessing the Impact of Virtual Reality on Gaming Industry.

14. The Role of Natural Language Processing in Enhancing Human-Computer Interaction.

15. How Does the Development of Autonomous Vehicles Affect Traffic Management?

16. Investigating the Scalability Issues in Distributed Systems.

17. The Effect of Software Development Methodologies on Project Success Rates.

18. The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Job Market: A Case Study.

19. Analysing the Factors Affecting the Performance of Mobile Networks.

20. The Role of Bioinformatics in Personalised Medicine.

Environmental Systems and Societies

1. Investigating the Impact of E-waste on Soil and Water Quality.

2. The Effect of Climate Change on Coral Reef Ecosystems.

3. Assessing the Impact of Invasive Species on Native Biodiversity.

4. The Role of Sustainable Agriculture in Reducing Environmental Degradation.

5. Analysing the Factors Affecting the Ozone Layer Depletion.

6. The Impact of Plastic Pollution on Marine Life: A Case Study.

7. Investigating the Feasibility of Carbon Capture and Storage Technologies.

8. The Role of Urban Planning in Reducing Air Pollution in Cities.

9. The Effect of Overfishing on Marine Ecosystems: A Case Study.

10. Assessing the Impact of Renewable Energy Sources on Carbon Emissions.

11. Investigating the Relationship Between Deforestation and Climate Change.

12. The Impact of Industrial Pollution on Local Communities' Health: A Case Study.

13. The Role of Waste Management in Reducing Ocean Pollution.

14. The Effect of Pesticides on Soil Microorganism Diversity.

15. Assessing the Impact of Dams on River Ecosystems.

16. Investigating the Efficacy of Reforestation Efforts in Carbon Sequestration.

17. The Role of Environmental Education in Promoting Sustainable Consumption Behaviours.

18. The Effect of Acid Rain on Forest Ecosystems: A Case Study.

19. Analysing the Impact of Mining Activities on Local Water Quality.

20. The Role of Green Infrastructure in Enhancing Urban Sustainability.

Social and Cultural Anthropology

1. Investigating the Impact of Globalisation on Indigenous Cultures: A Case Study.

2. The Role of Language in Shaping Cultural Identity.

3. Analysing the Influence of Cultural Practices on Gender Roles.

4. The Effect of Migration on Cultural Assimilation: A Case Study.

5. The Impact of Western Media on Body Image Perceptions in Non-Western Societies.

6. Investigating the Relationship Between Religion and Social Norms in a Given Society.

7. The Role of Cultural Traditions in Shaping Food Habits.

8. The Impact of Social Media on Cultural Exchange: A Case Study.

9. Analysing the Influence of Socioeconomic Status on Educational Attainment.

10. The Effect of Colonialism on Cultural Diversity: A Case Study.

11. Investigating the Role of Folklore in Preserving Cultural Heritage.

12. The Impact of Urbanisation on Traditional Social Structures: A Case Study.

13. The Role of Music and Dance in Cultural Expression.

14. Analysing the Influence of Cultural Factors on Mental Health.

15. The Effect of Cultural Beliefs on Healthcare Practices: A Case Study.

16. Investigating the Impact of Tourism on Local Cultures.

17. The Role of Rituals and Ceremonies in Social Cohesion.

18. The Impact of Legal Systems on Gender Equality: A Comparative Study.

19. Analysing the Cultural Adaptations of Immigrants in a New Society.

20. The Role of Art and Literature in Reflecting Social Changes.

Visual Arts

1. Investigating the Influence of Social Issues on Banksy's Street Art.

2. The Impact of Japanese Art on Claude Monet’s Painting Style.

3. Analysing the Representation of Women in Renaissance Paintings.

4. The Role of Surrealism in Salvador Dali's Artistic Expression.

5. Investigating the Cultural Symbolism in Frida Kahlo’s Self-portraits.

6. The Impact of Pop Culture on Andy Warhol's Art .

7. Analysing the Use of Light and Shadow in Caravaggio's Paintings.

8. The Role of Spirituality in Wassily Kandinsky's Abstract Art.

9. The Influence of African Art on Picasso's Cubist Period.

10. The Depiction of War and Its Aftermath in Otto Dix's Works.

11. Investigating the Use of Colour in Mark Rothko’s Abstract Paintings.

12. The Role of Indigenous Culture in Emily Carr's Landscape Paintings.

13. Analysing the Evolution of Political Themes in Chinese Contemporary Art.

14. The Effect of the Harlem Renaissance on Aaron Douglas' Art.

15. Investigating the Use of Geometric Shapes in Kandinsky’s Abstract Art.

16. The Role of Dutch Culture and Society in Vermeer's Paintings.

17. The Depiction of Nature in Georgia O'Keeffe's Works.

18. Analysing the Impact of Feminism on Barbara Kruger's Art.

19. Investigating the Influence of Post-Impressionism on Vincent van Gogh’s Style.

20. The Representation of the American Dream in Edward Hopper's Paintings.

World Studies

1. Investigating the Global Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Mental Health.

2. The Effect of Climate Change on Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa.

3. Analysing the Influence of Globalisation on Indigenous Cultures.

4. The Role of International Law in Resolving Border Disputes: A Case Study.

5. Investigating the Impact of Global Trade Policies on Developing Economies.

6. The Effect of Globalisation on Income Inequality: A Comparative Study.

7. Analysing the Influence of Western Media on Global Perceptions of Beauty.

8. The Role of International Organizations in Addressing the Refugee Crisis.

9. Investigating the Global Response to the Rise of Cybercrime.

10. The Impact of Climate Change on Natural Disaster Frequency and Severity Worldwide.

11. Analysing the Influence of Globalisation on Language Diversity.

12. The Role of Technology in Bridging the Education Gap in Developing Countries.

13. Investigating the Global Impact of Antibiotic Resistance.

14. The Effect of International Trade on Cultural Exchange: A Case Study.

15. Analysing the Impact of Global Warming on Polar Ecosystems.

16. The Role of the United Nations in Promoting Global Gender Equality.

17. Investigating the Impact of Social Media on Political Activism Worldwide.

18. The Effect of Globalisation on the Sustainability of Traditional Crafts.

19. Analysing the Global Strategies for Wildlife Conservation.

20. The Role of International Cooperation in Space Exploration.

How to Write a Great IB Extended Essay

Crafting an exceptional IB Extended Essay requires a combination of strategic planning, critical thinking, and effective writing. In this guide, we will provide you with valuable insights and practical advice to help you excel in your writing journey and produce an outstanding essay.

1. Develop a Clear and Coherent Structure : Creating a well-organised structure is crucial to convey your ideas effectively. Start by outlining the main sections and subtopics of your essay. Ensure a logical flow of information, with each paragraph building upon the previous one. This will guide the reader through your arguments and analysis smoothly.

2. Conduct Thorough and Methodical Research : Thorough research forms the foundation of a strong Extended Essay. Dive into reputable sources, including academic journals, books, and credible websites. Gather evidence, data, and expert opinions to support your arguments. Take meticulous notes and properly cite your sources to maintain academic integrity.

3. Apply Critical Thinking and Evaluation : Engage in critical analysis by examining and evaluating the evidence you've gathered. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different viewpoints, theories, or methodologies. Develop your own informed perspective and present a well-reasoned argument supported by reliable evidence.

4. Craft Engaging and Coherent Paragraphs : Each paragraph should focus on a specific idea or argument, clearly stated in a topic sentence. Support your claims with evidence, examples, and relevant data. Use smooth transitions between paragraphs to ensure a cohesive and coherent essay.

5. Revise, Edit, and Proofread : Give yourself ample time for revising, editing, and proofreading your essay. Review your work for clarity, coherence, and consistency. Check for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. Consider seeking feedback from teachers, peers, or mentors to gain valuable insights and improve your essay further.

We asked one IB teacher what they had to say about writing a great essay:

"The key is to choose a topic that truly ignites your curiosity, one that you are passionate about exploring. Don't be afraid to think outside the box and delve into uncharted territories. Remember, this is your chance to showcase your unique perspective and make a meaningful contribution to your chosen field. Embrace the research process, be diligent in gathering reliable sources, and let your creativity shine through in your writing. And most importantly, enjoy the journey of discovery and growth that the Extended Essay offers."

Remember, the IB Extended Essay is an opportunity to demonstrate your intellectual curiosity, research skills, and ability to present a coherent argument. Choose a topic that genuinely interests you, stay organised throughout the process, and invest time in thoughtful analysis and writing. To maximise your chances of success, you may also want to purchase an Extended Essay textbook or get the help of an IB Extended Essay tutor .

IB Extended Essay Grade Distribution in 2022

Finding Reliable Sources for Your Extended Essay

When writing your IB Extended Essay, it is essential to rely on credible and trustworthy sources. Follow these strategies to find reliable information:

1. Use Academic Databases: Access reputable databases like JSTOR and PubMed to find scholarly articles and research papers relevant to your subject.

2. Consult Library Resources: Take advantage of books, encyclopaedias, and reference materials available in your school or local library.

3. Explore Digital Libraries: Visit digital libraries such as the Digital Public Library of America and Europeana for access to a wide range of digitised resources.

4. Evaluate Websites Carefully: Verify the credibility of the author or organisation, check for peer-reviewed articles or references, and consider the domain (.edu, .gov, or .org) for reliable information.

5. Utilise Scholarly Search Engines: Utilise specialised search engines like Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic to find academic publications.

6. Consult Subject-Specific Journals: Look for reputable journals in your field and review their latest issues for current research.

7. Seek Guidance from Librarians and Experts: Librarians and subject experts can offer valuable assistance in finding reliable sources and publications.

By following these strategies and critically evaluating the sources you find, you can ensure the credibility and integrity of your Extended Essay research. Reliable sources will strengthen your arguments and provide a solid foundation for your essay.

Strategies for Conducting Primary and Secondary Research

To conduct comprehensive primary and secondary research for your essay, consider the following strategies:

Primary Research

Surveys and Questionnaires: Create well-designed surveys or questionnaires to collect data directly from participants. Utilise online survey tools like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey for wider reach and convenient data analysis.

Interviews: Conduct interviews with subject experts, professionals, or individuals relevant to your research topic. Prepare insightful questions and record their responses for later analysis.

Experiments and Observations: Design and conduct controlled experiments or observations to gather firsthand data. Document procedures, measurements, and observations accurately.

Secondary Research

Literature Review: Conduct a thorough review of existing scholarly articles, books, and reports. Analyse and synthesise the information to identify research gaps and contribute to the existing knowledge.

Online Databases: Utilise reputable academic databases such as PubMed, JSTOR, and IEEE Xplore to access peer-reviewed articles and research papers specific to your subject area.

Government and Institutional Sources: Explore official government websites, research repositories of educational institutions, and databases of international organisations for reliable data, reports, and statistics.

Subject-Specific Sources: Identify subject-specific journals, publications, and conferences related to your research topic. These sources provide up-to-date research and insights from experts in the field.

Remember to consider ethical considerations throughout your research process, including obtaining necessary permissions, maintaining confidentiality, and respecting the rights and privacy of participants. Documentation of your research methods, sources, and any challenges faced is crucial. Analyse and interpret your findings critically, using them as evidence to support your arguments and contribute to your overall analysis.

Formatting and Structure Guidelines for the IB Extended Essay

To ensure a well-organised and coherent IB Extended Essay, consider the following structure as a guideline:

1. Title Page : Include essential information such as the title, subject, research question, and candidate number. Refer to the official IB Extended Essay Guide for specific requirements.

2. Abstract: Provide a concise summary of your essay, outlining the main research question, methodology, key findings, and conclusions. Limit the abstract to 300 words.

3. Table of Contents : Create a clear and accurate table of contents that outlines the structure of your essay, including sections, subheadings, and page numbers.

4. Introduction : Start with an engaging introduction that presents the research question, provides background information, and explains the significance of the topic. Clearly state the aim and objectives of your research.

5. Body : The body of your essay should delve into your research in-depth. Organize your content into coherent paragraphs, each addressing a specific aspect of your research. Consider the following elements:

a. Literature Review: Provide an overview of the relevant literature and theories related to your research topic. Analyse existing research, highlight key concepts, and discuss any debates or gaps in knowledge.

b. Methodology: Describe the research methodology employed, including the research design, data collection methods, and ethical considerations. Explain why the chosen methods are appropriate for addressing your research question.

c. Data Analysis and Findings: Present your findings based on the data collected. Use appropriate analysis techniques, such as statistical analysis or qualitative coding, to interpret your data and draw meaningful conclusions. Include tables, charts, or graphs to support your findings.

d. Discussion: Analyse and interpret your findings in the context of your research question. Explore the implications of your results, compare them with existing research, and discuss any limitations or challenges encountered during the research process.

6. Conclusion : Summarise your key findings, address your research question, and draw meaningful conclusions based on your analysis. Reflect on the implications and broader significance of your research. Highlight any recommendations for future research or areas for further exploration.

7. References : Include a comprehensive list of all sources consulted in your research. Follow the appropriate citation style (e.g., MLA, APA, or Chicago) for in-text citations and the bibliography. Accurately cite all sources, including books, articles, websites, and any other references used.

8. Appendices (if applicable): Include any supplementary materials, such as raw data, charts, graphs, or additional supporting evidence that are relevant to your research.

Typically, the Extended Essay has a word limit of around 4,000 words. It is important to note that this word count does not include footnotes, citations, and the bibliography. Additionally, the essay should be formatted using a standard font (e.g., Times New Roman or Arial) and a font size of 12 points. It is recommended to have double-spacing throughout the essay and to include page numbers.

The IB Extended Essay Assessment Criteria and Grading

The IB Extended Essay is assessed by examiners appointed by the IB on a scale of 0 to 34. Your essay will be evaluated based on five criteria, each carrying a specific point value. It is crucial to comprehend these criteria and how they relate to letter grades to gauge your performance accurately. Here's an overview of the assessment criteria:

Criterion A: Focus and Method (6 points maximum) Demonstrate a clear research question and a well-defined approach. Show how you applied appropriate research methods to investigate your topic.

Criterion B: Knowledge and Understanding (6 points maximum) Display a strong understanding of the subject matter, relevant concepts, and theories. Support your arguments with accurate and relevant evidence.

Criterion C: Critical Thinking (12 points maximum) Apply critical thinking skills to analyse and evaluate information, theories, and arguments. Demonstrate the ability to consider alternative viewpoints and draw well-reasoned conclusions.

Criterion D: Presentation (4 points maximum) Organize your essay effectively with a clear and logical structure. Use proper formatting, referencing, and citation methods consistently.

Criterion E: Engagement (6 points maximum) Engage in a reflective process throughout your research and writing. Show awareness of the strengths, limitations, and implications of your research.

To determine your letter grade, it is important to understand how the rubric assessment points correlate to the overall score. Here is a rough estimation of how the point values align with letter grades:

30-34: Excellent - A
25-29: Good - B
17-24: Satisfactory - C
9-16: Mediocre - D
0-8: Elementary - E

However, relying solely on these point values is not sufficient. It is crucial to thoroughly read and comprehend the specific grade descriptors provided by the IB. These descriptors offer comprehensive information about the expectations and criteria that examiners consider when assigning letter grades.

The grade you receive on your IB Extended Essay contributes to your overall International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme points score. The Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge combined are worth up to 3 points of the total 45 points available for the IBDP .

IB Extended Essay and TOK points matrix

Final Thoughts

The IB Extended Essay is a challenging yet rewarding endeavour that allows high school students to showcase their research and analytical skills. With proper guidance and adherence to the assessment criteria, students have the opportunity to excel and achieve outstanding results. Embrace this opportunity to delve into a topic of interest, conduct in-depth research, and present your findings in a well-structured and engaging manner. Remember to consult reputable sources, seek guidance from your supervisor, and enjoy the journey of exploration and academic growth through the IB Extended Essay.

Is the IB Extended Essay hard?

The IB Extended Essay is undoubtedly a challenging undertaking, requiring significant effort and dedication, and is one of the hardest IB subjects . It is estimated that between 70% and 80% of IB students successfully complete the Extended Essay each year. Less than 14% of students received an A in the extended essay in 2022, showing its difficult.

Can you change your research question after starting the Extended Essay?

Yes, it is possible to change your research question after starting the Extended Essay. However, it is important to consult with your supervisor and ensure that the new research question still meets the requirements and aligns with the subject area you are pursuing.

When is the deadline to submit the Extended Essay?

The deadline to submit the Extended Essay can vary depending on the policies and timelines set by individual schools. In most cases, schools establish internal deadlines to ensure students have ample time to complete and revise their essays before the final submission. The typical deadline for submitting the Extended Essay is often set in the first half of the senior year, ranging from November to January. It is essential to check with your school's IB coordinator or Extended Essay coordinator for the specific deadline applicable to your academic institution.

Can you fail the Extended Essay?

Yes, it is possible to fail the Extended Essay if the work does not meet the required standards or does not fulfil the assessment criteria set by the IB. It is important to carefully follow the guidelines, seek guidance from your supervisor, and ensure your essay demonstrates strong research, analysis, and critical thinking skills. In 2022, 1.1% of students did not received no grade for their Extended Essays.

Can you fail the Extended Essay and still pass the IB?

Yes, it is possible to fail the Extended Essay and still pass the overall IB Diploma Programme. The Extended Essay contributes to a maximum of 3 points out of the total 45 points available for the diploma. Failing the Extended Essay means not earning any points from this component, but it does not necessarily mean failing the entire IB Diploma.

Can you collaborate with other students on the Extended Essay?

The IB allows limited collaboration with other students on the Extended Essay. While you can seek advice and support from others, it is important to maintain individual responsibility for your research, writing, and analysis. Collaboration should not compromise the integrity of your work, and any collaborative effort should be properly acknowledged and cited in your essay.

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Afghanistan
Åland Islands
American Samoa
Antigua and Barbuda
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British Indian Ocean Territory
Brunei Darussalam
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Central African Republic
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the
Cook Islands
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Czech Republic
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El Salvador
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Sierra Leone
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South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
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Switzerland
Syrian Arab Republic
Taiwan, Province of China
Tanzania, United Republic of
Timor-Leste
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
United States Minor Outlying Islands
Virgin Islands, British
Virgin Islands, U.S.
Wallis and Futuna
Western Sahara

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IB Extended Essay: A Step-by-Step Guide

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Extended Essay is a substantial research project that challenges high school students to explore a topic of personal interest within one of the IB's six subject areas. This extended essay, typically around 4,000 words in length, allows students to engage in independent research and develop critical thinking and writing skills. In this step-by-step guide, we will walk you through the process of completing your IB Extended Essay successfully.

1. Choose Your Subject Area and Topic

- Subject Area: First, select one of the six IB subject areas that you're passionate about and in which you have a strong academic background. These areas include Language and Literature, Language Acquisition, Individuals and Societies, Sciences, Mathematics, and the Arts.

- Topic: Narrow down your subject area to a specific topic or research question that genuinely interests you. Your topic should be neither too broad nor too narrow, allowing for in-depth exploration within the word limit.

2. Develop a Research Question

- Research Question: Create a clear and focused research question that guides your investigation. Your research question should be specific, open-ended, and relevant to your chosen subject area.

3. Conduct Preliminary Research

- Literature Review: Start with preliminary research to gain an understanding of the existing scholarship and literature related to your topic. This will help you refine your research question and identify gaps in the current knowledge.

4. Create a Research Plan

- Timeline: Develop a timeline that outlines key milestones and deadlines for your extended essay. This plan should include research, data collection (if applicable), writing, and revision phases.

5. Collect and Analyze Data (if applicable)

- If your extended essay requires data collection (e.g., experiments, surveys, interviews), conduct this research following ethical guidelines. Ensure that your data collection is well-documented and relevant to your research question.

6. Outline Your Essay

- Structure: Create a clear and organized outline for your extended essay. Typically, your essay will include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The body should be divided into sections or chapters that address different aspects of your research.

- Thesis Statement: Develop a strong thesis statement that presents your main argument or hypothesis.

7. Write Your Extended Essay

- Introduction: Start with a compelling introduction that introduces your research question and provides context for your study.

- Body: Present your research findings and analysis in a logical and structured manner. Ensure that each paragraph contributes to your argument and supports your thesis.

- Citations: Properly cite all sources using a consistent citation style (e.g., MLA, APA). Be diligent in avoiding plagiarism.

- Conclusion: Summarize your main findings, restate your thesis, and discuss the significance of your research.

8. Revise and Edit

- Review: Take time to review and revise your extended essay. Check for clarity, coherence, grammar, spelling, and formatting errors.

- Peer Review: Consider having a peer or teacher review your essay for feedback and suggestions.

9. Create Citations and Bibliography

- Generate a comprehensive bibliography that includes all the sources you used in your research. Ensure that your citations are accurate and properly formatted.

10. Submit Your Extended Essay

- Follow your school's guidelines for submission, including deadlines and formatting requirements.

11. Reflect on the Process

- After completing your extended essay, take some time to reflect on your research journey. Consider what you learned, the challenges you faced, and the skills you developed.

12. Celebrate Your Achievement

- Completing an IB Extended Essay is a significant accomplishment. Celebrate your hard work and the knowledge you've gained throughout the process.

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Guide on writing your Personal Statement + Samples

By Survival Robot September 8, 2007 in University

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Examples of Personal Statements

3 weeks later...

Good day everyone,

OK, so you brainstormed and wrote down all you need to start that statement.. Now what? There is an outline you need to follow:

- Introduction: Make it eye-catching and straightforward. You can include some imagination but get to the point. Talk about WHAT you want to study in the university (your major). Is it Medicine? Engineering? Law? Media Studies?... State it directly, but do include your personal touch.

- Main Body P1: Include WHY you want to study this course. Talk about your personal interests, strengths and/or things you have been through which made you decide that this is the thing for you. Include any IB subjects that are relevant to the course and what you have benefited from them.

- Main Body P2: Now, talk about the country of choice and the university you are going to. How are they special? Why do you want to go there and what will you add to the university? You might include the following:

- Exposure to different cultures and backgrounds

- Interpersonal (with other people) and Intrapersonal (with self) skills

- Hands-on experience (Emalgamating with people)

- Location/ reputation

- Highly reputable/renowned university

- Excellent level of education

- Main Body P3: Your extra curricular activities. Mention the activities (whether CAS or non-CAS ones) AND the skills they helped you develop, which are integral to the course of your choice.

- Conclusion: (max 3 sentences) Your plans for the future.

This is just a simple plan for you to get all your notes together. After doing your first draft, you have to keep on correcting it until you perfect it. It's like an EE, which needs to be done again and again until you feel that it deserves an A or at least a B.

2 years later...

sweetnsimple786

Personal Statements & College App Essays, US style

Hey guys. I just wanted to talk about the flavor of personal statements or college applications essays in the United States. Most times, an application won't ask for a personal statement. It'll ask you to write an essay and give you word or character guidelines. Sometimes, an application will ask for multiple essays, which might be shorter in length. Sometimes, it'll allow for an optional essay.

One key difference is that usually, when you apply to a college/university in the US, the admissions officers aren't going to have quotas. That is, they won't be like 'okay we can have 300 pre-med majors, 300 pre-law majors, 75 English majors, etc.' This means that you're not competing for a spot on their department/school/program. You're trying to get into the entire uni. [There are several unis where you must apply to a specific school/department, so you know you're competing for a spot based on what you want to major in. Often the application will give you chances to show why they should pick you, specifically related to the field that you're looking into. Cornell Uni comes to my mind. You have to pick one or max two schools you're applying to in Cornell and write essays telling the admissions of the separate schools why they should pick you and why you picked their school. These essays should be about why you're interested in that school and what you can offer them.]

Admissions people are often looking to admit students who will contribute to their atmosphere. For this reason, the college essay or personal statement has got to show your voice. Be funny if you want. As long as it's not forced or crude, you should do well. If you're not a funny person by nature, don't try to write a funny essay. If you're serious, be serious. If you have an opinion, that's great. Put it in your essay if that's what you want to do. One thing you want to avoid at all costs--make sure you don't sound judgmental or close-minded. Remember, the admissions people are trying to imagine that you're a student at their school. They don't want snobby students who won't get the most out of the resources and opportunities they're given.

So what can your essay be about? There's a pretty amazing list a couple of posts up ^^

What you want to aim for is to have an essay that no one but you can write. This doesn't mean you can't talk about something that lots of people experience. It means that you have to show the admissions officers that you have a unique take on a common experience or that you've been given a unique opportunity and you've grown from it.

What you probably don't want to do: talk about everything on that amazing list up there. Pick one theme. What do you want to tell the admissions people about you? You're passion for sculpture? The death of a family member and its impact on you? Failure and how you've grown from it? Pick something that is an integral part of you. Take that aspect of you and try to think of an example of it. Rather than saying you're resilient, write about the time that your doctors said you'd never be able to read above an elementary level and how you've proven them wrong. Better yet, tell them about the hours you spent tracing letters, the confusion that ensnared you, and your family's faith in you and your faith in yourself that wouldn't let you quit. 'Show, don't tell' is what everyone says. =) [by the way, you don't have to tell the most inspirational story ever. Tell your story. That's all you've got to do.]

This has already been said above, but proofread your work! A 'there' instead of 'their' CAN severely impact your chances of admission. They're [haha] thinking if you can't even put enough time into proofreading your work, why should they give you a chance? Also, it's easy to be unsure of your work after you've finished. People say that you have to go through lots of rough drafts of an essay before it's close enough to perfection. One thing you don't want to do is get 5,000 [or 5.000, whichever is the bigger number to you] to read your paper. Guess what? They're going to have different opinions. Conflicting opinions. Who are you going to listen to? Listen to yourself . It's your essay. Your voice. Opinions and suggestions are great, but don't let your essay turn into your father's or your teacher's or your pastor's or whoever's. If the admissions people wanted your father's essay, they'd be recruiting him.

Lastly, there's some amazing advice in the posts above. A lot of things are the same. Don't be cocky, but don't sell yourself short. Use the essay to show a new side of you, but don't lie. If you don't think the uni can accept you for you, trust me, if you get in, you might be missing out on your real dream school some place else. Believe in yourself, or how will they believe in you? And if a uni rejects your application, it is in no way rejecting you. You are not your application, and you don't need some uni's approval to be deemed a good student. =) If you want more specific advice, ask. This forum is your friend. & you can always PM me. We're not competing. Who really wants to be the last one standing? Good luck. Be happy with yourself.

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Paper Two in 8 Studies – Human Relationships

Travis Dixon January 22, 2021 Human Relationships

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Trying to find ways to reduce the amount of studies in IB Psychology? Here’s how the Human Relationships option can be covered in just 8 studies.

Our “Love and Marriage” unit covers the content for Personal Relationships. Read more.

The following guidance is for the Human Relationships option, since it’s the most popular.

The IB Guide states that “Each option is divided into three topics. For each option, there will be three essay titles to choose from, one for each topic in the option.” (IB Guide, pg 35). This is incredibly important to remember because it drastically reduces the amount of content you have to prepare.

Personal Relationships – Overview

Human Relationships has three topics:

Personal relationships
Group dynamics
Social responsibility

The fact that questions might link “…research, ethical considerations, or the approaches to understanding behaviour … to the topic heading” (IB Guide, p35) means that you must choose which specific topic you revise carefully. Personally, I think Personal Relationships lends itself to the best exam preparation. This is because it’s most logical how the three approaches are linked to this topic.

Abnormal Psychology in 7 Studies
Exam Question Bank: Paper 2 Human Relationships
Over 100 Flashcards for IB Psychology NOW AVAILABLE!

Personal Relationships – Exam Questions

Before we know which studies to choose, we have to know what exam questions might appear. The content for the Personal Relationships topic are:

Formation of personal relationships
Role of communication
Explanations for why relationships change or end

Plus we have to add the potential exam questions on the following:

Research methods used to study personal relationships
Ethical considerations in studies on personal relationships
Biological approach to study personal relationships
Cognitive approach to study personal relationships
Sociocultural approach to study personal relationships

Careful study of the IB Guide can help you study smarter, not harder. (Taken from IB Guide p39).

Personal Relationships – The Studies

Here you can see how even with just 8 studies, you have at least three relevant studies to use for any possible exam question.

By choosing the studies carefully to match the three approaches, any possible question is covered.

Note: It was only months after the IB Guide was published that the exam question format was clarified. This is why Attributions had to be added later. They are explained along with the studies in this blog post on Cognitive Explanations for Divorce .

Correlational studies are excellent to revise. With just 8 studies needed for the option, that gives you more time to develop deep conceptual understanding of a wider range of topics.

It’s one thing to know the studies, it’s another to understand how and why to use them. If you’re aiming for a 7, that should be the focus of your revision. Good luck!

IB Psychology flashcards are now available.

All these studies are included in our flashcards series.

*This year (May 2021) Standard Level don’t actually have Paper Two since it’s cancelled due to covid. This means it’s actually HL students who can do Paper 2 in just 7 studies.

Travis Dixon is an IB Psychology teacher, author, workshop leader, examiner and IA moderator.

How to Write an IB Application Essay

Writing an IB application essay is an inevitable part of the application process. If you have decided to apply, then you need to search for more information on the admission process, in order to evaluate your chances for entering the program. The main idea of the essay proves not to be very different from other application essays: you have to tell more about yourself, your personal traits, interests, needs, achievements and future plans. Of course, in contrast with the personal statement required for college admission, here you will not have so many things to say, as you still do not have such a big life experience.

How to write an IB application essay – essential tips

Proficient english.

The first thing to work on is your English, especially if this is a foreign language to you. Your level should be pretty high, since the IB program has very high requirements. You must understand academic language, work with abstract concepts, develop hypotheses and prove them. In such a sense, after you have finished the essay, you should hand it over to a specialist to check for grammar and spelling mistakes.

Introduction

Your intro should consist of one paragraph, but it must catch the reader’s attention at once. Try to start your essay in an original manner, without using phrases like “I am George”, “I live in the town of X”, “I am quite interested in your program”, and so forth. You can, for example, refer to an event from the past, the event which has exerted influence on you. You can also use metaphors or allegories here.

The main part should consist of several paragraphs. Talk about the following:

why are you attracted by the IB program?
what skills and competencies will you develop while in the program?
how would you contribute to your particular school?
what is the biggest achievement in your life by now?

We suggest using one life event as a main focus of the paper. This should be an event which sheds more light upon your mentality and worldview, the way in which you see the world. Then you should connect it with your needs, interests and skills.

Do not boast

You should keep the balance between self-confidence and lack of self-esteem. Write about facts: your achievements, your interests, and so forth. Phrases like “I deserve to be admitted”, or “I am an appropriate person for your program” do not work here. Your text in general should convince the admission committee that you are really the appropriate person.

In your IB application essay you should keep the balance between self-confidence and lack of self-esteem. Tweet This

The instructions given above will clarify for you how to write an IB application essay. Notwithstanding, you need to work hard: improve your English (if it is foreign to you), read more academic literature and practice your writing. You have time to write and re-write it, so do not worry - start writing.

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IB English Paper 1 Explained

Ace your IB English Paper 1 exam with the #1 IB English Resource for 2022 as Voted by IB Students & Teachers

IB English Paper 1 is one of those nerve-wracking experiences that everyone has to endure. It's especially scary because you have no idea what you'll end up writing for your final exam–and your grades depend on it!

The best preparation you can do is be acutely aware of the exam structure and proven strategies that have worked for past IB7 graduates.

If you want to fully wrap your head around the IB English Paper 1 guided analysis, then this quick guide is for you.

Meet your instructor Jackson Huang, Founder of LitLearn. His mission is to make IB English as pain-free as possible with fun, practical lessons. Jackson scored an IB45 and was accepted to Harvard, Amherst, Williams Colleges, and full scholarships to University of Melbourne & Queensland.

Photo of LitLearn instructor Jackson Huang

What is a Paper 1 exam?

In a Paper 1 exam, you are given two mysterious, unseen texts . Each text is between 1-2 pages in length.

For SL students, you're in luck! Your task is to write a guided analysis on just one of the two texts. Total marks: 20. You have 1 hour and 15 minutes.

For HL students, you're in less luck… Your task is to write two guided analysis essays–one on each of the texts. Total marks: 40. You have 2 hours and 15 minutes.

The mystery text types you'll get for Paper 1 depend on whether you're in IB English Language & Literature or IB English Literature.

For IB English Literature , Paper 1 text types belong to four neat categories (hooray!):

Fictional prose (e.g. short stories, extracts from novels)
Non-fiction prose (e.g. scientific articles, extracts)
Dramatic plays

For IB English Language and Literature , your text types could be… really… anything. Be prepared to be surprised. Typically, at least one of the text types will include some visual element like an image, photo, or cartoon. Here's the (non-exhaustive) list of Lang Lit text types:

Magazines, blogs, articles and editorials
Speeches, interview scripts, radio transcripts
Instruction manuals, brochures
Comic strips, political cartoons
… and the list goes on…

What do I write in a guided analysis?

For each Paper 1 text, the IB English Gods pose a short, open-ended question.

This question is called the guiding question , and your essay must focus on answering this guiding question using analysis (we'll explain “analysis” in a second).

Examples of guiding questions:

How does the writer characterize the protagonist's state of mind?
How and to what effect do textual and visual elements shape meaning?
How is narrative perspective used to create meaning and effect?

Even though you're technically allowed to choose your own focus and ignore the default guiding question, it's highly recommended that you go along with what's given… unless you really don't know how to answer it, or you're super confident in your Paper 1 skills.

Now, what are we supposed to do with the guiding question?

Guiding questions always ask you to explain how and why certain language or visual choices are used to build one or more central ideas .

And so the vague instruction "Answer the guiding question" actually translates to something very specific:

Explain how and why the writer uses specific language to build their central idea(s).

This sentence pretty much sums up not just IB English Paper 1, but the gist of analysis and IB English overall.

Writing Deep, Insightful Analysis

If you want to get a high score on Paper 1 (and every IB English assessment in general), you must know how to write deep, insightful analysis.

After helping numerous IB English students at LitLearn, we've found that weak analysis is the #1 reason students struggle in IB English.

Biggest Mistake

The main mistake you're likely making is that your analysis doesn't dig deep enough .

Students make the mistake of only touching the surface-level meaning of the texts. For example, common mistakes include:

only recounting the plot
mentioning techniques and ideas without digging into the how and why
not identifying the most relevant techniques for analysis.

The diagram below shows the difference between surface-level meaning, deep analysis, and deeper analysis.

Shallow and deep meaning in IB English Paper 1 analysis

If you're unsure about how to write strong analysis for IB English, or you're not confident in what to look for in your texts, then you should watch this free 7-minute video lesson from Learn Analysis: Analysis Foundations.

Learn Analysis

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Essential Techniques you need to know

So how do we write strong analysis that scores highly on Criterion B?

First things first, we need to know how to analyze the major literary and visual techniques (visual for Lang Lit), so that we can quickly find and analyze them under exam stress.

If you're cramming for Paper 1, here are the 7 most important techniques and concepts that you should know for IB English Paper 1. They apply to all text types in Lang Lit as well as Literature:

Tone, atmosphere and mood
Diction and voice
Metaphor, simile, and personification
The 4 main types of imagery
The 3 types of irony
Juxtaposition and contrast
Grammatical and structural techniques

There's a bunch more, but these 7 categories make a great starting point. The first step is to learn their names and definitions, and flashcards are an excellent way to do this.

Of course, memorizing isn't enough. We also need to know the common effects and purposes behind each of these core techniques, so that we can build a mental library of the most common ways to deeply analyze each technique. If you don't study each technique in detail, it's much harder to invent deep analysis on-the-spot during an exam.

We go deep into each of the techniques in Learn Analysis . Here are just a couple of them to get you started.

Level 1 Techniques

Your One Mission in Paper 1

Let's quickly recap what you need to do in a Paper 1.

You need to discuss the characters, themes and plot of a chosen literary text, OR the visual and stylistic elements (diagrams, headings, titles, images) for a non-literary text.
You then need to explain how and why these aspects were achieved by the writer or artist.

These two points are helpful as a basis for understanding, but they won't help you get concrete words onto the exam page. What we need now is a practical guide to writing an actual essay:

Deciding on a good thesis
Choosing the right points
Choosing the right structure

A Practical Guide to Writing a Paper 1 essay

An IB English Paper 1 essay boils down to 3 separate parts:

An introduction paragraph : contains a thesis and an outline of your points
A body (usually 3 paragraphs) : contains your points
A conclusion : wraps up the essay

Choosing a thesis

The thesis or subject statement is a single sentence in the introduction of the guided analysis that states how the writer achieves their overall purpose.

This is also the main argument that you are trying to prove in your essay, and it's typically related to the guiding question . The examiner can usually judge the strength of your analytical skills JUST from your subject statement alone, so it needs to be well-written!

Choosing the right essay structure for IB English Paper 1

Every text works best with a specific paragraph structure. Finding this match isn't always easy, but it's also one of the most important things to get right in your Paper 1 guided analysis.

You can organise your essay by:

ideas or themes
sections (sequential, e.g. stanza by stanza for poems)
the ‘Big 5'
and probably a whole host of other acronyms that English teachers love to invent.

Criterion C for IB English Paper 1 is Organisation . It's worth a whole 5/20 marks, so it's definitely in your best interest to choose the most appropriate structure for your essay.

Pro Tip: I recommend students to stay away from the Big 5 . Sure, it's useful as a memory device to tell you what elements to look for in a text, but it's not a good essay structure for analysis.

Why? Because analysis is about examining the causal interplay between techniques, stylistic choices, audience, tone, and themes. The Big 5 and SPECSLIMS artificially silo these components in your discussion. Heed my advice or pay the price! (notice that rhyme?)

So in my opinion, there are only two types of structure that are most conducive (yep, another new vocab, omnomnom) to getting a 7. Ideas/themes and Sections . Take this as a hot tip and run with it. If your teacher is forcing you to use other structures, then you'll need to know why this is recommended.

We go into much more depth and explain it all inside Learn Analysis.

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Writing body paragraphs: Why and How

Once you've chosen the best structure for your essay and decided on a strong thesis as your central argument, the rest of the essay needs to revolve around proving this argument.

How do you prove this subject statement? You do it by looking at individual points. These smaller points support smaller, more specific aspects of the overall thesis.

The idea is that each body paragraph, or point, aims to prove a separate, smaller aspect of the bigger thesis. It's like a jigsaw puzzle : You must piece together smaller, more manageable pieces to build the bigger argument (i.e. the thesis).

In reality, this translates into writing 2, 3 or 4 points, each of which fits snuggly it its own paragraph or multiple paragraphs (depending on the complexity of the point).

In each point, you must include:

Quotes, references to images, titles, headings, or visual elements. This is the evidence.
Analysis of language and literary techniques. Use specific quotes from the text and explain how and why they are used by the writer to shape his/her message.

Obviously, this is a quick summary of how to write a high-quality body paragraph. We dive deeper into the specific details of how to structure a body paragraph in the guided analysis.

Planning ahead

Ironically, the most important part of IB English Paper 1 is not the analysis itself (well it is, but not really). The part you have to get right the first time is the plan. Most students do not know how to plan effectively, or get flustered in the exam and don't plan, or don't even try to plan because they think they're above it. Big mistake!

Before you even begin writing, you should plan out your essay in sufficient detail. You will lose track of time, thought and sanity if you do not have a clear road map of every part of your essay before you begin writing.

You can learn how to annotate and plan quickly & efficiently using the flowchart method, which we demonstrate inside Learn Analysis and Paper 1 .

In the Pro lesson below, we go into detail on exactly how to plan a Paper 1 essay effectively and efficiently under exam conditions.

How do I practice for Paper 1?

Most students think that doing a lot of practice papers is the best way to improve in Paper 1. However, there's a much more efficient, targeted method to study for Paper 1.

We work our way up from the smallest, most manageable chunks of analysis to the full Paper 1 exam. It's a good idea to reserve real IB English past papers for 2 months before your final exam so that you don't run out of past papers--they are the best preparation for the final exam. Also, if your analysis skills aren't already strong, doing real past papers is a waste of an excellent exam prep resource.

Questionbank

Quote analysis exercises with exemplar IB7 solutions

Short guided analysis exercises with exemplar IB7 solutions

1 hour practice exams with detailed markschemes or video solutions

IB past paper solutions: Exemplar essay plans and full essay responses

Questionbank

Paper 1 Practice Exams

Past Paper 1 Solutions

Paper 2 Guide

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How to Write Your PERSONAL PROJECT Report in a Weekend (2022)

Updated: Oct 12, 2022

Personal Project Guide (MYP 2021 2022 Edition Updated):

How to write your ib myp pp report and get top marks.

PART 1: Structure of 2022 PP REPORT

Your MYP personal project report should demonstrate your engagement with your personal project by summarizing the experiences and skills recorded throughout the process and be presented succinctly.

The report should be presented in three sections, based on the objectives and strands (a) planning, (b) applying skills, and (c) reflecting and provide evidence for all the strands of all criteria.

Max 15 pages (5 pages for each section)

PART 2: Requirements of 2022 PP REPORT

Other requirements laid out in the Personal Project Guide:

To ensure that the written part of the report is clearly legible, each page must have a minimum 11-point font size and 2 cm margins.

Evidence presented in images must be clearly visible at the size submitted.

Audio and video must be recorded and submitted in real-time.

The bibliography is uploaded separately and is not included in the page limit.

Please do not include a title page; if included, it will count towards the page limit.

Criterion A: Planning (5 PAGES)

Criterion A i. states a LEARNING GOAL and explains the connection between personal interest(s) and that goal

Your LEARNING GOAL should be a clear and concise statement/paragraph. Your LEARNING GOAL should be measurable, observable, manageable and meaningful. Your LEARNING GOAL should be an identified action that can be demonstrated in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes upon completion of a project.

Your LEARNING GOAL statement/paragraph should then be expanded upon and aim to address some of these key elements:

WHAT skills are you planning to develop through this project?

WHAT knowledge do you hope to increase as you work on your project?

WHY are you doing this (what need will this fulfil? what is the purpose)?

HOW will your learning goal be demonstrated?

WHAT degree of mastery is required to meet this learning goal?

WHAT are you specifically planning to learn through this project?

WHICH strategies might you employ to achieve your personal and academic goals

An excellent idea is to support your learning goal with a well-written project DESIGN BRIEF paragraph. Your DESIGN BRIEF should include some of these key elements:

WHAT are you specifically going to make/build/do/perform?

WHERE will your end product/project be situated (provide context)?

WHEN will your project be completed (Students should set an overall goal that can be achieved within 25 hours).

WHO is your target audience? WHO will see/use your product/project? WHO are the key stakeholders involved?

WHAT materials/resources/tools will be used when creating, making and building your project?

Connect your DESIGN BRIEF and your LEARNING GOAL - explain in a paragraph how the project and learning goals are in sync.

Clearly identify the topic/focus and provide evidence that this TOPIC/FOCUS REALLY INTEREST YOU and that you want to learn more about this topic. This element of the assessment criterion can be addressed by:

Clearly identify your prior learning - identify skills and your level of knowledge of this topic/focus

Considering that Criterion C should be directly linked to this section -- In Criterion A you paint a clear picture of your skill level and knowledge level... then in Criterion C you outline how your skills level has increased and your knowledge has increased. From A to C there should be clearly identified and measurable growth.

Linking your project to classes/courses you have taken in the past to convince the reader that TOPIC/FOCUS REALLY INTEREST YOU (e.g. a global context that your found particularly compelling in Science, a service as action experience that you would like to build on, a specific topic/unit that you found very interesting in Design can wish to explore further, explain how you have learnt piano for 4 years at Jenny's Music School and I and a level 3 and can play 14 songs off by heart and wish to move to level 4 and increase the number of songs in your repertoire 28, etc.)

Convincing the reader that this TOPIC/FOCUS REALLY INTEREST YOU and that you indeed possess intrinsic motivation to work hard on this chosen project.

Convincing the reader that your LEARNING GOAL for the project is linked to a TOPIC/FOCUS REALLY INTEREST YOU.

Providing a list (brainstorm list) and/or diagram (mind map) of all your interests and then explain how you chose TOPIC/FOCUS and it REALLY INTEREST YOU and related LEARNING GOAL from your long list of interests.

The above image demonstrates that I have been playing the Piano and have had a love for music since a very early age.

The above image is a mindmap I created when I was searching for a topic for the Personal Project, this is a mindmap of all my interests.

The above image shows that I am a beginner level with Python coding and my learning goal is to build on this and get to level 3

Criterion A ii. state an intended product and develop appropriate success criteria for the product

DESIGN BRIEF - start with your well-written design brief

Create a list of SUCCESS CRITERIA / DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS specific assessment specifications/criteria for your product. Identify key design specifications; explain WHO will test each specification/criterion; explain HOW each criterion will be measured/evaluated and JUSTIFY each specification/criterion with RESEARCH. (e.g. I will make a video that will be 3-5min -- this will be measured by my supervisor in May and if the video is between 3-5 this will be a PASS, otherwise it will be judged FAIL. According to XXX research 3-5min is the optimal time for a short video because YYY)

Pro-Tip - RESEARCH and find how to measure success for your product (e.g. how to judge a pizza, how to critique a short video, how to measure the success of a piano recital) and use this as a guide when you create your own list of success criteria.

Pro-Tip - create a design specification table with these columns:

Design specification

Explanation of specification

Justification of this specification linked to research

How the specification will be tested, measured and by whom

Criterion C will be directly linked to this section when you evaluate the success of your product.

SpecificationDescription & link to research analysisTest Aesthetics: Modern and MinimalI made this choice because my client likes this style and because he values practicality more than style and he also wants the chair to blend in with many different styles.Testing from the client in which he will give a rating between 1-5 which will be test by looking at the chair in detail.Cost: 900 bahtAccording to research, the average price of a modern chair is about 1000 baht but because they don't care about the materials used to make a chair. The material used can be a lower grade but be cautious that the materials still have to be good enough for the client.Testing by calculating the cost of the material used to make a chair while also keeping track of the budget.ErgonomicsThere are many ways that a chair can be made comfortable. One of these ways is about the materials of the chair. The angle of the chair also matters because it determines how the client sits and also the posture of the client. https://www.chairoffice.co.uk/blog/the-ergonomics-of-a-chair-explained/ https://ehs.unc.edu/workplace-safety/ergonomics/office/ Testing from the client to see if the chair is comfortable or not by having the client sit on the chair for a period of time to see if the chair affects the posture or gives any pain to the client.SustainabilityThis chair will be made out of wood because it doesn’t hurt the environment as opposed to plastic which is very harmful to the environment. The chair will also be put together using different types of joints and metal nails and screws. Non toxic glue. But the only place where plastic or rubber will be used is for the stopper so that the chair doesn’t wobble. https://www.mymove.com/home-inspiration/decoration-design-ideas/the-ultimate-guide-to-sustainable-furniture/#:~:text=The%20best%20sustainable%20furniture%20choices%20are%20created%20from%20recycled%20items,for%20furniture%20and%20home%20decor .Testing from the client and creator by researching the sustainability of each material and the consequences of using the material to see if it’s harmful to the environment or not.SafetyWhen building the chair, be sure that there will be no sharp edges, splinters, and any other things that can hurt the client. The chair also has to be stable so that when the client is sitting, he/she doesn’t fall backward. https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/workstation-health-and-safety-desks-chairs-and-posture Testing from the creator and the client by sitting on it to see if the chair has any place which can be considered harmful to the client.FunctionA chair made for sitting in which the chair will be used in the study room or bedroom.Testing from the client where he/she will judge whether the chair suits the surroundings or not.MaterialsThis chair will be made mostly out of wood which can be found in Thailand.Testing from the designer by testing each material and comparing it to other specifications.PracticalityThe chair should be light and portable while also giving comfort and functionality.Testing from the designer and client by doing a series of tests which involve moving the chair around to test if the chair is movable or not.ComfortEven though the chair will be made from wood, the chair will include a cushion which will give the client more comfort. https://www.onyamagazine.com/australian-affairs/comfort-or-practicality-can-you-really-have-both-when-purchasing-office-chairs/ Testing from the designer and client by sitting on the chair and giving a rating of 1-5 where 1 is the least comfortable and 5 is the most comfortable

Criterion A iii. present a clear, detailed plan for achieving the product and its associated success criteria.

Your DETAILED PLAN needs a clear reference to TIME &/or your due-dates list. (when will each task take place and how much time is allocated (23rd March | 2hrs)). Create yourself a timeline for completing short- and long-term tasks.

The emphasis is a DETAILED PLAN of how you will create your PRODUCT - NOT a plan to write your report and NOT a plan to meet the learning goal). Your creating the PRODUCT DETAILED PLAN should be a how-to build guide; a step by step guide &/or a to-do list. It should be a clear series of steps leading to the completion of the product. Your plan should so clear and user-friendly that it be able to be understood and followed by a third party.

Pro-Tip - create a table or a Gantt chart or a Timeline or a Flow-Chart or a Table with these elements addressed:

Key steps - easy to understand and doable steps

Your plan needs a clear reference to TIME &/or your due-dates list. ((when will each task take place and how much time is allocated (23rd March | 2hrs)

Materials, Skills and Tools - what materials and tools do you need for each step (sketch several ideas for the main character of my storybook - sketching on paper, with pencils)

The above image outline my detailed plan for creating my product

Criterion B: Applying skills (5 Pages)

Criterion B i. explains how the ATL skill(s) was/were applied to help achieve their learning goal, supported with detailed examples or evidence

Above is an image that outlines all the ATL skills (add citation)

Research ATL skills and select each ATL skill that was applied to help you achieve your learning goal.

Identify the specific ATL skills;

explain the skills (link to research);

then provide clear examples/evidence of how you demonstrated and developed the ATL when learning.

1 - ATL Skill of Thinking & Researching - focus on Observation

2 - Observation Skills are the starting point for critical thinking. People who are observant can quickly sense and identify a new problem. Those skilled in observation are also capable of understanding why something might be a problem. They may even be able to predict when a problem might occur before it happens based on their experiences. (citation)

3 - Twice a week I observed my vegetable garden looking for insects, growth, soil quality, moisture blah blah blah and below is a picture of me inspecting the leaves of my coriander plant.

Above is an image me inspecting the leaves of my plant and demonstrating THINKING and RESEARCHING and OBSERVATION skills.

Criterion B ii. explains how the ATL skill(s) was/were applied to help achieve their product, supported with detailed examples or evidence.

Research ATL skills and select each ATL skill that was applied to help you build and create your product. Identify the specific ATL skills; explain the skills (link to research); then provide clear examples/evidence of how you demonstrated and developed the ATL when creating, designing and building your product.

Evidence of the ATLs (Developed and demonstrated)

Evidence might be: visual thinking diagrams, bulleted lists, charts, short paragraphs, notes, timelines, action plans, annotated illustrations, annotated research, artefacts from visits to museums, performances or galleries, pictures, photographs, sketches, up to 30 seconds of visual or audio material, screenshots of a blog of website, self and peer-assessment feedback.

List, explain and identify a range of Self-Management ATL skills - then provide evidence that you have developed/demonstrated each skill. Explain how each specific ATL skill had a positive effect on your Personal Project &/or you as a student.

Examples of research into the ATL skills of self-management skills identified and explained:

https://www.businessphrases.net/self-management-skills/

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/self-management-skills

https://www.careerizma.com/blog/self-management-skills/

Research "thinking skills" and identify 3-6 specific thinking skills you developed/demonstrated when working on your Personal Project.

Explain each specific thinking skill, then link this with some evidence of how well you developed/demonstrated these skills, then explain how each skill impacted you as a person OR impacted your project. (e.g. Critical Thinking Skills of Curiosity - explain what this is, identify how you demonstrated this skill and explain how it had a positive impact on your project OR you as a learner/student.)

Here are some thinking skills identified and explained:

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/collegesuccess2x30master/chapter/types-of-thinking/

https://open.lib.umn.edu/collegesuccess/chapter/3-1-types-of-thinking/

https://cetl.uconn.edu/resources/design-your-course/teaching-and-learning-techniques/critical-thinking-and-other-higher-order-thinking-skills/

Research "communication skills" and "social skills" and identify 3-6 specific skills you developed/demonstrated when working on your Personal Project.

Explain each specific communication/social skill, then link this with some evidence of how well you developed/demonstrated these skills, then explain how each skill impact you as a person OR impacted your project. (e.g. Empathy - Social Skill - explain what this is, identify how you demonstrated this skill and explain how it had a positive impact on your project OR you as a learner/student.)

A well structured, presented and written PP Report is imperative for top marks in Criterion CIII that focuses on communication skills.

Here are some communication and social skills identified and explained:

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/interpersonal-skills-list-2063724

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/interpersonal-skills

https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/

Criterion C: Reflecting (5 pages)

Criterion C i. explains the impact of the project on themselves or their learning

Revisit your LEARNING GOAL - Was well was it met? Provide evidence that it was met (measurable and observable evidence)

Revisit your prior knowledge level and skills level from Criterion AI then discuss how specific knowledge, from a variety of knowledge areas has increased because of the project. Identify some skills that have increased because of the Personal Project. For top marks, there needs to be clear evidence of growth.

Research "IB Learner Profile attributes" , and identify 2-3 LP attributes that you developed when working on your Personal Project, and how this has had a positive impact on you as a student.

Research "IB ATL skills" , and identify 2-3 ATL skills that you developed when working on your Personal Project, and how this has had a positive impact on you as a student.

Conclude with a general statement about your growth, as a result of the PP and how the PP has made you a better person and how the world is a better place because of your PP.

explain the impact of the project on themselves or their learning

support their comments with specific evidence or detailed examples.

Criterion C ii. evaluates the product based on the success criteria, fully supported with specific evidence or detailed examples.

SHOW YOUR PROJECT - share your product here

DESIGN BRIEF - Revisit your DESIGN BRIEF and compare it to the product you completed - did you meet the requirement of the DESIGN BRIEF ?

SUCCESS CRITERIA / DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS - When evaluating the product students should use their success criteria. Students should gather evidence to show the success of the product. Their evaluation should focus on what extent they achieved their goal. When evaluating the impact of the project (both the learning goal and the product), students might talk about how it impacted them personally or how it impacted others.

Examples of supporting evidence could include:

evaluation of the product against the success criteria

images showing key features of the product

analysis of the causes for success and/or failure

share data your collected from the test and analyse the data/scores/feedback and explain the data/scores/feedback

Discuss some things you could change/improve to make the outcome even better.

IB MYP COMMAND TERMS

Describe - Give a detailed account or picture of a situation, event, pattern or process.

Evaluate - Make an appraisal by weighing up the strengths and limitations.

Explain - Give a detailed account including reasons or causes.

Learning Goal - What students want to learn as a result of doing the personal project.

Outlines - Give a brief account or summary

Presents - Offer for display, observation, examination or consideration.

Product - What students will create for their personal project.

State - Give a specific name, value or other brief answer without explanation or calculation.

Personal Project

Comentarios

The Heart, Head, and Hands of Learning

A step-by-step guide to the MYP Personal Project

(This blog post and the resources attached have been updated and can be found in the following location: Caring Practitioners )

Welcome to the Personal Project!

To effectively complete your personal project you need to follow each step listed on this webpage. To help you understand each section of the personal project Inquiry cycle there are five 10-minute videos to watch that will provide extra guidance. We recommend you read the steps under each heading and then watch the videos to reinforce what you have read.
At each step of the personal project, there is a .pdf exemplar for you from a previous Good Shepherd Lutheran College student that can help you structure your own process journal. See the hyperlink at the beginning of each objective. (Disclaimer: this is not an example of an excellent personal project, but rather a simple guide for you to follow as you complete your own personal project.)
Before you embark on the personal project journey ensure you have a process journal that suits your preferred journaling style, e.g., notebook, visual art diary, blog, pages document, etc.
Your process journal is where you document your progress throughout your Personal Project – it is extremely important that you back this up as you travel along your personal project journey.
Enjoy the process of engaging in your personal project and ensure you make regular contact with your supervisor; they will be your greatest support throughout the personal project.

We wish you all the best as you embark on this journey that will consolidate your International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme learning and prepare you for the further rigours of Stage 1 and Stage 2 at Good Shepherd Lutheran College.

Objective A: Investigating

(Supporting document for Investigating: Process Journal Exemplar – Investigating )

Personal Project Mind-map

In your process journal mind-map ideas for your personal project based on your personal interests. Spend time thinking about which product/outcome you would like to create and ensure this is a project that can maintain your interest and enthusiasm for an 8-month duration.

Defining a clear goal

In your process journal outline exactly what you want to create for your personal project and explain how this is based on a personal interest.

Ensure you document the following:

Give a precise meaning of the goal of your project. Explain what you want to achieve, when, where, how and why you want to achieve this.
Describe what makes the personal project personal: the experiences, interests and ideas that make it important to you.

Defining a global context

Select one global context from the six global contexts below that best applies to your project

Once you have chosen a global context, you need to decide on an area of exploration within this global context. An area of exploration is a way to make the global context you have chosen more relevant and specific to your project.

You now need to articulate in your process journal how the global context and area of exploration you have chosen can help you answer the following questions:

What do I want to achieve through my project?
What do I want others to understand through my work?
What impact do I want my project to have?
How can a specific context give greater purpose to my project?

Clarifying your goal

Drawing together your initial goal definition based on a personal interest and the global context and area of exploration of your choice, refine your goal using the SMART goal graphic organiser. Ensure you document this in you process journal .

Identification of prior-learning and subject-specific knowledge

In your process journal identify what you already know about the goal for your project, the sources of your knowledge and how this will help you achieve your personal project goal. For example, prior-learning could be a night class, sports clinic, previous training or experience, etc.

In your process journal identify what you have learned from your MYP subject groups that will help you achieve your personal project goal.

Demonstrate your research skills

In order to effectively achieve your personal project goal you need to firstly research and evaluate the sources you have researched so you can then transfer this research to your actual project.

Research Process

Using the research model below, you need to document your research in your process journal.

Ensure you have 1 – 3 primary sources and 4 – 8 secondary sources.

Ensure you copy/print your sources and ensure they are all documented in your process journal – see exemplar for example of how to do this effectively. (See process journal exemplar – Criteria A – for example of how this information can be documented.)

Ensure you highlight relevant sections of your sources and annotate how you can apply this to your product/outcome.

Evaluate sources

Each source you research you must ensure you evaluate this source using the process on the following page.

Authority – Who is responsible for presenting this information?

Who has written or provided this information and can you check their qualifications?
Is the information from an ‘expert’ in this field?

Accuracy – Is the information accurate, can it be proven and verified?

Is the information correct?
Can you check the accuracy of information through links, footnotes and bibliography?

Objectivity – Is the information based on facts, things you can observe or based more on opinions and emotions? Is it from just one point-of-view?

Is there personal bias?
Can you verify that facts, statistics and links to sources are accurate and truthful?

Currency – How old is the information and is this important?

Has the author(s) provided a date for when the information was written?
Has the information been revised or updated, and if so, when?

Ensure you document your source evaluation in your process journal . (See process journal exemplar for an example of how you can document this.)

In your process journal ensure you reflect on how your research skills have developed over the duration of the project. Ensure you document how you have shared your research skills to help your peers as they progressed through their projects too.

Here is a video tutorial to reinforce the information above:

Objective B: Planning

(Supporting document for Planning: Process Journal Exemplar – Planning )

Develop criteria for your product/outcome

Now that you have set your goal, defined the global context for your project and completed your research – you need to transfer this into criteria for success for your project.

In order to develop criteria for your project you need to develop a set of specifications for your product/outcome.

When creating your specifications ask yourself the following questions:

How will I know when I have achieved my goal?
How can I judge the quality of my product/outcome?

You need to create a minimum of five rigorous specifications for your criteria.

When creating your specifications you can consider the following options:

You now need to transfer your specifications in a draft form in your process journal and once your supervisor has approved this, write the final copy in your criteria for success rubric breaking down each specification from excellent to limited. (See process journal exemplar for what the criteria for success rubric should look like.)

Develop a plan and development process

In your process journal create a timeline or Gantt Chart (see personal project exemplar for example of a Gantt Chart) for the completion of your Personal Project.

Your timeline needs to include the following:

due dates for each segment of the Personal Project
meetings with supervisor
incremental stages for the completion of your product/outcome
how you will manage your time to complete your personal project (for e.g. balancing sports with school work, etc.)
draft of report
final copy of report
submission of whole personal project – process journal, report and product/outcome.

As you progress through the creation of your project, ensure you document your progress and how you are keeping to your plan.

(Disclaimer: the process journal exemplar for develop a plan and development process is very limited, you need to expand on this with much more detail.)

Demonstrate self-management skills

In your process journal you need to ensure you document your self-management skills as you create your product/outcome.

The next section of your personal project is to place your goal into action . As you create your product/outcome you need to continuously reflect on and document your developing ability to:

Organisational skills:

Meet deadlines
Stick to your goal
Maintain your process journal with regular updates
Select and use technology effectively and productively

Affective skills:

Mindfulness – practise strategies to overcome distractions and maintain mental focus
Perseverance – demonstrate persistence and perseverance
Self-motivation – practise analysing and attributing causes for failure and practise positive thinking

Reflection skills:

Develop new skills, techniques and strategies for effective learning
Keep a journal to record reflections
Identify strengths and weaknesses of personal learning strategies (self-assessment)

In your process journal, document your reflection. Be honest, explain how you have overcome self-management difficulties and reflect on how you can continue to have self-management success.

If you need further information on mindfulness and positive thinking strategies see our College Director of Positive Psychology, Mr Boyce or our College Chaplain, Pastor Andrew.

Objective C: Taking action

(Supporting document for Taking Action: Process Journal Exemplar – Taking Action )

Create a product/outcome in response to the goal, context and criteria

Here is the part of your personal project where you place your investigation and planning into action.

In your process journal you need to ensure you document the creation of your product/outcome. You need to ensure you take regular photographs and annotate these in your process journal.

Demonstrate thinking skills

As you progress through creating your product/outcome you need to document the following:

Problems you encountered and how you critically and creatively solved these problems
How you have transferred and applied information to make decisions when creating your product/outcome (explicitly explain at least 2 primary sources and at least 4 secondary sources – how have you applied this research to your product/outcome?)
Skills you developed as you created your product/outcome
How your prior-learning informed the creation of your product/outcome
How your knowledge and skills have grown throughout the creation of your product/outcome
How have you designed improvements

Demonstrate communication and social skills

Communication with experts and how their advice informed the creation of your product/outcome (make sure you document communication as evidence)
Communication with your supervisor and how their feedback informed the completion of your Personal Project (make sure you save all emails and record Skype sessions, etc.)
How you have read a variety of sources for information on your personal project
How you have transferred information given through communication to your product/outcome
How you have made inferences and drawn conclusions.

Objective D: Reflecting

(Supporting document for Reflecting: Process Journal Exemplar – Reflecting )

Evaluate the quality of the product/outcome against their criteria

For this section of your personal project you need to refer back to your specifications and criteria for success rubric that you created and have been seeking to achieve as you took action to create your product/outcome.

Using a highlighter, highlight in your process journal what you think your product/outcome has achieved against the specifications you have set.

You now need to provide a justification of why you have given yourself the grade against the specification. This needs to be documented in your process journal . If you have not achieved the top achievement levels you need to justify why and explain how you can improve your product/outcome so you can achieve the top achievement level.

Reflect on how completing the personal project has extended your knowledge and understanding of the topic and the global context

In your process journal respond in detail to the following questions:

how has completing the personal project extended your knowledge and understanding of the topic of your product/outcome?
how has completing the personal project extended your knowledge and understanding of the global context you have chosen?

Reflect on development as a learner

In order to respond to this part of your reflection choose at least 2 of the learner profile attributes in the following table and in your process journal reflect on how you have developed the characteristics of the learner profiles of your choice as you have progressed through the personal project.

Writing your personal project report

(Supporting document for Report: Personal Project Report Exemplar )

(MYP Personal Project Assessment Criteria: Personal Project Assessment Criteria )

Now that you have created your product/outcome and reflected and documented each step of the personal project inquiry cycle, you now need to transfer this information to your personal project report. This is a formal piece of writing that provides a report on the completion of your personal project. The word count is 1500 words to 3500 words.

Using your personal project report graphic organiser you need to respond to each heading using the information you have gathered in your process journal.

Personal project report checklist

To achieve at your very best in the personal project report, ensure you address each dot point in the personal project report checklist.

Criteria A: Investigating

Criteria B: Planning

Criteria C: Taking action

Criteria D: Reflecting

Ensure you provide a bibliography and an appendix. (See Bibliography guide for examples of how you need to structure your bibliography.)

Ensure you double-check your report for spelling and punctuation errors.

Once you have finished your report, you need to email this to your personal project supervisor for their feedback and when they have responded with feedback you need to update your report according to their feedback.

Submission and Exhibition

You need to submit the following to the MYP Coordinator’s office. On the bookshelf in the office there are alphabetically organised boxes, you need to place the following in the box (ensure all parts of your project are collated into a file of sorts or clipped together ):

Process journal (if electronic either printed out, uploaded to Coneqt or provide a url address for your process journal if this is a blog or website)
Academic honesty form, signed by yourself and your supervisor
Product or evidence of outcome (if you product is very large in size, please see Ms England to make a special arrangement for storage, delivery, etc.)

The week prior to your exhibition and awards evening, ensure you have pictures, headings, artefacts, etc., organised so when your rostered time comes to prepare your exhibition space you are ready to simply spend 20-minutes preparing your exhibition space.

Congratulations – you have officially finished your personal project!!

*Your final standardised grade will be submitted via Seqta.

References:

MYP: From principles into practice, 2014

Projects subject guide, 2014

Further guidance for MYP projects, 2015

How To Write A ToK Essay - Updated 2023

Ace your ToK Essay with our expert tips & tricks! Get the latest and greatest techniques on "How To Write A ToK Essay" and impress the IB examiners.📝💡

Table of content

Introduction

Purpose Of ToK

Assessment of tok, the game plan, execution of the gameplan, planning for tok essay, structure of tok essay, conclusions, bibliography.

Introduce your topic accurately and state your thesis statement for the essay carefully. A thesis statement is like a teaser to your entire essay wherein you define your key terms and introduce your interpretation of the question. Make sure that you do not reword the prescribed title in your thesis. Instead, it needs to, as the word says, INTRODUCE your readers to what your essay is about. A strong introduction allows the reader to deduce what knowledge question(s) you are trying to answer.

So, in a nutshell

Write interesting things about the given TOK essay title .
Define key terms
Narrow in on the particularly interesting aspect
State your thesis statement . This will be your short answer to your given title if you don't know how to write a killer thesis statement check out this blog from SparkNotes .
State your Roadmap. This will help the readers in understanding the direction of your essay.

How to write a TOK Essay?

To answer that, you must familiarise yourself with what a TOK Essay is about.

Before you start reading this article, Amanda has some excellent TOK tips for you!

Theory of Knowledge is one of the most meta subjects that IB offers. Despite its complexity, TOK helps in providing a base for holistic learning and allows students to have a multidisciplinary experience.

To understand TOK is to understand the essence of IB, a task that most people consider unattainable.

But not for you!

Thank your lucky stars who made you land on Nail IB. How exactly will Nail IB help you?

Well, nailing International Baccalaureate is something we will discuss later.

Let's focus on cracking your TOK essay, shall we?

TOK demonstrates how students can apply their knowledge with greater awareness and credibility .

Big words, huh?

Now that we know that we cannot just slide through the Theory of Knowledge, let's understand how we can conquer this battle all guns blazing.

ToK essay’s primary objective is to answer the why behind our studies.

It makes one aware of the real-life implications of their subjects. The students gain greater awareness of their personal and ideological assumptions and appreciate the diversity of different perspectives. It helps the students find their unique perception, a prerequisite for excelling in the IB TOK essays.

Before we dive into our gameplan, let’s overview the rules of the game.

There are two assessment tasks in the TOK: an essay and a presentation . While a presentation encourages students to explore a real-life situation through the lens of TOK, an essay is written on the basis of the various questions provided by the International Baccalaureate Organisation.

The presentation is to assess a student’s ability to apply TOK thinking to a real-life situation whereas IB TOK essay is more conceptual.
The essay is externally assessed by IB and must be on any one of the prescribed TOK essay titles issued by the IB for each examination session.
Word limit of a TOK essay is 1600 words ( excludes extended notes, footnotes, bibliography).

Now that we have unleashed the game, let’s move ahead towards the gameplan of acing both, your presentation and your essay.

One of the fundamental tasks of TOK is to examine different areas of knowledge and find out their similarities and differences.

The TOK essay requires the students to investigate two Areas of Knowledge (AOK) and two Ways of Knowing (WOK) . AOKs and WOKs are investigated via questions such as:

How do we know what we know? (WOK)
What counts as evidence for X? (AOK)
How do we judge which is the best model of Y? (WOK)
What does theory Z mean in the real world? (AOK + WOK)

The aforementioned are Knowledge Questions which help combine the Areas of Knowledge and the Ways of Knowing that they are using. This eliminates the superficial way of learning and makes an individual sensitive to the nature of the information. Our acquisition of Knowledge can be broadly divided into Shared Knowledge and Personal Knowledge.

Shared knowledge: What WE know It is the product of more than one individual. Although individuals contribute to it, shared knowledge does not solely depend upon the contributions of a particular individual—there are possibilities for others to check and amend individual contributions and add to the body of knowledge that already exists.

Personal knowledge: What I know It is essentially dependent on the experiences of a particular individual. Also known as procedural knowledge, it is gained through experience, practice and personal involvement and is intimately bound up with the particular local circumstances of the individual such as biography, interests, values, and so on.

The best hack to ace TOK essay is to develop a habit of making connections between the construction of knowledge, its acquisition and its relevance in the real world.

After that one needs to develop an interest in understanding the difference between diversity and cultural perspectives and personal assumptions.

One also needs to critically reflect on their own beliefs and assumptions, leading to more thoughtful, responsible and purposeful lives.

Yes, this is what you signed up for. It may sound a little intimidating but once you get the hang of it you will be able to see the matrix and understand this beautiful world a little better.

Understand that to provide the best version of your writing, it will take you more than one or two drafts. First and foremost, you need to pick your essay topic diligently. Try to choose an essay topic that best interests you. The topic should also allow you to explore the Areas of Knowledge towards which you are naturally inclined. Here are a few sample questions:

a) 'Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive judgments.' To what extend do you agree with this statement?

b) With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way in which shared knowledge can shape their personal knowledge.

c) How can we know if knowledge is produced more through 'Passive Observation' or 'Active-Experiment' within the Human and Natural-sciences under a Mathematical-Perspective?

d) "The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning and purpose in our personal lives". Assess the validity of this statement.

Great things take time. It took me more than a couple of weeks to finalize this TOK essay guide. It is completely okay if the first few drafts may not look pleasing or award-winning to you. You will require sharpening your perspective towards the topic each time you polish your draft. Your writing journey from a dull draft to a masterpiece will be a whole process that you will have to be patient with. Have faith in yourself and proceed stepwise.

You need to consider the opinions of others who have devoted hours of research and a lifetime of dedicated studying the topic that surrounds your writing. Unravelling the realms of your mind palace is so Sherlock but let’s not deny the fact that at times, Watson is the one whose expertise helps Sherlock through pretty difficult times. I mean even Batman needs a Robin. In support of my awesome sauce examples, the point I am trying to make is that finding support for our claims and counterclaims through research is a good thing .

Use real-life examples to support your claims and counterclaims. These examples need to be documented researched examples like studies, experiments, articles, presentations by well-known people, etc. Examples that stem from your diploma subjects are highly encouraged, but those will need to be supported by research as well.

It is suggested that you choose a title, stick to it, tackle it and not be afraid. Do not change your mind unless there is a good reason. Also, try choosing Areas of knowledge that you truly enjoy. You know slaying a known devil is much easier than an unknown one. Allot a TIMELINE to your essay. Start with creating an outline of your essay. This will help you to track your progress and accomplish your goals

You can use tools like Trello to organize your ideas and plan your TOK essay.

Areas of Knowledge (AOKs): TOK distinguishes between eight areas of knowledge. They are mathematics, the natural sciences, the human sciences, the arts, history, ethics, religious knowledge systems, and indigenous knowledge systems. It is suggested that students study and explore six of these eight.

Ways of knowing (WOKs): TOK identifies eight specific WOKs- language, sense perception, emotion, reason, imagination, faith, intuition, and memory. It is suggested that studying four of these eight in-depth would be appropriate. WOKs underlie the methodology of the areas of knowledge and provide a basis for personal knowledge.

Moving ahead, let us discuss the structure of your TOK essay.

Your essay will consist of 4 broad segregations

Before breaking down further on the pillars, keep the following in mind

Please note what the TOK essay title is asking you. (Read it a couple of times. We highly recommend that you brainstorm ideas with your TOK coordinator)
Make sure you understand the command term and the question it is asking.
What kind of knowledge is being elicited?
When choosing your areas of knowledge (AoK) and ways of knowing (WoK) make sure that you are able to draw contrasts and comparisons, that is, you are able to find evidence that supports as well as challenges your claims.
Identify key terms in your TOK essay title. Make sure you define them. Your essay will gravitate around them. Key terms/words in your titles are your essay anchors. Your response should be built around them.
Your writing skills come in handy while you work on your IB TOK essay. Like any other essay make sure you have proper thesis statements and topic sentences to guide the evaluator through your work.
Respect the TOK essay title. Rephrasing the topic is not encouraged . Your main job is to address the title.

The body can be mainly divided into 3 segments.

Body (1st Segment)

AoK Claim: Here you investigate your first Area of Knowledge and draw parallels between your AoK and the question. This is done by stating your claim. Claims can be general in nature and need not reference a particular area of knowledge. They help you shape your essay and investigate the question further.
Evidence: Example of a real-life situation, describe thoroughly and accurately, which supports your stated claim. (AoK)
Counter-Claim: State your counter-claim: like claims, those can be general and need not reference a particular area of knowledge. Counterclaim helps you show the other side the coin and gives your essay a holistic nature.
Evidence: A referenced real-life situation/example. Describe thoroughly and accurately, show how this supports your counterclaim (AoK ).
Don’t forget to weave in your WoKs: You need to take into account the source of your knowledge. Here you can also investigate if your nature of acquiring the knowledge has, in any way, affected it. It is good practice to question if your knowledge would be different had it been acquired through a different source/method
Mini-conclusion: Here you analyze your examples in reference to your claims and counterclaims. You must connect to your thesis statement and the prescribed title. How does your proposed argument, in this particular part of the body, connect to the prescribed title and the knowledge questions you are trying to answer?

Body (2): Follow the above process for your second AOK.

Use this part of your essay to compare and contrast your varying AoKs. You need to connect them to your thesis and your prescribed title clearly showing how your arguments respond to the PT.

Your conclusion section will make your essay come together. It is the glue that will make your essay stick together. Herein, you need to

Reiterate your thesis (initial response).
Use your mini conclusions to write a final conclusion.
Tell the reader what the significance is for knowing what we know in this particular PT.
Discuss implications as well.
Offer another perspective, how will the perspective of a different person affect the claims/counterclaims you make in the essay?
Don’t forget to make the end strong.

We recommend all the ib students use the citation machine (It's FREE) to organize or generate a bibliography for your TOK essay. Please go through this extensive guide provided by the IB before you start working on your citations.

If you are still struggling heaps with your TOK essay feel free to subscribe to our tok notes bundles or get access to more than 500+ IBDP notes and past papers here .

Nail IB is your virtual companion that helps you hustle through your diploma and provide you with the right resources at the right time. To know more about acing IB, click here .

I hope this article will become the foundation for figuring out how to write a TOK Essay.

Remember to have faith in yourself.

I hope you NAIL your TOK essay!

Quoting the great Napolean Hill

"Whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."

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History Extended Essay: Definition, Outline, Assessment Criteria

Welcome to the guide on History Extended Essays!

This guide is designed to provide you with an understanding of what a History Extended Essay is, outline the components that need to be included in your paper and provide tips on how to write a successful essay.

This guide will cover:

Definition of a History Extended Essay

Outline of a history extended essay, assessment criteria for history extended essays.

Brainstorming Process

Writing Strategies

Citing Sources

Advice on Referencing

Evidence analysis and synthesis, proofreading and finalizing.

By the end of this guide, you should be able to confidently write and submit a History Extended Essay that meets the criteria and will get you the grades you want.

You will learn how to develop great research questions, structure your essay, analyze evidence, and use the right referencing system. We’ll also provide guidance on how to proofread your work and finish it to a high standard.

We hope this guide helps you on your journey to success!

History Extended Essay: Definition, Outline, Assessment Criteria

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A History Extended Essay is an essay form that requires a student to provide an in-depth analysis of a chosen topic or event. It typically requires research, evidence collection, and thoughtful reflection on the part of the student. The essay should be structured logically, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. The goal is to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the chosen topic or event and to provide original insights and argumentation.

The essay should contain a thesis statement that sets out the main argument, and the body should then provide evidence and discussion to support the thesis. The essay should have a conclusion that summarises the findings, arguments, and evidence presented. Additionally, it should contain appropriate citations to sources throughout and a bibliography section at the end.

History Extended Essay essays can be written from many different perspectives, including geographical, chronological, political, social, and economic. Good research questions should be open-ended and enable exploration and discovery of multiple viewpoints.

Constructing an effective outline for your History Extended Essay is essential to ensure that you create a clear and cohesive essay. The following advice will help you to create an outline that will enable you to craft a well-structured and successful essay.

Your essay should include three main sections: the introduction, main body, and conclusion. Each section has a particular purpose and contributes to the overall structure and argument of the essay.

Introduction

The introduction of your essay should serve two key purposes. First, you should provide a brief overview of the topic of your extended essay and its context. Second, you should introduce your research question and make it clear to the reader why this is an interesting area of study that is worthy of further investigation.

The main body of your essay should be dedicated to outlining and elaborating upon the evidence that you have gathered in support of your research question. This should include both primary sources such as documents, photographs, and artifacts, and secondary sources such as scholarly works and historical analyses. By carefully examining, analyzing, and interpreting this evidence, you can develop your own arguments and insights in order to answer your research question.

The conclusion of your essay should bring your main argument to a close and suggest future avenues for study. You should also link back to the introduction, summarizing the main points of the essay. This is an important part of the essay because it shows readers what the main point of the essay was and how it reaches a conclusion.

By using these tips, you can ensure that your History Extended Essay has a clear and concise structure that allows you to clearly express your argument. With careful planning and preparation, you can be certain that your essay will be well-written and successful. Good luck!

Understanding the criteria by which your History Extended Essay will be judged is essential to achieving the highest mark. The assessment criteria splits into 5 categories: knowledge and understanding; problem-solving ability; critical thinking; research skills; and writing and presentation. In this section, we will explain each of these criteria in detail.

Knowledge and Understanding

In assessing knowledge and understanding, markers will look to see how well you have absorbed information and facts related to your research question and topic. They will want to know to what extent you have engaged with content which goes beyond the scope of the research question. Further, they will be interested in how you have used that knowledge in constructing a compelling argument in your essay.

Problem-Solving Ability

This criterion focuses on two things: how well you have identified and defined the key problem in your essay and how effectively you have created a solution. Markers will be looking to assess your ability to think pragmatically and solve problems logically. You should pay particular attention to the evidence you present and the structure of your essay when trying to demonstrate your problem-solving skills.

Critical Thinking

To score highly for critical thinking, markers will want to see that you have considered both sides of the argument. Demonstrating critical engagement with the sources you use and providing evidence in support of your own views will be important here. Your essay should also show independent and creative thought, as well as an awareness of wider contexts, such as international or political implications.

Research Skills

To excel at this criterion, you must demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of different source materials and an understanding of how to best utilize them. You should strive to come to conclusions independently and provide clear evidence in support of those conclusions. In addition, you must ensure that this evidence has been transcribed accurately.

Writing and Presentation

Finally, your essay should be presented impeccably and be free of spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. The essay should have been carefully proofread before handing it in. The content should be clearly structured and organized and the language should be concise and even-toned. Depending on the task, diagrams and illustrations might be necessary, as well as references and bibliography.

Brainstorming Process: How To Develop Brilliant Ideas

Brainstorming is an essential part of writing a successful History Extended Essay. It involves researching, identifying, and analyzing the facts, evidence, and arguments as well as coming up with interesting ideas and research questions.

The first step to brainstorming is to start by asking yourself questions, such as: What would be an interesting topic? What key arguments can I make? What evidence do I need to support those claims? Such questions will help guide your research.

Next, you should research your topic. Start by searching online, reading books, and watching videos or documentaries related to the subject. This will provide you with the necessary information to develop your research question or topic.

Once you have gathered sufficient information, it’s time to analyze it. Ask yourself questions such as: What are the main points? What evidence does each point have? What opposing views exist? By identifying and questioning the different arguments, you will be able to develop more robust and thorough ideas.

Finally, once you have carefully examined the available materials, you should create a list of potential research questions or topics. You should also think of ways to defend or challenge any of the points you have identified. Doing so will help you develop brilliant research questions, evidence and arguments for your essay.

Writing is an essential skill and being able to write effectively with structure, clarity and focus is an invaluable part of success in essay writing. Being able to convey arguments, ideas and facts in a succinct and clear manner is essential for an extended essay . Here are some tips to help you write clearly and effectively.

A well-structured essay is the key to an effective paper. You should start by creating an outline that shows what you plan to cover in each section. Your introduction should be succinct and give a brief overview of the main points of your argument. The body section should include evidence and analysis, using examples when necessary. Finally, your conclusion should draw everything together, summarize the points you have made and provide your reader with any conclusions you have reached.

It’s important to ensure the sentences you use are concise and easy to understand. Make sure to use straightforward language, avoid overly complicated phrasing and make sure each sentence expresses one clear idea. It’s also imperative to break long sentences up into shorter ones and use active voice as much as possible.

In order to write clearly, you must maintain a clear focus throughout your essay. Stick to the point and avoid drifting off topic. Make sure each paragraph has a purpose and don’t engage in digressions or include irrelevant information. You should also ensure that each paragraph connects logically to the one before it and the one after.

Using these strategies when writing your history extended essay can help make sure that your essay is clear, organized and informative. Being aware of these tips and taking the time to incorporate them into your writing process can help you create a successful essay.

Citing Sources – Accuracy and Integrity

When writing a History Extended Essay it is essential that you cite the sources you use in the correct way. Doing so not only strengthens your essay, but also prevents any accusations of plagiarism. Citing your sources accurately shows your reader that you understand the ideas you are writing about and that you have conducted your research responsibly.

By citing your sources you will allow other scholars to identify and verify the information you have gathered for your essay. Every time you refer to a source that is not your own words or ideas, you should acknowledge it by providing a proper citation. Citations are also important when quoting someone else’s ideas, using statistics or any other type of evidence or data.

Failure to accurately cite your sources can lead to accusations of plagiarism, which can have serious consequences. The most common form of plagiarism occurs when you fail to cite a source or incorrectly cite a source.

There are several different citation styles that you need to be aware of before beginning your essay. You should make sure to review each one and decide which will be best for your essay. This guide provides an overview of the different citation methods along with advice on how to use them effectively.

In short, citing your sources accurately and with integrity will ensure that your work is taken seriously and will help to prevent any accusations of plagiarism. It is essential that you familiarize yourself with the different citation styles, and practice citing your sources correctly throughout the writing process.

It is important to reference the sources you use when completing a History Extended Essay. This will demonstrate that you have done your research and allow your essay to be accepted as an academic piece of work. There are several different referencing systems available and it is important to understand how each one works and how to use them effectively.

One common system is the Harvard referencing system. This system requires you to cite the source in the body of the text, followed by a full reference in the bibliography. The ‘in text’ citation should include the author’s name, the year of publication and the page number (if applicable). The full reference should include all the relevant details such as the author’s name, year of publication, specific book title and publisher.

Another popular referencing system is the American Psychological Association (APA) system. This system also requires an ‘in text’ citation and a full reference. The ‘in text’ citation should include the author’s name and year of publication, as well as the page number. The full reference should include all the relevant details, including the author’s name, year of publication, specific book title, place of publication and publisher, as well as any other relevant information.

It is important to make sure that all of the references included in your extended essay are accurate and up-to-date. To make sure this is the case, you should use reliable sources and check the most recent editions of any books you consult. It is also important to check that you have correctly cited the sources in your extended essay, as failure to do so can lead to accusations of plagiarism.

By understanding and correctly using different referencing systems, you can ensure that your extended essay is properly researched and cited. This will help to demonstrate your academic integrity and ensure that your essay is accepted as the pieces of work that it is.

When it comes to writing a History Extended Essay, it’s important to understand the different methods of examining, interpreting, and making use of evidence. Evidence analysis and synthesis can help you to more effectively support your argument when writing an essay.

To begin any analysis and synthesis of evidence, you’ll need to identify the source of the evidence. Ask yourself “Where does this evidence come from?” Is it primary or secondary? What is the author’s perspective? Then, take into account the reliability and accuracy of the source. Also consider the relevancy to your particular topic or argument.

Once you have identified the source, you can start examining and interpreting the evidence. Begin by asking yourself what is being said, and what is the overall opinion of the author? How do they back up their opinion or point of view? Is there bias or any other potential conflict of interest present in the source?

Next, you’ll want to synthesize the evidence. Compile all sources that are related to your argument and look for similarities and differences. You can also compare and contrast different interpretations of the same evidence. This will help you to develop your own opinion on the topic and will enable you to better articulate your argument.

Finally, once you’ve analyzed and synthesized the evidence, make sure that you are able to explain how the evidence ties into your argument. Make sure to cite your sources properly so that your readers can verify where you got your information. Additionally, think about the implications of the evidence and how it might be applicable to other topics or arguments.

Evidence analysis and synthesis is an important part of writing a successful History Extended Essay. By understanding and utilizing these techniques, you will be able to better support your arguments and draw stronger conclusions from your evidence.

Writing A Strong Conclusion

Now that you have completed your history extended essay, it is time to write a strong conclusion to wrap up all of the points discussed. A conclusion should summarize all points made in the essay without introducing new ideas or evidence. Making sure to review and edit following the completion of your first draft is also an important part of the essay-writing process.

When summarizing the points of your essay, it is helpful to revisit the thesis statement and main argument of your paper. Make sure to include the key points and conclusions that you’ve reached in your research. Additionally, be sure to demonstrate how the argument you set out to make in the introduction ties together in the end.

Editing and revising are important steps in creating a great essay. Read over each sentence, making sure that your arguments make sense and flow logically. Check for any grammar and spelling mistakes, and pay special attention to the structure of your sentences. If you feel stuck or confused during this process, looking at model essays can be helpful.

Finally, make sure to follow the citation rules. Be sure your sources are correctly cited and the references are accurate. Citing your sources correctly shows that you have done your research and supports your argument.

Conclusion writing can be tricky, but with the right approach and some practice, you can create a strong conclusion for your History Extended Essay. By following these steps, you can ensure that your essay reaches its full potential and makes a lasting impression on its readers.

Appendix: Examples of Extended Essay Outlines and Evaluation Criteria

Included in the appendix section is an optional resource of sample examples that can help guide you in writing your extended essay. It will include a list of extended essay outlines, evaluation criteria and a recommended reading list. This resource can be beneficial to student’s when brainstorming topics, developing research questions or revising your paper before submission.

Extended Essay Outlines

An extended essay outline will help students define the structure of their paper and organize their argument. The outline will provide a framework for the student to follow and ensure that the points discussed clearly explain the topic question. The outline should also include evidence, analysis and synthesis.

The introduction should explain the context of the essay and the research question.
The main body of the essay should include the literature review, analysis of evidence and conclusion.
The end of the essay should wrap up the argument and discuss the implications of the research.

Evaluation Criteria

When it comes to evaluating an extended essay, there are certain criteria that students should be aware of. The essay should be evaluated based on the research question, the quality of evidence presented, the relevance of the sources used and the way in which the student has synthesized and analyzed the evidence.

The essay should answer the research question clearly and accurately.
The source of evidence used must be reliable and up-to-date.
The evidence should be used to support the argument and conclusions of the essay.
The structure and language of the essay should be clear and concise.
Analysis and synthesis of the evidence should be detailed and accurate.

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Understanding the IB extended essay rubric is essential for success. The rubric provides a framework that grades students on several key criteria including the sharpness of their research question, the rigor of their methodology, the breadth and depth of their knowledge, the fluidity and clarity of their argumentation, and their personal engagement with the research topic.

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MYP Personal Project

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PP Level 7 Video and Evidence Report OIS 1

This level 7 sample is a 9 minute video with an accompanying 6 page evidence report. The student asks the view to refer to the report to see more detailed information.

PP Level 7 Video and Evidence Report OIS 2

This level 7 sample is a 1 minute video with an accompanying 14 page evidence report. the student asks the view to refer to the report to see more detailed information., pp level 7 video and evidence report ois 3.

This level 5 sample is a 9 minute video with an accompanying 6 page evidence report. The student asks the view to refer to the report to see more detailed information.

PP Level 7 Video and Evidence Report OIS 4

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The Complete IB Extended Essay Guide: Examples, Topics, and Ideas
Conclusion. References and bibliography. Additionally, your research topic must fall into one of the six approved DP categories, or IB subject groups, which are as follows: Group 1: Studies in Language and Literature. Group 2: Language Acquisition. Group 3: Individuals and Societies. Group 4: Sciences.
Extended essay
The extended essay is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper. One component of the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) core, the extended essay is mandatory for all students. Read about the extended essay in greater detail. You can also read about how the IB sets deadlines for ...
Examples
These highlight the diverse range of topics covered by International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) students during their extended essays. Some examples are: "An analysis of costume as a source for understanding the inner life of the character". "A study of malnourished children in Indonesia and the extent of their recovery ...
IB Extended Essay: 250+ Ideas and Guide
What is the IB Extended Essay? The Extended Essay, along with the Creativity, Activity, Service component and Theory of Knowledge, forms an integral part of the IB Diploma Programme.It offers IB high school students an opportunity to explore a topic of personal interest in-depth, develop research and writing skills, and experience the rigours of academic investigation.
Four essays that helped earn IB students their admission to university
We asked recent IB Diploma Programme (DP) graduates from around the world to submit essays that played a role in their admissions process to the university of their choice. As a student in the DP or Career-related Programme (CP), university admissions teams want to know what you are passionate about, show how you will become a part of their community, and demonstrate that you are ready for ...
PDF A Student Guide To Writing the Extended Essay
to teach the subject of their essays or suitably familiar enough with the subject area to provide adequate supervision and advisement over the course of the research and writing process. The essays are graded by examiners appointed by the Chief Examiner of each subject in the IB Office in Cardiff, Wales. Class of 2021 Extended Essay Due Dates
IB English Higher Level Essay (HLE) Explained
The HL Essay (HLE) is a 1200-1500 word essay about a text studied in the IB English course. For Lang Lit, the work you choose to analyze can be literary or non-literary, but for IB English Literature the text must be literary. The HLE will make up 25% of your final IB English HL grade, and it is graded externally.
How To Write IB Extended Essay Reflections
How To Write IB Extended Essay Reflections. 1:30. As you already know, the new extended essay criteria include 6 marks for " Engagement .". That's 6 marks out of 35, meaning these reflections are worth 17.6% of your EE mark! Those 6 marks are almost enough to bring you from a C to an A. This is a lot of marks for just 500 words.
IB Extended Essay: A Step-by-Step Guide from AP Guru
The International Baccalaureate (IB) Extended Essay is a substantial research project that challenges high school students to explore a topic of personal interest within one of the IB's six subject areas. This extended essay, typically around 4,000 words in length, allows students to engage in independent research and develop critical thinking and writing skills.
PDF Extended Essay Handbook
Introduction. The extended essay, a compulsory requirement of the IB diploma programme, is an independent, self-directed piece of research and an in-depth study of a focused topic chosen from one of your six chosen subjects for the IB diploma. It is intended to promote high-level research, writing skills, intellectual discovery, and creativity.
Guide on writing your Personal Statement
Personal Statements & College App Essays, US style. Hey guys. I just wanted to talk about the flavor of personal statements or college applications essays in the United States. Most times, an application won't ask for a personal statement. It'll ask you to write an essay and give you word or character guidelines.
PDF Projects guide
The IB continuum of international education provides a progression of learning for students aged 3-19. Figure 2 shows the IB continuum pathways to projects or culminating experiences across the four IB ... extended essay enables students to pursue an academic interest through a research essay. The personal
Personal project
Further information. IB World Schools can learn more about the MYP personal project in the MYP personal project nano PD, or find a workshop for MYP teachers.. Starting with the personal project? IB World Schools can find hints and tips about the personal project in the blog post 'From hair vitamins to a go-kart: one school's perspective of the MYP personal project'.
Paper Two in 8 Studies
For each option, there will be three essay titles to choose from, one for each topic in the option." (IB Guide, pg 35). This is incredibly important to remember because it drastically reduces the amount of content you have to prepare. Personal Relationships - Overview Human Relationships has three topics: Personal relationships; Group dynamics
How to Write an IB Application Essay
But its advantages are evident. As it is written on the website of the IB organization: "Our four programmes for students aged 3 to 19 help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world." Writing an IB application essay is an inevitable part of the application process.
IB English Paper 1 Explained
A Practical Guide to Writing a Paper 1 essay. An IB English Paper 1 essay boils down to 3 separate parts: An introduction paragraph: contains a thesis and an outline of your points; A body (usually 3 paragraphs): contains your points; A conclusion: wraps up the essay; Choosing a thesis
How to Write Your PERSONAL PROJECT Report in a Weekend (2022)
PART 1: Structure of 2022 PP REPORT. Your MYP personal project report should demonstrate your engagement with your personal project by summarizing the experiences and skills recorded throughout the process and be presented succinctly. The report should be presented in three sections, based on the objectives and strands (a) planning, (b ...
A step-by-step guide to the MYP Personal Project
Step 1: Personal Project Mind-map. In your process journal mind-map ideas for your personal project based on your personal interests. Spend time thinking about which product/outcome you would like to create and ensure this is a project that can maintain your interest and enthusiasm for an 8-month duration. Step 2:
TOK Essay Structure: A Guide for IB Students
Fundamentals of TOK Essay Structure. Let's dig into the TOK essay structure, an essential aspect of successful IB essaywriting. In my view, understanding the basic structure is like having a guide for your academic paper. So, a typical TOK essay includes three main parts. The introduction is where you set the stage.
How To Write A ToK Essay
Introduce your topic accurately and state your thesis statement for the essay carefully. A thesis statement is like a teaser to your entire essay wherein you define your key terms and introduce your interpretation of the question. Make sure that you do not reword the prescribed title in your thesis. Instead, it needs to, as the word says ...
History Extended Essay: Definition, Outline, Assessment Criteria
A History Extended Essay is an essay form that requires a student to provide an in-depth analysis of a chosen topic or event. It typically requires research, evidence collection, and thoughtful reflection on the part of the student. The essay should be structured logically, with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
LibGuides: MYP Personal Project: OIS Samples from 2021-2022
This level 7 sample is a 1 minute video with an accompanying 14 page evidence report. The student asks the view to refer to the report to see more detailed information. Page. /. 21. PP Level 7 Video and Evidence Report OIS 3. This level 5 sample is a 9 minute video with an accompanying 6 page evidence report. The student asks the view to refer ...
Personal Engagement in the Extended Essay? : r/IBO
I think that the markers evaluate your personal engagement in the reflections you write for your ee. according to my teachers, personal engagement must be present at various stages throughout the essay/IA, and may involve developing your own method, a unique perspective, or applying it to your own life/something you feel passionate about.
Personal Essay Workshop: Taking Inspiration from the Masters
Tuition. $1,000.00. Schedule. Jun 24 - Aug 30, 2024. Units. 1 CEU (s) The personal essay allows us to take a small moment of life and use it as a portal into deep questions of human experience. No wonder the genre is in a moment of high renaissance! In this course, we will approach the personal essay the way painters approach their discipline ...
The stock market has already chosen a winner in the 2024 presidential
May 22, 2024 12:30pm. By Mark Hulbert. 'It's the stock market, stupid,' and that's why the Dow Jones Industrial Average is a surprisingly reliable election predictor. President Biden's chances of ...