Internal Assessment Guide
From Question Creation to Final Submission
SL = 25%, HL = 20%
Format: *Total of 1500-2000 words*
A. Plan of Investigation:
–
100-150 words
•
500-600 words
•
250-400 words
•
5 marks
500-650 words
•
6 marks
E. Conclusion:
–
150-200 words
•
6 marks
C. Source Evaluations:
–
–
3 marks
B. Summary of Evidence:
–
D. Analysis:
2 marks
F. Bibliography:
–
–
–
not part of word count
6-12 reputable sources
3 marks
Final Product Format
• 1 inch margins
• Times New Roman, size 12
• Double spaced
• Word count at the end of
each section
• U Chicago Footnotes
• Appendix = optional
Examples of Types of Investigations:
• A historical topic or theme using written sources or a variety of sources
• A historical topic based on fieldwork; for example a museum,
archeological site, battlefields, churches
• A historical problem using documents (this could include newspapers)
• A local history project
• A history project based on oral interviews
• A historical investigation based on interpreting a novel, film, piece of art
Topic Selection & Title Creation
Steps
1. Start by identifying a general area of interest
Example
Development and Impact of the Cold War 
Brinksmanship
2. Narrow it down to a specific area of investigation Development and Impact of the Cold War 
Brinksmanship  Cuban Missile Crisis
3. Read about your specific area of investigation.
Fidel (and Raul) Castro, JFK, RFK, Nikita Khrushchev
Search for key words, dates, people, events, quotes, ICBM, MAD, U2 spy plane
statistics, historians…
1962, October
United Nations
Historian: John Lewis Gaddis
4. Choose a working title that may be changed or
Brothers in Arms: An investigation into the roles
refined at a later stage
Raul Castro and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the Cuban
Missile Crisis
 When Khrushchev blinked (or Did Khrushchev
blink?)An investigation into the close of the Cuban
Missile Crisis
5. Create a specific Question that reflects your
To what extent were Fidel Castro and JFK
chosen topic
influenced by their brothers during the Cuban Missile
Crisis?
What was the role of Nikita Khrushchev in
preventing nuclear war during the Cuban Missile
Narrowing your focus
•
The title should relate to the question
that you are going to create
– No, it doesn’t have to rhyme or be catchy
and clever, but you should capture the
reader’s attention/interest
– It should include the phrase “An
Investigation…”
•
You can change your title
– In doing so, you may also have to change
your question
•
The topic, title, and question should
represent a narrowing of focus or
scope
– The investigation should be specific
– You have to PROVE something
•
It should be something that you are
interested in researching
Previous IA Topics
Pop Culture
Dissent
-Modern Art
-Silver Age of
Marvel Comics
-Cold War Fashion
-Rock Music in
Berlin
-Olympics boycotts
-Protest
movements
-Prague Spring
-Radio Free Europe
-Solidarity
-Velvet Revolution
Persecution
-Hollywood Ten
-KGB
Propaganda /
Indoctrination
Other
-Komsomol Youth
-Space race
Organization
-Tito in
-Soviet Film Industry & Yugoslavia
Political Education
-Socialist Realism (art)
Refining Your Topic
• Narrow it down by:
–
–
–
–
Region(s)
Time Period
Key Players
Interesting/debatable
• When in doubt:
– Relate it to a topic that crosses
over between Papers 1-3
• Paper 1: Crisis in communism
– China
– USSR
– Eastern Europe
• Paper2: Topic 3: Single Party
States
–
–
–
–
Mao
Stalin
Nasser
Castro
• Paper 2: Topic 5: Cold War
• Paper 3: HOA
Choose a Question of Controversy
• Try to find a topic/title/question
that has at least two sides (ex. to
what extent…) to allow you to
include differing interpretations
– It is only controversial if historians
disagree as to the answer
• Focus on the issues that
historians debate, such as:
– Which is more important
– The main causes
– To what extent someone’s reasons
for doing something were
justifiable
– Whether one person is more
blameworthy or praiseworthy for
something than another person,
etc.
• Avoid questions that lend
themselves to a descriptive
answer (upon which historians
would agree) such as:
– The causes of the Cold War, Stalin’s
reasons for punishing the Kulaks,
etc
Question Creation
• Step 1: Create a question:
1.
1It must be resolvable with
measurable (empirical)
evidence
2.
It must be open-ended
– Use a command term (To what extent,
compare/contrast, analyze, assess)
3.
It must be flexible and open to
endless refinement
– Create an overarching question
(Consider Compare/Contrast or Changes
and Continuities Over Time)
4.
It must be explicit and precise
– Narrow the scope of the question
5.
It must be tested
– Using your Topic & Title  Create a
question will lead to an appropriate
investigation
• Be specific, consider a question that
requires Evaluation and/or Justification
Examples
A:
An investigation into African warfare:
Why did the British Army struggle Southern Africa
during the 1870s?
B:
An investigation into African colonial warfare:
To what extent was the defeat of the British by
the Zulu at Isandlwna in 1879 due to the mistakes
made by Lord Chelmsford?
•
To what extent were the
Moscow Olympic Games of 1980
affected by Cold War tensions?
•
With what justification can it be
claimed that it was the
leadership of Trotsky that
promoted Red victory in the
Russian Civil War?
•
With what justification can it be
claimed that the Chinese Great
Famine 1959-1962 was a manmade famine resulting from
Mao’s policies?
•
How significant was the role of
industrial workers in creating the
environment for the Bolshevik
seizure of power in 1917?