BRITISH SCHOOL MANILA
GEOGRAPHY
IB Internal Assessment Guide
An investigation
into the impact of
Lago de Oro along
the Balibago
coastline,
Philippines.
IB COURSEWORK SCHEDULE
Collection of fieldwork data: 25th and 26th February
Final submission
26th March 2014
I confirm that I have read the breakdown of work for the completion of the IB Geography
coursework and am aware that time over this period should be spent on its completion.
Name (printed)
____________________________
Signed
____________________________
Date
____________________________
REMEMBER at HL your IA is worth 20% of you final IB mark
USE the IB Guide pages 60-72 (READ them now!!)
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Example Question
Research Question: To what extent has human activity impacted the natural value of a mangrove coastal location
X?
What else could you ask that is a definite question and reflects the unit guide?
Possible hypotheses:
Human activity has altered natural coastal processes along the X coastline
As distance from beach resort/hotel X increases, the coastal landscape will become more natural
Uninhabited vs. Inhabited coastal location  along a coastal transect
Data collection techniques have been put in place to give a general overview of the human impacts on a costal
margin/environment. Some of the data collection techniques are not ‘directly’ relevant but may help explain
findings and account for anomalies, e.g. ruling out long shore drift for beach width or ruling out wave type for
amount of waste at a site, beach width etc.
Data collection techniques:
Water quality - PH values, water clarity (visual observations)
Waste - quadrats
Width of beach
Gradient – beach profile
Wave type – constructive vs destructive
Any natural landforms that protect the coast e.g. dunes, vegetation, coral reefs
Any human landforms that protect the coast e.g. groynes, beach nourishment, beach clean ups etc
Long shore drift?
Observations
Photographs
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WRITING UP YOUR COURSEWORK
Word count
Moderators are required to stop reading once 2500 has been reached and you lose 4 marks. If
student has not written their evaluation within the word limit they will not achieve any marks
under criterion G and may lose some under criterion E and F. Reports below the word limit
could be self-penalizing.
Amount of work produced in the written report should reflect the weighting of the criteria and be
balanced accordingly. Words limits for each section are given as guidance. Declare your word
limit for each section next to the section title.
Text boxes must be used only for annotations. Deliberate attempts to avoid the word limit by
placing text in boxes to give the impression of a table are not acceptable. Any annotations that
are over 10 words will be included in the word count.
Words not included in the word count
Title page
Acknowledgments
Contents page
Titles, and subtitles
References
Footnotes—up to a maximum of 15 words
Map legends and /or keys
Labels of 10 words or less
Tables—of statistical or numerical data, or categories, classes or group names
Calculations
Appendices—containing only raw data and/or calculations
Words included in the word count
All the main text including the research question, analysis, conclusion and evaluation, as well as all
annotations over 10 words and any footnotes over 15 words.
Appendices
Large quantities of data should not be included either as appendices or within the body of the
written report. A summary sheet or a copy of a questionnaire in the main body is sufficient.
Teacher Feedback
It is acceptable for students to submit a rough draft to their teacher, but this should occur once
only.
References- MLA. A great resource for MLA referencing in The OWL at Purdue (the online
writing lab, Purdue university).
Maps – strongly recommended maps are student generated this is easiest by hand. They must
be relevant. Normal map conventions must be followed e.g. border, title, scale, key and north
arrow.
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Mark Scheme
CHAPTER A – Fieldwork question and geographic context
Approximately 300 words
This is not Page 1 as you will have a title page, list of contents and a list of illustrations but it is
the first part of the written text. Examiners will be looking for evidence of a good topic for
investigation, understanding of key concepts and a clear method of approach i.e. hypotheses
Your work must include the following:
1. State your AIM (What is the question you are going to pose? Prove/disprove?). Say why you are
investigating this particular idea.
2. BACKGROUND show the examiner that you understand the topic being covered. You
should be able to explain the geographical theories that are behind your ideas. You may find
it useful to add diagrams. Quote and refer to textbooks making sure these are referenced.
Aim to link the general ideas to the specific details of your investigation. Show that you
understand the theory by explaining how the theory works using key terms and their
definitions. Annotated photographs here are appropriate.
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3. Make sure you reference at least one book. This is a formal requirement of section G.
4. LOCATION Link the background/theory to the location in a paragraph. You need 2 linked
MAPS. A general map of the area indicating the region of the country used and you must
also have a detailed map of the area being studied. Both maps must have a title, scale,
north arrow, key and labels. Do NOT download from internet, hand drawn only.
5. HYPOTHESIS Break the aim down into 2 (maximum 3) hypotheses. The hypothesis is a
statement of the expected outcome and not a question. You have to justify why you have
written these hypotheses, this justification should be a brief explanation for the statement
made. I.e. you are expecting these outcomes because… and should be linked to the
theoretical background and location.
You should always link your illustrations to the text i.e. ‘Makati (figure A1) the CBD….’
What are the most common problems?
 The hypothesis or hypotheses is/are not justified.
 Maps have no scale, title, orientation and key.
 Map of whole country included – this has little value.
CHAPTER B – Investigation
Approximately 300 words
Describe the method(s) used to collect information. Include sampling techniques, time, location
and circumstances of information collection where relevant. Methods used must be justified and
must enable a sufficient quality and quantity of primary data to be collected.
1. Location of survey sites – you MUST include a sketch map showing the location of the
survey sites. A field sketch would also be relevant here. Justify why you chose these sites.
2. Identify time, location and circumstances under which field work was collected.
3. Give full descriptions of how you collected data and justify why those particular methods
were used i.e. explain how the information collected helps to investigate your hypothesis.
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4. Explain sampling technique and size of sample (where relevant).
Random
Was the house chosen by chance?
Biased
Was the house chosen for a definite reason?
Systematic
Was every 10th house chosen?
Stratified
Was the house able to be classified?
5. Use well labelled diagrams/photographs to illustrate methods and equipment used.
6. Identify primary and secondary data sources
7. Do not include limitations and problems of methods used. This goes in section F.
What are the most common problems?
 Inability to justify methods, why they were relevant and give enough information to do their
idea justice. It is better to produce a draft chapter that is too long. It can be easily edited.
 Methods such as the time and location of the survey and sampling method are not justified.
 Questionnaire data that elicits only yes/no answer and can only be processed by drawing pie
charts or written description. Use tracing paper to annotate to justify your questionnaire.
 Confusing sampling methods.
Things too think about….
What is sampling?
•
A portion of the urban or human
environment that is studied, which
is taken to be a worthwhile and
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meaningful representation of environment.
•
Think – how might the student council be an example of this?
What are the different sampling techniques?
Sampling
What is it?
type
Point
Sampling an area or from a map: choosing individual
sampling
points in an area or on a map, Example: Environmental
Quality Survey
Line
sampling
Sampling an area or from a map: making
measurements along a line, Example: Land Use
Survey
Quadrant /
area
sampling
Noting the occurrence of a feature on a map, Example:
Litter Survey
Random
sampling
Sampling using random numbers:
1. Decide how many points / people you want to
survey
2. Obtain random numbers (sheet or calculator)
3. Overlay map or area with a grid or choose
people in sequence
4. Use random numbers to read off grid
references or choose people
5. Conduct survey at each point or part of
sequence
Examples: Questionnaires and Perception Analysis
Sampling subsets:
1. Decide what proportions of a set of data you
may need to be aware of e.g. age groups in a
local population from census data
2. Use this information to construct and carry out
your survey your
3. Survey
For example, in a local population Census data says
30% aged 10 -30, 40% aged 40-60, 30% aged 60+.
Examples: Questionnaires and Perception Analysis
Stratified
sampling
Systematic
sampling
Example of what it
looks like
Conduct sampling using an agreed interval:
For example, every fifth person, quadrants placed
equally apart
Example: Land Use Mapping
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Method table
To ensure that you all have the necessary information for this, you are going to complete a method table...You will
then need to write this up as a paragraph – the table will just ensure that you have all the necessary info included
for each data collection technique...
Method
used
Location
of data
collection
(link to
locations
on
sketch
map)
Time of
data
collection
Circumstances Type of data
Of data
collected
collection
(primary/
secondary)
Sampling Full
technique explanation
of how
data was
collected
Justification
(how will it
help to
investigate
the
hypothesis?)
Evaluation of methods used
This goes in the evaluation at the end – do not include in ‘investigation method’ section
For each method used identify:
Method used
Positives (i.e. why was
Negatives (i.e. what were How did/can you
it useful?)
the problems/limitations
overcome these
to this method?)
problems if you were to
do the investigation
again?
Data collection techniques
All the methods which we collect at Lago are PRIMARY METHODS (ie you collected the data yourself) –
and you should also collect data through SECONDARY METHODS (i.e.someone else collects is and
you use).
• Height of the tree – tallest tree at each site using trigonometry
• Girth of tree – 1 m above ground, measured in cm round the trunk
• Litter survey – quadrat
• Biodiversity survey – quadrat
• Soil Ph value - measured using a PH value testing kit
• Soil nitrates value – measured using a chemical testing kit
• Mangrove density – visual gauge on a 100% scale
• Smell survey - nasal gauge on a 100% scale – rotting eggs smell because of the decomposition
of organic matter
• Species number and diversity
• Questionnaire (***) – for hypothesis about whether or not people care about the environment –
both open and closed questions
• Environmental quality survey (bipolar) ***
• Field sketches
• Photographs
You need to collect and annotate secondary evidence related to your investigation title too:
– Newspapers
– Maps
– Tourist information
– Internet web pages
• For each piece of evidence, you must annotate it to show the examiner you have read and
considered whether it is important
• For printed articles, highlight sections and print your comments (use two different shades for
positive and negative comments)
• Quality here is better than quantity
• To further your project you may consider comparing your results to another indicator e.g. land
price, household income, employment, size of dwelling, house price
•
*** BEFORE WE LEAVE YOU NEED TO DESIGN THESE and the data recording sheets!!!
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COMMENTS:
Try using the following words when you are discussing the limitations of some of your data
collection techniques
 Reliable/unreliable
 Subjective/objective
 Biased/unbiased
Data collection evaluation – imagine that you had as much money/time as possible – what
would you do better?
 Investigate at different times of day? Week? Month? Year?
 Bigger sample sizes?
 Asking different stake holders about X, Y, Z?
 More accurate equipment?
 More accurate measurement techniques?
 Explain briefly how/why these things would make a difference to your investigation –
think about having reliable, objective and valid results that you can make clear
interpretations from.
CHAPTER C– Quality & treatment of information collected
Process the data collected and display it appropriately using a range of illustrative techniques.
techniques must be the most effective way of representing the type of information collected and must be
well used. Techniques may include statistical tests (including confidence limits) graphs, diagrams, maps,
annotated photographs and images, matrices and field sketches.

Decide if you are showing all sites together or by method

It is much better to use techniques that show and link more than one piece of data.

Maps that have data superimposed on them are very effective.
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BAR CHARTS
PIE CHARTS
DIVIDED BAR GRAPHS
LINE GRAPHS
BI POLAR
STACKED BAR GRAPHS
SCATTER GRAPHS
PICTOGRAMS

All graphs/diagrams must be neat, clearly titled, labelled axis, key where necessary and referred to in
the text.

Annotate graphs/photos/diagrams using geographical terms to highlight key features.

Use a statistical test. Create a hypothesis that can be accepted or rejected and the significance of
the result must be tested using significance tables or charts.
What are the most common problems?
 Wrong type of graph used to illustrate the data.
 Limited range of graphs e.g. 7 pie charts does not count as 7 techniques.
 Figures not labelled and/or no key
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CHAPTER D – … and written analysis
Approximately 1350 words
This section carries the greatest number of marks and is the focus of the written report.
Demonstrate your knowledge and understanding by interpreting and explaining the information
collected in relation to the aim and hypothesis. Recognise trends and spatial patterns found and
where appropriate, an attempt should be made to identify and explain anomalies.
1. The easiest way of writing this chapter is to combine chapters C and D so that as you
display a graph your analyse it.
100%
0
Yes
No
“This graph clearly shows that twice as many people were retired
rather than working. This was probably because I was in the
village doing my survey at 3 p.m. when working people would not
be at home.”
2. Describe the trend quoting numbers/proportions/ratios.
3. Explain why this trend has occurred – refer back to the theoretical background.
4. Link data sets together and explain why they are linked.
5. Point out and attempt to explain anomalous results.
6. Relate results to hypothesis and accept or reject it with justification.
What are the most common problems?
 There is too much description instead of analysis.
 Data sets not linked
 Not referred to figures nor numerical
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This section carries the greatest number of marks and is the focus of the
written report. Demonstrate your knowledge and understanding by
• interpreting and explaining the information collected in relation to the aim
and hypothesis.
• Recognise trends and spatial patterns found and where appropriate
• An attempt should be made to identify and explain anomalies.
• The easiest way of writing this chapter is to combine chapters C and D so
that as you display a graph your analyse it.
• Describe the trend quoting numbers/proportions/ratios.
• Explain why this trend has occurred – refer back to the theoretical
background.
• Link data sets together and explain why they are linked.
• Point out and attempt to explain anomalous results.
• Relate results to hypothesis and accept or reject it with justification.
• Spearmans rank used and discussed
What are the most common problems?
• There is too much description instead of analysis.
• Data sets not linked
• Not referred to figures nor numerical
CHAPTER E – CONCLUSION
Approximately 200 words
Do conclusion then evaluation.
This section summarizes the findings of the fieldwork investigation. There should be a clear, concise
statement answering the fieldwork question. It is acceptable that the findings do not match the students
preliminary judgement or prediction.
1.
Refer to the aim in the opening paragraph.
2.
It is easiest if you take each hypothesis separately and discuss your findings.
3.
Summarise the key points discovered by your investigation. This can be in a paragraph or as
bullet points. This section should not repeat all the information you used in Chapter 4.
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4.
Look at your conclusions closely and see which ones appear to be linked together and write the
remaining sections as paragraphs. You may well discover that a clear order of importance of
these conclusions arises and this will then determine the structure of your paragraphs.
e.g. Conclusions on a pollution study might be:
Chesil Beach is polluted 
the amount of pollution has reached unacceptable levels 
Main forms of pollution are related to debris from ships 
Tourists are not discouraged by pollution 
Local people feel that pollution levels have increased recently 
The general opinion that oil is a main form of pollution is incorrect 
Local/national administration policies make it impossible to solve the pollution problem at the moment 
In general, the beach was thought to be an asset to the area and should be protected.
5.
You must state whether your hypothesis was correct i.e. accept or reject the hypothesis.
CHAPTER F – Evaluation
Approximately 300 words
All research projects can be improved! This criterion assesses the student’s ability to reflect
upon the investigation and consider the suitability of the techniques employed to test the original
hypothesis (or hypotheses) set. You can suggest an alternative hypothesis at this stage.
Discuss any limitations of the investigation and make recommendations for improvements and
extensions
Tackle your evaluation in these stages.
Methods.
 How accurate were your data collection methods? Discuss each method in turn
 Was the sample size of your survey big enough?
 What problems did you encounter? What did you do about them? Were these problems
very significant in the end?
 What new methods would you add if you were to do the study again? i.e. what did you
overlook?
Results
 How accurate were your results? Why?
 Would other people interpret your results in the same way as you did?
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Conclusions
 How valid are the explanations that you have offered? Why might they not be very
accurate?
 If you were to repeat your study now would you get the same results? Why not?
 Would these conclusions be the same for similar studies in other locations? Different time of
year?
 Have you linked any inaccurate /surprising results with problems or with methods?
 If you were to do this study again would you add/change your hypotheses?
 Did you answer the aim of the study?
 Could you refine the aim?
CHAPTER G– Formal requirements





Work is within 2,500 word limit
Overall presentation is neat and well structured
Pages are numbered
References used for background information follow standard conventions
All illustrative material is numbered, is fully integrated into the body of the report and is not
relegated to an appendix
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ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST
Before you hand in check
o Add number of words in each section next to section title
o Front cover
o Total number of words
o Candidate name
o Candidate number
o School name
o School number - 1463
o Title of IA
o Contents page
o Every illustration has a title
o Every illustration is referred to in the text
o All diagrams/graphs/photos/maps numbered
o Maps have a title, scale, orientation and key
o All sources attributed to in text
o Bibliography
Recent Feedback from IBO
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Generic Feedback from IBO
Read the Report..
What can we learn from this?
IB Guide
Check the IB Guide at the end – have you covered all their
requirements?
USE the IB Guide pages 60-72 (READ them now!!)
GOOD LUCK
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