Denver April 2010: Extended Essay Clarifications,
Concerns, and Questions
Dear Coordinators
Just a quick note to say I am delighted to be coming to your meeting in Denver in
April. Thank you very much for your wide ranging questions. They certainly made
me think afresh about the whole process of writing and supervising the EE. Chris
and I decided I should get some written answers together before the meeting so
you could have time to think about any follow up points you would like me to
discuss. The more detailed technical questions on the sciences have been
answered by senior science examiners.
Please do not hesitate to raise anything you want at our meeting.
Best wishes
Helen
General:
 If the EE is not a “research paper,” what is it?
The extended essay is very much a research paper. I searched through our literature
and couldn’t find a place where we said that it wasn’t. In the introduction to the Extended
essay guide (for first examinations in 2009 p. 4) it states that TOK and the extended
essay differ in this respect. I quote:
“Where the two differ is in the emphasis placed on the research process and its formal
outcomes. These aspects are of primary importance in the extended essay but given
less weight in TOK: in the Theory of knowledge guide (March 2006) the section
describing the TOK assessment tasks states that “neither the (TOK) essay nor the
presentation is primarily a research exercise”. At a more abstract level, both TOK and
the extended essay promote reflection on the nature of knowledge and how new
knowledge is produced.”
Three of the aims of the extended essay relate to it being a research essay:
 Pursue independent research on a focused topic
 Develop research and communication skills
 Engage in a systematic process of research appropriate to the subject

Is the MYP Personal project a good introduction to the EE or not?
In a general sense yes it is. As students move into the Diploma Programme (DP), the
personal project provides preparation for this IB programme. Students have the
opportunity to put into practice approaches to learning skills, which contribute to the
students’ engagement with all aspects of the DP and life beyond the IB programmes.
The personal project is not always a research essay; however, research is an
expectation of the project, as well as the use of resources and information collected.
Students are also expected to complete a project over a period of time and to plan their
approach to collecting information and writing up a report.
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In some respects the MYP personal project is different however as the use of the
process journal and report make this a more overtly reflective process. It also allows the
student to select more freely from a range of possible approaches from website designs
to presentations etc. In addition the extended essay must be registered in a subject
listed in the IB guide whereas the MYP personal project is interdisciplinary in that it asks
for explicit reference to the areas of interaction.
An exciting new EE option is due to go mainstream in 2011 though which will give
students the opportunity to explore a global issue from the perspective of two or more
disciplines and this EE option is closer to the MYP approach. The name of this option is
world studies. In December a new chapter of the EE guide will be produced and teacher
support material for supervisors of world studies. In addition to world studies we also
now have a few transdisciplinary options such as environmental systems and societies
and (to be added) literature and performance.

Can a student write in 1st person?
This is not generally recommended for the whole essay as it is not appropriate for a
relatively formal written task. However I have often seen introductions written in the first
person particularly where students have studied something of great personal
significance for themselves such as a topic which involved one of their relatives. I have
also seen it used in the abstract but it is less appropriate there as abstracts should follow
certain academic rules. The abstract is essentially a stand-alone document for anyone
wanting to get an overview of the research area and findings.

Why does this need to be a year long process? Making it so long seems to
make it scarier to kids.
It doesn’t have to be a year long process at all –in fact the best practice I have seen in
the northern hemisphere typically has the EE running from April of the student’s first year
to October/November of the same calendar year ( so the beginning of their second
year). This allows for meetings between the student and supervisor at crucial points in
the preparation and research period –the student also has the long summer vacation to
write up parts of the essay in their own time. For this to be used effectively though it is
important that the research question, resources and research methods have been firmly
put in place before the long summer break.

Please let us know after working with us on Thursday what you think about
our expectations and ideas when compared with the rest of the world.
I certainly will though I am not sure there are such marked differences in the
approaches/ expectations by region as your concerns and questions have cropped up in
other places in the world.
I think the main problem is that whichever region one is talking to there is a fear of the
EE in the sense that it is seen as a daunting task. I believe it is much less so if the
stages and tasks are broken down.
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
I have some conflicting information concerning the “concurrency issues”
surrounding the EE. Since I am also a workshop leader for Category 3
evaluation, I’ve heard that schools have been criticized for not extending
the EE experience over the “whole” of the two year program. Schools that
complete the essay in early fall have been told by the evaluation document
readers that their plan is inappropriate because the time has been
abridged. What is IBCA’s interpretation of concurrency for the EE over the
two DP years?
The extended essay is not subject to the guidelines for schools on the concurrency
of learning. In practice it is recommended that the EE researching and writing
process is not over-protracted as this can overwhelm the students and take them
away from work on their six Diploma subjects. The guidelines state that the essay
should take about 40 hours in all so if these hours are spread over a longer period
than about 8 months students can forget where they are with the process. It is much
more effective for schools to guide students through the process relatively swiftly.
Indeed some students may wish and be able to complete the task in a shorter time
frame than that suggested by the school. Schools should be open to accommodating
the individual learning styles of the students in respect of a personal research essay
such as the EE.
Subject Selection:
 Guidance on students writing essays in subjects not offered by school (or
not taken by students)
If the school does not offer the subject that the student wants to present an essay in, the
coordinator must be sure that they are satisfied that they can provide the student with a
suitably qualified supervisor in that subject from the school staff.
If a student decides to present an essay in a subject they are not doing on the Diploma
then their coordinator should again be sure to find a qualified supervisor in the school.
In both the above cases, they must also study the appropriate IB guide for that subject in
order to gain an insight into the methodology and concepts of that subject.
Results and research have shown that the least successful subjects tend to have a large
number of students presenting who are not studying the subject on the Diploma. It can
be particularly difficult for students to do a good job with an essay where the subject has
a complicated methodology (such as social and cultural anthropology or psychology).
Many of the most successful essays grow from an enthusiasm the student has for one of
their Diploma subjects which then leads to a search for a topic and finally a research
question. In addition, students often link it to a subject they would like to do at tertiary
level.

Examples of combined subjects to show students what is not allowed
How far did Hitler and Stalin’s relationship with their father lead them towards
extremist politics?
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It is not a good history topic because it deals with a speculative area that cannot be
tested against historical evidence nor is it suitable for psychology as it uses popular
psychology again to suggest something that is not provable.
Are enough safeguards in place to protect vulnerable patients from MRSA in
British hospitals?
Does not fulfill the requirements of a biology essay as it does not focus on the biological
aspects of the disease. Instead it looks at issues such as hospital administration and
hygiene. It is incidentally also much too broad for an EE.
The pros and cons of cosmetic surgery.
This is much too broad and difficult to place in a subject area. It could involve sociology,
psychology, even economics.
Topic Selection:
 Techniques and ideas on how to get students to better focus/narrow down
their topics
From my experience and from talking to a number of teacher and examiners about this I
think the best way to get students to narrow down a topic is to have a dialogue with them
along the following sort of lines-I am using a history example because it is the subject I
am most comfortable with:
Student: I want to do a topic in modern American history.
Supervisor: Is there anything you have studied in the history course that you would like
to get into more deeply?
Student: Well perhaps Cuba or Vietnam.
Supervisor: Well that narrows it down but remember you need to have a very tight focus
and be able to access a range of sources-think about a stage in the Vietnam war for
instance rather than the whole war.
Student: I’m quite interested in the development of the war and in the American public’s
reaction to it.
Supervisor: The idea of exploring public response is great because you can use
newspaper reports and public demonstrations-was there a turning point do you think
when the public did start to question why America was in Vietnam?
Student: I’m not sure.
Supervisor: Well why not go away and read up on Vietnam and then come back to me
and we’ll have another chat.
A week later:
Student: the Tet Offensive seemed to be quite a turning point in Vietnam.
Supervisor: Yes it was so what are your thoughts on how you could use that to tie in
with your original idea?
Student: I think I would like to focus on the effect of the Tet Offensive on public attitudes
to the war.
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Supervisor: That sounds great! – why don’t you go away and do some more research
and we will talk about the actual research question in a week’s time.
Working research question: How important was the Tet Offensive in altering America
public attitudes to the Vietnam War?
Process and Supervision:
 How to hold students accountable for process: follow through, check in
dates, balance between supervisor and student responsibility. What have
you seen as best practices?
Best practice suggests that the school should break down the EE process and issue
internal deadlines. In some schools the letter with all internal deadlines (that should be
well before the final submission date) is sent to parents for them to sign. Some schools
ask students to sign a declaration of their responsibilities which includes the final internal
deadline date.
The section for students in the EE guide plus the criteria and appropriate subject chapter
should be given to the students early in the process so that they are always bearing in
mind how the essay will be assessed.
The balance between the role of the supervisor and that of the student can be difficult
especially if the student is weak as a conscientious supervisor may be tempted to over –
supervise. The EE must be the independent work of the student. However this does not
mean the student should be left to their own devices. Often students are not reaching
their potential because they are being given too little focused time with a supervisor.

Please elaborate on the supervisor’s role.
Before we get on to the supervisor I think it is worth saying that a whole school policy on
how to prepare students and supervisors for the EE is a good idea because otherwise
supervisors may be doing exactly the same thing with individual students. If the librarian
can arrange general sessions on study skills such as research methods, referencing,
note taking and even how to construct a long essay this will save a lot of time overall to
students and supervisors alike. I feel particularly strongly that students do not always
take to writing a long essay naturally and that they can be taught how to write essays. I
can elaborate a bit more on these points in the meeting if you would like me to.
Supervisors play a key role in ensuring that students get the most out of their essays.
There is definitely a case for insisting as coordinator that all new EE supervisors are
trained in the school or at workshops. Given that supervisors are only supposed to give
between 3 and 5 hours guidance, it is vitally important that every minute is used
effectively. There are probably 5-6 points at which the progress of the essay needs to be
checked and it is good practice for the student in the later meetings to email the
developing ideas/text of their EE to the supervisor ahead of their meeting with him/her.
The supervisor needs to think carefully about how they will use each of the half hour or
so sessions they have with their tutee. Sometimes it has to be said they will need to
cruel to be kind-if the student is setting off on a poor track with a bad research question
they must tell them. It is not permitted for the supervisor to then change the question for
the student but they can steer the student in the right direction using open ended
questions as in the questions suggested in topic selection.
Supervisors should be asking key questions at vital points in the EE writing process.
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Coming up with a topic:
Has the student chosen a viable area of research?
Does it fit in with one of the subject specifications outlined in the EE guide?
The research question:
Will the student be able to collect sufficient resources to effectively answer the research
question?
Will the student need to refine their research question to ensure it promotes an analytical
approach?
May I need to suggest an entirely different approach and a new focus for the question?
Getting started on research etc:
Does the student have a good grounding in the methodology of the subject chosen or
might they need extra help with concepts covered in the essay?
Will they need specialist training in questionnaire design?
Has the student been trained in study skills-may we need to run sessions in researching
and note taking with the library?
Helping the student to develop the essay:
Does the essay have a clear introduction which states what the essay sets out to do?
Has the research model/questionnaire been sufficiently well developed to lead to an effect
research process?
Does the student have a clear idea of where they are going with the essay i.e. an outline
of the argument?
Is the student referencing their work correctly?-plagiarism checks should take place well
before the viva voce
Do the various sections of the essay link back to the research question?
Is the development of the essay logical?
Checking the complete draft:
Supervisors are vital at this late stage of the essay writing process.
While they cannot make detailed annotations on the text of the essay it is quite legitimate
to ask a number of pointed questions which will lead the student to go away and reflect on
their work, for example:
I’m not sure I follow your argument her? What did you mean perhaps you can express it
better?
Are you sure all your findings/data is accurate?
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Are there some last minute adjustments/changes I can suggest that will improve this
essay?
Does it comply with the requirements?
Evaluation:
 Please provide guidance on how to interpret and work with students
concerning criteria A-K.
This is really hard to do without having extracts from essays so perhaps the best
approach is to have small sections of essays for discussion in the meeting.
There are several places where you can access essays that have been assessed by
senior examiners. If you attend a workshop it is likely that all EE sessions will include an
analysis of an essay. The other place where there are lots of exemplars is on the OCC
subject pages.
Lastly you could look at our publications and purchase a CDRom called 50 excellent
extended essays. A book on the extended essay for the IB Prepared series is also due
out at the end of the year.

Generally, what do graders expect?
If we look at these extracts together perhaps it will be clearer what graders expect
Group 4:
 Especially for Group 4 original investigations, how extensive does original
research have to be? (ie: if a student is conducting an original experiment,
is the '40 hour guideline' expectation that conducting the lab itself, the
literature review, analysis, writing of the essay itself all take 40 hours?
This will help advisors guide students in scope of experiments, etc.)
 You have stated that a simple experiment is best for group 4. Please give
some examples of simple versus complex.
Chemistry:
The 40 hours does cover all the research, experimentation (if they do their own
experiment) etc. and students should be advised that they should not devote many more
hours than this to an EE as the extra time would be better spent on improving their
knowledge and understanding of one or more of their six Diploma subjects.
There are many examples of the 'simple' type of experiment in both the Chemistry
Course Companion
(http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/education/international/ibdiploma/science/97801991
39552.do?zoneCode=OXEDZC035) and the Chemistry IB Diploma Study Guide (
http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/education/international/ibdiploma/studyguides/97801
99151424.do?sortby=bookTitleAscend) published by Oxford University Press. The
Course Companion also has a whole chapter on Chemistry EEs.
However the most important point is that an EE is not simply a practical write-up of an
experiment. It involves much more than this i.e. background research to put the topic
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into context and to find what others have done before and evaluation not only of the data
generated by the student but also of the reliability of the other sources of
data/information gathered. It is not a Ph D thesis so the work only needs to be new to
the student not to mankind in general. Finally the student also needs to be able to
present a well reasoned argument with the strengths and weaknesses stated and
evaluated clearly. It has been shown (by John Munro) that students who come up with
their own topic (although the supervisor will still help them to format a clearly focused
RQ) tend to score more highly than those who have been 'given' a topic by their
supervisor.
Biology:
Extended essays in biology that are practically based can normally be completed within
the recommended time but in some instances could end up taking more than 40 hours to
complete. This is especially true if the work involves collecting data in the field and can
even apply to laboratory based experiments. In terms of how extensive the investigation
can be I would say that the experimental work should go beyond what would normally be
done in a classroom situation. A classroom investigation could become the basis for an
extended essay if the student goes about introducing one or more variables that would
not normally be investigated. In addition an experiment for an EE would need to have
more controls and more repeats than a classroom based study. Statistically based
investigations should allow for the collection of enough data by the student to make
statistical analysis possible in a meaningful way.
For example, whereas a classroom investigation might involve students measuring their
own heart rate before and after exercise, an EE could be based on a comparison of a
control group (say, non smokers) and a study group that have been selected because of
some shared parameters (e.g. all the players on the school ice hockey team who are not
smokers). The discussion in the essay would be expected to take research on related
matters into account and to put the EE into an academic context.
Simple experiments are those that involve investigating a limited number of independent
and dependent variables and can be done using the type of materials normally available
in a school laboratory. It should also be possible to control the conditions using relatively
simple approaches. The underlying theory can be sophisticated and the ideas that
emerge from the work can be challenging intellectually.
Physics
Time commitment
The 40-hour guideline should includes everything you list here, assembling equipment,
conducting the experiment, literature review or/and establishing the relevant theory, the
analysis and the writing of the essay.
The evident implication is that the topic must be highly focused, theoretically and
experimentally realistic and practical. If preliminary experimentation is required, it should
be, time wise, limited. The preliminaries are generally not required to be part of the
essay per se. It is understood, in experiments, that some testing and adjustment are
required. It is better for the student to focus on the topic per se. Also, a lot of time and
efforts are often lost writing up a report in a style that belongs more to an internal
assessment (IA) lab report style. It is to the student's great advantage to look at a few
accessible scientific papers or scientific articles before starting to write. Here the
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supervisor should help. Finally, it is not required that the essay be 4000 words long,
especially in experimental essay. The student should not feel the necessity to include
4000 words.
Simple experiment
When we suggest a simple experiment we do not mean a trivial one. It is true that we
see more successful essays that are based on an experiment. The danger with
theoretical essays is that the essay can become simply a digest where there is no
original and personal thinking. Topics in quantum mechanics, unified theories, super
conductivity, dark matter, string theory are too complex (and too broad).
An experiment is not simple if the student needs to construct a wind tunnel or other setup that will require a good chunk of the 40 hours. It is not simple if the students must
work in an industrial or university lab with "black box" type equipment they do not
understand and cannot evaluate. It is not simple if the effect studied is at the very limits
of the instrumentation used. It is not simple if coloured filters with broad wavelength
bands are used in an experiment with light requiring narrow wavelength bands. On the
other hand, a repetition of a simple experiment that can be performed at school within a
few hours and quickly analyzed is not complex enough. An example of this would be the
determination of the wavelength of laser light using a grating or two slit aperture or the
determination of Young modulus for a gib=ven substance.
A simple experiment could be the extension (with an originality component, an
inquisitive question) of an experiment already performed in the school as part of the IA
program. A simple experiment involves equipment already available in the school lab (or
easily accessible). All best "simple experiments" require some theoretical physics
(model...) related to the RQ independently of the physics involved with taking
measurements. A common serious weakness of experimental essays is to choose an
essentially empirical approach. Another is to multiply the number of experiments
(number of independent variables) thus accumulating tons of data. The student then
runs out of time and space to reflect on the results and make a valid and solid analysis.
The physics section of the Guide lists a few relevant topics.
Sources:
 Suggestions for documentation of sources.
The IB does not make recommendations for the documentation of sources. It does list
the major methods of referencing on Page 17 of the extended essay guide and on the
same page it is suggested that you access:
www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Documentation.html.
The main thing is that the student should choose a recognized referencing style and use
it consistently throughout the essay and bibliography.

Should MLA, APA and Chicago be the only choices?
No the school/supervisor needs to find the most appropriate choices. In many schools
the librarian helps students with the selection of a referencing style and there is training
in place for both students and supervisors. It cannot be assumed that all supervisors will
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have had to write a similar research essay when they were in College. It could be that a
different referencing style is seen as being more appropriate for the science subjects as
opposed to the arts subjects-in which case the school may recommend two styles. The
best organized schools do suggest appropriate referencing systems.

Must English essay use MLA? History Chicago? Etc?
No not at all-in many ways this makes it more complicated for the school if every subject
is using different referencing systems. Ideally the school should provide overall support
through the librarian as detailed in last answer.

Must students evaluate sources within the essay?
It does depend what you mean by source evaluation-certainly evaluations of the sources
that comment on the book/article in general are not generally helpful. In order to score
highly on criterion F it is important that students evaluate sources but their evaluation
must be integrated into the overall argument in the essay. It is not a good idea to
produce separate evaluations of sources under subheadings in the text of the essay. I
have seen this happen particularly in history extended essays where students have
transferred the requirements of the IA in history to EEs. This is a mistake as the EE
should be a free flowing essay.

Can source evaluation appear only within an annotated bibliography?
There is no need to produce an annotated bibliography and students do not get any
extra credit for it, however some schools encourage students to do it anyway. Please
bear in mind as well that no source evaluation which really belongs in the essay should
be put in the appendices in order to try to evade a word limit. Examiners are not obliged
to read the appendices.
Malpractice Issues:

Malpractice issues: especially dealing with online plagiarism.
It’s really important to have a robust policy in the school regarding plagiarism and the
acknowledgement of sources. Sometimes plagiarism is unintentional but the result is still
that it breaches our rules. By this I mean that students do not note down where they
have obtained information from and by the end of the EE process it becomes difficult to
find the attribution–it is therefore very important that students are trained from the outset
to note down any direct quotes as they go along.
The coordinator, supervisor and student should be familiar with IB documents on ethics
and academic honesty. These are available on the OCC and can be accessed in the
support area.

What malpractice issues are most common from your perspective?

In the extended essay it tends to be unattributed quotes. This problem I believe is
something the school should be able to pick up as the supervisor has a better
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feel for how the student normally writes and if the prose style suddenly takes off
and becomes incredibly academic they should be suspicious.
The other common malpractice area is biology essays and to a lesser extent the
other sciences that are in breach of the animal experimentation policy. It is best
to check before a student starts an essay that they are conducting experiments
within the guidelines.
Breaches of the ethical practices guidance may also occur in such subjects as
visual arts.
Occasionally an essay based on a questionnaire will breach ethical guidance on
such areas as parental consent or intrusive questioning.
Group work is not permitted for the EE because it must be an individual piece of
work and students in subjects such as geography who develop EEs from for
instance fieldwork must be sure their data is their own.
What are your feelings about “turn it in .com?”
The IB uses tunitin.com for random sampling of essays and it also uses it if an examiner
suspects plagiarism. It is a good instrument to use and schools can use it before essays
are submitted.
I think that covers everything-I hope you find the answers useful.
I don’t think we mentioned the viva voce anywhere so if you would like to think of
some questions on that for the session please do.
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