University Preparation Course
Extended Essay 2
Extended Essay 2: Writing an Introduction
For your extended essay, you have already taken the first steps. You have….
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chosen a subject area and decided on a topic.
formed a clear research question or topic statement.
carried out some basic research (i.e. read books and looked at online sources).
What’s the next stage?
We need to write the introduction.
Introduction: you must introduce the topic, giving some basic information to interest the
reader and show why the topic is important. Include the research question in the introduction.
This will be in the form of a question or a topic statement (or both). It must be clear and focused.
This will show the aim of your extended essay.
Example: Here is the topic of an extended essay.
How important was the participation* of Spanish soldiers to the outcome**
of World War Two? *participation=involvement **outcome=result.
Read this introduction to the extended essay title above and do the tasks on
the next page:
Introduction
World War Two was one of the most important events in the 20th century, resulting in
many deaths and redrawing the map of Europe. The two sides were the allies: Britain, Russia,
the USA and France, and the axis: Germany, Italy and Japan. However, soldiers from many
other countries were involved in the war, playing a significant role and possibly influencing the
outcome. One such country was Spain, which had many soldiers involved in the conflict,
fighting in many battles. But how important was their participation to the outcome of the war?
The issue of the participation of Spanish soldiers is still important today, not only in
Spain, but also among historians worldwide. While the soldiers on both sides – allies and axis have memorials to honour them and recognize their efforts, there aren’t any to remember the
Spanish soldiers who fought and died. For this reason it is particularly important to focus on
this issue and establish how important the participation of Spanish soldiers was to the outcome
of World War Two.
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University Preparation Course
Extended Essay 2
 Showing the aim of your essay.
1. Highlight the sentence that is the research question.
2. Highlight the research question changed into a statement.
 Creating interest and giving information.
3. Highlight the sentence that….
a)
b)
c)
d)
…introduces the country that is the main focus of the essay.
…informs the reader about which countries fought in the 2nd World War.
…explains why the involvement of soldiers from that country is still important.
…creates interest in the 2nd World War.
Check your answers in pairs. Were they the same?
If not, decide on the correct sentence for each answer.
Here is a topic statement for an extended essay. Read it and do the tasks.
An investigation into the most popular summer holiday destinations for Qatari teenagers.
1) Write a sentence to create interest in this subject
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2) Write sentences (2 0r 3) to (a) give some basic information, (b) introduce the
subject of ‘Qatari teenagers’ and (c) explain why the subject is important.
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3) Write a topic statement or research question.
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University Preparation Course
Extended Essay 2
Now write the introduction to YOUR extended essay. Remember to…
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include a research question, or a topic statement (or both) showing the aim
of your essay.
create interest, give the reader information about the topic, introduce the
main parts and explain why your topic is important.
Essay topic statement/question:
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Introduction:
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University Preparation Course
Extended Essay 2
Now I have completed the introduction my extended essay!
The next stage is to research the topic. This will answer the research question.
But first, let’s learn about information: different sources and different kinds of data.

Me too!
What’s
the next
step?
Getting information for an extended essay.
To get information, we need data. Data is a collection of facts. There are two kinds of data;
qualitative and quantitative:
Quantitative data is numbers. E.g. More than 11 000 Spaniards fought in WW2.
Qualitative data is information that describes something. E.g. People were dying in
front of my eyes. There was no place to hide.
We get data from two kinds of sources: primary and secondary.
A primary source is a speech, document or evidence produced at the time by someone
who was there at the time. Example: “…we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on
the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the
hills; we shall never surrender”. (Winston Churchill 4th June 1940)
A secondary source tells us about the primary source. Winston Churchill encouraged
and motivated the allies to fight to the last.
In your extended essay, you can use primary and secondary sources and your results will be either
quantitative or qualitative.
Are these sources (1-5) primary or secondary? What kind of data is it?
Write primary or secondary and qualitative or quantitative in the spaces.
1
A face-to-face interview talking about a wedding.
Primary source, Qualitative data,
2
The National Records Bureau stated that over
60 million people were killed in WW2.
________________ source
_________________data
3
Counting the number of patients in a hospital.
4
cia.gov website, world factfile.
________________ source
_________________data
Qualitative and quantitative data
________________ source
5
A book by Lionel Messi about his life in football.
_________________data
_________________ source
For your extended essay you may use books and the internet. You may also need to do your
own research to get information, e.g. interviews, surveys, questionnaires or recordings.
Homework: Focus on your topic and find information to answer your research question.
Use many kinds of data and sources. Bring this information to the next Extended Essay lesson.
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