Extended Essay : Getting Started

What should I write about?  Visit the following websites to for inspiration and ideas!

• New York Times Online
• The Guardian
• The School of Life
• PBS: Youtube Idea Channel
• Open Culture
• TED: Ideas worth spreading
• Science Daily
• Arts and Letters Daily
• Youtube: Crash Course
• The Marginalian (Brain Pickings)
• Edge: Annual Questions
• The Conversation
• The Big Think
• Medium: Stay Curious
• Google Arts and Culture
• Wikipedia

Thanks to UWCSEA Libraries; visit their site for more ideas.

Key Features:

• Helps prepare students for success at university
• Independent research on a topic chosen by the student with consultation from a supervisor
• Research and reflection culminating with an approximately 4,000 word essay of academic writing and 500 words of reflection
• Approximately 40 hours of work by the student

The EE is an in-depth study of a focused topic. It gives students the opportunity to:

• engage in independent research with intellectual initiative, creativity and rigour
• develop research, thinking, self-management and communication skills
• reflect on what they have learned throughout the research and writing process.

All students must:

• provide a logical and coherent rationale for their choice of topic
• review what has already been written about the topic
• formulate a clear research question
• offer a concrete description of the methods they use to investigate the question
• generate reasoned interpretations and conclusions based on their reading and independent research in order to answer the question.

Source: IBO Writing the EE

Visit IB EE website for more in-depth information.

These files cover individual subjects’ requirements for the extended essay (EE) in terms of:

• Choice of topic
• Treatment of topic
• Assessment:
  • Criterion A: focus and method
  • Criterion B: knowledge and understanding
  • Criterion C: critical thinking
  • Criterion D: presentation
  • Criterion E: engagement

EE guides: