Writing the IB Extended Essay
The IB Extended Essay, rather than a single-day exam, is a mandatory, year-long research project that IB students write with a faculty advisor’s guidance. The essay, which is typically at or around 4,000 words in length, falls within one of the following thematic groups: Studies in Language and Literature, Language Acquisition, Individuals and Societies, Sciences, Mathematics, or the Arts. The IB resource center contains sample essays highlighting the “diverse range of topics” students may cover. You can find additional sample essays on various topics at this link.
Extended Essay Strategies
Be prudent while picking your topic. There are so many questions to consider while picking your topic. A 4000 word essay is about 16 pages, double-spaced, which is probably longer than any essay you’ve written at this point in your academic career. Before you begin drafting, you should ask yourself these questions: Can I write 16 pages about this topic? Do I care enough about this topic to work on it? Is it relevant to my college interests? You should start by creating a document with a list of general topics that excite you—don’t worry about how feasible they are to write about yet. At first, this list may look something like: “children’s literature, healthiest foods in the world, linguistic biases.” Once you have written a similar topic list, you should begin narrowing your ideas down to what precisely engages you about them. After some honing, the above topics could become: “The ways in which Victorian era children’s literature affected and was affected by social morality, how the different chemical components in popular food staples affect life expectancy, or how European vs. Asian accents affect job application outcomes in the United States.” The process of selecting, narrowing, and clarifying your topic itself might take a month! The Extended Essay is all about exploring as many of the different perspectives on an issue as possible, so take your time.
Ask Who, What, When, Where, and Why questions. Who are the people who have primarily published about this topic? Who is affected by this topic? What are the current major debates about this topic? What are the various viewpoints presented? When was your topic significant, or does it span different time periods? Where is your topic important: at what level or in what specific regions of the globe? Why do you care about the topic? Why is your topic relevant to the broader social sphere?
Research, research, research (and cite your sources). Given that the Extended Essay is a research project, you’ll be in charge of sourcing your own information about the topic you’ve chosen. You can start this project with a general Google search, but you will probably want to use specific scholarly databases to find the bulk of your sources. Jstor is currently allowing independent researchers to read up to 100 free articles a month, and a Multnomah County library card number gives you access to plenty of databases — we recommend Gale eBooks, Kanopy, and Worldcat. You should also create a system for grouping your sources, organizing your material, and taking notes. You can use the old-fashioned index card method, or rely on digital note-taking apps such as Microsoft OneNote.
Structure is key. The quality of your writing itself is less important than the clarity of the argument and the ideas you present. Your essay should have a clear introduction, which should explicitly state the questions you’re investigating and the insights you’ve gleaned based on the research you’ve conducted. Each body paragraph should have a precise reason for being included, and the structure of the essay should follow a single, unifying idea.
Writing a sixteen page paper can be intimidating, but if you start early and take your time with the process it can be a rewarding introduction to high-quality analytical work. One final piece of advice: as you begin the drafting process, write for either two hours or one page, whichever comes first, then take a break. It’s virtually impossible to produce high level composition for longer than that, and your brain will thank you for the opportunity to refresh.
The IB diploma is challenging, but presents a unique opportunity to prepare for college-level work. If you’d appreciate support with any IB subject, including the extended essay, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team of highly qualified IB tutors, we’d be happy to help.