Information about the IAs

Day 1: Intro to the IA

In Economics you will have three IAs (Internal Assessments). These will be evaluations of news stories that relate to 3 different units (You may choose from: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, International Economics, or Development economics).

Activity 1: Review textbook section on the IA (pp650-664)

Review:

Another guide with requirements and tips from Eugene International School

Another site with some ideas for current events that relate to economics and could be potential IA topics

Additional Resources:

From the IB: Here is a link to everything you need to know about the IA, including the assignment, purpose, timetable, and what you need to do to get full points

This is the IB Economics Guide. The IA description and requirements can be found on pp96-103

Sources for IA Commentaries

IA Description

The internal assessment in economics involves writing a portfolio of three commentaries on articles related to the topics that we cover in our course. IB calls the articles extracts. Each commentary must focus on a different section of the syllabus. The three commentaries are examined and marked individually. The IA is 20% of your final mark in IB Economics.

Each commentary should be 650-750 words. The following are not included in the word count:

• Acknowledgments

• Contents page

• Diagrams

• Labels—of five words or fewer

• Headings on diagrams—of 10 words or fewer

• Tables of statistical data

• Equations, formulae and calculations

• Citations (which, if used, must be in the body of the commentary)

• References (which, if used, must be in the footnotes/endnotes)

Please note that footnotes/endnotes may be used for references only. Definitions of economic terms and quotations, if used, must be in the body of the work and are included in the word count. Please note that a citation is a shorthand method of making a reference in the body of the commentary, which is then linked to the full reference in the footnotes/endnotes.

Activity 2. EBSCO Host – where to find articles

Optional:

Micro IA Example

Another post with tips for the IA from Welker's Wikinomics

A different guide on how to write an IA

Another site to help you

Here is a list of news sources to go through today to try to find some micro-economic related stories

And another

This blog has some great articles and ideas as well

How do I choose an extract?
- You should avoid using articles from the Economist and the Wall Street Journal. Your extract should be related to at least one of the concepts/theories that we have studied in class. It should be relatively short. You should try to choose an extract that does not have much analysis and evaluation. You are responsible for the analysis and evaluation.
- The extracts must come from three DIFFERENT sources.
- The extracts can be from newspapers, magazines, journals and the internet.
- The extracts cannot be from television or radio broadcasts.
- If your extract is from the internet, news media websites are the only appropriate sources.
- The article/extract must be published no more than one year before the writing of the commentary.
A good outline will:
- Identify the topic that you plan to write about. For example, you could identify price floors, negative externalities or excise taxes as topics.
- Identify the terms that you will probably define in your commentary. You do need to have them defined in the outline.
- Identify the diagrams that you most likely use in your commentary. For example, a commentary on pollution will most likely use a graph depicting the effects of a negative externality on a market.
- Identify a few ways that you may evaluate the commentary. Click here for more explanation on how to evaluate in an economics commentary.

Writing Help

Evaluation: Click this link for helpful tips on how to improve the evaluation in your IA's

Graphing Help

You are required to draw your own diagrams for the commentaries. Try using Google drawing.

HW: Read through textbook section on IA as necessary and find some options for articles that you might be interested in writing about.

Econ Y1 Micro Article Lis 2019/20

Econ Y1 Micro Article List 2016/17 (please post your name and the url for your approved article on this link)

Econ Y2 Macro 2016/17 Article List (please post the url to your article on this doc)

Day 2: IA Work Continued

Now that you have an article.......

Activity 1: Do It – Practice Article Try to write an IA about this article as a class

With your article:

Identify the topic that you plan to write about. For example, you could identify price floors, negative externalities or excise taxes as topics.

Identify the terms that you will probably define in your commentary. You do need to have them defined in the outline

Identify the diagrams that you most likely use in your commentary. For example, a commentary on pollution will most likely use a graph depicting the effects of a negative externality on a market.

Identify a few ways that you may evaluate the commentary. Click here for more explanation on how to evaluate in an economics commentary.

Now is your chance to do your IA.

Homework: Work on Micro-Economics IA

Checklist

IA Portfolio Coversheet (New 2017) (note: you will need to download this document so you can edit it and print it out to turn in with the final copy of each IA) Make sure that you put your own information in where there are parentheses.

Day 3: Writers Workshop/Conferences

How to start writing: Now that you have concepts and diagrams and an idea of how to approach your evaluation, it's time to organize your IA into a piece of writing!

Start by introducing the relevant economic concepts and relating to the basics of your article.

Then explain the concepts through drawing and explaining diagrams.

End with further analysis of the economics involved in the article and FINALLY, write an evaluation. This is the most significant part of your IA and also the most interesting! Take a stand.

Do you think the economics are sound in the article?

Who are the stakeholders?

What are the pros and cons in the story?

These are all different approaches that you can take in your evaluation.

Here are some exemplars to look at for guidance:

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Create a draft and then.......

Writer’s Workshop – Get students into groups of 2-4 and give each group a rubric – students to share their papers electronically with each other – decide who goes 1st, etc. –

1st person presents their own paper: what theory they thought was relevant, how they structured their paper, and summarizes their evaluation – group to read the paper – writer

LISTENS while group discusses the paper (NOT the writer) – the writer can take notes but cannot talk – process occurs for each student in group

HW: Finish Draft for NEXT CLASS!!!