Meetings

Initial Reflection Meeting #1

Focus:

• Deciding on an area of research

• Consolidating your topic

• How are you approaching the research of your topic?

• What are the possible research methods you will use?

• Designing a focused, achievable research question

• Who is the audience for your essay?

Possible Guiding Questions:

• Do you understand the nature of the extended essay?

• What has motivated you to research this topic?

• What do you already know about the topic?

• What are some of the ideas or questions you have about this topic?

• What background reading have you done, if any?

• What are the extended essay requirements for the subject in which your topic fits?

• Does your topic fit in with the specifications of your chosen subject area?

• Have you chosen a provisional research question that meets the subject criteria?

• Have you chosen a viable area of research?

• What sections of the Extended essay guide might be helpful to you at this time?

• Have you had any training in research skills?

• How are you planning to organize yourself?

• What do you think are the next steps in conducting your research?

• Where are you searching for reliable sources?

• Will you be able to collect sufficient resources to answer the research question effectively?

• Will you need to revise your research question to ensure it promotes an analytical approach?

• What challenges or obstacles have you encountered?

• What can you do about the challenges or obstacles?

• What background information and/or data do you need to move forward to formulate a research question?

• Have you developed a working research question?

• What preliminary research question or questions are guiding your investigation?

• Have you been made aware of any ethical issues in relation to the intended topic and proposed research methods?

• Do you have a good grounding in the relevant theories, methodologies or findings of the subject?

• What is your theoretical or conceptual base for this topic?

• What approaches to the topic or research question have you or might you develop for this topic? (See EE guide for subject examples.)

• What are the key resources you have investigated so far? (students may have developed an annotated bibliography)

• What do you need to do next?

• When will you begin writing and how are you planning to manage your time?

• What is your goal for the next meeting?

EE Support Materials pg 14-19

Final Reflection Meeting #3 (Viva Voce)

The viva voce is conducted after the student has submitted the final version of their Extended Essay. At this point in the process, no further changes can be made to the essay. The viva voce is a celebration of the completion of the essay and a reflection on what the student has learned from the process. Begin and end positively. This is the end of a long, sometimes tough, process.

The viva voce should last 15-20 minutes. 

Focus:

• Celebrating the completion of the essay

• Transferable skills of IB approaches to learning that have been developed

• Reflecting on what has been learned, both in terms of the research topic and process

Possible Guiding Questions:

• To what extent were your initial ideas realized?

• Were your original plans or ideas realistic and appropriate?

• What do you think your successes were in this process?

• What was the most rewarding aspect of the entire process?

• How will this experience prepare you for future work of this nature, in college or employment? 

• What have been the high and low points of the research and writing processes?’

• What would you have done differently in the research process?

• What is the most important thing that you learned?

• What was your greatest challenge and how did you overcome it?

• What would you change in your research if you did another EE?

• How rewarding did you find the experience??

• What was the most valuable experience that you took away from the process?

• What was your greatest challenge and what did you do to overcome it?

• What advice would you give to the next year’s group?

• What IB learner profile attribute would you say helped you through the process (communicator, risk-taker, etc.)?

• Would you like to continue reading on this topic?

• What questions did this process raise?

• What conclusions have you drawn about the topic?

• What ATL skills did you develop the most through this process?

Also, use this reflection session as a way to check on the authenticity of the student's work.

Pick points out of the essay - ask specific questions, ask for clarifications.  A student's engagement with their topic becomes evident in their ability to talk about it.

Essays will be run through Turnitin with an AI detector that checks for plagiarism and AI usage.  Authenticity will be addressed with a student if 20%+ of AI usage is detected.

The upload process of the final essay and reflection for the IB eCoursework is the confirmation of authenticity.