Overview and Getting Started

The extended essay is an in-depth study of a focused topic chosen from the list of available Diploma Programme subjects for the session in question. This is normally one of the student’s six chosen subjects for those taking the IB diploma, or a subject that a course student has a background in. It is intended to promote academic research and writing skills, providing students with an opportunity to engage in personal research in a topic of their own choice, under the guidance of a supervisor (an appropriately qualified member of staff within the school). This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing, in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject chosen. It is mandatory that all students undertake three reflection sessions with their supervisor, which includes a short, concluding interview, or viva voce, with their supervisor following the completion of the extended essay.

Key Features of the Extended Essay

• The extended essay is compulsory for all students taking the Diploma Programme and is an option for course students.
• A student must achieve a D grade or higher to be awarded the Diploma.
• The extended essay is externally assessed and, in combination with the grade for theory of knowledge, contributes up to three points to the total score for the IB Diploma.
• The extended essay process helps prepare students for success at university and in other pathways beyond the Diploma Programme.
• The extended essay is a piece of independent research on a topic chosen by the student in consultation with a supervisor in the school.
• It is presented as a formal piece of sustained academic writing containing no more than 4,000 words accompanied by a reflection form of no more than 500 words.
• It is the result of approximately 40 hours of work by the student.
• Students are supported by a supervision process recommended to be 3–5 hours, which includes three mandatory reflection sessions.
• The third and final mandatory reflection session is the viva voce, which is a concluding interview with the supervising teacher.

An extended essay (EE) in global politics gives students an opportunity to undertake an in-depth analysis of a significant, contemporary global political issue.

Students should choose a topic that will allow them to demonstrate their:

• knowledge
• research skills
• critical thinking skills.

The outcome should be a substantial, coherent and structured essay that utilizes relevant key concepts, theoretical foundations and approaches to global politics to effectively answer a specific research question.

Global politics is an interdisciplinary subject, reflecting the complex nature of many contemporary political issues. Nonetheless, it has its own theoretical and conceptual frames, terminology, methods and literature. It is essential for students undertaking an EE in global politics to have knowledge and understanding of these. Global politics is not a residual category for "current issues" essays or essays that do not fit into any other subject.

• Supervisor Assignment Process:

Step 1: Collect names of students, subject of choice, potential topics.

Step 2: Department Heads and teachers meet to discuss students and their topics of choice with with an eye on equitable distribution and topics that are best fit for supervisors involved. Three per teacher is preferable, four if necessary and five in extreme circumstances.

Step 3: Subject area teachers may meet with students to discuss topics further to best allocate supervisors.

Step 4: Supervisors officially allocated to students who then begin entering their subject and teacher in their Research Proposal in ManageBac.

• Subject Information Meetings: For next year (as some subject groups have done this year): we hope to have each subject area host a meeting for all students interested in an EE in that subject to inform students of expectations (Subject Specific Guidance), etc.
• NOTE: Topic and Research Question must fit the criteria outlined for each subject area in the Subject Specific Guidance. “An essay that is considered to be inappropriately registered will be compromised across the assessment criteria.”

• ManageBac: will be used for tracking and monitoring submission of work. ManageBac is custom made for the EE (and CAS) and that is why we are using it.
• Turnitin: this plagiarism detection software is integrated into ManageBac so students do not need to upload their drafts or final version to the turnitin interface nor should they as it will cause detection issues when uploaded to ManageBac. If your supervisor asks you to upload your essay to the turnitin interface, please discuss this with the EE Coordinator first.
• Google Docs: all compositional work for the EE (and planning/notes if you choose to use it for that purpose) must be completed in the Google doc that is created by the EE Coordinator and shared with the student and supervisor at the start of the process. As deadlines approach students should abide by the adage, "if it is not in your Google doc, it is not done."

In the Diploma Programme global politics course, a political issue is defined as:

“Any question that deals with how power is distributed and how it operates within social organization, and how people think about, and engage in, their communities and the wider world on matters that affect their lives.”

Hence, there is a wide range of questions that are in principle suitable for an EE in global politics. Students must narrow their initial topic ideas to a concise question that can be researched effectively within the EE’s 4,000-word scope.

EEs in global politics may focus on topics that invite a local to global level of analysis, or on any level in between. Sometimes, it may be interesting to investigate how the same political issue unfolds at different levels of analysis.

The benefit of undertaking research that investigates issues at a global level is the availability of secondary data. Research at a local level may be more effectively investigated using primary methods.

In addition to levels of analysis, different theoretical foundations or the perspectives of varying groups of people or individuals on a political issue may help students to formulate a clear and focused research question.

The topic students choose must be contemporary. Contemporary here is taken to refer to events during the student’s lifetime.

References to historical events and issues can be included if they:

• provide useful background context
• are necessary for understanding a topic
• have clear implications for the present.

However, the emphasis of the essay should be on current affairs. Similarly, students should not base their essay on future events, as in this case it will become speculative and unsupported.

When choosing a topic, students and supervisors must ensure that the various assessment criteria can be satisfied within the word limit. Students are advised to avoid topics that are too broad in scope to permit an in-depth study within the prescribed word limit.

These examples are for guidance only. Students must ensure their choice of topic is focused (left-hand column) rather than broad (right-hand column).

Examples of Topics, Research Questions and Suggested Approaches

Once students have identified their topic and written their research question, they can decide how to research their answer. They may find it helpful to write a statement outlining their broad approach. These examples are for guidance only.

EEs in global politics will often be interdisciplinary in terms of subject matter and research approach and may use both primary and secondary sources.

Essays that rely on secondary sources only are perfectly valid, but students must engage critically with the sources of information that they use.

The topic and chosen level(s) of analysis will suggest the appropriate theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches.

Various approaches to the research are possible, such as:

• case studies
• comparative studies
• analyses of discourse.
• Relevant techniques for gathering and interpreting evidence include:
• interviews
• literature or media reviews
• quantitative data analysis.

Students may use journalistic or visual material, interviews or data from popular and social media, but their essay should not be based solely on such sources.

Students must show that they have grounding in theories and methods of global politics and are able to use these appropriately and effectively in order to develop a reasoned argument.

An Important Note on “Double-dipping”

Students must ensure that their EE does not overlap significantly with any other work they are submitting for the Diploma Programme. For example, the engagement activity and higher level extension tasks might give students ideas and inspiration for their EE but they must not examine the same political issue.

The Global Politics EE and IA

In particular, an EE in global politics is not an extension of the internal assessment tasks—the engagement activity (SL and HL students) and the HL extension (HL students only)—for the subject. Students must ensure that they understand the differences between the two.

The engagement activity task is based primarily on experiential learning, whereas the EE in global politics is a formal research essay relying primarily on secondary sources.

Although the HL extension task and the EE in global politics are both based primarily on secondary sources, the HL extension task is directed towards an oral end product, whereas the EE in global politics culminates in a comprehensive written task.

Supervisors play an important role here in guiding students on these distinctions. Students risk their diploma if academic misconduct is found.