Researching and Writing the Extended Essay

A theoretical framework in global politics is mandatory. It is not possible to achieve good critical thinking without analysing theories and contrasting them with facts.

Students should be reminded that not everything is common knowledge - without references, some facts appear are unsubstantiated. Some other recommendations from the marking team are:

• More attention given to the choice of topic and research methods that are clearly linked to relevant concepts and issues in global politics, avoiding topics that require excessive contextualization in historical material.

• Clear identification and presentation of key terms and concepts, with explicit definitions of how they are understood and used in the essay.

• Explicit statements of research methods, with greater attention given to the criteria for selection of evidence and the assessment of reliability of sources, in particular with secondary sources.

• More systematic in-text referencing, more clearly to distinguish descriptive summary from the candidate ́s own interpretations and assessments.

• • Students should take notes and keep track of their sources as they work.

  • Secondary sources should be academic sources, for example, those found in the library's databases (Churchill Archive, Gale, and JSTOR) as well as the open source databases provided on the library's website.

  • See the screenshots below. All of these databases should be used extensively when writing your Global Politics EE. In addition, you may look to respected sources (many of which are contained within the databases) such as:

    • Foreign Affairs

    • Foreign Policy Magazine

    • The Economist

    • The New York Times

    • The Guardian

    • The Wall Street Journal

    • The New Internationalist

The IB has several requirements for the way the EE is written and formatted. Please read the items outlined in this link prior to writing the essay. In addition, there is more information on formatting in the section on Criterion D.

• Six required elements of the extended essay (note that there is no abstract):

  • Title page

    • Must include ONLY the following information:

      • The title of the essay

      • The research question

      • The subject for which the essay is registered (if it is a language, essay, include the Category; if a World Studies essay, include the theme and the two subjects utilised)

      • Word count

  • Contents page

    • Ensure the table of contents provide a reasonable amount of detail for each section. Some EE examiners have found that the “the structure and layout support the reading, understanding and evaluation of the extended essay” descriptor in Criterion D has been applied to the table of contents.

    • All pages must be numbered.

  • Introduction

    • The introduction should tell the reader what to expect in the essay. The introduction should make clear to the reader the focus of the essay, the scope of the research, in particular an indication of the sources to be used, and an insight into the line of argument to be taken. While students should have a sense of the direction and key focus of their essay, it is sometimes advisable to finalize the introduction once the body of the essay is complete.

    • The introduction is is an appropriate place for several of the required elements of Criterion A to be introduced and as such, it should clearly address them (i.e., identify/explain the topic, research question, methodology and types of resources to be consulted), unless these are given their own individual sections in the essay. The research question must be stated in the introduction of the essay.

  • Body of the essay

    • Contains research, discussion, analysis, evaluation

    • Should be broken into sub-sections which can be identified on the table of contents. The specific types of sub-headings will depend on the subject area.

  • Conclusion

    • Must relate to the research question posed

  • References and bibliography (Works Cited page should look something like this or this; any uncertainty regarding citations, please contact the EE Coordinator.) Note that points are awarded here for the formatting and appearance of the citations only; any errors, omissions, incomplete citations, etc. will result in the paper being raised as an “exception” and investigated as a case of suspected academic malpractice.

• Presentation and word count:

By simply ensuring you adhere to the requirements for Presentation (word count, illustrations, tables, appendices, etc.), students can, with relative ease, earn 4 points to help make up for weaker areas of their EE. Here are some of the basics:

• • no abstract (if one has been written, it can perhaps be absorbed into the introduction)

  • 12 point readable font

  • double-spaced

  • include page numbers

  • no student name or school on the title page or anywhere else in the essay

  • word count: If word count is slightly over the 4000 limit, students need to deduct the number of words used in their Table of Contents, Works Cited page, in-text citations/table captions, etc. so that the word count accurately reflects the number of words in their essay; this is the final figure that should appear on their title page. If, after deducting their citations, etc. they still have too many words, they will need to reduce the number of words in the text of their essay.

  • illustrations -- must be properly identified; labels must not include commentary

  • tables -- must be used sparingly

  • headers -- optional; could use for research question to retain focus throughout

  • appendices -- Placed after the body of the essay but before the Works Cited page (in MLA style papers). Note: “Any information that is important to the argument must not be included in appendices or footnotes/endnotes. The examiner will not read notes or appendices, so an essay that is not complete in itself will be compromised across the assessment criteria.”