This Internal Assessment is an integral part of the course and is compulsory for HL students. It enables students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge, and to pursue their personal interests, without the time limitations and other constraints that are associated with written examinations.

The learning outcomes of the HL extension are:

• Knowledge and understanding of a specific case study and a specific political issue related to one of the six global political challenges
• Application of relevant key concepts, theories and ideas from the our units of study to an analysis of the case study
• Evaluation of the case study from different perspectives and in the wider context of global politics

HL students are required to present an oral analysis of selected political issues in two case studies of two global political challenges that they have researched in depth. The two, maximum 10-minute-long presentations are video recorded. The maximum mark for each presentation is 10 marks, and so the maximum mark for this component is 20 marks. The presentations are assessed using a global impression marking rubric.

There is no additional prescribed content for this component of the course. For each of the topics chosen students must undertake a detailed case study of a political issue, culminating in a 10-minute video recorded oral presentation. These case studies provide an opportunity for students to conduct an in-depth analysis of complex political issues in real-life situations.

All of our HL seminars during the two years of the program will be dedicated to:

• understanding the HL extension
• viewing assessed exemplars
• practicing presentation skills (including one or two PechaKucha 20x20 presentations)
• carrying out academic research
• identifying, and articulating well, political issues in the form of questions
• selecting case studies that can be effectively explored in a 10-minute presentation
• receiving peer and teacher feedback on practice presentations as well as self assessing all presentations

The HL extension gives students the opportunity to explore important global political challenges through a case studies approach. HL students must study two of the following six topics for the IB.

CDNIS students will need to do three, with one of the three acting as a "back-up" or practice presentation.

1. Environment
2. Poverty
3. Health
4. Identity
5. Borders
6. Security

Deciding on a case study:

• Explore the news and hone in on a topic that interests you. Keep in mind one of the six Global Politics Challenges, but don't worry about them too much as you will be guided toward a political issue in the case study selection process that will fit into one of the GPCs.
• For your second and third presentations, DO pay more attention to the GPCs, you will have already done one or two of the GPCs and they cannot be repeated. For example, it is unlikely that you would be able to explore the Paris Climate Agreement for one presentation and the impact of global warning on South Pacific communities in another presentation as both would likely fall under the "environment" GPC. However, if you were to focus on the way in which global warming is causing impoverishment in South Pacific communities, that would fall under the GPC of "poverty" so you would be free to pursue that case study for a second or third presentation.
• Ask yourself if there is a particular political story that you are especially interested in doing deeper dive into? If so, you don’t really need to think through the next three prompts.

If you are still struggling to come up with a topic:

1. In general, what interests you most in the area of political/world issues?
2. More specifically, what issues do you find most interesting (these can be either local or global)?
3. Do some research on cases that are in, or have been, in the news. Once you identify a story (a case study) that you are passionate about and/or are particularly interested in, it is time to do some quality research.

The free choice of case studies is intended to allow students to explore political issues that they find particularly interesting or particularly revealing. It may be that students wish to explore local cases, or cases that are otherwise of particular personal interest. Note that the subject report indicates a preference for local issues that can then be discussed in the wider global political context.

Each case study selected and the political issue investigated therein should be contemporary, clearly relevant and explicitly linked to one of the global challenges listed as well as to the core units of the course.

Students should ask themselves how each case they investigate relates to the wider context of global politics and how they can bring the knowledge and understanding they have gained elsewhere in the course to bear on the cases.

The political issue selected for exploration should be focused and specific. For example:

• rather than a broad topic such as “water supply”, an appropriate case study and political issue would be “the 2011 drought and the Yangtze river in China—viability of China’s water diversion plans”
• rather than a broad topic such as “terrorism”, an appropriate case study and political issue would be “the 2008 Mumbai bombings—motivations for terrorism in India”.

You can click here for more sample case study options from the Global Politics guide

There are a lot of good new agencies out there that will provide good, balanced information. Nevertheless, do review our lesson on Reliability of Sources.

Our library subscribes to a fantastic (an expensive) number of academic databases. It is essential to review some of these if you are looking achieve in the upper levels of the rubric. In particular your could look at:

• Questia
• JSTOR
• Gale
• The Day
• The New York Times

Of course, the sources listed in the "Resources" section of our website are very useful as well. Note that we have subscriptions to several of the magazines listed. If you find an article you would like to use, it can be easily accessed by your teacher on your behalf.

Example 1: An international case study

• Ask a general political issue question like: to what extent are international non-binding agreements effective?
• Case study: The Paris Agreement (UNFCCC)

Example 2: A local case study

• A more local example might be the extent to which non-violent protest is an effective method of advocating for political change?
• Case study: the protests regarding the extradition bill in Hong Kong

1. State the GPC and the PI (in the form of a question and explain how the two are connected (ensure the PI is clearly visible on the presentation throughout the duration of the presentation)
2. Spend 1.5 to 2 minutes explaining the case study as a way of providing context for the analysis that will be doing throughout the presentation
3. Explain perspective #1
4. Answer the PI question using concepts from the course in the context of perspective #1 and explain how it is relevant and significant (use this word) to the wider context of global politics
5. Explain perspective #2
6. Answer the PI question using concepts from the course in the context of perspective #2 and explain how it is relevant and significant (use this word) to the wider context of global politics
7. If necessary and time permitting, explain perspective #3
8. Answer the PI question using concepts from the course in the context of perspective #3 and explain how it is relevant and significant (use this word) to the wider context of global politics
9. Draw a conclusion to the PI question and clearly explain how your conclusion is significant to the wider context of global politics

Note: the following points are directly from the IB, the notations in brackets and bolded have been added for clarification of our process and expectations.

• The two case studies may not be from the same HL extension topic.
• There is no expectation of a link between the case studies and any such link is not rewarded.
• The maximum length of the presentations is 10 minutes per case study. Moderators will not watch an analysis beyond 10 minutes. The recording must focus on the student delivering the presentation. [It is advisable to have a timer running in front of you while presenting, your teacher will also provide you a minute-by-minute countdown while recording the presentation.]
• The presentations must take place under teacher supervision, either in a separate session or in a classroom setting. They may not be recorded outside of the school setting, for example at home.
• Visual aids, such as presentation slides, are only permitted for showing visual information (for example tables, diagrams, maps, photos) and should be carefully employed only when they enhance the argument or audience engagement; such information, if used, must be clearly visible on the video recording, as it is not submitted to the IB. [Your political issue must be clearly visible either as a slide or in large font as a footer on all slides. Very limited text may be used, but is not necessary.]
• Students may use limited notes/prompt cards when delivering their presentation, but the content may not be written out, whether on paper, digital devices or as part of any visual presentation on screen, and may not be read aloud. [Prompt cards must be provided to the teacher at least 24 hours prior to the presentation]
• Each presentation may only be performed once, for the video recording [we may do some partial "dry runs" prior to recording]. Each presentation must be recorded in one take: the camera may not be stopped in the middle of a presentation and the presentation must not be edited in any way.
• Should it be determined that a student has memorized significant portions of their presentation that is clearly not their work or a student is relying on prompt cards that do not clearly distinguish between a student's work and that of the source or sources they have used, the presentation will be stopped immediately with no opportunity provided to re-do the presentation (see previous point).
• All work submitted to the IB for moderation or assessment must be authenticated by a teacher, and must not include any known instances of suspected or confirmed academic misconduct. Each student must confirm that the work is his or her authentic work and constitutes the final version of that work. Once a student has officially submitted the final version of the work, it cannot be retracted.
• Authenticity may be checked by discussion with the student on the content of the work, and scrutiny of one or more of the following.

1. The student’s initial proposals
2. The written outline of each HL presentation
3. The references cited
4. The style of delivery of the oral presentations compared with delivery known to be characteristic of the student

• The IB notes that, "Moderators will check students’ coversheets carefully, although no marks are awarded for these." These cover sheets are NOT an unnecessary obligation. Instead, they are an opportunity to clearly highlight the quality of your presentation before the moderator starts watching your presentation. In short, they importantly can leave an optimistic or pessimistic impression in the mind of the moderator, even before the presentation is watched.
• With this in mind, you should write your 300 words in the context of the marking rubric. Show the moderator the ways in which you have hit upon each of the points in the rubric, particularly "different perspectives" how you have connected your political issues to the "wider context of global politics". See the Subject Report below where these key points are also reinforced by the senior examiner for the GP presentation.
• The cover sheet will need to be filled out and completed prior to each of the three presentations during out course. Note the due dates for the 3/CSGP/HX in the section on due dates.

• Prompts cards will be verified the day before the presentation.
• If there are any issues with the prompt cards, this will be communicated via email the day before the presentation.
• Prompt cards used on the day of the presentation need not be exactly the same as the version that is uploaded, but must not contain significantly more details.
• In cases where the difference is too significant, students will be required to use the version that was uploaded.
• See the point regarding "visual aids" in the section above on "Rules Regarding The Presentation". Please note, we permit a maximum of 5 slides containing a limited amount of text.
• Ensure your research question is visible throughout the duration of the presentation.