The upper limit is 4000 words for all extended essays. This upper limit includes the introduction, the body, the conclusion, any quotations and footnotes and / or endnotes that are not references, but does not include:
The RPPF (reflections which you have up to 500 words)
acknowledgements
the contents page
maps, charts, diagrams, annotated illustrations and tables (see note below about tables)
equations, formulas and mathematics
the references/bibliography
appendices
headers (note - this is headers and not headings. Headers are items that you might choose to repeat at the top of each page)
Essays in excess of 4000 words are subject to penalties and examiners are not required to read material in excess of the word limit.
Font: Arial or Times New Roman Size 12 PdF format.
Double line spacing
Chapters or sections are vital unless you are doing an EE in Literature
Provide page numbers in a consistent manner
Contents Page
A contents page must be provided at the beginning of the extended essay and all pages should be numbered.
Illustrations & graphs etc
Presentation and overall neatness are important and it is essential that illustrative material, if included, is well set out and used effectively. This includes graphs, charts, diagrams and maps and tables. Although illustrations should be placed as close as possible to their reference in the text, refer to them by number e.g. Figure 5, using consecutive numbering running throughout, regardless of the type of illustration. This means their exact location in the text is flexible.
Apart from graphic material, materials in other media may be submitted only as supporting appendices and should not detract from the written content of the extended essay.
Whilst tables do not count in the word count, we need to be careful not to use them as a way to beat the word count by including large amounts of text in them
The best way of thinking about a table is that it is a representation of data/information in a way which makes it easier for the reader to understand.
It is not where analysis of that data happens, that should happen in the text of your essay.
Business management students need to be careful of the word 'analysis' as they may have done a SWOT 'analysis'. A SWOT analysis table is really just a list of factors that a business needs to consider and so can be considered as data/information and not counted in the word count. When doing a SWOT analysis there must be an accompanying text analysis where you look at how the information in your table helps to answer your research question